Vote Tuesday November 3rd 2009 !

Friends and Neighbors:

Even though I have no opponent in the mayor election tomorrow in Ferndale, I still want you to vote ! These local elections are the only true time that we as elected officials get to be "graded" by you, the voter. If you like the job I have been doing the past two years, then blacken the little oval on our scanner vote cards by my name. If you DON'T like the job I have been doing, then skip over my name, or write in a name of someone else.

Also hope you will vote in the City Council election, and consider making one of your two votes for Greg Pawlica. Greg is a well known community volunteer who has been active in our community for many years. This past year he was named "Ferndale Citizen of the Year".
We need a smart, independent, forward thinking Councilmember who will be conservative with the spending of YOUR tax dollars.

I also encourage you to vote in the Library Board election further down on the ballot. Two current Library Board members have worked hard on building our city a new state of the art Library, and they both deserve re-election. Vote for Sarah Parmelee and Tiffany Gagne for Library Board seats, and John Stertit in his unopposed Library seat election.

But regardless of who you support, just vote. Your local elections affect your community and your neighborhood as much or more than state and national elections.

Great Victory ! Michigan to Protect Farm Animals

Friends:

Please see the press release below, which I received yesterday. A great start to ending some of the worst barbaric practices in the industry known as "factory farming". Finally some good news from our friends in Lansing....

Dear Craig,

In a landmark achievement for farm animals, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed a bill today that will phase out some of the most cruel and inhumane cages on factory farms.
The new law phases out veal crates for calves, gestation crates for breeding pigs, and battery cages for laying hens. Not only does Michigan have more than ten million laying hens and about 100,000 breeding pigs, it's a top veal-producing state as well -- so the new law will prevent many millions of animals from enduring a lifetime in cages so small they can barely move.

Animal protection groups, including the Michigan Humane Society, The Humane Society of the United States, and Farm Sanctuary, worked together with agriculture groups to find common ground and create a pathway in the legislature to end these practices. Now, Michigan joins California, Arizona, Florida, Maine, Colorado, and Oregon in banning this type of extreme confinement. This is also the first time that a state legislature has banned battery cages.
Thanks to the actions of compassionate people like you, we've taken a major step forward for farm animals in Michigan and across the country.

Thank you for all you're doing to help farm animals.

Sincerely,

Mike MarkarianExecutive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
The Humane Society of Michigan

"And thank you, Humane Society of Michigan, for all your hard work."

Craig Covey

Labor Unions Yes !...Three new city buildings NO !

Barely in the nick of time, we got the Ferndale City Council to adopt a resolution to require a labor agreement for any city construction project over a certain amount of dollars. This will support our efforts to ensure quality work, workplace safety, and prevailing wages for our workers. That this came at the 11th hour, however, is another blemish in a process that began two years ago, and this effort has been, in my opinion, characterized by bad decisions, over-spending, and unrealistic planning.

Everyone agrees we need a new courthouse...one with proper accessible facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act and one with adequate room, storage, and technology. A majority of city council however has joined with the city administration and other department heads in demanding a totally gutted and renovated city hall and police department. These grandiose plans are desirable only until one looks at the costs. Now expected to cost nearly nine million dollars, these multi-faceted series of expensive building projects are going to result in huge financial problems for our city over the next 30 years !

Had we gone with the original plan advocated by Councilman Lennon and myself nearly two years ago, we could have renovated the OLSHA building next door and move the Courthouse next door for less than one quarter of that amount. It would have been built by now.

Instead, the city hired an expensive planning/consulting agency to "advise" us on what we really need. (That cost the city $40,000 last year). Without ever meeting with the mayor or council on the building "needs", their thin, albeit expensive, report said we need to rebuild all three city buildings. This same company was then hired to explore another bad idea...moving City Hall to the 2nd floor of the Credit Union bank building.

Council then voted to hire this same company again to "manage" the projects...to the tune of $6,000 per month for the next three years. (They were the second most expensive company to bid on the project). That same company said that we could afford these plans, which is not surprising since they profit from the projects.

I voted no again and again every step of the way as we got to where we are today. We have paid this consulting company more than $60,000 so far without a shovel in the ground. And we now know that we cannot afford to do all of these projects.

