Irwin and Partridge face off in 53rd District state House candidate debate
Thomas Partridge came out swinging Monday night, suggesting state Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, was complicit in back-room deals and questionable activity as a county commissioner.
"I'm pointing out numerous areas of what should be viewed as irresponsible and corrupt public policies while Jeff Irwin was on the Washtenaw County commission," Partridge said at a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters in Ann Arbor.
Partridge, a Democrat challenging Irwin for his state House seat in the Aug. 7 primary, made mostly vague allegations about events from years ago and didn't specify Irwin's involvement.
Irwin brushed off Partridge's attacks and continued to talk about his three top priorities as a state lawmaker: education funding, environmental protection and equal rights.
Thomas Partridge stands up to give his opening remarks Monday night as Jeff Irwin listens.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Partridge recalled Irwin was a county commissioner when the city of Ann Arbor was in the process of deciding to build a new 15th District Court, which vacated the county courthouse.
"Lies were told to the public during Jeff Irwin's leadership on the Washtenaw County commission," Partridge said, suggesting millions of dollars were wasted because the city and county couldn't cooperate on a better solution at the time.
Irwin called the courthouse issue old news and said it's irrelevant now.
The winner of the Aug. 7 matchup between Irwin and Partridge will go on to face Republican John Spisak in the November general election.
Partridge has earned a reputation for showing up to nearly every meeting of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, Ann Arbor City Council and Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for years. He speaks at nearly every opportunity for public input, often touching on topics such as affordable housing and access to public transit.
"I am here, as I have been at numerous public meetings held over the last decade or more, standing up for the most vulnerable residents of the 53rd District," he said.
Irwin brushed off Partridge's attacks and continued to talk about his three top priorities as a state lawmaker: education funding, environmental protection and equal rights.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
Irwin was elected to the state House in 2010 after narrowly defeating Democratic challenger Ned Staebler in the August primary. He beat Republican Chase Ingersoll by a wide margin in the November general election that year.
Partridge said he came to pose a simple question Monday: Why hasn't more been accomplished since the 2010 election that brought the present incumbents into office?
Irwin offered his take on the GOP-controlled scene in Lansing.
"It has been a couple of difficult years, with big cuts to public education and a major shift in our tax policy, shifting taxes from businesses to individuals," he said.
Irwin said his goal for the next two years is to refocus the state's budget priorities and put education first on the list.
"I'm also interested in opportunities we have to protect the environment," he said. "There are tremendous opportunities that we have to strike bipartisan compromise on clean energy and energy efficiency, ideas that will improve our environment and provide jobs."
Irwin spent more than a decade on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners before being elected to the state House in 2010.
"Having that opportunity to watch state government and state funding play out at the local level really gives me a lot of tools up in Lansing to understand when those funding decisions are made in Lansing how it affects the local level," he said.
Partridge said Irwin hasn't done enough to address homelessness and provide affordable housing during his political career.
"That was not achieved under Jeff Irwin's leadership on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners or in the Michigan Legislature," he said.
Partridge said he's running to represent senior citizens and disabled people, as well as the homeless Camp Take Notice members who were recently evicted from state property.
Irwin recalled his previous work lobbying the state Legislature on clean air and clean water issues for the League of Conservation Voters.
"One of the reasons why we're struggling here in Michigan to protect water quality is because the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has been on a 10- or 20-year slide in terms of funding," he said, noting the number of inspectors and enforcement officers has dropped off. "We have very, very poor enforcement of environmental laws in Michigan."
Both candidates described themselves as advocates for countywide and regional public transit and said Michigan needs to consider a progressive income tax to raise new revenues.
Partridge checks his cell phone at the start of the debate.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
"If Michigan really wants to take the next step and be the kind of state we want and need to be, we need to solve transit in Southeast Michigan," he said.
On the topic of a second bridge between Detroit and Canada, Partridge had choice words for Gov. Rick Snyder's proposal.
"Our current governor, Richard Snyder, has given all of his attention since announcing his Super Bowl bid for the governorship to building a new bridge to Canada and not telling the public how many jobs will go across the bridge if it is built," he said, speculating that jobs from Michigan factories will move to Canada where workers will be paid less.
