Two years ago, this country, this state and this community took a step toward exorcising itself from the divisional politics that has marked Republican Party leadership. The Democratic “tsunami” swept out GOP majorities in Congress and the Michigan House. Ingham County said “no” to the toxic and mislabeled “Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.”

With Election 2008, we urge another step in that direction by continuing to support progressive candidates and policies.

No longer are we politically obsessed with dividing ourselves by race, sexual orientation or immigration status. A “wedge” is a tool used to prop open a door or split wood, not something Karl Rove can use to “get out the conservative base.”

We’re tired of this division. We’re urging ballot box decisions that reflect compassion for our fellow citizens, votes that bring us together.

We’re also tired of hearing how horrible our economy is or how many more jobs General Motors or Ford is going to cut. Yeah, we know our manufacturing jobs are leaving and Michigan is in the economic toilet.

We’ve been hearing it for years now.

We can’t make a bad economy go away by not talking about it — but we know that we’ll weather this storm better with an inspirational figure who is about lifting up our spirits, a fresh face who offers us a ray of hope. Things will get better. We can make it work. We may have to do things differently around here, but that’s OK.

We want leaders who are about moving us forward, together, united, as one community. For that reason, the City Pulse is proud to endorse candidates this Nov. 4 who offer us that hope.

President of the United States
If there’s ever been a time we needed somebody like Barack Obama, it’s right now. It’s high time to rally around a uniting figure who acknowledges the continued hardships we face but is determined to bring us through together.

Obama offers a vision 180 degrees from the polarizing “trickle-down economics” espoused by Ronald Reagan and the George Bushes, a strategy in which the very rich get richer and the not-so-rich get the scraps. Obama supports loaning money to our auto industry to help it retool for energy-conscience products that move us away from dependence on the volatile Middle East.

John McCain doesn’t see a future in Michigan. Earlier this year, he told us our auto jobs aren’t coming back. Thanks for the cold shower, John. We didn’t need your “straight talk” to figure that out.

And then, instead of sticking around Michigan to help us develop solutions or even give us a pat on the back, McCain cut and run when he saw a couple of bad polls. Thanks, again, John. You made our decision that much easier.

City Pulse Supports: Obama

U.S. Senator
There isn’t a more automatic pick on the ballot. Carl Levin’s distinguished career has revolved around being a problem-solver, a uniter and a fighter, when necessary. Ranked by Time magazine as one of the country’s 10 best U.S. senators, Levin gives Michigan an honest, straightforward advocate who consistently puts our interests first.

Levin, 73, is right on the war. He’s right in his support for the auto industry. He tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to find a solution to the whole Democratic primary mess earlier this spring. And as the Democrats look to pad its majority in the U.S. Senate, Michigan benefits by having the grandfatherly figure chairing the Senate Armed Services Committee.

City Pulse Supports: Levin

U.S. House of Representatives, 8th District
Let’s face it. Lansing, East Lansing, Meridian Township, this whole area is a progressive community that is being represented in Congress by Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, whose values reflect those of socially conservative Livingston County. Obama needs another progressive Democrat to make sure as much of his agenda is accomplished in term one as possible. Judging from his past political activity, there’s little question Bob Alexander fits the bill.

City Pulse Supports: Alexander

State House of Representatives; 67th, 68th and 69th Districts
Ingham County’s crop of first-term state lawmakers didn’t disappoint. Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, representing more conservative south Lansing and rural Ingham County, has stayed to the political right of her colleagues or issues of taxes and regulation — but is still more progressive than her GOP opponent. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, gets a gold star for rolling up his sleeves on the unsexy but vital issue of unfunded liability in our state retirement system.

And Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, makes sure the city of Lansing gets the state help it needs to advance projects and development, whether it’s the new Accident Fund headquarters building, the Eastern High/Lansing Catholic Central sporting fields or the Capital Club Tower Condominium project. Also, Bauer’s bill allowing cities to offer its residents the opportunity to donate their small income tax refund back to the city was the first legislation reported out of any House committee last session.

