Comments on: 2012 Ann Arbor Council Primary Roundup

By: John Floyd

John Floyd — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:09:24 +0000

@11 Mr. Face,

No doubt Santa Claus will be disappointed by your wish.

John Floyd

By: Chuck Warpehoski

Chuck Warpehoski — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 23:22:38 +0000

DrData, Yes, surrogates knocked some of the doors, but all were volunteers, not paid canvassers. I knocked the vast majority of them. I was out 6 days a week knocking on doors, listening to voters.

By: DrData

DrData — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:00:37 +0000

#13. I think “we” is the operative word here. I had a Warpehoski surrogate come by my door. He was quite young and looked like all the paid petitioners that hit my neighborhood.

He might have been quite knowledgeable about the Warpehoski talking point or a good listener but I ignored him.

By: Dave Cahill

Dave Cahill — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:37:02 +0000

Congrats on your decisive win, Chuck! I’m happy to see that you didn’t pin your future completely on being a member of the “council party”.

As the shattered hulk of the council party slips beneath the political waves, I sure hope you don’t go down with the ship!

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:31:28 +0000

Rod (5), the precincts that only a handful of voters are typically the campus precincts where during the November election there will be many more voter, since the students will be back in the dorms.

By: Eco Bruce

Eco Bruce — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:54:23 +0000

Mike Anglin’s reform agenda? Has he articulated one?

By: Chuck Warpehoski

Chuck Warpehoski — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 02:17:56 +0000

Just to clarify on Dave’s quote from election day, my campaign plan was to knock on every walkable door of likely Democratic primary voters, which we pretty much did (we skipped doors with “no politicians” signs, for example).

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 02:02:38 +0000

I spoke to Sumi Kalasapathy on election night who remarked that there will big changes in the way that the City of Ann Arbor government operates. I assume she was refering to the decline of the “Council Party”, a term coined by Vivienne Armentrout and the expectation that Mike Anglin now has a majority to push his reform agenda.

I met Chuck Warpehoski and his wife, Nancy, at Arbor Brewing who were celebrating their victory, although the mood was not all festive as the attendees were aware that Tony Derezinski and Eric Sturgis had lost. Mayor John Hieftje later stopped by on his bicycle. The real stunner that Chuck related was that Jack Eaton almost beat Margie Teall despite he fact he only got about 31% of the vote in 2010 against her. The good showing had to be of comfort to Eaton, who was well-known as an activist in Dicken Woods.

Sumi and her family were buoyed by the success of her campaign, but the symbolic and practical effects cannot be understated. She will become the first person of color on City Council in Ann Arbor in five years in a city that has a large percentage of its population as minorities; her victory also became pivotal in erasing the Council Party majority.

Most Anglin supporters were disappointed at the showing of Vivienne Armentrout, who was expected to run a closer race given the obvious competitiveness in the respective campaigns of Chuck and Vivienne. Some wondered about Vivienne’s future plans.

State House candidate Adam Zemke had his victory celebration at Heidelberg’s and many local candidates and officeholders attended, including Sandi Smith, Margie Teall, Steve and Letitia Kunselman, Leigh Greden, Judge Chris Easthope, Conan Smith, Andy LaBarre (who also won), John Hieftje and many, many others.

Jim Fink had his celebration at the Tap Room in Ypsilanti, where I met Sheriff Clayton for the first time. A good mixture of Republicans and Democrats. Everyone seemed happy there with Jim’s showing.

By: Marvin Face

Marvin Face — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:54:29 +0000

Triumphalism? Relief.

And I do use my real name. Or at least a part of it. And, by the way, I absolutely hope I am not on any “good” list.

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 23:21:05 +0000

Marvin (why not use your real name?), you must not be on the good lists because Chuck put out at least 2 postcards in the last week (one was an expensive full sheet) to my one and he had a comprehensive doorhanger campaign. (I didn’t have doorhangers, just lit distribution by volunteers.) He also had enough sign density in many areas to worry my supporters. He did a by-the-book campaign.

Triumphalism is never attractive. You shouldn’t inflict that on your candidate.