Irwin said a second span to Canada is needed and he thinks it will be good for the economy.
Irwin also made known he's excited about the countywide expansion of the AATA. He said local officials shouldn't wait around for the state and federal government on transit.
"We don't want to hold our breath," he said. "Let's choose our own destiny."
Both candidates decried cuts in state funding for Michigan's public schools and universities and said Michigan needs a strong public education system.
"We need to turn our public schools into places of education for parents as well as children, certainly for pre-school children, and to extend public school education to cover at least the first two years of a university education," Partridge said.
Irwin said one of the most troubling things he's witnessed during his year and a half in the Legislature is an aggressive move to privatize education.
"It's been heartbreaking," he said. "We've seen the Legislature vastly increase charter schools. They've even approved a major increase in cyber charters, these virtual schools.
"There's a full-court press to privatize education in Michigan and it's not just with charters and cyber schools," he added. "It's also with privatizing within our public schools."
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Comments
Roadman
Thu, Jul 12, 2012 : 2:22 a.m.
The courthouse fiasco was not the fault of Jeff Irwin - he tried to alert others of the problems he was having with childish behavior perpetrated by the circuit court judiciary. He battled then-Chief Judge Archie Brown and the rest of the judiciary over security levels at the courthouse. He wisely denied the requested funding for increased security and won a big victory when the judiciary backed down and did not follow through on its threats to sue the county to perform statotory duties to provide sufficient quarters. There was the controversy after Judge Connors' wife Margaret did not receive a district court magistrate position she wanted; Timothy Connors was irritated over this and it contributed to the rancor between him and some of the district court judges. This rancor made the decision for the district court to find new lodgings all the easier. This is not to mention Sheriff Minzey's lawsuit in the Monroe Circuit Court against the County was dismissed after Irwin and the Board of Commissioners decided to fight it. Jeff Irwin has shown grace under fire and leadership under difficult circumstances.
Kai Petainen
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 10:04 p.m.
I may or may not agree with Partridge. I think it's admirable that he's passionate about A2 and Michigan. He exercises his free speech and he cares for the area. He comes to meetings and he speaks his mind. I wish more citizens would do the same (either for or against any issue). Irwin makes a great point: "One of the reasons why we're struggling here in Michigan to protect water quality is because the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has been on a 10- or 20-year slide in terms of funding," he said, noting the number of inspectors and enforcement officers has dropped off. "We have very, very poor enforcement of environmental laws in Michigan." This is quite true. Ann Arbor has an unsolved oil/acid spill in the Huron River and the DNR, the HRWC (city hall artwork), the EPA and the MDEQ basically turned their head and looked the other way. They didn't investigate it. Although it is a public river, the investigation was left internally to UofM DPS. By looking the other way, the agencies illustrated to me that they didn't care. We had a criminal spill (unless it's legal to spill stuff in the river) and there was ZERO enforcement of that spill. I was told that the Department of Homeland Security was notified of it, but last night I realized that their database does not list the spill. So, why wasn't that spill in that database? If they were told about it, then it's not listed in their database. Who do I notify in the federal government? (in case you forget, the spill covered the river from the UofM hospital area of the river to Gallup Park and it would run for a few hours). As a comparison, the spill last week is in the database. Please, stop talking about environmental matters and Ann Arbor... unless you're willing to talk about Dioxane and this unsolved spill. As for Snyder's bridge -- I may or may not agree with his policies, but the bridge is a very good thing for Michigan. I touched upon that issue here: http://tinyurl.c
Kai Petainen
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 10:06 p.m.
here. it's an article about the bridges in michigan with a number of links to the ann arbor news and local issues. http://tinyurl.com/csfe3wp
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 5:32 p.m.
amlive has a legitimate request. I'm guessing, however, that a2.com would worry about seeming neutral, although having video of this very debate would seem to be appropriate. Here's a recent city council meeting. You can watch for a while starting at 6 minutes 22 seconds (beginning of public commentary), then skip ahead to 1 hour 49 minutes (beginning of post-meeting commentary). I like that this guy makes it to every meeting and takes every opportunity to speak his piece at the beginning and end. However, it is alway the same, and often falls short of being coherent.