With Democrats expected to expand their 58-52 majority in the state House by a projected five to eight seats, Ingham County’s caucus should be in an excellent position to have its issues heard with this trio of Dems back under the dome.

City Pulse Supports: Byrum, Bauer and Meadows

State Board of Education
If John Engler taught us anything, it’s that having a State Board of Education and a governor be of the same political party is critical to the former getting anything constructive done. Joihn Austin and Kathleen Straus, both incumbents Democrats, have proved to be able hands in implementing Governor Granholm’s new high school graduation standards.

The two Democrats continue to move Lt. Gov. John Cherry’s higher education recommendations down the field as well, in the hope of making students’ transition from the K-12 system to the technical training, community college or university world easier for all.

City Pulse Supports: Austin and Straus

University of Michigan Board of Regents
Denise Ilitch, Mike Ilitch’s daughter, was wrapped up in the family enterprise of Little Caesar’s Pizza, the Red Wings and the Fox Theatre until a prolonged spat with her brother left her the odd one out. Now the loyal Granholm backer is an attorney with the Clark Hill law firm and eager to give back to her alma mater.

Laurence Deitch is aiming for a third term on the board after being electing in 1992 and again in 2000. A partner of the Bodman law firm and former vice chairman of the Michigan Civil Service Commission, he has deep roots in the Democratic Party and represents a stable presence on the university’s eight-member governing board.

City Pulse Supports: Deitch and Ilitch

Michigan State University Board of Trustees
If you’re looking for a tenacious, hard-nosed, no-nonsense advocate, you got one in Dianne Byrum. After watching her tear into the state Legislature and now with her new advocacy group, let’s just say we’d rather have Byrum on our team than the other team.

Scott Romney, who is the brother of Mitt and son of George, has kept partisanship and brinksmanship off the MSU board by searching out new avenues for financial growth while seeking out fiscal constraints.

City Pulse Supports: Byrum and Romney

Wayne State University Board of Governors
Why do we care? Our state Constitution says we should. If you don’t like it, vote for a constitutional convention in 2010 and push your delegate to make these posts gubernatorial appointments like the board posts for state’s other 12 publicly funded universities.

In the meantime, Paul Massaron and Gary Pollard are the two Democrats. They’re good candidates. Vote for them and move on.

City Pulse Supports: Massaron and Pollard

Ingham County Prosecutor
Ingham County Democrats disappointed us in the primary when no one came forward to oppose Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings. Where’s the ambition? If ever an opportunity was ripe for making a name for yourself, it would have been in taking on the incumbent who has displayed nothing but arrogance over the wrongful conviction of Claude McCollum in the murder of LCC Professor Carolyn Kronenberg.

Worse, the county party officially endorsed Dunnings, even though he hadn’t even apologized for mismanaging the case. (That came only this month and only under pressure at a public meeting.) Is it fair to measure a career by one case? When the consequences are serious enough, it is. McCollum went through the agony of a trial before spending more than a year and a half in prison. And if more murders with similar M.O.s hadn’t happened (2007’s so-called serial killings), he’d very likely still be there.

Moreover, Dunnings prides himself on how well he manages his office. He won’t even try cases himself because he says he needs all his time for running it. Well, maybe he orders the right number of paper clips, but he didn’t manage the Kronenberg-McCollum case properly, and the result is a man was falsely charged, falsely prosecuted, falsely convicted and falsely imprisoned.
It’s fine for Dunnings to fire the assistant prosecutor who argued the case. Now it’s time for the voters to fire the boss for poorly managing the assistant prosecutor and for not staying on top of the investigation in the first place. Voters need to send a message of deep anger to all involved — from LCC’s Police Department on up — and defeating Dunnings is the only way available. Fortunately, voters have a good option in his opponent. Nick Bostic, himself a former assistant prosecutor in Dunnings’ office, has a solid record as an attorney. His only sin is he is a Republican. Democrats: Swallow hard and do the right thing.

