West Michigan Rising WMR is a community blog for Democrats and progressives in West Michigan. Join up, post your thoughts as comments or diaries, and rise up to build our left coast
First of all I'd like to apologize for my absence, but after the election/pre-county convention is a busy time for me, and my real-life activities have to take precedence to my blogging life... I always like to say if you're not taking your activism from behind your computer screen, and out into the real world, you're not much use to the party, and I always try at all costs to avoid being a big fat hypocrite.
So now that we've gotten that out of the way, onto the post-election Manistee County wrap-up.
(If you're interested in seeing the numbers, I've got all the National, State, Countywide, and half of the partisan township races listed here on the Manistee Dems website. I'll have the rest of the partisan township races up sometime within the next week. I know they're listed on our County Clerk's website right now, but you'll have to trust me when I say that someday they won't be... She always pulls them down after awhile, and then charges us if we want them later.)
To sum it all up, we improved the Democratic turnout on every possible level conceivable... We won all of the National, and Statewide races with the exception of Fred Johnson's race, including the State Education Boards.
On the countywide, and township levels we also saw great improvement compared to the Democratic turnout of previous election cycles. We've retained control of our county Commissioners Board with a 5-2 majority, and we also elected our first Democratic County Drain Commissioner, Mark DiBenedetto.
We were hoping to pick up the County Clerk, and Register of Deeds races, but unfortunately that just wasn't in the cards this year... We did come closer than we've ever came before in both races though. The popular republican longtime incumbents came within under 700 votes of losing their seats.
So that's where we're currently at, and now onto where we're going...
While we were able to provide some financial assistance to each of our countywide candidates, and the Scripps race; we just didn't have the money to provide all of the help that we would have liked to.
I'm determined that that will not happen again in 2010, or 2012, so I've spent the last 9 days running numbers, and scouring google for the cheapest Union printers I can find, in order to formulate a rough calculation of how much we'll need to at minimum fully fund all of our countywide Democratic candidate's yardsigns, and literature in 2010, and 2012... and if we're lucky in our fundraising between now, and 2012 when the partisan township seats are up again, maybe even provide some financial help with some of those races.
If we're really lucky with our fundraising, and manage to raise $30,000 between now, and then we'll be able to buy signs, and campaign literature for Democratic candidates for all of the 85 partisan races in Manistee County in both 2010, and 2012, AND cover rent for headquarters for the election seasons.
It might have taken up days of my life to do it, but I was able to find some very cheap full service Union printers. We used one of them for our Slate cards this year, and they were fantastic. If you're interested in my list of printers, shoot me an email, and I'll send it to you, but I'm not posting this online, because I spent too many hours online, and on the phone getting this list together to share it with republicans...
(I've decided it's best to keep some information close to our chests ever since Ray Franz' campaign manager told me she read our site...)
So anyway, that's where we're at here in Manistee County, and those are some of our goals moving forward.
So what about your counties? Any big plans for the future that you'd like to share?
What a prescient name we picked out for this website, eh?
County
Obama
McCain
Allegan County
23,576 44%
29,566 55%
Barry County
13,449 44%
16,431 54%
Benzie County
2,619 53%
2,056 45%
Berrien County
40,376 52%
36,128 57%
Cass County
12,080 51%
11,112 47%
Grand Traverse County
23,255 48%
24,713 51%
Kalamazoo County
77,037 59%
51,545 39%
Kent County
149,855 49%
148,305 49%
Lake County
2,919 55%
2,269 43%
Leelanau County
7,354 51%
6,937 48%
Manistee County
7,234 56%
5,506 42%
Mason County
7,816 51%
7,416 47%
Muskegon County
53,400 64%
28,855 35%
Newaygo County
10244 47%
10962 51%
Oceana County
6,405 51%
5,860 47%
Ottawa County
51,925 37%
84,823 61%
Van Buren County
18,589 53%
15,535 45%
Wexford County
7,375 47%
8,044 51%
That's 12 counties for Obama, and 9 for McCain! Now compare that to 2004, and 18 red counties versus 3 blue counties... Yes-sir-eee ladies and gents, West Michigan is definitely changing.
