West Michigan Rising - Recommended Diaries

Special Master finds against Judge Servaas

greee — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:52:47 GMT

In a report dated May 12, 2008 retired Circuit Court Judge Casper O. Grathwohl found for the Judicial Tenure Commission and against Judge Servaas on two of the three Counts in the Complaint filed by the JTC.

Count II, which Special Master Grathwohl recommended be dismissed, alleged that Judge Servaas failed to change his voter registration when he moved from Cannon to Ada Township. While Judge Servaas had admitted this in his Answer to the Complaint, the Special Master found that this civil infraction did not rise to the level of Judicial misconduct.

Count II of the Complaint contained the allegations that Judge Servaas doodled a penis and a breast of post-it notes, and that he made a comment about an employee's breast size. The Report found that all of these events occurred and constituted violations of various Canons of Judicial Conduct, the Michigan Court Rules and, in the case of the comment to the Court employee, violated the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
The Report also found that, by moving out of the First Division and into the Second Division of the 63rd District Court, Judge Servaas vacated his judicial office. The Report states that: "The office remains vacant today."

The last finding is of particular interest to those who have had business in front of the 63-1 Court over the last two and one half years. Judge Servaas changed his residence in August of 2005, and the Report in effect has found that Servaas has not been a Judge since the move. If this finding is upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court, there will be an avalanche of motions filed in the 63-1 District Court to overturn adverse decisions made by Judge Servaas (or any jury) after the date he moved to Ada Township.

The Report can be found here.

State of the Newaygo County Commission 2008 Primary

Jason — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:30:25 GMT

Summary

All but one of the current Newaygo County Commissioners will be running for re-election. The Board is currently composed entirely of Republicans, all of whom will be facing challengers in their primary. In addition, three districts will be challenged in November by Democrats.

The Newaygo County Board of Commissioners is divided into seven districts. You can find more information on the Board (and a map) at their website.

Below the fold I'll detail the upcoming races in each district and provide a little historical background (if I happen to know any!) on the candidates.
District 1: Current Commissioner Julia Bird is not running for re-election. This district will have a crowded primary on the Republican side with three candidates vying for the seat. Those candidates are Gerald Derks, Jr., Dave Stout and Julius Trapp. Gerald Derks is a former Board member. He was elected to represent this district in 2000 and 2002 (note that the data I have only goes back to 2000). Julius Trapp previously ran for this seat against Julia Bird in 2006. Dave Stout appears to be a newcomer to the Commissioner elections.

This district will also be contested by Democrat Barbara Geno in November. She is running unopposed in the Democratic Primary.

Recent electoral history: The last time this district was contested in the General was in 2002. Republican candidate Gerald Derks, Jr. received 1,240 votes and Democratic candidate Paul Kirk received 801 votes.

District 2: Commissioner Chuck Trapp will be running for re-election. He will face Rosswell Fulton, Jr. in the Republican primary. Fulton won election to the Board in 2002 and 2004 but lost to Trapp in 2006. There is no Democratic challenger for this district in 2008.

District 3: My district! Commissioner Stanley Nieboer will be running for re-election. He faces a challenge from Victor Du Bois in the Republican primary. Du Bois is the editor (and owner?) of the magazine Fremont Legacy. This magazine seems to be everywhere in Fremont. There are no Democratic challengers in this district.

District 4: Commissioner Robert VanBelzen will be running for re-election. He will be facing James Maike, Jr. in the Republican primary. Maike is a former member of the Board from this district and was elected to the commissioner position in 2002 and 2004. He lost to VanBelzen in 2006.

The winner of this primary will face Democrat Catherine Kellerman in November. She is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Recent electoral history: Election Magic shows no Democratic challengers in this district since at least 2000.

District 5: Commissioner Adam Wright will be running for re-election. He will face Lavern Willett for the second time in the Republican primary. Willett was previously elected to the board in 2002 and served for a single term. He did not run in 2004.

The winner of that primary will face Democrat Rick Werkema in November. He is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Recent electoral history: This district was last contested in 2004. Lavern Willett received 1,222 votes, Democrat Louis Derwin received 856 votes and write-in candidate Gerard Deschaine received 291 votes. Deschaine lost to Willett in the Republican primary previously that year.

District 6: Commissioner Pat Gardner is running for re-election this year. Gardner was appointed to Board in 2005 after Timothy Purcell's resignation. He will face Terry Harrison in the Republican primary. There are no Democratic challengers in this district.

District 7: Commissioner Daniel Powell is seeking another term in 2008. He will face Simon Scholtens in the Republican primary. There are no Democratic challengers in this district.

Cross-posted from Integrating the Derivative.

After 4 PM this afternoon... (MI SOS deadline for Candidate Filing)

Bill_Kim — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:40:07 GMT

Today, May 13th, at 4:00 PM was the deadline for filing as a candidate for office, to appear on the Aug. 5th Primary ballot. I was there turning in some additional signatures that the Fred Johnson for Congress campaign has gathered in the past week, since we turned in our initial filing.

