The Arts Alliance has released responses from Ann Arbor city council candidates to a questionnaire on arts and culture. The alliance received responses from only two of the four candidates in the Aug. 6, 2013 Democratic primary’s contested races – Julie Grand in Ward 3, and Jack Eaton in Ward 4. The incumbents in those races – Steve Kunselman (Ward 3) and Marcia Higgins (Ward 4) did not respond to the survey by the deadline. [Source]
A preliminary analysis of pre-primary campaign finance reports for the two contested races in the Aug. 6, 2013 Ann Arbor city council Democratic primary shows a total of $29,230 in cash was raised by the four candidates combined, with the average cash contributor donating a bit over $128.
2013 Ann Arbor Democratic primary city council campaign contributions: All candidates. (Map by The Chronicle based on data from the Washtenaw County clerk’s office.) Maps by candidate are included after the jump.
The deadline for filing pre-primary reports was July 26, for the period ending July 21.
Voters in the Democratic primary for Ward 3 will choose between incumbent Stephen Kunselman and Julie Grand as the Democratic candidate to appear on the November city council ballot. Grand raised the most cash of any candidate, getting donations from 68 contributors averaging about $160 apiece for a total of $10,825.
Kunselman raised $5,855 from 54 contributors. While that’s roughly half what Grand raised, it’s about twice what he received in the pre-primary period in 2011 ($2,750). That was a three-way race between himself, Ingrid Ault and Marwan Issa. The average contribution to Kunselman’s campaign this year was about $110.
In Ward 4, voters will choose between incumbent Marcia Higgins and Jack Eaton. Fourteen-year incumbent Higgins raised the least cash of any candidate, receiving $4,592 from 26 contributors for an average donation of $177.
Eaton raised $7,958 from 82 different contributors for an average donation of $97. That’s the greatest number of individual contributors of any candidate. Eaton’s total this time around is about twice as much as he raised for the same period in 2012 ($4,305), when he ran a close but ultimately unsuccessful race against incumbent Margie Teall.
Of the 228 total contributors for all four candidates (including those who contributed to more than one campaign), The Chronicle counted at least 57 contributions (25%) from people who are either current or past elected or appointed officials – including appointees to committees. Those contributions were evenly distributed across candidates: Eaton (16); Higgins (13); Grand (14); Kunselman (14).
Some current councilmembers have lent their financial support to candidates. Ward 4 challenger Jack Eaton is supported financially by Sumi Kailasapathy (Ward 1), Mike Anglin (Ward 5) and Jane Lumm (Ward 2). Incumbent Marcia Higgins has financial support from her wardmate Margie Teall as well as mayor John Hieftje.
Ward 3 incumbent Stephen Kunselman is also supported financial by Anglin and Lumm. Julie Grand has received contributions from Higgins and Teall.
Current and past campaign filing documents can be searched and retrieved from the Washtenaw County clerk’s web page. [.pdf of Grand's statements] [.pdf of Eaton's statements] [.pdf of Higgins' statements] [.pdf of Kunselman's statements]
Other coverage of the campaigns is categorized in The Chronicle as “2013 primary election.”
Presented below are charts of contribution counts, broken down by size of contribution, as well as maps showing the geographic distribution of contributions. [Full Story]
Ward 4 voters in the Aug. 6, 2013 Democratic primary will choose between incumbent Marcia Higgins and Jack Eaton as the Democratic candidate to appear on the Ann Arbor city council ballot in November.
Jack Eaton and incumbent Marcia Higgins are competing for the Democratic nomination in the Ward 4 primary election on Aug. 6. (Photos by the writer.)
Each of the city’s five wards is represented with two seats on the 11-member council, which includes the mayor. The terms for council seats are two years, and one of the two seats is up for election every year.
Both candidates participated in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on July 10. The complete video recording of the forum, conducted at Community Television Network’s studios on South Industrial, is available online through CTN’s Video on Demand.
Questions fielded by Eaton and Higgins included topics like downtown Ann Arbor and future development, transportation, relations between the University of Michigan and the city, and interactions between councilmembers and residents.
