Lansing City Council At-Large: ABC: Anybody But Carol

Two of the Lansing City Council’s at-large seats, which represent all four wards of the city, are up for review by voters in the Nov. 5 General Election. Faced with a pair of challengers, both incumbents are running to keep their jobs. Only one of them should be reelected.

Carol Wood, a dominant figure on the Council for two decades, isn’t the one we have in mind. While an argument can be made that Wood provides the best problem-solving services to her constituents, her willingness to shake the trees of city government to address the complaints of individual citizens is outweighed by her disappointing failures as a representative of all Lansing residents.

City leaders are called upon to think and act boldly, driven by a clear vision for moving the city forward. All too often, Wood’s vision is clouded by personal animosities and her penchant for seeking out and exploiting conflict and division wherever she can find it. She’s served alongside four different mayors, from David Hollister to Andy Schor, and she’s managed to be a thorn in the side of each of them, a role she seems to relish far more than getting actual results for the city.

Like her compatriot Jody Washington, Wood is more conservative than the voters she represents. In a city that voted overwhelmingly in favor of both medical and recreational marijuana, for example, her strong anti-cannabis animus is reason enough to put her out to pasture. More important, dislodging Wood from her long-time seat at the dais would go a long way toward ending the faction-driven infighting that too often consumes the City Council. Her involuntary retirement would usher in a new era of less contentious city governance. Even though she is almost certain to win a sixth term, we encourage voters to send her a message by considering other candidates.

The other at-large incumbent, Patricia Spitzley, has earned our support — but with reservations. An attorney and deputy redevelopment manager for the Racer Trust seeking her second term, Spitzley usually winds up voting the right way on issues like marijuana regulation, affordable housing and economic development. Yet we’re troubled by her inconsistent approach to public policy and a seeming willingness to trade her principles for the sake of political expediency. For example, she at first supported the successful effort to send the Trump administration a message by declaring Lansing a sanctuary city in a resolution. But when the reviews came in, she joined Wood and Washington to undo it, attracting national notice to Lansing for not sticking to its principles. If she secures another term, we hope to see a more resolute approach that doesn’t bend with the political breeze.

Challenging Wood and Spitzley are two capable, qualified women, both of whom have previously made unsuccessful runs for local office. Julee Rodocker, a purchasing agent for Consumers Energy, has run twice before — once in the 2014 school board race and two years ago in the Second Ward council race — losing both times by a wide margin. She seems congenial and thoughtful, mainly focusing her campaign on the city’s fiscal health. Disappointingly, her platform is a series of nebulous platitudes rather than substantive suggestions for resolving the city’s well-known financial challenges. We’re also concerned that her relative inexperience would lead her to fall under the spell of Councilwoman Wood, who uses her long tenure and institutional knowledge like a bludgeon to bring new Council members under her influence and keep her voting bloc intact.

The other challenger, Yanice Jackson-Long, ran unsuccessfully for the Council two years ago. She articulates a clearer vision than Rodocker for where she wants to lead the city, based on a deeper understanding of the issues. As an African-American, she would bring added diversity to a Council that can always use more of it. Although neither challenger has made an especially compelling case for her candidacy, we’re inclined to give Jackson-Long the nod. Her varied work experiences in both the private and public sector give her a more nuanced understanding of the challenges facing city government and a more seasoned foundation for making good policy choices.

Voters are encouraged on Nov. 5 and in absentee voting to reelect Patricia Spitzley and to choose Yanice Jackson-Long to replace Carol Wood.

Third Ward: Adam Hussain

A school teacher in the Waverly district and the son of First Ward Councilwoman Jody Washington, Third Ward Councilmember Adam Hussain is running unopposed for his second term representing the southwest quadrant of the city. To his credit, Hussain has been a vocal and engaged advocate for his ward, pushing for economic and community development in an area that has, for a variety of reasons, missed out on much of the new investment the city has attracted over the past decade.

As noted in our endorsement last week of Brandon Betz over Jody Washington in the First Ward race, our greatest concern is Hussain’s inexplicable inability to disagree with his mother, which makes us question the wisdom of close relatives serving together on the city’s legislative body. Hussain’s lack of independence and willingness to dutifully fall in line with Wood and Washington are our biggest disappointments. In his second term on City Council, we encourage him to demonstrate that he can think for himself and stand on his own principles.

That no one was willing to challenge Hussain this year is either a vote of confidence in his first-term performance — or yet another example of the frustrating lack of quality candidates who are willing to run for office in a town that has more than its share of political talent. We’ll give Hussain the benefit of the doubt that it’s the former rather than the latter, and cautiously give him our support.