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The 2009 primary election in Detroit began with 234 eligible candidates on the ballot. The 234 candidates does not include any write-in candidates or the former council member, Monica Conyers, who name appeared on the ballot, but was deemed ineligible after her legal troubles. After tabulating the votes from the 629 precincts to determine the top vote-getters for the office of Mayor, City Clerk, City Council, Charter Commission, and Board of Education At-Large who will be moving on to the November 3rd general election, only 48 candidates remain on the ballot.
The top vote-getters for each position were the following:
- For Mayor, it was Dave Bing at 74%, equaling 68,623 votes.
- For City Clerk, it was Janice M. Winfrey at 83%, equaling 73,230 votes.
- For City Council, it was Charles Pugh at 9%, equaling 59,560 votes.
- For Charter Commission, it was Freman Hendrix at 11%, equaling 46,363 votes.
- For Board of Education At-Large, it was Ida C. Short at 10.2%, equaling 20,863 votes.
Due to the past misconduct of elected individuals, the voters selected and voted for candidates who would bring change along with effectiveness.
Most of the average voters who I communicated with about the primary election, spoke about the mayoral and city council race. Most of the voters knew little about the candidates for charter commission. Not only did they not know of the candidates, but they knew little about the position of charter commission. Voters must understand the duties and responsibilities of this important position. Undoubtedly, one of the most important races in the upcoming general election is for the position of charter commission.
The charter commission has an important task to update the city charter. The city charter is the Constitution governing the city government that defines the powers and how the government is to be structured. The charter commission will review and formulate charter proposals by soliciting ideas from residents, city staff, city employees, experts, and elected officials to better define the roles of the mayor's office and city council. Other duties will include making the charter more flexible and reflective of changing circumstances, making the charter less vague and easier to read, all at the same time while addressing the form, structure, powers, and procedures of city government.
Some of the ideas that some of the charter commission candidates plan to address include:
- Electing members of city council by district.
- Clarifying procedures to remove unethical elected officials.
- Addressing the checks and balances along with the powers of elected officials.
- Possibly establishing term limits for city elected officials.
- Clarifying the confirmation process of appointees and city contracts.
- Considering having an appointee for a position such as police chief to undergo city council confirmation.
- Clarifying who the city's top lawyer represents when the mayor and city council disagree.
- Determining which departments are obsolete or overlap and to streamlining city departments.
- Considering allowing city council members to select their own council president instead of it being the top vote-getter.
As you can see, the charter commission is an important position with an important task. There will be 18 candidates on the November 3rd general election ballot for nine positions.
Voters, please research the candidates. Please review their literature. Please review the content of the candidate's website. There are many ways and means to get to know the candidates before the election. You have plenty of time.
The charter commission can be looked at like the "framers" of the city charter. This is a serious position, and we need serious, competent, and capable candidates. This position is not about name recognition.
Do you remember how important the framers of the U.S Constitution were?
For information on Dave Bing, who was the top vote-getter for mayor, please visit www.bingformayor.com .
For information on Janice M. Winfrey, who was the top vote-getter for city clerk, please visit www.ci.detroit.mi.us/legislative/CityClerk/clerk_main.htm
For information on Charles Pugh, who was the top vote-getter for city council, please visit www.pughforcouncil.com
Currently, I don't have the website information for the top vote-getters for charter commission or school board at-large.
For primary election results, please visit www.vote4detroit.com .
For more information about the candidates, please visit www.mivote.org
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