So put that in your pipe, and smoke it Franz campaign!
Pretty good eh?
Let me tell you, it doesn't get much better for a Democratic candidate in Northwestern Michigan than that image (or a candidate of any party for that matter!), and that wasn't a staged campaign stunt either... That was taken at an actual skeet shooting competition that Dan competed in.
So after spending the entire week telling local area newspapers that he was sorry his previous hate speech was so grossly misunderstood, and he's gravely sorry if anyone was offended or hurt; 'ole Ray "If there's an opportunity to say homosexual activist, I'll take it; and if there isn't an opportunity, I'll make it" Franz is at it again with yet another homophobic mailer.
This time he not only tries to tie Dan Scripps to Jon Stryker, but also that notorious tax hiker Governor Jennifer Granholm.
Once again, I won't sully our frontpage with images of Ray Franz's hate-filled nastiness, so the scans are after the fold...
and the Manistee News Advocate aided and abetted his hate-filled, divisive agenda with not one, but TWO ranting, disjointed, nonsensical homophobic screeds on the frontpage of yesterday's edition of the Manistee News Advocate.
To stay on the good side of copyright laws I'll only include a few excerpts of the TWO (Yes TWO!!!) steaming piles of cow excrement that was dumped upon the unsuspecting readers of the only local newspaper in Manistee County, but trust me, excerpts are really all that is needed, because the entirety of both frontpage articles are filled chockablock with unrefuted lies, innuendo, and accusations.
(The Manistee News Advocate charges to read their articles online, and I don't recommend giving them a dime after this travesty, ever.)
Well folks, the 101st State House race just got a WHOLE lot nastier...
My mailman just delivered my mail about 2 minutes ago and what do I find in it?
One of the nastiest and hateful political smears I've ever seen in my life, that's what I found... and I lived in South Carolina during the infamous McCain/Bush republican primary, so that's saying a LOT!
I'll post the images below the fold, because I don't want to sully our front page with this mess, but my headline pretty much sums up the entire piece...
I got this email from a friend of mine named Judy McLain detailing her experience at our recent state convention and she has granted me permission to share it with everyone.
Judy is on the executive committees of both the Mason County Democratic Party and the MI-02 District Committee... She's been involved in the Democratic Party for a long time and she's an all around fantastic lady.
I know the convention was nearly a week ago, but I thought it a good write up on the convention so here goes...
State Convention September 6, 2008
Our fabulous foursome, Chris Fessenden, Dee Payment, LouBetty Rood and me, left the Shop & Save parking lot before 8 a.m.
We arrived before 11 a.m. and LouBetty and I hurried to the credentials table and on to our Congressional District meeting, while the others parked the car.
The meeting began shortly and we voted unanimously to have Dallas Dean be our 'Elector' for this general election. This is the first time I ever actually knew the identity of an 'Elector'.
This time when the Electoral College votes are shown on the TV, I will know that Dallas is included because he has pledged to cast his vote for Barack Obama.
We heard the husband of Judge Diane Hathaway speak for his wife to be our nominee on the November ballot, running against incumbent Supreme Count Judge Clifford Taylor.
Until 3 weeks before the convention I had assumed that Judge Deborah Thomas, who has spoken twice here in the last 2 years, was to be our nominee. At our Mason County Democratic Convention the vote was unanimous to vote for Judge Thomas to be our nominee.
At a brief lunch period before the large convention was brought to order, I spoke with Bill Ballenger, a regular on 'Off the Record'. Bill told me that Judge Hathaway had been endorsed by Labor.
When the convention was brought to order we heard speeches from Mark Brewer, Jennifer Granholm, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, then on to the voting on the floor for our Supreme Court Nominee. Proportional voting was used, so Mason County had 9 votes, all of which were cast for Judge Thomas, as per our county convention decision.
There was lots of hollering and waving of signs, and even some parading around the room with placards raised.
The Proportional voting caused some confusion so there was some scrambling around to do the calculations. Most of the Districts evidently had done there proportional voting during their District meeting.
When all the votes were cast and the votes given to the temporary chair, the numbers were approximately Judge Thomas 1,400 votes and Judge Hathaway 1,600 votes.
