EDITOR”S NOTE: My motto ever since launching this on-line rag has been, “I report what I see and hear. And sometimes I comment on it.”
With that in mind, the following is the fifth and final installment of a series of political endorsements or positions for the Aug. 2 primary election, which is only four days away:
The most difficult endorsement of this fast-approaching election this season has been the race for Dorr Township clerk. The other race, for supervisor, is as easy as pie.
Not that I would have endorsed Patty Senneker anyway, but her failure to appear at Tuesday night’s candidate forum made it all that much easier to recommend incumbent Jeff Miling for supervisor.
Essentially, it boils down to this: Not showing up to debate your political opponent is about the same as not bothering to show up for a job interview with the public. I could borrow a famous phase from Donald Trump, and I will: “Patty, you’re fired!”
The most difficult choice in Tuesday’s primary is the contest between incumbent Brian Boot and challenger Debbie Sewers.
I have been impressed with Sewers’ campaign moxie, going door to door, doing the tough work in the political arena. It very well could result in her election. I’ve also been impressed with what I’ve heard from area clerks who know the job who have told me she has gained valuable experience in handling elections.
But there is one huge problem. Half of the clerk’s job is functional in record keeping and handling elections, but the clerk is also a voting member of the Township Board.
I had heard plenty of rumors that Ms. Sewers somehow connected with the local wrecking crew of Senneker, John Tuinstra and Bernie Schumaker. I asked her about it. She neither confirmed nor denied.
However, an answer to a crucial question gave her away last Tuesday night.
After Boot said he unequivocally supports the thre-mill request to pave, improve and repair township roads, Sewers criticized the current board for allowing the one mill for roads to lapse. She said the board should go back to the drawing board and spend its money more wisely.
The example she gave amounted a mere pittance of what it would take to take care of the township’s roads.
What Sewers did was take a chapter from the Senneker-Tuinstra-Schumaker Book of Obstructionist Politics.
Dorr Township cannot afford more obstructionism, more micro-managing and more of the vitriol that has dominated its local politics and made it the laughing stock of Allegan County.
As for Brian Boot, anyone who has read this on-line rag knows I mercilessly hammered him in his first six months as clerk, but rather than take offense and dig in his heels, he has worked hard since then to make improvements. All he needs now is to master handling elections, which has been Sewers’ strong suit.
But politics matters a lot when somebody is voting. On those grounds alone, I believe Boot is the superior choice.
PHOTOS: Brian Boot Jeff Miling
Strange as it is the Editor and I agree on the vast majority of local issues not however on most national and State issues. As a conservative Republican I agree with his editorial.