Two dozen candidates meet the public at Women’s Club event

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
About two dozen candidates running in the Nov. 4 General Election met with the public at the Oct. 2 Meet the Candidates’ night at the Moose Lodge in Sumpter Township.
The event was put on by the Belleville Area Women’s Club, as a follow up to its Meet the Candidates’ event leading up to the August Primary Election.
Shelly Brown-Chudzinski, president of the Women’s Club, moderated the event, calling to the microphone the candidates by name, starting with U.S. Congress. Speakers got three minutes to introduce themselves.
Debbie Dingell, the Democratic candidate for the position now held by her husband, was a last-minute cancellation. Brown announced that Dingell said she couldn’t come because her husband just got out of the hospital.
Terry Bowman, the Republican candidate for the position, did get up and speak, saying he lives in the district and works at the Rawsonville Ford Plant.
He protested the Dingells keeping the Congressional seat in the “family dynasty” for 85 years.
Bowman spoke about the Affordable Care Act and how voters were told they could keep their insurance and keep their doctors, “and it just isn’t true.” He referred to the “49ers,” the business owners unwilling to have 50 employees because of the Affordable Care Act, and the “29ers” who arenunwilling to have workers at 30 hours because that is considered full-time employment for the Affordable Care Act.
Bowman said he would work for an energy policy and common-sense government.
Sharon Curson of Sumpter Township then came to the candidates’ microphone and spoke on behalf of Dingell. Curson said she has known Debbie Dingell for 30 years.
Curson gave Dingell’s background and pointed out she walked two miles in high heels in the Sumpter Fest Parade because she wants to serve this district.
Curson said Dingell will fight for and move forward for families and is in favor of raising the minimum wage.
Running for state senator from District 6 are Republican Darrell McNeill and incumbent Democrat Hoon-Yung Hopgood. Both of them got lost on the way to Sumpter, but showed up near the end of the event to give a few remarks.
Bill LaVoy, Democratic incumbent state Representative from District 17, that includes Sumpter Township, welcomed the crowd to Sumpter Township.
Rep. LaVoy said he is business- and labor-friendly and will work to help draw the people out of poverty.
Charles Londo, running as a Republican in District 17, spoke against Common Core and attacks on religious beliefs, including the right to say God in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Londo said there are many good jobs out there but people don’t have the skills. He said they need to create training for those jobs.
Kristy Pagan, running for state representative in District 21, which covers Belleville and Van Buren Township, is seeking to fill the position being vacated by Dian Slavens, who is term limited. (Rep. Slavens, D, is running for state senate against this area’s incumbent Sen. Pat Colbeck, R, now set to represent another area because of redistricting.)
Pagan said she was born in Belleville and graduated from the Plymouth-Canton schools. After college she went to Washington, D.C. and worked at the U.S. Senate. She now works at Wayne State University to make higher education more affordable to students.
Pagan said she will work to invest in education, advocate for senior citizens, and fix our roads. “I lost three tires myself last winter,” she said.
Carol Ann Fausone, who is running as a Republican for state representative in District 21, could not be present because she is on the Board of Trustees of Madonna University and had a longstanding commitment to introduce someone at a program that night. Carol Gomes read a statement from Fausone, a nurse who spent 36 years in the Air Force and is the first woman Brigadier General in Michigan. She started a small business and so understands what that entails, she said.
“I’m not in the race to launch a career in politics, but to help the people,” Gomes read.
Erika Geiss is running as a Democrat for state representative in District 12 (which covers a portion of VBT) to take the place of her husband who is term-limited and running for senate in his district. She said she is the daughter of an educator and teaches at Wayne County Community College.
“I understand the need of having a strong educational system,” she said, adding her second priority is jobs and the economy, and her third priority strong and healthy families and communities.
Kelly Thompson, running as a Republican for state representative in District 12, said she went to Belleville High School and has lived in Romulus for the past 17 years. She works as an attorney at 36th District Court and does legal work for The Salvation Army, and teaches at WCCC.
She said she hasn’t been able to find a job since she got out of law school and does volunteer work. She said Michigan needs to keep people from leaving the state to find work.
“The American Dream is to actually make it,” Thompson said. “We need to make some changes.”
Senator Hopgood said he is a Democrat with a big D and believes in the small d of democracy. He said he represents 10 communities and now will cover this area because of redistricting. He said he is passionate about education and spent time on the Appropriations Committees in both the state House and Senate.
McNeill, who is running for Hopgood’s senate seat, said he is a lifelong resident of Taylor, a Navy veteran (1971-74) and has been in the cable business for 30 years. He said he is pro-capitalism and pro-small government.
Questions from the audience written on cards were answered by the candidates who had spoken and then the session moved on to the more-local candidates.
Lisa Martin, who is running for 34th District Court Judge, said she has spent six month knocking on doors to seek this position. She and her husband have lived in VBT for eight years.
She got an undergraduate degree at Harvard University, a law degree at the University of Michigan, and has been practicing law for 16 years.
Martin said she practices exclusively in district courts, including Romulus, Detroit, Ypsilanti, and Pontiac. When asked what she hopes to bring to the bench, she replied, “We’d like to see some diversity on the bench.”
34th District Court Judge David Parrott, who is running for reelection, said he has lived in Belleville for 28 years and been a lawyer for 28 years. He has 12 years of judicial experience because, “You have elected me twice.”
He said he handles 27,000 cases a year, with his name on them for which he is responsible, and there are 24,000 new cases each year. The average clearance rate is 100%. He started Batterer’s Court, which is working very well, and every elected official in the court district supports him for reelection.
Then, the 13 candidates that are running for school board and district library board were introduced. These candidates brought lots of questions written out on the cards and after more than two hours of the session had passed Brown-Chudzinski noted they are still “overwhelmed with questions,” but will have to stop because of the lateness of the hour.
Members of the audience came up to the candidates after the meeting to talk to them and ask more questions. Others went to the food table where free refreshments and snacks were being offered by the Women’s Club.