Many of us were disgruntled and expressed several questions, i.e. why were we so recently even hearing of Judge Hathaway? Why was Hathaway endorsed by Labor and not Thomas? Why wasn't this situation more transparent to those of us who seek out this kind of information?
Having fulfilled what we set out to do, our group gathered up our tent and left for home.
I guess there are questions that will eventually be answered, but we all agreed that what we did was worthwhile and we all plan to attend future conventions, and recommend that others also go to see our Party in Action.
Judy McLain
So there you go, another insider's take on our State Party Convention.
If you're from Mason County, drop by the next Mason Dem's regular monthly meeting and tell Judy I said "hey".
She's working her butt off to help turn Mason County blue and she has my deepest gratitude.
We now know who Cliff Taylor's opponent will be in the Michigan Supreme Court election this fall, Judge Diane Marie Hathaway won with 1,650 votes over Judge Deborah Thomas' 1,407 votes at today's Michigan Democratic Party Convention held in Lansing.
Judge Diane Marie Hathaway won the 3rd and 2nd Districts in West Michigan, with Judge Deborah Thomas winning the 6th District.
Judges Thomas and Hathaway hugged after vote and Judge Thomas urged the crowd to vote for Judge Hathaway in the general and reminded the crowd of the importance of voting for the non-partisan races.
Hathaway then gave her acceptance speech -- a fiery defense of justice and litany of the faults of Cliff Taylor. She noted that Cliff Taylor had lost eight elections before being saved by former governor Engler's appointment to the bench.
Judge Hathaway's campaign slogan is:
Vote all the way, Vote Hathaway!
A reference to getting folks to vote for the judicial branch candidates -- word is 30% of Democrats do not vote for judges and thus (along with Engler's appointments) we've gotten a very reationary judiciary in Michigan.
I just got a robocall recording of John McCain to the effect of "Hello my fellow Veteran, this is John McCain." and then he goes on to tell me that he's sending me and all of his fellow Veterans an application for an absentee voting ballot through the mail.
I jumped up right away to grab our digital recorder, but the recording was only about 30 seconds long and I only ended up recording the last few seconds of it.
Now he's the deal... I'm clearly not supporting John McCain, nor am I a Veteran... So why would he be calling me and thinking that I'm a Veteran?
I happen to know the answer to that, because the only group I've ever had anything to do with in my entire life that is in anyway connected with Veterans is when I have donated to the USO and I've been getting tons of Veterans/republican donation asks in my mailbox ever since... So I know that the USO is either selling their donor lists or giving them away.
Regardless, there's only one place that John McCain could have gotten my name and phone number and thought I might have been a Veteran... The USO.
Anyway, I have a favor to ask... If anyone gets a call from "Unknown Name - 817-288-1609", PLEASE record it if you're able and send me an email at lisa AT westmichiganrising.com?
As part of our ongoing candidate profile series I asked Nate Heffron who is the Chair of the Wexford County Democratic Party and Democratic candidate in the 102nd State House District a few questions and here are his answers:
Why are you running?
I am running for State Representative because the people of my district do not have representation in Lansing.
The current State Representative has:
Voted against raising minimum wage.
Voted to keep Canadian trash coming into our state.
Voted to make Michigan's water a product.
Done nothing to get college tuition rates under control.
Voted to close the state government.
Undermined labor unions.
Not helped to fully fund our schools.
I will fight for the core necessities the people of my district need and count on:
As some of you might have noticed, Paul Spaniola has joined WMR and he just happens to be running as the Democratic candidate in the Mason County Prosecutor race...
By the way: Nearly 150 people showed up at Paul's "Meet the Candidate" night last week!
For those of you that don't know... Getting a Dem to run for any elected office in Mason County is something of a minor miracle in and of itself.
Getting a candidate to run for Prosecutor on the Democratic ticket should rank somewhere rather high on the "Wonders of the World" list... So a big round of applause goes to Paul for making the decision to run as a Democratic candidate and another round goes to the fantastic people of the Mason County Dems for attaining the major coup of getting such a great candidate to run on the Dem ticket in the Prosecutor's race!