The City of Ferndale has the largest budget deficits coming over the next 3 years the likes of which none of us have ever seen. To even think about spending these kinds of millions now when cities across the state are laying off firemen and policemen, closing community centers and reducing salaries is pure folly. Unless this huge spending spree is stopped very soon, we could end up with lovely new buildings, but very few police officers, firemen, or streets and parks workers left to occupy them.

We will be lucky now to even get a new court building, which I always supported. But unless the City Council wakes up and gets a grip on the economic reality that is surrounding us now, our wonderful town will be paying for these mistakes for a long time indeed.

Suspend the Ferndale Sidewalk Program for 1 year.

With unemployment in Oakland County reaching its highest levels in 40 years, and with home mortgages in trouble among hundreds of families in Ferndale, it is incumbate on elected leaders to do all they can to rein in costs, and give taxpayers a break wherever we can. Join me in advocating to suspend the sidewalk replacement project for one year.

Ferndale has been instituting a ten year cycle of sidewalk repair and replacement for the past thirteen years. It is a good program that keeps sidewalks safe, attractive, and handicap accessible. We are ahead of many of our neighboring communities in this regard.

Postponing this years replacement will affect less than ten percent of our residents and business owners, but in these harrowing economic doldrums, let's take this action and move everyone's next sidewalk replacement one year back.

It will save $100,000 for southwest Ferndale taxpayers and postpone those costs for one year. We will still do the work, using the same contactor, at the same price. But the assessment will not show up on your taxes until one year later.

It is unclear whether the votes are on the current City Council to make this happen. Three votes are needed to pass such a resolution. Councilman Lennon as agreed to vote to suspend the program until next year. Contact your other Council members if you agree that we should take this action.

Ted Kennedy and my Life....My First Election.

Very few people in Michigan know of my early political life and might be surprised to learn that I was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1980. I was elected as a Kennedy delegate from the 15th Congressional District of Ohio (Columbus) and went to New York City with my partner in August 1980. I was all of 23 years old.

President Jimmy Carter had lost a huge amount of support in the late 70's, when I was a student at Ohio State University in Columbus. The economy was in a shambles, with unemployment, high inflation, gasoline shortages, and the Iranian hostage crisis was in full swing.

As a young liberal Democratic activist, I started a "Citizens for Kennedy" committee in my working class neighborhood in Columbus' north side. Delegates were selected by caucuses in
congressional districts, prior to the primary. I ran a surprise grass roots campaign to be selected as a Kennedy delegate, and built a coalition of pro-choice, environmental, and gay activists. To everyone's surprise (including my own) I came in first place among hundreds of activists and party workers. I beat out the labor delegates and the party leaders, including the chair of the local party.

In the Ohio primary, Kennedy did well, although he did not beat Carter in Ohio or in my district. But because of the porportional way delegates were selected, I managed to become a delegate.
Kennedy did well enough in my district to get a couple of pledged delegates.

I was the youngest delegate ever selected and also the first openly Gay delegate from Ohio.
(maybe this won't surprise very many people).

During the convention in New York City, I got in trouble for hanging a giant banner out of my hotel window that read "You forgot us President Carter, 20,000,000 Gay Americans.
I had carried that same banner when Carter toured Columbus, and I will never forget the look on his face when he saw it from his limo. We frowned and shook his head no, disagreeing with my banner.

One of my favorite memories was attending a reception held by the delegates from Puerto Rico, which featured giant bowls of pina coladas. (This wont surprise anyone either !)

Kennedy was a liberal lion, and attempted to carry on the "Chamelot" legacy of his brothers.
He lost the nomination then, and Carter of course lost the election to Ronald Reagan. I never got to meet him, but at the Gay caucus (there were about 75 gay delegates at the convention) we were visited by a nephew.

My first Democratic party activism was in 1972, when I ran a neighborhood campaign for George McGovern. I was 15 years old, and protesting the Viet Nam war. And of course last year, I was an early endorser and campaigner for Barak Obama.

Maybe none of this surprises anyone. Some things just don't change.

Responding to Critics Again on Capital Punishment

Last week another letter to the editor in the Woodward Talk criticized my comments on the issue of capital punishment and the fact the Michigan does not permit that option in its criminal justic system. I think it is great that residents are voicing their opinions. People are generally so pleased with the way Ferndale has progressed, that there is not enough debate on issues that need discussion.

