Newcomer Don Wickstra a fresh breeze in Senate race

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor

The 26th District State Senate primary contest Aug. 7 will feature candidates who have played musical chairs to game the term limits system that has plagued Michigan politics for 22 years.

Term limits has forced two-term Senator Tonya Schuitmaker to step down, but don’t worry, instead she’ll be on the statewide ballot for the Republican nomination for attorney general. Meanwhile, the two most prominent replacement wannabes also come from the skirting term limits game — Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski of Saugatuck and former Michgan Lottery Commissioner Aric Nesbitt of Lawton.

Both Genetski and Nesbitt served three two-year terms in the Michigan House of Representatives before being artificially retired, but both were able to continue feeding at the public trough. Though Genetski has had the impertinence to continue as clerk while he campaigns for a different job, Nesbitt has showed a peculiar brand of decency by resigning his cushy appointed state position.

I was all set to endorse an empty chair in this race until I was impressed by a couple of presentations by the other Republican candidate, Don Wickstra, a dentist from Hamilton. Not only is he not a product of the musical chairs, get-around-term-limits game, he also presents a fresh breath of air in the midst of the stale political smoke being blown by Genetski and Nesbitt.

Wickstra, noting the GOP has politically owned the Michigan House, the Senate and the Governor’s chair for the last eight consecutive years, he said he isn’t satisfied with the State Legislature’s performance, especially on roads. A Planning Commission member,  he has charged lawmakers with passing laws that are “more headline grabbing than problem solving.” He  maintains he would bring a fresh perspective to Lansing.

My kind of guy — acknowledges the problems and pledges to fix them.

There really isn’t a dime’s worth of political difference between Nesbitt and Genetski. The latter has the added baggage of getting caught driving while impaired by alcohol, telling alarming “fake news” tall tales about the high school anti-gun activists in Parkland, Fla., and turning his back on all those teachers who voted for him in 2008 in his crucial first primary run, in which he received only 25.3% of the vote.

Both impress me as classic politicians who game the system. I say get rid of them and instead elect a newcomer who has the guts to acknowledge problems and offer solutions. What have we got to lose? Choose Wickstra.

The 26th State Senate District includes all of Allegan and Van Buren counties and the City of Kentwood and Gaines Towsnhip in Kent County.