In an email I asked Paul why he was running and here is his reply:
1. With 24 years of experience trying criminal cases here in Mason County I have the experience needed to provide you with the leadership that you and law enforcement in this county deserve. I have 17 years experience in criminal defense and general practice which gives me a perspective that allows me to anticipate the actions of the defense attorney and act to head them off prior even to the filing of charges. The seven years that I was an assistant prosecutor gave me the additional insight to protect victims and the community as a whole.
2. In the past 3 plus years, under the current administration, the needs of domestic violence victims have not been met. I’m not afraid to do the hard work, to try the hard case even when the domestic violence victim is not willing to participate so that the message can be sent to batterers that this is behavior which is not tolerated in this county.
3. You require someone who is dedicated to our county and is willing to work the long hours needed to successfully try cases, especially felony cases. Don’t judge my opponent on what she’s done on murder cases alone, look at all the cases she’s tried. Talk to your neighbors and friends who have sat as jurors on her cases and get their opinions. Talk to your neighbors and friends who have sat as jurors on my cases and get their opinions and you’ll quickly learn that your needs aren’t presently being met by my opponent.
4. A prosecutor has an ethical duty to seek justice for all the stakeholders in the criminal justice system, the victims, the defendants, the attorneys, the courts. If you’re not sure that I will dispense justice, ask anyone who knows me and you’ll discover that is an integral part of my background.
5. While I hadn’t been active in the local democratic party prior to declaring my intention to run for prosecuting attorney, my decision to run as a democrat was an easy one. Like most voters, I have never voted a straight ticket and have sought to weigh each candidate based upon his or her positions and character. I went back and reconsidered my votes for president, governor, and other statewide offices in my voting career and I almost always supported democrats. So the decision was one which has been made over the last 30+ years I have been voting.
So those are Paul's reasons for running and while I hope he's seen the error of his ways and intends to get move involved with his local party, I can't find fault with anything else. (kidding!)
Paul has proven he has the experience and the judgment required to faithfully serve the people of Mason County in the capcity of Prosecutor and it's my hope that the voters of Mason County will recognize this in November.
Paul brings a pretty impressive resume to the table. He got his law degree from from the University of Toledo and he has 24 years of courtroom experience. 17 of those 24 years were spent practicing general law in Ludington, with 7 years spent as the Mason County Assistant Prosecutor. He has experience in prosecution AND experience in criminal defense. Paul was a Criminal law instructor at West Shore CC Police Academy and he is respected by local law enforcement agencies. As a past President of Mason-Lake Bar Association Paul has proven that he has strong leadership skills, is capable of setting and achieving goals and possesses the organizational and management skills needed to represent the people of Mason County as their Prosecutor effectively.
Paul has been a resident of Mason County for 24 years and is committed to improving Mason County. He's been a volunteer for the Michigan Special Olympics, is involved with the Ludington Area Jaycees and participated with the City of Ludington Zoning Board of Appeals. Paul has also been a Ludington Soccer Board Member and Coach, a MHSAA and US Soccer Federation Referee and a Ludington Gus Macker Volunteer... but in my eyes his involvement with the Mason County Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect is the most impressive among his list of volunteering efforts. Protecting our children for me should be the top priority for us all and Paul hasn't just talked the talk about protecting kids, he's walked the walk... It's important to know that if Paul's elected Prosecutor, the children of Mason County will have a strong advocate looking out for them.
Paul has been married to his wife Pat for 28 years, together they have raised their sons Charlie and Jeff in Ludington and attend St. Simon’s Church.
(Readers should note that below the fold, Lisa has compiled a list of all the Democrats running for County Commission seats throughout West Michigan. Check it out!
And special kudos to the Berrien, Benzie, Cass, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lake, Manistee and Muskegon County Parties for getting full or near full slates of Commission candidates. - promoted by philgoblue)
As I was reading this article in the Grand Rapids Press about the newest "Right to Work" scheme to come out of the DeVos camp, I felt a cold chill go down my spine.
In short, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and wingnuts of West Michigan are holding a conference in Grand Rapids on September 18th and 19th where they intend to scheme to turn West Michigan into a "Right to Work" (for less) wasteland.