They also responded to a debate prompt that for Ward 4 possibly could be of greater significance than those other issues – a question about flooding. In last year’s Ward 4 Democratic primary, which Eaton contested with incumbent Margie Teall, the election came about five months after heavy rains on March 15, 2012 caused overland flooding in the Lansdowne neighborhood of Ward 4. Although Eaton lost the election by a handful of votes, he was strongest in the precincts farther from downtown, where the flooding took place. Previously, Eaton had run for the Democratic nomination to represent Ward 4 in 2010, also against Teall. His showing in 2012 was a significant improvement over his 2010 result. This year marks his third campaign for Ann Arbor city council.
Higgins was first elected to the council in 1999 – as a Republican. However, she switched to the Democratic Party in 2005. She’s in her 14th year of service on the council.
This report presents responses by Higgins and Eaton to questions at the July 10 LWV forum, grouped more by theme than by chronology. [Full Story]
On Aug. 6, 2013, voters in the Democratic primary for Ward 3 will choose between incumbent Stephen Kunselman and Julie Grand as the Democratic candidate to appear on the November city council ballot.
Julie Grand and Stephen Kunselman are posing for Ann Arbor Observer photographer Adrian Wylie before the start of the League of Women Voters forum held on July 10, 2013. (Photos by the writer.)
Each of the city’s five wards is represented with two seats on the 11-member council, which includes the mayor. Every year, one of the two seats is up for election – as the terms for council seats are two years.
Both Ward 3 candidates participated in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on July 10. The complete video recording of the forum, conducted at Community Television Network’s studios on South Industrial, is available online through CTN’s Video on Demand.
Questions fielded by Grand and Kunselman included topics like transportation, downtown Ann Arbor, relations with the University of Michigan, public safety, alternative energy, and interactions between councilmembers and residents.
Kunselman is serving his third term on the council, having first been elected in 2006. He did not win re-election in 2008, when Christopher Taylor prevailed in the Democratic primary that year. Kunselman was returned by voters to a seat the following year, and was then re-elected in 2011. Kunselman’s campaigns – this year and in the past – have stressed his commitment to middle- and lower-income neighborhoods located farther away from the center of the city, such as his own neighborhood in the Springwater subdivision south of Packard and east of Buhr Park.
Grand, who lives a block away from Taylor in the Burns Park neighborhood, has served since 2007 on the city’s park advisory commission and is currently chair of that group. Kunselman served on the council when her nomination to PAC was confirmed. Grand’s campaign has stressed that she is a good communicator and seeks consensus, without needing to be the loudest voice.
Until the July 10 LWV forum, the contrast Grand drew between herself and Kunselman with respect to communicative style had been implicit. At the LWV forum, however, she made her criticism explicit, using her closing remarks to accuse Kunselman of focusing “on creating problems rather than solving them.” She also claimed that Kunselman had admitted that he didn’t come prepared to council meetings.
Grand responded to an email query from The Chronicle by indicating that she’d based her contention about an admission by Kunselman on her memory of a June 8 Democratic Party forum. Included in this Chronicle coverage of the LWV forum is a partial transcript of an audio recording from that June 8 event.
This report also presents responses by Grand and Kunselman to questions at the July 10 LWV forum, grouped more by theme than by chronology. [Full Story]
Now that the 4 p.m. May 14 deadline has passed for filing nominating petitions, the Ann Arbor city council races for the Aug. 6, 2013 primaries are set. Only Democratic primaries will be contested, and they’ll be held in just two of the city’s five wards – Ward 3 and Ward 4. No Republicans filed nominating petitions. In the fall, at least five possible independent candidates could appear on ballots citywide, counting Ward 2 incumbent Jane Lumm.
In Ward 1, incumbent Democrat Sabra Briere, who’ll be seeking her fourth two-year term, will be unopposed in the Democratic primary. She could face independent Jaclyn Vresics in the November general election, if Vresics files at least 100 valid signatures by Aug. 7. Vresics is … [Full Story]
