City Council Candidates

[Jmil]

det_ard, no I don't get it, and obviously neither do you.

"name recognition" is a tired phrase the ill informed use to explain why they can't get THEIR candidate elected. How are you supposed to elect someone ? throw darts?

"name recognition" is neither good or bad. It is achieved in various ways. As I have explained on numerous occassions over the years.

Some examples of "name recognition"

1) Endorsement by various groups [[business, religious, social, etc)
2) Active involvment in community
3) Achieving success in professional career
4) Belonging to a organization[[s)
5) Buying advertisment
6) MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
7) and yes, having a famous surname

These are just a few ways to achieve "name recognition", none of them bad. Also none of them sure ways to get elected.

Regardless of how many names are on the ballot, you must do your homework BEFORE you cast your vote. That is YOUR responsibility.

There are six names I suggest you avoid that have high name recognition. [[see current council)

[Jmil]

det_ard, LOL - see izzyindetroit post to further my point.

Also, your Joel Loving point shoots down the folks that want council by district. He ran in a district. Had he run city wide, the results may have been different.

[Jmil]

This is "name recognition" I would not want
http://detnews.com/article/20090701/...rs-endorsement

This guy, according to Nolan Finley is on the Detroit Regional Chamber and Detroit Renaissance endorsement list. http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...etroit-council

[PSewick]

I'm waiting for the Michigan Citizen to ensorse candidates, just so that I'll be sure who NOT to vote for.

[Danny]

We need NEW LEADERSHIP. Detroiters, vote for Charles Pugh.

[Det_ard]

Jmil, your list of ways to achieve name recognition contains many ways that I consider legitimate. The method I have a problem with is where a candidate has little in the way of relevent accomplishments but has a well-recognized name due to family ties or celebrity status. The less disciplined voter uses the familiarity of the name as a substitute for doing their own research. They vote for someone they "know" over the other candidates. Candidates end up getting elected who would otherwise have no legimate chance.

This isn't something that only happens in the city. There's a bunch of judges in the tri-county area who owe their success to sharing the last names of a few long-time prominent judges. Then there's the moron on the DPS board who changed his first name to "Reverend" and apparently captured the votes of the ignorant faithful.

[Brittz]

Just make sure Ken Cockrel is not back on council.

[Retroit]

Just make sure Ken Cockrel is not back on council.

You think he's the worst one?

[Brittz]

You think he's the worst one?

NO just one of the leading WORST!

[Jmil]

det_ard, I agree a candidate should be elected based upon their own merit.

This link is to the 2005 council results
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/d...20official.PDF

As you can see, many that did not make the cut had just as high or higher name recognition as those that won a seat.

What scares me the most are the 90,000 votes that Alonzo Bates & Maryann Mahaffey received.

[Gistok]

Regardless of how many names are on the ballot, you must do your homework BEFORE you cast your vote. That is YOUR responsibility.

Jmil, you're "preaching to the choir" here on that one... that message needs to get out to the [[as you put it) "uninformed" of Detroit....

[firstandten]

det_ard, I agree a candidate should be elected based upon their own merit.

This link is to the 2005 council results
http://www.detroitmi.gov/Portals/0/d...20official.PDF

As you can see, many that did not make the cut had just as high or higher name recognition as those that won a seat.

What scares me the most are the 90,000 votes that Alonzo Bates & Maryann Mahaffey received.

Why ?

They got 3.5% and 2.1% of the vote just ahead of the write-in candidates. People do stupid stuff, look at the number of overvotes. The important thing is neither candidate came anywhere close to affecting the outcome of the election or being close to making the 9 seat cutoff.

[President Sekou]

Is there some sort of standard for running for council? Like I dont know a college degree, managerial experience, something merit based? I'm betting that 80% of all the candidates running would be eliminated based on just one of the qualifications I'm just throwing out there. Maybe this is something the charter committee should take a look at.

