Comments on: County Prosecutor’s Race: Mackie, Altman

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 01:18:10 +0000

I personally met Mr. Altman, who showed up at a judicial candidates forum, and I told him he should have ran as a Republican.

Based upon his representations that he will not place the heavy emphasis upon victmless crime that Brian Mackie apparently does and he does not have the political base e.g. labor unions and Democratic Party insiders that Mackie feels he must cater to, I believe he is the best candidate.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 18:38:36 +0000

So that’s a vote for “not Brian Mackie” then. Seems totally legitimate to me, but what if you do if his opponent is completely unqualified? Or even “antiqualified”? How low can you go? (I’m not just being contentious, I’m genuinely curious about how people reason about this stuff.)

By: Scratchingmyhead

Scratchingmyhead — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:54:28 +0000

Rod. Sometimes, its not that important to demonstrate the superior qualifications of a candidate. Brian Mackie has been in office so long that he feels he is entitled to be there. From my vantage point, Mackie does not possess any superior intellect that says he is the best candidate. He is political astute and well connected in the county so he is able to do things that sits well with the establishment. You don’t think he has his pulse on the vibration of what is acceptable to his constituents. His attitude is…the hell with the ultimate benefit of the community. I’m going to appeal to my base. This is one vote Mackie will not get.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 01:26:06 +0000

I understand that you think that. On the other hand, politicians make virtuous pronouncements all the time. My point is that your “clearly superior” claim doesn’t seem all that well-supported in this article, His answers are mainly about the libertarian hobby horse of victimless crime, and otherwise don’t really seem to have much substance. What’s the attraction beside “he’s not Brian Mackie”?

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:45:01 +0000

@Rod Johnson:

Under the “Public Accountability” section of Mr. Altman’s campaign website he asserts:

“We must not be tepid in bringing charges against the police or other public officials that have victimized residents of Washtenaw County.”

Mr. Altman has made a commitment to vigorously prosecuting police or other public officials where appropriate where Mr. Mackie’s actions in these regards have been criticized.

This attitude alone of Mr. Altman’s makes him a candidate superior to Mackie.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 22:56:51 +0000

Sorry, I understand that you have criticisms of Mr. Mackie (though I imagine there are two sides to your criticisms), but I missed the part where you show that Mr. Altman is “clearly the superior candidate.”

By: Mark Koroi

Mark Koroi — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:55:52 +0000

Justin Altman is clearly the superior candidate.

Remember the case where Chuck Ream’s medical marijuana dispensary was raided by LAWNET, the elite anti-narcotics squad under the jurisdiction of the Michigan State Police. $112,000.00 in cash was seized by narcotics officers. Chuck Ream is an outspoken advocate of decriminalization and legalization of marijuana.

Prosecutor Brian Mackie never brought criminal charges against anyone arising out of the seizure but did file civil drug forfeiture case to get the cash seized to be awarded to the government. Mr. Ream later told me that the forfeiture case settled with Mackie’s office; under the settlement Mackie recovered a little over half the monies.

Is Brian Mackie’s concern about the government sharing proceeds of people who he claims are illegally dispensing drugs rather than criminally prosecuting them?

Mr Altman’s charge of Mackie’s office coddling law enforcement officers accused of misconduct is well-taken also. He failed to file criminal charges in the Lee brothers incident in West Willow in 2006, requiring the FBI to seek federal civil rights indictments resulting in one deputy sheriff being convicted. The Michigan State Police investigated and turned their reports over to Mackie – who did little more than sit on his hands. Did Mackie fail to prosecute the deputies in the West Willow incident due to the “old boys network” in the county government?

Brian Mackie should be voted out of office.