Veracity
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 7:24 p.m.
RUKiddingMe, Partridge may be a City Council groupee who has the time, and obviously the interest, to show up every Monday evening. However, I would not give him too much credit for putting another warm body in the audience. The content of his statements should determine if he would be useful on City Council and can perform the demanding amount of work associated with the state legislature. Does he have the interest to properly consider all the issues and the mental capacities to understand the complexity of facts associated with some of the issues? How does his experience and qualifications compare with Irwin's which has been demonstrated through his activities in the state legislature. Finally, democrats in the state legislature have not been able to present bills for consideration without permitting of the Republicans who hold majorities in both houses. Rarely have the Republicans taken on a Democratic bill so few Democrats will be able to accomplish what they had promised during the previous election campaign. You can fault a Democrat who does not try but you can not fault him for failing to produce.
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 6:40 p.m.
Sorry, here's link: http://a2govtv.pegcentral.com/player.php?video=6c291686d947eb73e432829f0693b7b8
Jack Campbell
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 4:30 p.m.
"Partridge said he's running to represent senior citizens and disabled people, as well as the homeless Camp Take Notice members who were recently evicted from state property." Glad to see his priorities are in the right place. Supporting drifters instead of the people paying taxes and working for a living. Irwin actually seems good compared to this guy.
amlive
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 3:43 p.m.
Lest we might get some folks voting Partridge over Irwin based on a few snips of text, could aa.com please post some video of the debate, or at least links to some of Partridge's well-intentioned but woefully scattered rants at council meetings? I believe it's fair for voters who haven't seen him speak yet to get a clear picture of who they may be voting to represent them.
Mike
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 2:34 p.m.
"Irwin brushed off Partridge's attacks and continued to talk about his three top priorities as a state lawmaker: education funding, environmental protection and equal rights." lot's of general satements with no substance such as: "I'm also interested in opportunities we have to protect the environment," "Both candidates described themselves as advocates for countywide and regional public transit and said Michigan needs to consider a progressive income tax to raise new revenues." - Tax and spend; get your wallets out folks and vote for me. Partirdge makes Irwin look like a conservative so I'd vote for him.
Monica R-W
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 2:21 p.m.
It appears that voters like seeing candidates for office debate. That's a good thing for potential gov't officials that want to EARN your vote to answer questions of the public, in a public format.
Lac Court Orilles
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 1:39 p.m.
Jeff Irwin is right on when he states that our Republican government has cut public education and shifted taxes onto individuals while rewarding businesses with big tax cuts. Thank God he's not like Ouimet and Richardville who take money from the poor and middle class.
Veracity
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 7:08 p.m.
XMO either ignores or is not aware of the fact that requiring the poor with $20,000 annual income to pay $3,000 is eliminating a significant amount of spendable income. The poor do not get a special reduced price on food, rent, clothing and transportation costs so surviving above the poverty level is difficult. Every penny is important to the well-being of these individuals. By raising the "marginal" tax rate on the wealth by 4.9% means that the those earning a million dollars above the top taxable rate will pay an additional $49,000 while retaining $951,000. The impact of reducing the wealthy person's spendable income by $49,000 is much less than the impact of taking $3,000 from the paltry $20,000 earned by poor person. America can have a benevolent society that demonstrates compassion for those who struggle to survive or it can be cold-hearted and uncaring which I guess XMO prefers.
Ed Kimball
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 7:26 p.m.
@xmo: According to IRS statistics, it's more like 1/3 of all returns that pay no tax, namely those returns showing less than $20,000 in annual income. The main reason is that they account for less than 1.5% of all taxable income. What do you think their fair share should be? It's also worth noting that any of those who have a paying job pay Social Security taxes amounting to (currently) 13.3% of their income (including the employer's portion. That's nearly the same rate that Romney pays on his (somewhat larger) income.
xmo
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 3:12 p.m.