City Pulse Supports: Bostic

Ingham County Sheriff, Clerk, Treasurer, Register of Deeds, Drain Commissioner
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. That’s really the message here in endorsing the four Democratic incumbents and Curtis Hertel Jr., who’s seeking to replace longtime Register of Deeds Paula Johnson.

Gene Wriggelsworth is putting away bad guys. Mike Bryanton is opening up opportunities for people to vote. Eric Schertzing is investing our money wisely and Patrick Lindemann is pushing smart, green development. Enough said.

City Pulse Supports: Wriggelsworth, Bryanton, Schertzing, Hertel, Lindemann

Ingham County Board of Commissioners
Like the Lansing Community College Board of Trustees, the less we hear about the Ingham County Board, the better. It means the commissioners are doing what they’re supposed to be doing without high drama and/or foolishness.

Without getting into all of the races, it’s sufficient to say we like all of the Democrat incumbents and are excited about the contributions likely newcomers Brian McGrain in the 3rd District and Carol Koenig in the 9th District can bring to the body. Republican Randy Schafer is so popular with his constituents in the 13th, the Democrats have no one to run against him.

We appreciate how dialed-in Republican Steve Dougan is in the 14th, but we think challenger Democrat Laura Davis of Holt may be better option in the 15th. We’re disappointed Democrat Joe Guenther is showing little fight in the 16th. Republican Don Vickers is likely priming himself for another state House run, but at least he seems to want the job.

City Pulse Supports: Democrats in Districts 1-12 and 15; Republicans in Districts 13, 14 and 16

Justice of the Supreme Court
When it gets right down to it, Supreme Court Justice Cliff Taylor is a political tool for big business, insurance companies, hospital executives and the Republicans. Our impression is Diane Marie Hathaway, a Wayne County judge, will be a political tool of labor, trial lawyers and the Democrats.
Given the choice between two tools, we’ll take the one that leans left.

City Pulse Supports: Hathaway

4th District Judge of the Court of Appeals
This one boils down to experience. As an Ingham County judge, Paula Manderfield routinely works the types of cases she’ll be called upon to examine on the appellate court. She saw through the fraud of the so-called Michigan Civil Rights Initiative in 2004 and put away child murderers Ricky and Lisa Holland.

We have no doubts the affable Michael J. Kelly likely would make a good lower court judge, but let’s be honest. If this Flint attorney’s name was Michael J. Jones or something that doesn’t tap this state’s partiality toward historic Irish surnames, he wouldn’t have made it out of the primary.
City Pulse Supports: Manderfield

30th Circuit Judge of the Circuit Court
William Collette and Janelle Lawless are slam dunks. Collette is so well-respected in this community’s legal circles, next to nobody believed former Judge Beverley Nettles-Nickerson’s ridiculous racism charge of two years ago. Collette stayed above the fray and let the process flush out the bad apple.

Lawless has the unenviable charge of overseeing often-emotional domestic disputes, and she’s done so with a sensitivity and skill that earned her an “extremely well qualified” ranking from her Ingham County Bar peers.

Reynolds is a highly respected lawyer whose time for promotion has come. The federal and state courts have tapped his expertise for years to help train judges or sit on special panels. He’s the only non-incumbent to receive the Ingham Bar’s “extremely well qualified” ranking and is being heralded from both parties as fair, which is really what we should demand from our judges. District Judge Rosemarie Aquilina isn’t a bad option, either, but Frank Harrison Reynolds’ resume is a little deeper and little stronger.