[Jmil]

I'll tell you why, because MM received 35,000 votes from folks that obviously did not know she was not runnning. That is a prime example of the type of name recognition that det_ard was commenting. Secondly, Alonzo Bates received nearly 60,000 votes. Maybe you don't remember what was happening at the time, but Bates did not deserve one vote, including his own.

As far as the over votes go, there were only 5,000. No biggie, unless of course you were a candidate hoping to receive some of those votes. 5,000 votes could have put Jai Lee Dearing ahead of Martha Reeves and Brenda Jones.

[Jmil]

President Sekou, you want more requirements for city council then there are for President of the U.S. ?

[President Sekou]

Yes

Bizarre you have to type at least ten words when all I wanted to say is "Yes".

[Detroit500]

I think that Ken Cockrel is hardly the biggest problem on the council. He has conducted himself [[mostly) in a professional manner. I also like D. Etta Wilcoxon and Charles Pugh and Jai Lee Dearing. Heck, if just one more reasonable person were to be added to that list, we might actually have a logical, and cohesive majority. Shame Wilcoxon probably won't even make it past the primary.

Heck, if there were 8 reasonable people on the council I would mind if Celebrity Reeves herself stayed.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Heck, if there were 8 reasonable people on the council I would mind if Celebrity Reeves herself stayed.

I would mind too, because it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the bunch.

[Detroit500]

I would mind too, because it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the bunch.

Exactly... Did anyone else watch some of these council members questions to Mayor Bing the other day? Half of them didn't know how to ask a question, and a few others had no idea what to ask. The two Cockrels seemed to be the only people who vaguely had a clue about what they were doing, and if Kenyatta truly thinks the biggest problem Detroit has is the lack of grass-cutting, he's more delusional than anyone previously thought.

[royce]

When a number of candidates are on the ballot for an office, there is no requirement that says that you as the voter have to vote for all of them. Some people vote for people they don't know or chose the most recognizable names because they feel they have to fill the minimum requirement of candidates. Yes, there are eight positions for city council. However, if there are only three people you want to vote for, then just vote for those three. Your ballot will still count.

[gnome]

At the following link you can find short videos of each one of the candidates for City Council and the Charter Commission:

http://www.mivote.org/

A couple of them are pretty interesting. Charles Pugh is there, Ken Cockrel is too along with a real gem named ZaaZaa Hubard who listed her leadership experience as being the "oldest sibling of 8 siblings". Anchoivy Calvert is there as well. From her self-described accomplishments you'd have no idea she raised a Subway Sandwich Tech. Pretty impressive.

Even the Charter Commission folks introduce themselves. One is a famed and honorable forum member. Take a look-see. Some of the video profiles are painful, others rather impressive, but all are informative. One Council Candidate listed her qualifications as having been pulled over b the police and fighting with her landlords.

Only in the D.

[Retroit]

Channel 56.2 is replaying the Candidate interviews now.

[Crumbled_pavement]

Channel 56.2 is replaying the Candidate interviews now.

This shit is depressing.

[MsChievous]

www.publius.org now has information from the League of Women Voters, videos from mivote.org, Freep articles and links to candidates web sites for the mayoral and city council candidates. Other offices will be updated later. Good one-stop shopping for most of the candidates. Some of those links will EASILY help you pare down your choices! Type in your name, click "go", then click "my ballot".

[Jmil]

3 weeks left to go, and I don't see a lot going on.
The money people must be tired of giving with so many elections back to back.

It is wide open. Folks like Reggie reg Davis, don't even know what office they are a candidate. He is making promises that a charter commissoner can't deliver.

I also am not impressed with those that want to deliver to the regional chamber, council by district. Then try to act like it was their idea. The Detroit Ren, and Regional Chamber have been working to make this happen for years. to whose benefit?

President Obama just had a monumental tour of "the door of no return". This election will expose those willing to create Detroit's door of no return.

How much silver have YOU been promised to sell out YOUR brothers & sisters?