The article states that their intent is to discuss and plan for a "potential "Right to Work" statewide ballot initiative and possible right-to-work zones and counties."
I'm not nearly as concerned about the statewide ballot proposal as I am about the "right-to-work zones and counties" in West Michigan. A statewide ballot proposal is always tough to get passed and they'd be fighting against every Union in the state and hundreds of thousands of Union members that vote to ram a "Right-to-Work" ballot proposal through, but these "Right-to Work zones and counties"... We could be in serious trouble here in West Michigan if they actually go through with this and I've little doubt that they will go through with it.
If there's one thing I know about the DeVos clan and its minions it's this: If they're planning a way to undermine the American way of life and further erode everything that is good and right about our country... They don't just talk the talk... They actually follow through and carry out those plans.
As most of us already know, the majority of the Democratic Parties in West Michigan are pretty small, fairly disorganized, semi-fractured and not nearly as strong as we could or should be.
Unions are here in West Michigan, but they're not nearly as active in the political sphere as their Eastern Michigan counterparts.
Here in Manistee County pretty much the only involvement our county party has with organized labor is when I speak to my brother or one of my Uncles at a family gathering and this situation isn't at all unusual in West Michigan.
The republican side of the fence is communicating, planning and organized; and they've been so for years. Each of their different factions are pooling their resources and working together in concert towards achieving their nefarious goals.
I've gotten word from Nicole Young, who is the Regional Field Director for MI-02 that there are going to be two more Organizational Meetings for the Obama Campaign this week and wanted to spread the word.
Lake County
Date: Saturday - August 2nd
Time: 2:00pm
Place: Lake County Democrats Office
876 Michigan Ave
Baldwin, MI
(Just off of M-37)
If you plan on attending the Lake County Meeting, please sign up at this link on my.barackobama.com and let the Obama campaign know you're coming.
Wexford County
Date: Sunday - August 3rd
Time: 3:00pm
Place: Wexford County Council on Aging
117 Cass St.
Cadillac, MI 49601
If you plan on attending the Wexford County Meeting, please sign up at this link on my.barackobama.com and let the Obama campaign know you're coming.
TooFolkGR's Obama House Party
Date: Wednesday - July 30th (That's today!)
Time: 7:30pm
Place: TooFolkGR's House
Email at toofolkgr AT gmail.com for directions
Grand Rapids, MI
If you plan on attending TooFolkGR's Obama House Party, please email TooFolkGR and sign up for the event at this link on my.barackobama.com to let the Obama campaign know you're coming.
Note to those of you from these two counties planning on attending either one of these two meetings: If you haven't yet joined your County Democratic Party, please take the opportunity to do so at these meetings.
Obviously after 8 years of Little Lord bush winning the Presidency is extremely important, but Senator Obama is running a 50 state campaign for a reason... and that's because he knows that he can't do everything by himself, simply because he's elected President.
He's going to need our help and one of the best ways we can help is by joining our local Democratic Parties and getting involved.
I'll say more on this in a later post, but in the meantime... Join your local parties!
Well folks, it's about that time again; time for your monthly West Michigan County Party Round-up.
As always, I am sure there are plenty of things I don't know about and have left off of the schedule as a result... So just leave me a note in the comments and I'll update as needed.
I don't know about you all, but I've been running my tail off lately and it's my favorite time of the year... It's Parade Season!
Who's going to be in parades? Where and when are they at? Do you need extra volunteers to walk and pass out candy? Let us know about it!
We're trying out something new for our parades this year in Manistee. The Manistee Dems are passing out freeze pops instead of candy and they were such a HUGE hit at the 4th of July Parade that we're going to keep handing them out all summer long... They're super cheap, they're tasty, they're good even if they're a little melted and slushy and best of all...
Nobody else is giving them out, so people up and down the parade route are singing the praises of the Manistee Dems for passing them out!
I highly recommend giving them a try at your next parade. (Helpful hint: Take the freeze pops out of the box before you put them in the freezer, otherwise a lot of the pops won't freeze. I learned this the hard way, so I thought I'd warn everybody else of the dangers!) Parades are all about good PR and what better PR can a party or candidate get than giving out the best treat out of anyone on the parade route? Just remember... Make sure you have enough candy or freeze pops for the entire parade route!