Nettles-Nickerson has recognized she’s done wrong, but she may never earn back this community’s trust. And we’re disappointed in the arrogance Hugh Clarke showed as the Lansing school board president when his assistant superintendent was caught red-handed plagiarizing. We get the impression he’s more interested in covering people’s butts and maintaining the status quo, not matter how crocked it may be.
City Pulse Supports: Collette, Judge Lawless, Reynolds

Ingham Judge of the Probate Court
We’re talking to lawyers and we don’t like what we’re hearing. Judge Richard Garcia’s erratic antics leave barristers puzzled, win or lose. His heavy-handedness is keeping kids in schools, which is good. But adults deserve to be treated like adults, particularly in already emotional custody and divorce proceedings. Decisions need to appear to be coming from the arguments presented, not the clear blue sky. Moreover, expediting the
docket shouldn’t come first.

Having been a clerk for Peter Houk and an attorney of private practice, Greg Crockett has the experience to do the job. His temperament would be an immediate upgrade.

City Pulse Supports: Crockett

55th District Judge of District Court
The case in which Tom Boyd released a 15-year-old Leslie boy charged with attempted murder to tethered house arrest needs to be taken in perspective. Jarod Anthony Marshall was only released between court proceedings. The teen ultimately was sentenced to 300 days in jail. We need to give our judges some latitude to make enlightened decisions depending on the situation. We weren’t privy to all the facts. Marshall did not re-offend when released. If we were to hang out to dry every judge who made a ruling contrary to our immediate gut reaction based on our basic understanding of a case, we’d have a pretty empty bench. We won’t lose if Lansing assistant prosecutor Billie J. O’Berry prevails in this rematch, but the incumbent is getting a bad wrap and doesn’t deserve to be unseated.

City Pulse Supports: Boyd

Proposal 08-1, Permitting the use and cultivation of medical marijuana
Our vision for Michigan is one where people don’t judge one another but show compassion. Allowing doctors to prescribe pain-killing marijuana to the ill definitely falls within this definition. Honestly, when compared to the nasty narcotics doctors prescribe to the terminally ill, marijuana’s side effects are fairly benign.

Obviously, law enforcement is skeptical about legalizing even limited uses for something that has been ingrained to call a banned substance. Seriously, though, how many more kids are going to take up weed if this proposal passes? Teens who want to try pot will try pot. Whether they try it before or after Proposal 1 passes makes no difference. It will still be illegal and the cops can still bust them for having it.

City Pulse Supports: Yes

Proposal 08-2, Allowing for the creation of new embryonic stem cell lines
“Two Goes 2 Far?” Please. The only thing that goes too far is the intellectually insulting campaign being run by the Catholic Church and Right to Life. Unless you’re the twisted ideological type who thinks trotting up and down Grand River Avenue with aborted fetus placards is a perfectly sensible way to spend a Sunday afternoon, there is no good reason to vote anything but “yes” on this proposal.

Embryonic stem cell research is the future. It makes productive use out of donated embryos that otherwise would be tossed in the trash. Don’t believe us? Read the proposal. For the sake of those whose lives may be bettered by future cures, read the proposal.

City Pulse Supports: Yes

Capital Area Transportation Authority Millage
First off, City Pulse has a contract to deliver bus schedules, so we have a vested interest in this. But that experience has only made us more aware that CATA’s dedicated, professional leaders are tightfisted. We’re frustrated about the down economy, too, but our public transportation system shouldn’t get slapped because of it. For all kinds of reasons explained in our cover story on Oct. 1 (see “Read Back Issues” for that date at www. lansingcitypulse.com), we heartily recommend opening your wallet for this five-year operating millage.

City Pulse Supports: Yes

Separate Tax Limitation Ballot Proposal
This ballot proposal is not going to raise taxes. Without getting too technical, if this passes it will allow the county to raise taxable limits. For example, the county millage limit is now at 6.4 mills, but the county only levies 6.3 mills. This ballot proposal would allow the county to raise the limit to 6.8 mills, and for townships 1.0 mills and the Ingham Intermediate School District, .2 mills. Having a larger buffer between the actual levy and what the county could levy would increase the county’s financial health in the eyes of its creditors.

City Pulse Supports: Yes