Vote For Me!

I plan to run for office.

Actually, that's not true, which right off the bat makes me a perfect candidate for a role in the political arena.

I have been active in three political campaigns as a volunteer. In 1980, I worked for independent presidential candidate John Anderson, who unsuccessfully broke away from the Republican Party. In 2000, I pounded campaign signs into the ground for David Traill, who was running for the Florida House of Representatives, and did so again for him a few years later, when he ran for the Martin County School Board.

Volunteering was not my only foray into politics. When I graduated from Central Michigan University in 1988, I landed a sports writing position at a small daily newspaper in suburban Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1990, I found myself in the northeastern Lower Peninsula, covering sports and some local politics, and by 1992 I was writing about municipal and county politics in suburban Detroit. The primary hotbed I handled was the various Oakland County officials and offices, including those of its Executive, Clerk/Register of Deeds, Sheriff, Treasurer, Prosecutor, Circuit Court, Road Commission, Drain Commission, and Board of Commissioners.

From 1992-1999, and again during the summers of 2000, 2002, and 2004, reporting on the various aspects of county government was my life. Some of the issues seemed mundane; others were mundane. But there were plenty of other topics that reared their ugly head (metaphorically speaking, of course), and I still have the clips filed away in three-ring binders. Among the juicier topics:

Assisted suicide: Dr. Jack Kevorkian was a major player at the time, and his crusade was in the national spotlight. In part this was because of the renegade nature of his cause; in part it was because his loud and obnoxious legal representation, one Geoffrey Fieger, scored victory after victory in the court system against Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Thompson (proving that damn good legal skills outweigh a loud and obnoxious media presence any time).
Sheriff's Department perks: In the early 1990s, The Oakland County Sheriff had designated more than 400 "special deputies" from the citizenry, most of whom had donated money to his previous campaigns, and a number of whom were Detroit-area celebrities or political players.
Convention attendance: The role of traveling out of area to attend political conventions or workshops by members of the county commission came to a head when some individuals proclaimed such attendance was an abuse of taxpayer dollars, regardless of the information brought back to the area.
Work-release allegations: The Sheriff's Department came under fire by the Prosecutor's office for purported wrongdoings in its work-release program, but nearly all of the 71 felony charges were dismissed.
Campaign issues: These covered the gamut, from questions about the legality of campaign signs (and the videotaped illegal tearing down of some such signs), distorted campaign literature messages, violations of campaign finance reporting, and claims of anti-Semitism.

Covering these, and other political (and non-political) stories kept me on my toes and gave me an adrenaline rush that could last for weeks. I loves digging into the issues, filling out Freedom of Information Act requests, analyzing campaign financial data, investigating highway and landfill construction projects, and keeping an ear to the ground on anything and everything political. In a county that was represented overwhelmingly by Republican Party officials (every major elected leader, and two-thirds of the county commissioners, were GOP), it was always a challenge to report on the issues as fairly and balanced as possible.

It was during this time that I realized the more I reported on various aspects of county government, the happier I was that I was on the outside looking in, rather than in the role of a lawmaker. My campaign volunteer work only confirmed this. Mind you, I try to maintain the altruistic viewpoint that being an elected official is a noble cause, intended to represent the will and desires of a people to the best of one's ability - you know, "of the people, by the people, for the people" ... despite all the evidence to the contrary. And I believed - and still believe - the majority of elected officials run for office to do just that.

Unfortunately, I have seen enough - as a high school and college student, as a citizen, and as an investigative journalist - to convince me that, as much as the idea sounds wonderful, and as effective an elected leader I believe I'd be - the role of commissioner, representative, senator, whatever, is a role best held by someone else. I'd rather be on the outside looking - and digging - in, and believe I can be more effective in the political arena serving in that capacity.