Bloggin’ on the Edge

Posted by Scott Spielman at 3:45 PM | Comments (1)

There were high points and low points at the candidate forum Thursday night in Canton Township.

Put on by the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the event allowed Canton residents—the few that were there, anyway—a brief glimpse into the candidates running for office this year.

Jim Plakas and Joe Barone gave a brief (very brief) overview on why each should be voted in as the new judge for the 35th District Court.

Then came the township supervisor candidates: Phil LaJoy and David Marsh; followed by the trustee candidates: John Anthony; Todd Caccamo; Charlie Page; Syed Taj; Pat Williams and Karl Zarbo. There are four open seats and only two incumbents (Caccamo and Zarbo).

We also heard from county commission candidates Steve Johnson and incumbent Kevin McNamara, as well as State Representative hopefuls Marc Corriveau and Jerry Vorva for the 20th District and Todd LaJoy and Brian Cronan for the 21st district. Dian Slavens, the democratic candidate for the 21st district, couldn’t be there because of a scheduling conflict.

That was disappointing to me, as was Cronan’s response—or lack thereof—to the questions he was asked. He’s an independent candidate, making a push to get a foothold against the two-party political system. I’m all for that and we’ll have a regular profile in the paper as we have—or will—about the remainder of the candidates.

I’m not going to beat up the guy for getting involved in the process, but the questions were relatively straightforward and the response shows why smaller party candidates have a difficult time gaining credibility. They don’t do their research. In this day and age in Michigan, you can basically assume that some hot issues will be the economy and taxes. I know that, for the most part, politicians are a lot like you and me. I don’t expect newcomers to have all the answers. I do require them to have ideas, though.

If they want to be taken seriously, why should they think any less?

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