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November 7, 2006
Down the Ballot II
In which I follow up on this post by researching local races out loud.
STATE SENATOR:
Brian Seiferlein, R: He's against the SBT, which taxes companies on revenue rather than profit. That's good. He wants to support small businesses with a "help line" — I assume he means something more comprehensive than that — which is good, but proposes to fund it by cutting waste, which is bad (because it's a cop out). He proposes an insurance reform I like: if you have to sue an insurance company, and you win, the insurance company must pay triple the claim plus court costs and attorney's fees. He supports tort reform where the loser pays the attorney's fees. I can see positives and negatives in this, so call it a wash. He's for restricting the use of eminent domain even more than it would be restricted under prop 4, which is good. He's socially conservative, which is bad.
Deborah Cherry, D: The incumbent District 26 state Senator. Outsourcing — particularly offshoring — is a canard, and Democrats tend to play it to the hilt. I guess that Michigan gets it worst because of Michael Moore's Roger and Me and the changes to the auto industry that he (and so many others) got wrong, but this one really annoys me. Cherry plays to the offshoring is evil crowd. That's bad. OK, ick, I can't finish reading through her issues page; it's all squishy and code words and feel-good nostrums without any hint of substance. Cherry's website is emotional claptrap projected into policy, with nary a hint of thought of alternatives or economics or what it would cost. ("Taxes are important, but even more important is what I could pay for with your money" — yes, it's a paraphrase — is noxious in the extreme.) Bleah!
My vote: Seiferlein, by default.
REPRESENTATIVE IN STATE LEGISLATURE
Fran Amos,R: So far, of the people running for office, this has to be the most pathetic and useless web site on offer. No issues, no positions, no idea of anything, and her online office (the only useful link on the page) is no help either. In 10 minutes of research, I know that Fran Amos is the incumbent, a Republican, and nothing else.
Kellie Riddell, D: Her first issue is election reform, and I'm going to quote the whole issue position because, well, look at my notes on Fran Amos: "I propose a paragraph description of each candidate and each issue available in every polling booth. Too many people vote without knowing anything about the candidate. Currently, the candidate supported by big money usually wins. Let’s even the field for a stronger democracy." Yes, and hell yes. But damn it all, she supports the Single Business Tax and unions and minimum wage increases.
My vote: Wow, I disagree with Kellie Riddell on a lot of things, but I have no idea what Fran Amos is for or against. I have to call this a none of the above vote. I'm going to write in Maurice Cox, because he is a local person I know who is very sensible and dedicated to community service. I don't know what his politics are, and I barely care, because I trust his character.
MEMBER OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: This is a "vote for two" from a list of 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats, 2 Greens, 2 US Taxpayers, 2 Libertarians, and a Natural Law candidate. Here's where I get into the "I don't know anything about these guys, so let's think about things other than the person" category. Actually, that's not quite true. I know that Tom McMillin, one of the Republican candidates, is very pro home schooling, so he gets one of the two votes. I'm not going to bother looking at the commiesGreens or the fundiesUS Taxpayers and Natural Law candidates, because their parties are anathema to me on this issue. The Democrats tend to be stooges to the teachers' unions, and very anti-homeschooling. Since there are only so many hours in a day, I'm eliminating them, too. That leaves Eileen Weiser (R), Erwin Haas (L) and Ernest Whiteside (L) as contenders. A brief review indicates that Weiser is reasonable, but not exciting, with pluses (opposes prop 5) and minuses (opposes prop 2); Haas is pro-homeschooling, pro-voucher and anti-public school; and Whiteside — OK, let's just start with this: if you're running for the board of education, I had better not notice obvious grammar errors on your issues page.
My votes: McMillin and Haas.
MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BOARD OF REGENTS: This is another vote for two election, with 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats, 2 Libertarians, a Green, a US Taxpayers, and a Natural Law candidate. This is a really odd one, because frankly, the University of Michigan is pretty explicitly liberal. It's in Ann Arbor (a very liberal town) and employs such instructors as Juan Cole, whom I despise to the core of my being. So I'm all for voting to blow this one up, and am looking for the candidates who would cause the most chaos in the system, on the grounds that the current system needs a reset. The League of Women Voters provides a handy guide. The Natural Law candidate having eliminated herself through the stupidity of her answers, the Democrats and Republicans having eliminated themselves through blandness and codewords, and the Greens having eliminated themselves due to being idiots, my votes go to Hudler and Larson, the Libertarians.
MEMBER OF THE MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES: This is another "vote for two" election, and we get to use the same voters' guide (different section) that we used for the last race. OK, so let's see, Perles (D) seems to have actually thought about what MSU's purpose and challenges are; Spencer (Green) gives me the creeps — this is a theme for Green Party candidates, in fact; Denoyer (L) also seems, well, just not quite right in the policy centers of his head; Raaflaub (L) seems quite the nutcase, you know, the old guy muttering to himself on street corners; Dern (Natural Law) seems barely aware of what office she's running for. My votes: Perles and Gale (US Taxpayers).
MEMBER OF THE WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Again, a two votes in one election; and again we use the same voters' guide. Have I mentioned yet that all these Board of Governors jobs are 8 year terms? 10 out of 10 for continuity, but minus several thousand for responsiveness to the constituency, whatever that is. Also, let me state that "I have ... been involved in movements since 1968" isn't the way to get my vote (and again the Greens go down to ignominious background noise). Johnson (US Taxpayers) creeps me out on the fundie level, while actually contradicting himself in the course of one sentence and one fragment. I like Van Bemmelen's (US Taxpayers) answers to the LWV questions. Jones (L), on the other hand, is as much a nut as either of the Green Party guys. I'm going to have to put my votes to Van Bemmelen and a write-in candidate. Hmmm... I don't know anyone locally who'd really be interested in this, and there aren't any other candidates I like, so my second vote goes uncast on this one.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER
Eileen Kowall, the Republican incumbent, faces off against Jennifer Suidan (D). Oakland County (where I live at present) is a large and wealthy county, and has a broad geographic and economic spread. Currently, there are a lot of budget issues facing the county, which apparently are a result of a combination of job losses and de-urbanization (Pontiac is a mess, for example). It impresses me that every local paper notes Kowall as having done an excellent job in this office. Knowing nothing, really, about either candidate, my vote has to go to Kowall on the strength of those endorsements and the sense of humor that comes through in the few Q&A pages I've been able to find on this race.
TOWNSHIP TREASURER
Margaret Birch (R) and Aaron Stepp (D) are the candidates. Birch has been involved in a variety of local offices, including some where she had fiduciary responsibilities. I cannot find anything useful on Stepp. That by default throws my vote to Birch.
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT: This is a vote for 2 candidates from a list of 2 serving justices and three non-serving candidates. (This is a non-partisan election, which is appropriate for such an office.) The candidates are Michael Cavanagh, Maura Corrigan, Kerry Morgan, Marc Shulman, and Jane Beckering. Based on the information I can find, Corrigan and Morgan seem to have the best take on the court's job (to interpret, not make, law) and policies important to me (liberty vs. dependence on the nanny state — a real battle in Michigan right now). So my votes go to Corrigan and Morgan.
JUSTICE OF COURT OF APPEALS, JUDGE OF CIRCUIT COURT, JUDGE OF THE PROBATE COURT, JUDGE OF DISTRICT COURT: This is frustrating, because judgeships at all levels are vitally important, yet none of these races has more candidates than positions open. Therefore my votes here are irrelevant: the only candidates who will be in consideration are those on the ballot, and I don't know enough to write in a candidate.
OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: This is a "vote two" race among six candidates. The League of Women Voters comes through again. My votes, on ten minutes of research, go to Chambers and Wiser, both of whom actually seem to want to use the college to provide useful community services by providing useful educations.
And that's a wrap, people.
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