Independent candidates needed to help clean up the partisan mess in Lansing
Your time to run for office is now. Please answer this open call to public service.
Democrats and Republicans have made a real mess in Lansing. In 2010, over 57 percent of eligible voters in Michigan did not cast a ballot. Every teacher, firefighter, trash collector and program manager who works for a public entity can give you a story of how partisan politics in Lansing have negatively affected their lives.
Students in any of the 48 school districts where the fiscal year ended in deficit have stories too. From Brighton, to Ypsilanti, to Galien Township, ask students how they feel about having more state dollars invested in prisons than in schools.
Say hello to your neighbors. Ask them about their experiences dealing with state government, your local government or school board. Chances are, the vast majority of the people you talk to will have been negatively impacted by decisions made by Democratic and Republican Party lawmakers in Lansing.
You don’t have to be a Democrat or a Republican to run for office.
Quite frankly, Michigan residents do not need more Democrats and Republicans. We want a diversity of opinions, positions, and a strong infusion of honesty and transparency.
Please consider running for state House as an independent, without party affiliation. You will need to collect 600 signatures from registered voters in your district and submit them for verification on or before July 19, 2012.
If you prefer to associate with a party, consider running as a Green, a Libertarian, or with the U.S. Taxpayers Party. Each will hold their state nominating conventions in June 2012.
There are many different paths to Lansing, and to public service. The most important decision you can make is deciding to serve. Campaigning for office is hard and rewarding work. We need your voice in this election. We need your voice in Lansing.
One independent serving in Lansing could help change the conversation. Five could be the decisive votes required to pass legislation in the House. Ten or more independent and third party legislators in Lansing could form a caucus to finally give voices to the silent majority of eligible voters and nonpartisans who receive no representation today.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We need you. When you ask nicely and with dedicated purpose, we will help you win.
David Palmer
Ypsilanti
Editor’s note: David Palmer is the founder of IndependentMichigan.org, and was an independent candidate for state House in 2010.
Comments
Veracity
Mon, May 14, 2012 : 11:49 p.m.
I agree with Mr. Palmer that our state government has "made a real mess in Lansing." However, if you look at the party composition of the state house and senate and consider the party affiliation of the governor then you must credit the Republican party for passing the laws that you (and I) do not like. It is the Republican party which shifted taxes from big business and the wealthy to the middle and lower classes of Michigan. It is the Republican party that cut essential finances for education and for municipal services. It is the Republican party which passed laws restricting health care for women. It is the Republican party that is restricting research with embryonic stem cells, endangering the existence of important University research projects and associated jobs. And it is the Republican party that created the emergency financial manager and the law that disenfranchises voters. Certainly you would have had less reason to write your government critique had Democrats were running the state government. Without the political and financial infrastructure of established political parties, independent candidates for office will have difficulty being elected.
DonBee
Sun, May 13, 2012 : 8:12 p.m.
Mr. Palmer for this to work, we need to change the ballot. So long as a person can choose to vote a straight party ticket, no independent or minor party candidate has much of a chance of winning. The petition I would like to see people who are unhappy with Lansing pull and circulate is one to remove the straight party boxes from the ballot in the state. Once that is done, then and only then do candidates from other parties have a real chance in the state. The downside of removing it, is that it will take longer to fill out a ballot. This is the reason that current politicians give for not removing it.
Jeffersonian Liberal
Sun, May 13, 2012 : 1:24 p.m.
Having so called independents run for government office is not the answer. We need to stop electing statists to power that can't stand up to the unions and think that the government is the answer. Independents are nothing more than liberals that don't have the guts to admit it.
Richard Wickboldt
Sun, May 13, 2012 : 12:32 p.m.
Right on! We as voters first of all should vote. When we do vote forget, about the Democrats or Republicans. They have over the past few decades gotten us into this god awful mess. Each have promised us, on election day, to fix the woes and worries that befall this country. All they did was get us into undeclared wars starting with Vietnam and presently continuously still in Afghanistan and looking to take on Iran at the beckon and call of Israel (gosh where did they get their nukes and why didn't we bomb them to destroy their nuke facilities). Trade and favored nation status agreements giving our jobs away (Clinton signed the expressway to China). Unregulated the banking and financial industry by circumventing the laws in place from the Great Depression giving us the Great Recession. Law after law allowing the rich to get richer such that 1% have most of the money; and the tax payers with 17 Trillion $$ in debt with plenty more to come. So we all better vote and vote wisely. Otherwise the only store we will be shopping in is Big Lots!
greg, too
Sun, May 13, 2012 : 5:30 a.m.
Someone with actual thoughts that are not based upon election or appeasing a side is what is need in Lansing. The major problem is, a person that fills these qualifications cannot actually get elected.
ChrisW
Sat, May 12, 2012 : 7:22 p.m.
"The good man takes on leadership because he fears the penalty for refusal, which is to be ruled by lesser men." --Socrates