People can get ugly when an entry isn't handing out treats and the last thing you want to be is the jerk entry in the parade that didn't give out any candy... People talk and this is about establishing good will within your community. Neglecting to pass out treats doesn't really help with that goal very well and it might just get you booed by the crowd... Like I said, people can get ugly if they don't get candy!
So anywho, you're County Party Round-up can be found after the jump...
Hosting the Michigan Energy Fair is a great source of pride for Manistee County and we owe a big debt of gratitude to our (Democratic!) county commissioner Allen O'Shea for his tireless efforts in attracting the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association to hold their event in our beautiful county.
The fair is open to the public and the gates open this Friday morning (June 27th) and continue throughout Sunday night. The keynote speakers for the event are as follows: Governor Granholm will be giving the welcoming address Friday at 2:30pm, Dr. Richard Blieden of LUMA Resources will be speaking Saturday at 6:00pm and David Konkle; Energy Coordinator of the City of Ann Arbor will be speaking Saturday evening at 6:30 pm.
Saturday is Kid's Day and the kiddos will get to play fun carnival games while learning about energy and I've been assured there will be prizes for everyone! There will also be crafts and face painting in the kid's tent and I will be there with my niece and nephews so be sure to look for me there... I should be easy to spot, as I'll probably be the only adult with her face painted. :-)
There is also going to be a tour of a super efficient hybrid home that is located nearby and an electric bus will be ferrying fairgoers to and fro throughout the day. I've heard this home is absolutely amazing and well worth the extra $5.00 for the bus ride, so don't miss it!
There is going to be an electric car, wind turbines, solar and just about everything you could ever hope to see in your wildest renewable energy dreams, so be there or be square! Check out the website and if you have any questions about finding directions, food or lodging; send me an email and I'll do my best to help you find what you need... If you're going to stay for the weekend, I highly recommend camping. It's cheap (and depending on how much you want to rough it, it can even be free) and this is going to be a gorgeous weekend to spend in Northern Michigan's great outdoors.
Also, if you don't want to pay to get in or are strapped for cash you can sign-up to volunteer through the Michigan Energy Fair website... For just a couple of hours of volunteering you get free entry into the fair AND a free t-shirt!
Just imagine, you can have an entirely free mini-vacation here in lovely Manistee County if you're willing to volunteer and camp. All you'll have to pay for is gas and your food, so what are you waiting for?
I've just gotten notice from the Mason County Dems that their Headquarters Grand Opening Party that was scheduled for 7:00pm tonight has been canceled due to the current State of Emergency in Mason County.
The Mason Dems have not rescheduled the event at this time, but I will post another update when they've scheduled a replacement date.
For those of you that don't know, if you thought Manistee got hit bad by the Friday the 13th storm... Mason County was hit worse.
A portion of their county is still underwater, lines burst and there is now raw sewage in both their waterlines and Lake Michigan. There are a lot of roads closed in Mason County due to flooding and some those roads were completely washed away during the storm.
It's just a disaster and my heart goes out to everyone in Mason County.
For those of you that were worried... we made through last night's hellacious storm alive. Our poor little shed didn't fare as well and our pup Fergus might have permanent psychological damage, but Adam and I are a-okay!
I've taken some video and photos today around our neighborhood of some of the aftermath of last night's storm. Here's a link to a nifty slideshow and here's a video of a park near my house.