When 50% of the population do not pay income tax that means that the poor are not paying their fair share while the other 50% has to. I guess you vote (D) because you do not follow what goes on in Government!
KeepingItReal
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 1:18 p.m.
My problem with Irwin is that one of his original campaign promises was to address the high incarceration rates of inmates in Michigan prisons. Yet, since he has been in office, he has not even mentioned the subject. I guess like most politicians, he will say anything to get elected and do anything to stay elected. I am tired of politicians who don't honor their or in some cases even try to honor their campaign promises. All I can say is go Partridge!
Jeff Irwin
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 9:50 p.m.
I continue to work on addressing Michigan's high rates of incarceration and I would be more than happy to discuss this weighty issue in greater detail. Unfortunately, the forum is too short to cover the wide range of issues facing Michigan or to get into great detail about the issues we did address. In short, I have been working closely with fellow Reps and the ACLU on improving Michigan's indigent defense system. I have also been working to win at least a hearing for bills that improve rules for parole and to couple that approach with an expanded effort at re-entry programs. Unfortunately, prisons are not successful at rehabilitation and recidivism is driving incarceration rates and crime statistics. However, MPRI is working to save money and reduce crime. Let's do more with MPRI. Also, the Judiciary committee spent considerable time debating changes to the medical marijuana initiative. I fought successfully for language that will ensure that citizens busted for medical marijuana will be able to argue a medical marijuana defense in front of a jury. I hope this comment answers your concern and I know that if Democrats control the House next session that I will be able to have a hearing or even a vote on some of these ideas. In the meantime, I'll continue to ask the current committee chairmen for hearings on these ideas and I will continue to speak out at events and online about Michigan's missed opportunities regarding criminal justice.
Atticus F.
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 1:07 p.m.
Mr. Partdidge's heart is in the right place, but from what I've seen of him at city council meeting, he seems to have tunnel vision. I also dont believe he has the wherewithal to get anything accomplished at the county level.
xmo
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 1:06 p.m.
I do not know which person is dumber? Thank goodness there is a another party in the race! "It has been a couple of difficult years, with big cuts to public education and a major shift in our tax policy, shifting taxes from businesses to individuals," or "Lies were told to the public during Jeff Irwin's leadership on the Washtenaw County commission," Partridge said, suggesting millions of dollars were wasted because the city and county couldn't cooperate on a better solution at the time.
Veracity
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 3:44 p.m.
XMO, Greetings to our Republican spokesperson! I hope that you are not trying to trivialize the cuts in education wrought on the Michigan citizenry by the dominating Republican state legislature and governor as well as the shifting of the tax base from businesses and the wealthy to middle class individuals and retirees. As for which person is dumber I can not comment on the appropriateness of your demeaning remark in regards to Mr. Partridge but I do know Mr Irwin personally and he is intelligent and knowledgeable about the issues he discusses. Obviously he spends a lot of time familiarizing himself with the facts behind the issues and is willing to share this information with all his constituents. You may wish to experience Jeff Irwin personally by attending his next coffee hour at 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 28, at Espresso Royale, 214 South Main St. in Ann Arbor. . He has these regularly. Or you can email him with the expectation that he will respond quickly as long as can be civil with your communication.
John G
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 12:54 p.m.
Jeff I feel your pain about having to be there
RUKiddingMe
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 12:01 p.m.
Have people reading this story been to or watched Ann Arbor city council meetings? It sounds like @northside has, but I'm just curious if other peiople have seen Partridge at work at one of those things (or ALL of those things).
Pickforddick
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 11:51 a.m.
No good choice here
northside
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 11:46 a.m.
Jeff the work you do is greatly appreciated. Thanks for putting up with this indignity on the path to reelection.
missmisery
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 11:14 a.m.
Irwin does not seem pleased nor concerned about his contender for his seat in the state House. Those pictures tell a thousand words.
Jeff Irwin
Tue, Jul 10, 2012 : 10 p.m.
The pictures are less than flattering. Ouch. I like the LWV forum and I love discussions of public policy. So, I'm disappointed that I'm wearing such a frown in these pictures.