A little after 5:00, the SOS office updated their unofficial candidate listing. I thought people here might be interested in it.
So here is the list from the MI Secretary of State's website of the Democratic candidates for regions covered by WMR (based, I think, on the map on our logo). It doesn't include judicial races, which we all know are important, because honestly I have no idea which circuit courts are where, or which judges are progressive and which ones aren't.

I also left all the Republicans off of the list.

UNITED STATES SENATOR 6 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Levin, Carl

2ND DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Johnson, Fred

3RD DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Sanchez, Henry

6TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Cooney, Don

60TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Jones, Robert B.

61ST DISTICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION 08061000
DEM Brown, Alan E.
DEM Rogers, Julie M.

63RD DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Smith, Phyllis A.

72ND DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Abbasse, Albert S.

73RD DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Hawley, Bruce A.

74TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Chase, Leon E.

75TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Dean, Robert

76TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Schmidt, Roy

77TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Geerlings, Charles J.

78TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Truesdell, Judy

79TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Hahn, Jim

80TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
Olson, Jessie N.

86TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Casalina, Melissa

87TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Grieves, Greg

88TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Clark, Tom

89TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM VanderZouwen, James
DEM Winslow, Timothy R.

90TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Stauffer, Clay W.

91ST DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Valentine, Mary

92ND DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Bennett, Doug

100TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Richards, Bill

101ST DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Scripps, Dan

102nd DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Heffron, Nate

104TH DISTRICT STATE REPRESENTATIVE 2 YEAR TERM (1) POSITION
DEM Grucz, Roman

Adam Rosema's Hat is Officially In The Drain

Muskegon Critic — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:58:28 GMT

Adam Rosema is officially running against Marty Hulka for Muskegon County Drain Commissioner on the Democratic ticket this November. Marty Hulka has been our Drain Commissioner since 1977 and is currently in some political and legal hot water, leaving the Democratically held office in potential peril. Mr. Rosema will bring much needed change to the office while keeping it in Democratic hands.

Drain Commissioner? Who Cares About Drain Commissioner?

As carbon based life forms whose bodies are over 70% water, we should be deeply concerned about the Drain Commissioner office and who holds it. This is the person who keeps our water clean and keeps the county drains clear to reduce flooding, mosquito infestations, and dangerous runoff that can reduce water quality. The drain commissioner even helps settle land and water disputes.

This is the guy who goes out into the field to clear drains and schlog through tough terrain with farmers to address their problems and disputes and work with developers to approve and establish building plans. He or she needs to be in good physical condition, needs to be polite, and needs to be a good listener and field negotiator. This is not a job for the weak of heart, body, or mind.

Think Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Chanel. This is the person who works behind the scenes dealing with water issues so we can live normal, healthy lives and not worry about it.

And So We Need Adam Rosema For This Office

He has the brains and the background. He has a degree in Natural Resources Management and has been working for the county for eight years as an environmental quality sanitarian doing residential well and septic inspections for the Health Department.

He has the ingenuity and physical toughness. He built his own house in North Muskegon, and works in the field inspecting residential drains.

And he has a firm knowledge of emerging technologies that improve the efficiency and quality of water management.

What Will Adam Change?

He will maintain better relationships with local government agencies and citizens.

He will maintain the water management systems with an emphasis on water quality and waterway protection.

He will integrate technology into the drain commissioner's office, digitally mapping all the county drains and utilize the Geographical Information System (GIS) technology that the county equalization office has in order to make the drain information accessible to the public.

It's Time For Change

Marty Hulka has served this community proudly for over thirty years, since 1977. And for that, he deserves our respect and thanks. But it's time for a change. We need to bring this office into the 21st century and infuse it with new spirit and technology. And that, my reader, is Adam Rosema.

This article was not paid for by anybody. It's just me. What can I say? I like Adam. I know him personally. He's quite an incredible guy with a most excellent family. He's the sort of person who decides what needs to be done, then does it, and does it well.

Take Action to Get Democracy Now! On the Local Airwaves

velo — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:41:39 GMT

Many of you have already signed a petition to get Democracy Now! on both 88.1 FM WYCE radio and WGVU TV Channel 35 in Grand Rapids. This media alert is the last push in this campaign to get the award winning show with Amy Goodman on the local airwaves in our community.

Here is what you can do in the next few days:

1) Sign the Petition online and get others to do the same no later than May 19:

http://www.mediamouse.org/campaigns/dn-petition.php

2) We need as many people as possible to come to the May 20 Board of Directors meeting of the Community Media Center to lobby for them to air Democracy Now! on 88.1 FM WYCE. The meeting is at 6pm at the Wealthy Theatre, 1130 Wealthy. Everyone will have a chance during public comment to speak on why you want Democracy Now! to air on this community radio station.

3) If you cannot make the meeting on May 20, you can send an e-mail to the Executive Director of the Community Media Center Laurie Cirivello laurie@grcmc.org. We are also delivering petitions to WGVU TV Channel 35 next week, so we encourage you to send an e-mail to Michael T. Walenta, the station manager of WGVU:

http://www.wgvu.org/about/contactWGVU.html

Also, please encourage others to sign up for future Media Alerts by going to:

http://www.mediamouse.org/griid/contact.php

- The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID)
http://www.mediamouse.org/griid/