I appreciate the belated sympathy expressed by Pat Dengate and friends regarding the traumatic and very serious home invasion I suffered last April. Many residents contacted me after the incident and offered caring support. I also even welcome debate over my opinions on capital punishment. But I take issue with parts of their letter, which included a glaring omission.

My statements about capital punishment had nothing to do with the thefts from my home. My statement said that if Butler (the parole absconder charged with the burglary and arrested on murder charges) was indeed guilty of murder, then I regret that Michigan does not have the death penalty. My position, by the way, was not "intemperate", but rather a belief that I have developed over the past thirty years. I hold no indifference or "glee" in this position.

Butler will get a separate trial for my home invasion. The material things have been replaced, and we all get to help pay for them as our home insurance premiums will climb. My beautiful $28,000 hybrid Ford Escape, which was trashed and totalled, now lies in a junkyard in southern Ohio. Hopefully it will be salvaged and recycled.

Dengate said in his letter that we are a civilized society, and thus we should not engage in having the death penalty for crimes such as murder. Of course we wish to live in a civilized society. My preference is that we should value life, and that violence is very wrong and evil. Unfortunately, there are very violent and evil characters in society who do not share that belief.

A most salient point in their critical letter was what was missing: no mention of Anthony Moxley, the 28 year old man murdered last June. Police believe Butler went to Moxleys home last year, chased him through his own house, shooting at him with a handgun. Evidently not content to scare him or injure him, Butler allegedly shot Moxley several times. As he lay dying on his floor in Hamtramck, Butler allegedly shot him again and again, emptying his gun until there were no bullets left. Anthony Moxley died on the floor of his own home.

If Butler is found guilty, he could get life imprisonment, or perhaps even a lighter sentence. He will get to watch tv, be served 3 meals a day, and maybe work out in the prison gym. Moxley's young life is done forever.

If Butler kills again, what would his punishment be? Going to prison does not always end the life of crime. Guards and other prisoners are attacked, injured, and even killed every year by other inmates. How do you punish someone who kills a second time, or a third time?

Maybe I’m wrong on capital punishment. But I can’t believe that if they find the killer of young Nevaeh Buchanan, the 5 year-old Monroe girl who was snatched from her driveway, sexually abused, and then buried alive on a riverbank, covered with cement, that giving that killer the ultimate punishment would be nothing less than justice.

And how do you explain to the family of Nevaeh that we won't provide this ultimate justice for the horrible crimes against their child, because we are a civilized society?

The Ultimate Crime, the Ultimate Punishment

My friend Jonathan Warshay had a letter to the editor in Woodward Talk last week criticizing my position on capital punishment. Mr. Warshay believes that civilized nations should ban the use of capital punishment. I have always believed that persons guilty of murder should themselves be considered for capital punishment.

While Jonathan quotes some biblical verses to justify his position, there are plenty of references in the Bible to support my position, so I am not going to go there.

Warshay says my position is not justice, but rather revenge. But whether you call capital punishment revenge, punishment, or justice, doesnt really matter. And I understand there have been cases of people being wrongfully convicted of murder. In any such case with any shred of doubt, I would opt for life imprisonment.

But there are truly evil people in the world, and they do not subsribe to the reason of a civilized society. Someone in Monroe this past spring kidnapped, sexually abused, and then murdered a little 5 year old girl. They then buried her under cement on a river bank. If that criminal is found and proved guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, then he should be put to death.

Last week, a career criminal from South Caroline murdered five people over the course of a week in a small rural area. His life-long history is replete with many charges and convictions of assault, theft, intimidation, and now murder. The sheriff admits he should have been in jail.
Instead, the system failed, and now five innocent people have had their lives taken from them.

Life in prison fails as an adequate punishment. The murderer can kill again. Prisons are full of violence, rape, drug use, and theft. Why allow the murderer to live decades with 3 meals a day, a bed, a television, and even books and visists from loved ones. The persons they killed dont get any more meals, or books, or visits from their loved ones, other than at the site of their own graves.

Finally, I did not call for the ultimate punishment for the man who broke into my home in the middle of the night while I slept because he stole $29,000 worth of cars, tv's and jewelry. I suggested it was justice because he emptied a gun into a young man in Hamtramch last June, killing him with six bullets.

Decades ago, John Wayne Gacy was proved to have killed dozens of young men after torturing them in his home. He buried them under his crawl space. Illinois put him to death. That was justice.