At about 3 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28, Brandon Mullins sent out an email to members of the local press announcing he was withdrawing his name as a candidate for the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education.
His two-page statement said that the school board doesn’t fit his needs for a broad forum to promote the community.
Mullins said shortly after the Meet the Candidates’ forum put on by the Women’s Club, he talked to people and he decided he is a promotions person interested in promoting the community. He would be a single-issue candidate, he said.
He said he tried to set up a film office in Belleville and is involved with the Masonic Lodge.
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 8, and his name will remain on the ballot since the ballots were printed weeks ago. Absentee voting already has started.
Although he said he isn’t running, people can still vote for him and he could be elected to one of the two seats open.
On Friday, Mullins said if he happens to get elected anyway, he would serve. He said he was quoting Dwight D. Eisenhower in saying, “If they want me, they want me.”
Van Buren Township Elections Clerk Joanne Montgomery said Friday that the official time for withdrawing from the election was 4 p.m., Aug. 19, and so Mullins is officially on the ballot.
“It’s his option to tell the people he’s not interested,” Montgomery said.
If Mullins is not considered by voters, left in the running for the two open, four-year seats, are three longtime board members: Incumbent President Martha Toth, Incumbent Vice President Bob Binert, former Board President David Peer, and two newcomers, Brent Mikulski and Martha Hanoian.