The Enterprise

Area Mayors Unite for Barnett

This even may be unprecedented, but came as absolutely no surprise. Barnett, McShane and Bush have been good friends - merger talk notwithstanding - for many years:

In an unprecedented move, former Farmington and Farmington Hills mayors have united to support Vicki Barnett in her Democratic bid for state House.
“What makes this event important is the fact that the current Farmington Hills mayor and former mayors from both communities who hold political views on both sides of the aisle have come together to support the one candidate they believe transcends political party, and has the skills to unite members of the Legislature to solve Michigan’s problems,” said JoAnne McShane, former mayor and current Farmington council member.
McShane and former mayor Mary Bush, and a mayors’ committee, will host The Mayors Soirée, a fundraiser for Barnett Friday, June 13 at McShane’s residence.
The fundraiser will bring together Farmington Hills Mayor Jerry Ellis, and former Farmington and Farmington Hills mayors Joanne Smith, Dick Tupper, Aldo Vagnozzi and Ralph Yoder.
Barnett, former two-term Farmington Hills mayor and two-term city council member, is seeking election to the seat that will soon be vacated by term-limited state Rep. Vagnozzi.
The 27-year Farmington Hills resident is the immediate past president of the Michigan Municipal League and a financial advisor with LPL Financial on Middlebelt Road.
For more information about the Mayors Soirée, contact Barnett at 248-933-VOTE (8683).

Interesting side note: Among the familiar community names on this press release: former Farmington Observer editor Joanne Maliszewski, as press contact.

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Lerner’s e-mail magic

This came to us not only directly through Republican primary contender Richard Lerner’s e-mail list, but also forwarded from a Lerner supporter - thus proving the point:
Our first email blast reached 127 people. We asked everyone to forward it on to a friend, and by our second mailing, the list had grown to 323. This email, our third, is reaching 811 people. So the network of friends and family has been growing by leaps and bounds, and we appreciate the efforts to help us deliver the message. The friend-to-friend network is a very powerful tool, and we can’t begin to thank you enough for forwarding these to friends and family and asking them to join our email list.

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Welday still believes in dog biscuits

We ran into Paul Welday Friday evening after the Jill Jack concert in Downtown Farmington ended abruptly, with a downpour. He had just come from going door-to-door, so I had to ask whether he still carries dog biscuits. He does - and says they’re very effective.  Mr. Welday also advises letting the dog know who’s in charge.

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Leib’s challenge of Judge Kuhn holds

Farmington Hills’ home-grown entry in the race for Oakland County prosecutor Larry Leib emerged victorious from a legal challenge to the candidacy of a retired Oakland County judge. Here’s why he filed the lawsuit (taken from a press release on Leib’s campaign Web site:

On May 13, the filing deadline, Judge Richard D. Kuhn filed as a candidate (for Oakland County Prosecutor). Judge Kuhn sat as a “visiting judge” as recently as May 2, 2008. Therefore, on May 20 the Leib campaign file  a request with the Oakland County Circuit Court for a “declaratory” ruling as to the eligibility of Judge Kuhn as a partisan candidate.
The Leib campaign learned earlier that week that the Oakland County Clerk told a judicial accountability group that it was uncertain of its authority to act on information Judge Kuhn had “not considered” his obligations under the Michigan Constitution (Article VI, Sec. 21, see attached Attorney General Opinion) to wait at least a year before running for partisan office.
Kuhn argues that performing “judicial duties” is not the same as being a “judge”. However, the Leib campaign believes that the provision is designed to protect the “separation of powers” under the Michigan Constitution. This is a valuable consideration unto itself, regardless of the politics of the situation.

According to one Attorney General Opinion, the clause seeks to honor the noble and important purpose of “divorcing the judiciary from the political arena.”

Leib’s attorneys, Michael J. Devine and Jeff Leib, filed the request for a “declaratory judgment” because published reports also indicated that the Oakland County Clerk – Ruth Johnson – referred the matter to Oakland County Corporation Counsel, which then issued a letter declaring that it was uncertain of who or whether the Clerk had authority to remove the judge from the ballot. Published reports suggest that even Secretary of State Bureau of Elections specialists believe that no previous case of this nature has ever been raised. Perhaps this is because this provision has never previously been tested by a candidate who was so recently a judge.
In the wake of such uncertainty, it is even more important to seek clarification of this pressing legal issue. The lawsuit is not a criticism either of the Oakland County Clerk or even Judge Kuhn, whose public service ironically dates back to being a delegate in 1962 to the very Constitutional Convention where this very provision was adopted.

–Joni Hubred-Golden
Michigan Woman blogger