District 20 Kalamazoo Robert Jones District 21 Berrien, Cass, Van Buren
Scott Elliott District 24 Allegan, Barry, Eaton
Michelle DiSano District 28 Kent (part)
Robin Golden District 29 Kent (part) David LaGrand District 30 Ottawa
John Chester District 34 Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Newaygo Mary Valentine District 35 Northwest LP Roger Dunigan District 37 Grand Traverse & north Bob Carr
Michigan State House Candidates
District 59 (St. Joseph & Cass Counties)
Carol Higgins District 60 (Kalamazoo) Sean McCann District 61 (Kalamazoo) Thomas Batten District 63 (Kalamazoo)
David Morgan District 70 (Ionia & Montcalm Counties) Mike Huckleberry District 72 (Kentwood & Cascade)
Brian Bosak District 73 (Kent County)
Jerrod Roberts District 74 (Ottawa County)
Leon Chase District 75 (Grand Rapids) Brandon Dillon District 76 (Grand Rapids) Roy Schmidt District 77 (Wyoming)
Scott Baron District 78 (Berrien County) Cindy Ellis District 79 (Berrien County) Julee Laurent District 80 (VanBuren) Tom Erdmann District 86 (Kent County)
Frank Hammond District 87 (Barry & Ionia Counties)
Greg Grieves District 89 (Ottawa County)
Donald Bergman District 91 (Muskegon)
Ben Gillette District 92 (Muskegon)
Marcia Hovey-Wright District 100 (Newaygo, Lake, and Oceana Counties)
Donald Bergman District 101 (Northwest) Dan Scripps
County Commissions Candidates
Allegan County Commission
9 Fritz Spreitzer (I)
10 April Carvalho
Barry County Commission
1 Bob Dickinson
Benzie County Commission
3 Kristin Hollenbeck (I)
4 Anne Damm (I)
6 Donald Tanner (I)
Berrien County Commission
3 Marletta Seats (I)
4 Mamie Yarbrough (I)
10 Andrew Vavra (I)
11 Jess Minks
12 Michael Ringler
13 John Klimek (I)
Cass County Commission
1 Ed Goodman (I)
7 David Taylor (I)
9 Judy Helpingstine
11 Clark Cobb (I)
12 Minnie Warren (I)
13 Johnie Rodebush (I)
14 Debbie Johnson (I)
Grand Traverse County Commission
1 Bernol Soutar
Ionia County Commission
1 Lynn Mason (I)
4 Mark Vroman (I)
Kalamazoo County Commission
1 Jack Urban (I)
2 Carolyn Alford (I)
3 Robert Barnard (I)
4 John Taylor (I)
5 Brian Johnson (I)
6 Mike Seals
7 David Buskirk (I)
9 Chuck Vliek
10 Michael Quinn (I)
11 Barb Hammon
12 Scott McCormick
13 Harvey Hanna
15 Leroy Crabtree
16 Thomas Post
17 Jerry Rudolph
Kent County Commission
1 Mary Lauka
2 Patricia Kramer
3 James Black
4 Fred Clowney
6 James Rinck
7 Al Nielsen
8 Keith Courtade (I)
9 Duane Sprague
10 Albert Abbasse
11 Russell Duffin
12 Pete Hickey (I)
13 Kyle Hinton
14 Carol Hennessy (I)
15 Dick Bulkowski (I)
16 Jim Talen (I)
17 Candace Chivis
18 Richard Tormala
19 Bob Synk (I)
Leelanau County Commission
3 Jason Harrall
6 David Marshall (I)
7 Karl Dungjen
Manistee County Commission
2 Marlene E. Wood-Zylstra
3 Glenn Lottie (I)
4 Ervin A. Kowalski (I)
5 Karl R. Waitner
6 Jim Krolczyk (I)
7 Carl Rutske (I)
Montcalm County Commission
1 Ronald C. Blanding (I)
Mason County Commission
5 Jerome Rybicki (I)
8 David Fonnesbeck
Musekgon County Commission
1 Kenneth Mahoney (I)
2 Charles Buzzell (I)
4 James Derezinski (I)
5 Carl Wentzlof
6 Lew Collins (I)
7 Scott Plummer
8 Anthony Longmire
9 Rillastine Wilkins
10 Benjamin Cross
11 John Jurkas
Newaygo County Commission
1 Barbara Geno (I)
5 Rick Werkema
Oceana County Commission
1 David Spitler
5 Evelyn Kolbe (I)
Ottawa County Commission
3 Jeff Williams
Van Buren County Commission
1 Claudia Maddox
3 Al Hughes
As part of our ongoing candidate profile series I asked Nate Heffron who is the Chair of the Wexford County Democratic Party and Democratic candidate in the 102nd State House District a few questions and here are his answers:
