Election Preview 2022

2022 PRIMARY ELECTION GUIDE

MICHIGAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 78TH DISTRICT

4 Republicans running in newly redrawn district

BEN GEIGER

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

A gun instructor, a graphic artist, an insurance agent and a corrections officer are the four Republicans vying in the Au gust primary election for a chance to ad vance to November in the state represen tative race for Michigan’s newly redrawn 78th District.

Current 87th District State Rep. Ju lie Calley, R-Portland, cannot run for re-election due to term limits. The newly redrawn/renamed 78th District includes the majority of Ionia County save Beld ing and Orleans Township (which are now part of the new 91st District) and Hubbardston, Lyons and Muir (which are now part of the new 93rd District). The new 78th District also includes portions of Barry, Eaton and Kent counties, in cluding Kent County’s Bowne and Lowell townships.

The Republican winner of the prima ry will face off against Leah Groves of Lowell, a Democrat, in November.

Christine Barnes, Ben Geiger, Gina Johnson and Jon Rocha are all running as Republicans in the primary. Rocha’s name will not appear on the ballot as he was previously disqualified due to a late election filing fee. He is now running as a write-in candidate.

Here’s a closer look at the four candi dates:

CHRISTINE BARNES

Christine Barnes, 53, of Mulliken is an NRA instructor and a business owner with Concealed Carry Partners. She pre viously served as a member of the Eaton County Board of Commissioners, as well as on the Tri County Regional Planning Commission and the Eaton Area Trans portation Board.

“This experience gives me a founda tion of understanding government bud gets,” Barnes said. “I have participated and was responsible for road and infra structure funding. I have a record of voting to protect our first responders. I vote 100% of the time to back the police. I have owned my own business for the past 25 years. I understand what it is to balance a budget and have families de pend on you.”

Barnes describes herself as “the only candidate who is married, been elected, owns their home, owns a business and voted in District 78.”

“I believe the person who is elected to the State House of Representatives for District 78 must have a vested interest in the community,” she said. “All my oppo nents will say they support the Second Amendment, I live it. I have been an NRA instructor for over eight years, teaching over 9,500 of our neighbors about firearm safety. I am also the only candidate who actively hunts. I understand good conser vation and hunting practices. I am the only candidate who is a member of the NRA, USCCA, MCRGO, Ducks Unlim ited, Pheasants Forever, National Deer Association and National Wild Turkey

“My extensive history of serving my community is unique,” she said. “It keeps me connected to my neighbors and those I will represent next year. I have not already been downtown and been part of the overspending and government over reach. I am proud not to be part of the past problems in Lansing. The mess we are in right now is because of people who have worked in Lansing previously. Our district deserves a fighter and someone who has been actively volunteering in

our community.

“The number one thing I have heard at the over 12,000 doors I have knocked is our elected officials do not care about us,” she said. “My first goal is to help my neighbors. I want my community mem bers to know that I am here to assist them navigate their interactions with govern ment.

“I want to help reduce government overreach and redundant regulations,” she added. “Our farmers and small busi nesses get crushed under government regulations. I want to be a strong ad vocate for emergency first responders. These paid and volunteer heros in our community deserve a strong advocate. I want to represent We the People.”

Ben Geiger, 35, of Nashville is a graph ic artist and a longtime Barry County Commissioner (since 2011). He previous ly worked as a legislative assistant to then-State Rep. Brian Calley (from 2007 to 2010) and as a communications associate and special assistant to the Office of the Governor (from 2011 to 2018).

“I have a solid resume of helping make state and local government work better,” Geiger said. “I’m a lifelong resident of this area and care deeply our future. I’ve seen throughout my career that Michi gan thrives when its government oper ates openly, efficiently and constitution ally. I know how to deliver that kind of representation to the 78th District.”

Geiger cited his experience and long track record of delivering conservative results, as well as his endorsements by both Calleys (Brian and Julie), State Sen. Rick Outman, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and Michigan right to Life.

If elected, Geiger said he would like to, “Restore trust in our government by respecting people’s rights, and promote fiscal sanity and ensure tax dollars are being spent wisely.”

GINA JOHNSEN

Gina Johnsen, 54, of Lake Odessa, works as a self-employed independent life and health insurance agent. She is also executive director of two non-profits: the Michigan Capitol House of Prayer for the last 12 years, as well as the Pregnan cy Center of Eaton County. She says she has more than 30 years of business ex perience in the financial, insurance and healthcare industries.

“I have hired and managed staff, signed the front and back of checks, have run board meetings, have fund raised, and have grown these and other organizations to the success they now enjoy, for the purpose of improving each community and the state of Michigan,” she said. “As a mother and community member, I have interfaced and worked with private schools, public schools and the homeschool community. I have taught and am currently teaching in the classroom.”

Johnsen said she has a service record and business background longer than her opponents — “which is more than lip service and ideas,” she added.

“I have served in the state senate as a legislative policy director, and for the past 20 years as a citizen lobbyist, I have been active and have trained others to be engaged and effective to influence Lan sing politics. With that experience, I am well aware of the Lansing political en vironment — the good, the bad, the ugly. And, I will not fall prey to their games. Michigan is in dire straits and we must turn it around in the right direction.”

If elected, Johnsen says she would like to positively impact the following areas in Michigan: “Farming, family business es, education, and healthcare.”

MICHIGAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 91ST DISTRICT

Greenville Democrat hoping to challenge Rep. Outman

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

A Greenville Democrat is hoping to win the August primary election for a chance to face off against State Rep. Pat Outman for the newly redrawn 91st Dis trict.

Frank LaFata is running against an other Democrat, Tammy DeVries of Ce dar Springs, in the primary. The winner will advance to the November general election to run against Outman, R-Six Lakes.

DeVries declined to participate in this story, telling the Daily News, “I’ve received so many of those things (ques tions) from all over, I’m not going to have time to respond to yours.”

The 91st District is primarily com prised of Montcalm County, and the Dai ly News is the only daily newspaper in that county, as well as the newspaper of record, so it’s not clear what DeVries was referring to.

The newly redrawn 91st District also includes Ionia County’s city of Belding and Orleans Township, and Kent Coun ty’s city Cedar Springs, village of Sand Lake and Oakfield, Solon and Spencer townships. The new 91st District does not include the Carson City or Crystal Town ship areas — those are now part of the new 93rd District.

LaFata, 64, is a retired carpenter who has lived in Greenville for 30 years. He cites his life experiences and hard work as his qualifications for a job in the State House.

“I support public education, specifical ly skilled trades,” he said. “I want to en sure people have safe water to drink and increased access to health services. We need more services for our elderly and veterans, especially mental health ser vices and infrastructure.”

LaFata shared his thoughts on the fol lowing topics:

EDUCATION: “The per-student sup port in public education must be adjusted to ensure poor communities have equi table access to quality education. While the per-student funding from the state is equal across all districts, the wealthier districts can supplement their per-stu dent support. This creates an inequity. Poorer communities should receive more funding per student proportional to some standard economic indicator. While it may seem the state is treating the stu dents equally in the current method, poorer communities suffer. Teachers’ pay must be increased and teachers should not be forced to spend their own money on classroom supplies.”

ECONOMIC SECURITY: “I do not support Right to Work. Unions have his torically protected the worker and en sured wages and safety benefit the work er. I support a living wage and believe the tipped wage undermines a worker’s ability to improve their economic sta tus. I support protections and access to low income housing and ways to protect individuals from becoming homeless. I support childcare supplements to assist working mothers, either through tax in centives or through public/private part

nerships, so that someone’s wages are not exhausted to pay for safe childcare.”

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY: “I sup port the protections currently in place by Michigan to protect water, air and land. I will work with local governments in District 91 to assist them in making local

ordinances and zoning tools to ensure the natural resources are protected. Us ing the guidebooks offered by Michigan. gov, I will work to educate the local gov ernments and citizens in District 91 for the benefits in protecting and improving conditions in our water, air and land use. I support bringing renewable and effi cient energy resources to District 91. Ed ucating the citizens of District 91 to the benefits of renewable energy resources is critical.”

• SOCIAL JUSTICE: “I will support legislation that ensures equal access to health and educational opportunities. Public education must be equal across all school districts and the poorest school districts should have equitable per student support from state funding. A wealthy community with a higher tax base should not receive be able to fund their schools more than the poorest com munities. Equity in support of public education is critical. I support a living wage so that women, who are more likely to be in the service industry working for tipped wages, should be paid at a living wage.”

GUNS: “The state Legislature should enact sensible gun reform to protect the citizens of Michigan. I support the Sec ond Amendment but I also support mak ing it difficult for people to have access to semi automatic weapons, clips that hold over 10 cartridges, ghost guns, etc. Cer tainly, enforcement of existing laws must happen, but there must also be ways to keep guns out of the hands of people who intend to harm.”

This supplemental section of the Daily News provides a look at local contested primary races and ballot proposals for the Aug. 2 election. For a complete list of candidates visit your county clerk’s website or michigan.gov/sos.

Federation.”

Barnes descries herself as an active community volunteer, as well as the only candidate in the race endorsed by Mich igan Farm Bureau and the Lansing Re gional Chamber.

Greenville’s Frank LaFata is running against Tammy DeVries of Cedar Springs in the Democratic primary for the Michigan House of Representatives 91st dis trict. — Submitted photo

Republicans running in the Michigan House of Representatives 78th District primary election, include, clockwise, from top left, Christine Barnes, Ben Geiger, Jon Rocha and Gina Johnsen. — Submitted photos

Longtime GOP congressman faces primary challenger

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar is being chal lenged by fellow Republican Thomas Nor ton in the August primary election for a chance to advance to November’s general election in the race for Michigan’s 2nd Con gressional District.

The newly redrawn 2nd District in cludes all of Ionia and Montcalm counties, along with portions of 17 additional coun ties (mostly north).

The Republican primary winner will face off against Jerry Hilliard, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, in November.

Moolenaar first took office in 2015. If he’s re-elected, it would be to his fifth term.

JOHN MOOLENAAR

A former chemist, business developer and school administrator, Moolenaar, 61, a longtime Midland resident, recently moved to the village of Caledonia in Kent County.

“I have a track record of conservative victories for the people of Michigan,” he said. “When Republicans were in charge in Congress, we cut taxes for American families, increased jobs, kept inflation low, and had affordable energy. I know the poli cies we need to get our country back on the right track and I will fight for those every day in Congress.”

Moolenaar said unlike his opponent, he is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, the NRA, Michigan Right to Life and the Michigan Farm Bureau.

“President Trump and these incredible groups endorsed me because they know I am a conservative fighter who will always get results for the people of Michigan,” he said.

If reelected, Moolenaar said his legisla tive priorities are improving the state econ omy, including fighting rising inflation and expanding rural broadband internet.

“Americans know Biden and the Demo crats have put America on the wrong track: Rising prices hurting seniors and families, excessive mandates, disaster in Afghani stan, lawlessness on the southern border, rising crime and schools in disarray,”

Moolenaar said. “Now more than ever, Americans need real leadership in Wash ington and they’re not getting it from Dem ocrats who do nothing as inflation soars to new records. I am running for re-election to stand up for conservative values including the right to life, the Second Amendment, election integrity and keeping taxes low so Michigan families keep more of their own money. In Washington, D.C., I will defend our Constitution, protect the freedoms we enjoy, fight tax increases, secure the border, and support our law enforcement.”

THOMAS NORTON

Norton (who did not provide his age) resides in Courtland Township/Rockford and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and economics. He works as an operations manager for “LHWS,” but he declined to tell the Daily News what those initials stand for or what type of business it is,

“due to the extremism from the left going after businesses.”

Norton is a veteran of the Afghan War and previously served as a village council member and then president of Sand Lake, where he says he secured funding for infra structure improvements that built better roads and provided quality drinking wa ter, while also balancing the budget “and protecting it from the local establishment swamp.”

“Returning from Afghanistan, I saw firsthand the lack of support and represen tation available to the veteran community,” he said. “This inspired me to dedicate my self to helping his fellow veterans. I became post commander of his American Legion where he brought stability and growth for the first time in 10 years. With many friends, I co-founded the West Michigan Veterans Ranch that focuses on mental assistance and financial help for veterans,

while working with them to find a new pur pose in life.”

Norton said he is “a fighter,” unlike Moolenaar.

“In the eight years my opponent has been in Washington, he has proposed two bills: A post office renaming and wind tur bines,” Norton said. “Yet in the past six months that he has had a primary, he has proposed more bills than his past eight years? I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like someone concerned with his job and not you.

“In eight years he’s voted for Omnibus five times, which included funding for Planned Parenthood. In just the past year, he voted for HR 4350 which included tax payer-funded sex changes and red flag gun laws against American veterans, joining Nancy Pelosi Joe Biden and only a hand ful of Republicans in this package. The majority of the Republicans voted against this Bill, HR 2471, which included taxpay er-funded clean safe smoking kits, which are essentially crack pipes. Both these bills I would have voted against.

“As a fighter, I plan on pushing for the American flag to be put back into public schools, the Constitution of the United States placed back in the classroom and making sure you go to the bathroom as signed at birth. I will fight to build new re fineries and expand drilling. We do this by removing all subsidies to the energy indus try, allowing the best form to win, pushing for government reform and protecting the money that Moolenaar, Pelosi and Biden have stolen from Social Security for the pet program.”

If elected, Norton said his goals would include:

• The Constitution being placed back in the classroom with the Pledge of Alle giance.

• English as the national language and finishing building the border wall.

Energy independence for all Ameri cans.

National voter ID requirements (show your state ID to vote).

• Term limits.

• A balanced budget amendment.

MICHIGAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 93RD DISTRICT Whitmer critic running for re-election

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

A vocal critic of Gov. Gretchen Whit mer’s policies is hoping to be re-elected as state representative of Michigan’s newly redrawn 93rd District, portions of which now include Ionia and Montcalm counties.

Current 93rd District State Rep. Gra ham Filler of St. Johns is being chal lenged by Alan Hoover of Fowler in the primary, with the winner going on to face off against Jeffrey Lockwood of Sagi naw, a Democrat. Hoover did not return repeated messages seeking comment for this story.

The revamped 93rd District is a bit of a hodge-podge and still includes por tions of Clinton and Gratiot counties while also expanding into portions of Io nia and Montcalm counties — including Ashley, Carson City, Crystal Township, Fowler, Hubbardston, Lyons, Maple Rap ids, Muir, New Haven Township, North Shade Township, Perrinton, Pewamo and Sumner.

Filler, 38, grew up in Ovid, graduating

from Ovid-Else High School in 2002. He was an assistant Attorney General for seven years beginning in 2011, where he says he worked to lower energy rates at the Michigan Public Service Commis sion and helped keep the public safe by cracking down on unethical or danger ous health professionals.

“This position prepared me to serve as a problem-solving legislator who works on behalf of the public safety and who listens to constituents,” he said.

Filler was elected to the State House for the 93rd District in 2018 and re-elected in 2020. He is chairman of the House’s Ju diciary Committee, which oversees legis lation involving criminal statutes and legal system policies and procedures. He is also a member of the House’s Agricul ture and Health Policy committees.

“My record in the state Legislature speaks for itself,” he said. “I have led on common-sense justice reforms, like a nation-leading expungement package of bills that I helped turn into law. I spoke out against the governor’s arbitrary shutdowns and closing of small busi nesses. My caucus even sued the gover

nor over her use of emergency orders, and won at the Michigan Supreme Court. I have been a loud advocate for farmers and the agricultural community, pushing back against government overreach and arbitrary EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy) rules that harm CAFO’s (concentrated animal feeding operations).”

If elected to the newly drawn 93rd District, Filler said he plans to continue being accessible and responsive to all his constituents.

“I have been so proud of my office’s constituent relations work,” he said. “If you call my office with an issue, be it un employment or regulatory or just want your complaint to be heard, my office is lightning fast at responding and listening and taking action. I want to continue that kind of constituent service with my dis trict.

“High gas prices are harming Michi gan families,” he added. “I would like to continue work on lowering gas prices. I have voted twice on a gas tax holiday, only to have that piece of legislation ve toed by the Governor.”

4 Republicans running in newly redrawn district

JON ROCHA Jon Rocha, 41, of Hastings, works in corrections for the Barry County Sher iff’s Office. He cites his main qualifica tion as his ability to understand a normal life, having lived one himself.

“My family is not well connected, nor are we wealthy,” he said. “But what I do understand is the people. I have worked in the trenches, I have sacrificed and succeeded where others would fail. I

have owned and operated a business, served in the military, worked in manu facturing and with law enforcement, but I know the people because I am of the people.”

Rocha describes himself as a doer, not a talker.

“I have not served in politics. That was never my aim or goal,” he said. “I want to serve the people, not my own interest. I am the only candidate to serve in the military. I have been active in making changes to our laws and systems without

the title of an elected official. Organizing, sticking my neck out, and unafraid of the opinions of others, giving me the unique ability to work as a representative, not a politician.”

If elected, Rocha said he would like to “restore the department’s authority back to the people, either by making those de partment heads elected, or by giving the power of those departments back to the people. Any department that is current ly run by an appointed director — those departments were handed over to depart

ment heads by the Legislature and it’s about time the Legislature actually did its work and took that back.”

Rocha would also like to reduce the state budget and lower taxes, work on ways to support and better serve veter ans, help ensure children have the best options when it comes to education and cap property and income taxes for retir ees.

“I would also like to cement Michigan as a Constitutional Republic, starting with Constitutional Carry,” he said.

State Rep. Graham Filler of St. Johns is running for re-election in the 93rd District, which now in cludes portions of Ionia and Montcalm counties. — Submitted photo

Elect Tim Ross,

Incumbent John Moolenaar of Caledonia will face Thomas Norton of Courtland Township in the GOP primary for Michigan’s 2nd Congressional District. —Submitted photo

Winfield Township solar ordinance heads to referendum vote

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

WINFIELD TOWNSHIP — The first in what promises to be a long line of local renewable energy ordinance refer endums will be on the ballot in the Aug. 2 primary election.

The ballot question states, “On Dec. 9, 2021, the Winfield Township Board ad opted Ordinance No. 12-921, which would amend the Township Zoning Ordinance to regulate the development and use of Solar Energy Systems. Do you wish to approve Ordinance No. 12-9-21?”

The Winfield Township Board origi nally voted last November to approve a solar ordinance, which included word ing referencing special land use inclu sion of a “wind energy facility or wind energy conversion facility” on agricul tural property, which was confusing as the township didn’t have a wind energy zoning ordinance in place at the time. In response, township resident Tricia Kor horn filed a notice of intent that same month to referendum the township board’s recently approved solar ordi nance.

The township board then voted in December 2021 to “correct” the solar ordinance wording by removing the

reference to wind energy. Korhorn doesn’t believe the board could legally do this; however, in order to preserve her rights, she filed a second notice of intent in December 2021 to referendum the “corrected” solar ordinance. The notice of intent requested that the solar ordinance referendum be placed on the ballot.

Since the solar ordinance is undergo ing a referendum, the township current ly does not have a solar ordinance; nor has the township board enacted a solar moratorium while the issue remains in dispute.

The Winfield Township Board in June approved a wind energy ordinance, which is also headed to a referendum, likely appearing on the November gen eral election ballot. A recently approved solar ordinance in Belvedere Township and recently approved wind ordinances in Douglass and Maple Valley townships will likely go to referendums on the No vember ballot too.

Three members of the Winfield Township Board are also likely headed to a recall in November — Supervisor Phyllis Larson, Clerk Colleen Stebbins and Trustee John Black — all related to their vote to approve the wind ordi nance.

TOWNSHIP MILLAGE REQUESTS

Montcalm County voters to decide on variety of requests

KELSEY LESTER | intern

Five townships in Montcalm County will ask voters in the Aug. 2 primary election whether to approve a variety of millage requests in the primary election — from roads to fire operations to police protection.

BELVIDERE TOWNSHIP ROAD MILLAGE

Belvidere Township residents will be asked to vote on a road millage renewal of 1 mill ($1 per $1,000 of a home’s taxable val ue) to continue improving local streets.

“It’s just a renewal. We’ve had it for years, and it expired so it’s now up for re newal,” said Belvidere Township Supervi sor John Anderson.

If the renewal is approved, the millage will be in continuation for 12 years, through 2033, generating an estimated $85,000 in the first year it is levied.

“We want it passed,” said Anderson. “It will not change the tax amounts at all.”

CRYSTAL TOWNSHIP POLICE MILLAGE

Crystal Township residents will be asked

to vote on a police protection renewal of .9722 mills (about 97 cents per $1,000 of tax able value). If approved, the millage would last for four years, through 2025, and would generate $109,433 in its first year, which would go toward the Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office for local police protection.

Crystal Township Supervisor Curt Mc Cracken himself isn’t convinced that the township millage request is a worthwhile proposal in light of Montcalm County vot ers approving a countywide sheriff’s mill age in 2020.

“We had to have a police millage for our township before the county had one and then the county passed their police mill age,” McCracken said. “It came time for re newal and we’re just letting people decide whether or not they want to pay a mill on their township plus the county millage too.

“Well me and myself … I feel that we’re double-dipping now. That millage that we’re voting on … that’s a mill and now we already OK’d the county millage — that’s another mill.”

CRYSTAL TOWNSHIP ROAD MILLAGE

Crystal Township voters will also be

JOHN MOOLENAAR

John Moolenaar is proud to have the endorsement of President Trump, MI Right to Life, the NRA, and Michigan Farm Bureau. As a strong conservative, John will defend our Constitution, reject tax increases, bring confidence back to our elections, secure the border, support our troops, and fight back against the Democrats’ socialist takeover of the American Dream.

asked to decide on 1.1653 mills ($1.1653 per $1,000 of taxable value) for local road main tenance.

If approved, the millage would generate $131,169 in the first year of the levy. The millage would last four years, through 2025, with the revenue disbursed to the Mont calm County Road Commission for Crystal Township road improvements.

“The road millage we’ve had for a few years and that does help. I’d like to see that pass,” McCracken said. “That gives us about $120,000 a year to put toward roads. We need to finish getting our roads in Crys tal Township to better shape.”

DAY TOWNSHIP FIRE MILLAGE

In need of some updated fire equipment, Day Township is proposing the renewal of its continuous fire millage.

The 1 mill ($1 per $1,000 of taxable value) would be levied four years, through 2025, and would generate $39,638 in the first year for new fire equipment and building im provements.

“We really count on the money that those two millages raise so that we can keep our volunteer fire department going,” said Day

Township Supervisor Michael Rasmussen. “It’s only been just a couple of years ago we got a new chief and there seems to be renewed optimism and vigor in our depart ment.

“I think we have a fantastic volunteer fire department and there is only so much tax base you can do, so the millage really helps to keep that fire department here and ready to go for our residents,” he added.

DAY TOWNSHIP ROAD MILLAGE

Day Township is also proposinga road millage renewal. The millage would be re newed at 2 mills ($2 per $1,000 of taxable value) and levied for four years, through 2025, generating $79,275 for road improve ments and maintenance in the first year.

“Next year we anticipate probably pav ing possibly even a mile to our local roads,” Rasmussen said. “I know that may not sound very significant but prices are kinda crazy and the prices of goods and services continue to go up and up.

“We’re not asking for more money, we just are looking for a continuation of the

Will you please continue to support our programs?

We urge you to vote YES

Will you please continue to support our program Without an operating millage, we cannot maintain them.

Without an operating millage, we cannot maintain them.

Will you please continue to support our programs? Without an operating millage, we cannot maintain them.

By law, the proposal will also provide some funds for the Downtown Development Authorities in the Village of Edmore, Crystal Township, the Village of Howard City, the Village of Lakeview, the City of Stanton, and the City of Greenville.

Some people worry about who will spend the monies generated. The funds cannot be used for any other entities.

of taxable value of real and tangible personal property ($15 per year on property valued at $150,000).

The renewal will continue to provide operating funds for these essential services The millage will generate about $410,000 per year. These funds are shared equally by Montcalm’s 4-H and MSU Extension programs and the Montcalm Conservation District.

We are the Friends of 4-H, Extension

By law, the proposal will also provide some funds for the Downtown Development Authorities in the Village of Edmore, Crystal Township, the Village of Howard City, the Village of Lakeview, the City of Stanton, and the City of Greenville. Some people worry about who will spend the monies generated. The funds cannot be used for any other entities.

By law, the proposal will also provide

Downtown Development

Village of Edmore,

Township,

Village of Howard City, the Village

The first in what promises to be a long line of local renewable energy ordinance referendums will be on the ballot in Winfield Township in the Aug. 2 primary election. Winfield Township voters will decide whether to referendum a solar ordinance. The controversial topic of how to create and vote on local wind ordinances is also looming in the background of multiple contested township board races in Belvidere, Douglass and Maple Valley townships in the primary election. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon

Commission on Aging millage up for renewal

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

STANTON — A Commission on Aging millage renewal on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot, if approved, will continue to fund more than half of the Montcalm County agency’s services to local senior citizens.

The Commission on Aging millage renewal at the current rate of 0.45 mills amounts to 45 cents per $1,000 of taxable value on a local home and would provide funding for four more years (2023 through 2026). If approved, the levy would generate approximately $931,910 in revenue in 2023.

To the extent required by state law, a por tion of the millage will be captured and re tained by Downtown Development Author ities (DDAs) in Crystal Township, Edmore, Greenville, Lakeview and Howard City.

According to Commission on Aging Di rector Ryan Dreyer, the millage accounts for approximately 60% of the agency’s annual revenue and allows the agency to continue to provide services to local se niors age 60 and older. The remainder of the agency’s funding comes from the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan, the Office of Services to the Aging, Reli ance Community Care Partners, the Mich igan Department of Transportation, plus donations.

A Commission on Aging census in 2020 showed that of Montcalm County’s 66,614 residents, about 12,057 of them (or more than 18%) are seniors over the age of 65. Nearly one of out of every five local se niors lives below the poverty level.

“The intention of Commission on Ag ing services is to help seniors and their families to maintain health, dignity, inde pendence and well-being,” Dreyer said. “Oftentimes our services can make the

difference between an older adult living in their own home and being placed in an assisted living facility. We provide inhome respite services intended to relieve the burden of caregivers of older adults who for one reason or another cannot be left unattended. We provide personal care services to assist older adults with hygiene needs. We also provide homemaker ser vices where we can assist with light house keeping chores around the home.

“We also operate a home-delivered meals

program and a congregate meal program,” Dreyer added. “Our home-delivered meals program entails our staff delivering fresh frozen meals directly to the homes of old er adults who are homebound or unable to cook for themselves, this program ensures that older adults in need receive proper nu trition. Our Congregate Meal program is operated at five locations throughout the county — Stanton, Howard City, Edmore, Carson City and Greenville — and is a pro gram intended to provide a nutritious hot

meal and a place to gather and socialize with others. We often pair the meal with some sort of programing whether that be bingo, cards or a speaker. “Our Medi cal Transportation program is utilized to transport older adults to any non-emer gency medical appointments including regular check ups, follow up appointments, screenings, surgeries and even dialysis or cancer treatments,” Dreyer continued.

“We also provide new and donated med ical equipment for seniors in need. Social activities at our senior center and in the community such as bingo, exercise class es, educational programming, support groups, crafts. We have several exercise related clubs such as walking club, kay ak club, biking club and more. We part ner with AARP for driver safety classes and free tax preparation services for old er adults and we provide a free monthly newsletter via mail to anyone that is inter ested. Finally we pride ourselves on being a hub for Information and referral services for older adults within the county.”

Commission on Aging Board Chairman Aaron Hadley said the millage renewal would benefit all seniors in Montcalm County.

“Our seniors have contributed to what makes this county great and they deserve to be taken care of,” Hadley said. “The Montcalm County CoA offers many great programs and services that are carried out by a great staff that cares about their needs. This millage renewal will allow the CoA to continue to staff and carry out these services to this important group of people.”

Visit montcalm.org/departments_ser vices/health_and_human_services/com mission_on_aging.php online for more information about local Commission on Aging services.

MSU Extension/4-H/Conservation District funds up for vote

SEAN CHASE | intern

Voters in Montcalm County will deter mine the fate of a millage renewal for the Montcalm County Michigan State Exten sion, 4-H and Conservation District in the Aug. 2 primary election.

The millage renewal would allow Mont calm County to continue to levy 0.2000 mills (20 cents per every $1,000 of taxable value of real and personal property) for four more years (2023 through 2026) to provide funds for the three organizations. About two-thirds of the money will go toward MSU Extension and 4-H (which received $272,000 this year) and about one-third will go toward the Conservation District (which received $136,000 this year).

MSU Extension District 8 Director Wil liam Hendrian noted that because this is a renewal proposal, residents wouldn’t see an increase to the current amount levied.

As the housing market fluctuates, Hen drian said the money the programs receive also adjusts.

“Those dollars are levied based on the taxable value of the homes within the county so that that can change depending on that,” he said. “That amount increases depending on that, it could stay the same, you know, the actual dollars are going to be a little bit different.”

TRI

AREA SCHOOLS MILLAGE

housed. There’s a general budget, and it op erates all programs, and that includes 4-H.”

Montcalm Conservation District Board Director Steve Wyckoff said the Conserva tion District was on the verge of folding be fore the most millage passed.

“That’s what prompted inclusion in the millage request,” Wyckoff said. “Since that time, with the generosity of the people of Montcalm County, we’ve been able to re store programs and actually increase our staff and be more effective with boots on the ground as far as conservation and the county.”

While the Conservation District is cur rently in good standing, Wyckoff said if the millage doesn’t pass, that wouldn’t last long.

“Even if we can survive, I don’t foresee us surviving more than two or three years beyond the failure of the millage unless some other funds are found,” Wyckoff said. “We just don’t have the revenues to really exist.”

According to Wyckoff, when voters enter the voting booth, the proposals will be locat ed on the back of the ballot.

“If you haven’t already voted absentee, when you go to the polls, make sure you look at the backside of the ballot,” Wyckoff explained. “That’s where the proposals are. That’s where we appear.”

Tri County Area Schools voters to decide renewal

SEAN CHASE | intern

PIERSON TOWNSHIP — Voters within the Tri County Area Schools district will decide on a non-homestead millage renew al for operating purposes in the Aug. 2 pri mary election.

Voters will decide on a two-year 18-mill renewal (2023 and 2024) that would see the school district receive $2.4 million in its first year for operating purposes. The 18 mills equates to $18 per each $1,000 of tax able value for non-homesteads only (such as rental properties and vacation homes).

Tri County Superintendent Al Cumings said the millage ensures the school district

receives full per-pupil funding from the state.

“The operating millage is what allows school districts to get their full founda tion allowance from the state,” Cumings explained. “So for us to get full per-pupil funding, you have to pass an operating millage most schools do it either every year or every few years.”

According to Cumings, to receive the full foundation allowance from the state of Michigan, schools must pass 18 mills on non-homestead properties. Previous proposals have featured restorations due to Headlee rollbacks, but Cumings said this proposal is strictly a renewal of the 18

How to be an informed voter

Bridge report

There’s a ton of information online, and not all can be trusted. Here are tips to help research issues with the election and claims made by candidates.

THE GOLDEN RULE

Be skeptical. Rely on trusted news sources. Resist confirmation bias. Beware of memes and sites you never heard of. Get a variety of sources, even those you may not agree with.

FACT-CHECKING CLAIMS

Several outlets routinely check the claims of candidates, politicians and cam paigns, including: Politifact.com/ FactCheck.org Snopes.com/

• The Michigan Secretary of State fact-checking service (michigan.gov/ sos/faqs/elections-and-campaign-finance/ fact-checks)

CAMPAIGN FINANCE

Money fuels election campaigns and knowing who is giving to candidates, ballot measures and parties can provide insight to voters. Here’s where you can find infor

mation:

Michigan Campaign Finance Net work (mcfn.org) for statewide and federal races

• Opensecrets.org (typically federal campaigns, including Congressional and Presidential)

Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance data (michigan.gov/sos/elections/ disclosure/cfr)

• Federal Election Commission (fec.gov/ data/)

OTHER RESOURCES

The League of Women Voters of Mich igan has produced a voters’ guide (onyour ballot.vote411.org/) to local, state and fed eral candidates as well as local issues for many parts of the state.

Michigan Republican Party (migop. org/)

• Michigan Democratic Party (michi gandems.com/) Michigan Libertarian Party (michi ganlp.org/)

US Taxpayers Party of Michigan (ust pm.org/)

• Michigan Green Party (migreenparty. org/)

Working Class Party of Michigan (facebook.com/WCPMichigan/)

mills.

“What happens is Headlee can roll that 18 mills back due to an increase in property values,” he said. “And if it rolls back then like last time, we’d have to do increase it back to the 18 mills. This time we’re just doing as a renewal to get back to the stay at the 18 mills.”

Board of Education President Jill Fen nessy said passing the millage is important to ensure the district receive full funding.

“If we lose the millage, right now it’s about $2.4 million, the state does not make

it up,” Fennessy said. “We don’t get all our full funding if we don’t collect the 18 mills.”

Fennessy said it is important for voters to actually turn over their ballot when vot ing to ensure they don’t miss any propos als, as the school district millage will be located on the back of the ballot.

“We’re very blessed to have wonderful families in this area, and please remind voters to flip over your ballot as there is likely our non-homestead renewal and oth er items may be on the back of the ballot,” Fennessy said.

According to Hendrian, MSU Extension is multifaceted.

“MSU Extension has four institutes, Agriculture and Agribusiness, Health and

Nutrition, Community Food and Environ ment,” Hendrian explained. “That’s three and then Child and Youth Development, the 4-H program coordination, that’s where it’s

From left, Michigan State University Extension District 8 Director Bill Hendrian, Montcalm Conservation Dis trict Director Amber Snow and Steve Wyckoff, the chairman of the Friends of 4-H, MSU Extension and Mont calm Conservation District Committee, appeared before the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners this past March to request a millage renewal be placed on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot. — DN file photo

Montcalm County Commission on Aging Director Ryan Dreyer takes a phone call in his Stanton office. A mill age renewal for the Commission on Aging to continue to provide services to local senior citizens will be on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot. — DN file photo

Multiple contested races for Ionia County Board

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

IONIA — The Ionia County Board of Commissioners could see multiple new faces after the dust settles on this year’s elec tions.

Six commissioners are being contested for their seats — many by members of their own politi cal party — while a seventh com missioner, Karen Banks, is not running for re-election.

The only commissioner dis trict not being contested in the Aug. 2 primary election is the newly redrawn District 1, which includes the city of Belding, Otisco Township and a portion of Orleans Township west of Johnson Road. Commission er David Hodges of Belding, a Republican, will be contested by Michael Baker of Belding, a Democrat, in November’s gener al election.

Commissioner districts will look a little different next year due to map redistricting of county districts.

Here’s a look at candidates for other commissioner seats in August, some of whom will ad vance to November:

DISTRICT 2

Joe Farrington, 44, of Lyons Township is challenging cur rent Commissioner Scott Wirtz of Ionia for the county’s newly redrawn District 2, which in cludes Ronald, North Plains and Lyons townships and a portion of Orleans Township east of Johnson Road.

Farrington and Wirtz are both Republicans.

Wirtz declined to participate in this story. He has been a coun ty commissioner since 2012.

Farrington is the owner/ bartender of Lyons Bar and a former school teacher and finan cial adviser. He is currently a trustee for the village of Lyons and serves on the village’s fi nance, ordinance and personnel committees, the latter of which he chairs.

“I am familiar with the inner workings of local government and find my current and previ ous professional experiences allows for a unique perspective on serving the community,” Far rington said. “Operating a local restaurant/bar allows for con stituents to have unparalleled access to their representative to ask direct questions and con cerns they may have.

“My goal as a commissioner is to participate and help grow Ionia County in a positive and productive direction while fo cusing cost effectiveness for ser vices to citizens,” he said.

DISTRICT 3

Roger Hamel of Ionia and Michelle McCord of Ionia are both running as Democrats in the primary election with the winner advancing to November to face off against current Com missioner Larry Tiejema of Saranac, a Republican, for the county’s newly redrawn District 3, which includes Keene, Easton and Ionia townships.

Hamel did not return multi ple messages seeking comment for this story.

McCord has lived in Ionia her

entire life, building her home on a piece of the family farm in Easton Township in 1970. She re tired from Grand Rapids Public Schools after teaching second ary English for nearly 50 years.

“My greatest strength is my love for this area and commit ment to maintaining a rural lifestyle,” McCord said. “As the fourth generation on this land, I want to research best practices for keeping Easton Township healthy and strong for future generations. Besides being a woman, I think I have a lot of experience working with a diverse population. I am also a serious advocate for seniors — especially now that I am one.

“I would be a vocal advocate on the Board of Commissioners for Easton Township,” she add ed. “Easton has a long and rich history that we should share with the larger community. As rural churches lose member ship and often have to close their doors, we can breathe new life into both the churches and the community through increased outreach and multiple uses.”

DISTRICT 4 Phillip Lee Hesche of Boston Township and Dennis Sitzer of Boston Township are both run ning as Republicans in the pri mary election with the winner advancing to November to face off against Judith Transue of Clarksville, a Democrat, for the county’s newly redrawn District 4, which includes Boston and Campbell townships.

Hesche, 63, is self-employed at Pinkney Hill Meat Company, which he began 30 years ago, and is retired from the Michi gan Department of Corrections. He also served three years in the U.S. Army with military police/ intelligence, where he says he was trained to “never be bigger than the people your serve — best advice ever.”

“My life has been based on common sense, leadership, quick decision making and in tegrity above all else,” Hesche said.

If elected, Hesche said he would like to help the county board finally reach resolution on “the Road Department mess,” as well as work to stay on track with the county budget.

“Then maybe the backroads could be plowed before spring and then maintained in safe conditions all year for everyone

in the district — not just the main trunklines,” he said. “I would also like to keep people safe by retaining and attracting quality law enforcement candi dates. Safety for all should be a priority for all. I want to support the law enforcement we do have by meeting the needs as they arise.”

Sitzer, 75, is a retired small business owner. A lifelong res ident of Ionia County, he is a U.S. Marine Corps. veteran and served as a Boston Township trustee for 10 years.

He’s been a member of the Ionia County Township Officers Association for 10 years, Ionia County Board of Public Works for six years, Ionia County Com mission on Aging Board for six years and Area Agency of Aging of Western Michigan Board of Directors for five years.

“Being a lifelong resident of Ionia County, I have a passion to work on and solve issues impact ing people’s everyday lives,” he said. “I would like to work with the Road Department to improve local unpaved roads and well as work to improve services for the elderly in our community.”

DISTRICT 5 Gordon Kelley of Ionia and Timothy Ross of Ionia are both running as Republicans in the primary election with the win ner advancing to November to face off against current Com missioner Ally Cook of Ionia, a Democrat, for the county’s new ly redrawn District 5, which in cludes the city of Ionia and Ber lin Township.

Kelley, 72, is the owner of KDH Construction, which does home building and remodeling. He’s a current member of the Io nia City Council, where he has served for more than 20 years.

“I am a fiscal and social con servative — I look beyond tra ditional party lines to see what course of action best suits the needs of my constituents and the county as whole,” Kelley said. “I have years of experience in un derstanding the interaction of the elected board and the gov ernmental entity. I understand how a board should operate, as well as a working understanding of governmental budgeting and planning.”

Kelley believes he has the trust of his peers, whether they agree politically or not, as well as the willingness to stand and

argue for positions and opin ions he holds regardless if he is successful in swaying the vote. He says he also has a history of voting for the correct course of action even when it is not “polit ically advantageous.”

“The single biggest goal I have is to re-establish trust in the Board of Commissioners by the people of the 5th District, the people of Ionia County and the employees of the county of Ionia,” Kelley said. “To help lift Ionia County out of the general malaise it has been experienc ing for years by providing the lacking leadership. Ionia Coun ty could regain the luster of being known as one of the best places in Michigan to live, work, establish a business and raise one’s family.”

Ross, 56, is a renewable ener gy developer for M&R Resources LLC. He’s previously served as a county commissioner in Lapeer County and as a Village Coun cil member in North Branch, as well as on village and coun ty planning commissioners, senior citizen boards, Health Department board, Habitat for Humanity board and other sate and local boards. He is currently a precinct delegate for the city of Ionia.

“I have the time and energy to make a difference,” Ross said. “I am knowledgeable of the role and the demands of the position and am dedicated to making Io nia county a better place for all of us.”

Ross believes Ionia County needs “sound financial planning and a renewed focus on human resource management,” and he added that the current search for a new county administrator is vital to those tasks.

“The recent past has been a comedy of errors as person nel and financial issues have plagued the county,” Ross said. “From hiring and firing issues, to debates over demolishing or restoring buildings, the man agement of those issues has not reflected well on our county.

“I believe there needs to be a thorough review of all board policies. Board members need to be encouraged to abide by the policies and procedures they have adopted and revise any that are not effective. Board mem bers need to be held accountable when poor decisions are made. Board members need to be edu cated on effective leadership and communication strategies.

“In addition, I believe it is al ways best to have leaders as ac countable to the constituents as possible,” Ross continued. “For example, decision to dissolve the Road Commission was three years ago but seems like it result ed from differences of opinions over spending policies between the Board of Commissioners and the Road Commission lead

MONTCALM COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

ership. I would have worked much harder at resolving those issues than simply pulling the plug on the Road Commission. Perhaps the Board of Commis sioners felt it was the best de cision at the time but, again, I would have worked harder to find a different solution. They Board of Commissioners have a lot on their plates and adding the weight of the Road Depart ment perhaps has made them each less effective as they have even more issues, policies and procedures to become familiar with. As such, I would support restoring the elected Road Com mission.”

DISTRICT 6

Heather Hendges of Danby Township is challenging cur rent Commissioner Jack Shat tuck of Orange Township for the county’s newly redrawn District 6, which includes Odessa, Sebe wa and Orange townships, a por tion of Danby Township west of Charlotte Highway and south of Butler Road, and a portion west of Frost Road, and south of Mc Crumb Road.

Both candidates are Republi cans.

Hendges, 43, has lived in the Portland area since 2006. She has been self-employed since 2015 with her company Hendges Diversified Management LLC, which serves the heavy/high way construction industry as a for-hire project manager and business management consul tant. She also owns HD Ventures LLC, a property management company. She was previously ap pointed to the Danby Township Zoning Board of Appeals.

“In order to have change, one must be willing to participate in making the changes hap pen,” she said. “I have desire and motivation to be a part of the change one seeks instead of simply wishing for change. The experience I have acquired over the past 20-plus years working on road and bridge construction projects provides a foundation for knowing how to analyze fi nancial data and information with the ability to ask the right type of, and sometimes hard, questions on behalf of the cit izens in Ionia County. I am willing to carve out time from building by businesses to serve the county and provide a solid management voice to the board without meddling in day-to-day operations.”

Hendges believes roads are one of the main issues in Ionia County.

“One of the biggest concerns still seems to be a focus on the condition of the roads when I speak with folks,” she said. “I also plan to bring a financially conservative voice to the board and promote long-term invest ment when the various depart ments seek to approve budgets.”

If elected, Hendges said her priorities will be as follows:

•“My first goal, once elected, is to be a quick study of the man agement of local government by learning the daily functions and procedures of the various de partments.

“Once the fundamentals are

Beach vs. Johnston and Kohn vs. Withey battle for seats

ELISABETH WALDON ewaldon@thedailynews.cc

STANTON — At least one incumbent will be ousted from the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners in the Aug. 2 primary election due to redis tricting, which reduced county districts (and thus commission ers) from nine to seven.

Commissioner Michael Beach of Bloomer Township and Commissioner Chris John ston of Crystal Township are being forced to run against each other for the newly redrawn Dis trict 2, which includes the city of Carson City, the townships of Bloomer, Crystal, Day, Ferris and most of Evergreen Town ship.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Phil Kohn of Edmore is being challenged by Armon Withey of Belvidere Township for the newly redrawn District 7, which includes Belvidere, Home and Richland townships and the northern portion of Douglass Township.

Districts 2 and 7 are the only two districts being challenged in the August election. Come No vember, Commissioner Kathy Bresnahan and Patrick Q. Carr will be forced to run against each other for the newly re drawn District 6, Commissioner Scott Painter will be challenged by G.R. “Pete” Frye for District 4

and John Hoppough and Charlie Mahar will face off for District 5.

Commissioner Jeremy Mill er is not running for re-election this year, and commissioners Ron Baker and Adam Petersen are not facing any opposition in their bids for re-election.

DISTRICT 2

Chris Johnston, 62, has been a county commissioner for the past four years, while Michael Beach, 67 has served for two years. Both men are retired from General Motors and Beach cur rently works as a sales engineer for Michigan CSC Tool.

Both men are Republicans.

Beach, a U.S. Air Force vet eran, previously served as chairman of the Bloomer Town ship Planning Commission and chairman of First Bap tist Church of Carson City. He currently serves as chairman of New Haven Church of The Brethren.

“If re-elected, I would like to maintain and improve the cur rent financial status of Mont calm County and provide better and more services to citizens of the District 2 and the citizens of Montcalm County as a whole, in cluding increased road patrol,” Beach said.

Johnston previously served as Crystal Township supervisor from 2012 to 2018 and remains active in his township.

“I think I’m well known in my district, I’ve lived my entire life in Crystal Township,” Johnston said. “If re-elected, my goal is to help the county stay fiscally re sponsible and I hope to help our county Sheriff’s Department continue to grow and get back to fully staffed 24/7 police protec tion.

DISTRICT 7

Phil Kohn, 64, has been a county commissioner for the past four years and he currently works as an accounting profes

sor at Ferris State University.

Armon Withey, 75, is retired from ConAgra Foods and also has a college degree in account ing. He is a current member of the Montcalm County Planning Commission and is president of the Montcalm Townships Asso ciation.

Both men are Republicans.

“The county commissioners need to work as a team and find common ground,” Kohn said.

“Each person brings a different background and perspective. One of my unique qualifications is that I am a retired CPA with experience as an expert witness in legal disputes. I’m fiscally conservative and appreciate the fact that county expenditures come from the pockets of our residents. Another qualifica tion is that I lived in other parts of the country (western U.S.) and have seen how other local governments function. There is nothing special about living outside Montcalm County, but it does provide me with a general ly broad range of life experienc es.

“I have an in-depth under standing of how our county gov ernment functions from both a personnel and budgetary stand point,” Kohn added. “I have seen what works and what does not, which helps in avoiding poten tial missteps. My work experi ence as both a business owner

and educator has provided the opportunity to learn from a broad range of people and bring that experience into my deci sion-making process.”

Withey said his qualifications include, “Making friends and representing different levels of individuals, as well as 50 years of accounting and finance expe rience with different companies. I am always volunteering with other groups.”

If re-elected, Kohn said his main goal is to keep Montcalm County on the current sound fiscal path the county was able to achieve over the past several years.

“With good financial plan ning we can maintain funding for those things that impact the quality of life for our residents like public safety, veteran’s ser vices, elder care and parks,” he said. “One specific goal is to en sure we can keep county offices open five days a week and that county employees are respon sive to the needs of residents. Another is to make sure we properly address the county’s need for cyber security and the proper protection of private in formation.”

If elected, Withey said his goal is to “work with other com missioners and county depart ment leaders to obtain the best services from within their bud gets and funding.”

Chris Johnston Michael Beach Phil Kohn

Armon Withey

Joe Farrington

Michelle McCord

Gordon Kelley Timothy Ross

Phillip Hesche Dennis Sitzer

Heather Hendges Jack Shattuck

Terence Frewen Georgia Sharp

MILLAGE

Not the ‘community savior,’ but a ‘community center’

KELSEY LESTER | intern

IONIA — Still hoping to find more room for books, technology updates and community spaces, the Ionia Commu nity Library is once again proposing a millage for the Aug. 2 primary election to relocate the library to Mercantile Bank’s donated building.

It’s been a tough battle, as similar library millage proposals have failed three times in the last 17 years.

In 2005, a bond proposal to borrow $7.45 million in bonds over 20 years to construct a new library by levying 1.47 mills failed by 1,133 votes.

In 2018, a millage proposal to con struct a new library facility failed by 846 votes.

Last November, a 25-year .98 millage proposal to renovate, operate and main tain the former Mercantile Bank as a new library while maintaining for three years the current library building in the historic Hall-Fowler Home failed by 104 votes.

Ionia Community Library Director Dale Parus believes the most recent fail ure was likely due to poor communica tion with the community, combined with too high of a cost.

“I’ve been a veteran of many cam paigns over the years, so although you never want to lose, you feel like you let the community down because you made a poor plan,” Parus said. “The opposi tion ran a good campaign and unfortu nately we were defeated in a close vote. So we took that to heart and we took the criticism that we received.”

The library has a page posted online (www.citizens4icl.org) with an accumu lation of information on the topic — with everything from the ballot word ing to 25-page engineering studies. The library is also allowing for requested tours of the former Mercantile Bank, to help citizens visualize the renovations if approved.

“We’re being as transparent as possi ble,” Parus said. “If you really want to know everything about the project, just go on the website and it’s there.”

Another major criticism from some “no” voters had to do with the cost of the project. Some residents suggested that instead of paying for labor costs, they just pay for the renovation of the build ing. This would bring the previous pro

posed 25-year millage rate to 20 years, which library officials agreed to change.

Voters are now being asked to approve .98 mills for 20 years for a total collected of $8.5 million ($2 million less than the

previous ask).

While library officials have been flexi ble with some requests, other challenges are more difficult. The library’s current building has stood in the way for some,

as some residents want the piece of his tory to remain in the library’s owner ship.

Then there’s people who don’t believe a library is necessary at all.

“Not everybody has a computer,” Parus noted. “The school system did a survey recently and one out of every three households has no computer ac cess. It’s a fallacy that everybody has the world at their fingertips.”

Library Board President Gale Yeo mans agreed. After a June 22 town hall meeting about the millage, Yeomans was told the library “should just be a li brary,” and it didn’t need to be “the com munity savior,” she recalled.

“I replied that we’re not trying to be the community savior, but that we do strive to be the community center, which is just one of the many services modern libraries provide to both their patrons and their communities,” Yeomans said.

Library officials have been doing the best it can to generate solutions to all these issues and they are confident that the primary election will finally give them the result they’ve been seeking.

“Yes, the Ionia Community Library wants to be a better library to the com munity of Ionia, but we also want to do all of the other functions that a 21st Century library should be doing and ob viously do in almost every other commu nity that surrounds us,” Parus said. “We need to provide a library that services everybody.”

If the millage is approved, library of ficials will jump into action, working on new projects like added computer space, better Wi-Fi, a children’s area, study/ meeting rooms, a Montcalm Community College joint sharing room and more.

“We’re just not able to serve you cor rectly out of this wonderful looking but totally obsolete 1870 building — it’s ba sically a home,” Parus said. “We have a wonderful facade here, it’s a lovely home, but it’s a house. So how do you operate a library out of a house? You do it poorly, unfortunately. We’ve never been able to give the people of Ionia — the community — the services they re ally need.

“Between what we’ve done as the li brary board and the staff, I’m confident that we’ve answered the past failure points and we should feel that we have a fighting chance this time,” Parus added.

Michigan Democrats lobby to move up state’s primary

YUE STELLA YU | Bridge Michigan

LANSING — Michigan’s diversity, sta tus as a battleground state and affordabil ity to political candidates should make the state among the first to hold presidential primaries in 2024.

That was the pitch Thursday from Mich igan’s top Democrats as they pleaded with the Democratic National Committee on Thursday to tweak the primary calendar.

Michigan is among more than a dozen states and territories fighting to move up on the DNC’s presidential primaries cal endar — a change that could increase eco nomic investment and political power. The DNC must decide by Aug.6.

Michigan’s proposal has gained sup port from prominent Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell and U.S. Sen. Deb bie Stabenow, both of whom spoke at the Thursday DNC meeting in Washington, D.C.. Two ex-state GOP chairs — Rusty Hills and Saul Anuzis — drafted a letter to the DNC in support, hailing Michigan as an “affordable” state with a diverse voter base.

“Simply put, Michigan is America and America is Michigan,” the former GOP chairs wrote.

But to move up primary dates would require assent from Michigan’s Republi can-led state Legislature.

In 2020, Michigan held its presidential

primaries on March 10, a week after Super Tuesday when one-third of all presidential nominating delegates are up for grabs, and five weeks after Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus.

At the Thursday event, Dingell told the DNC “appropriate conversations” are un derway with the Legislature but was not willing to discuss the details.

“We feel good about the conversations that have been had so far,” Michigan Dem ocratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes told the DNC on Thursday. “We just aren’t ready to (put) out those conversations publicly.”

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, “has not discussed this with Democrats yet and no bill has been in troduced to make the change,” Shirkey spokesperson Matt Sweeney told Bridge Michigan in a text.

House Speaker Jason Wentworth’s spokesperson told Bridge the speaker “hasn’t spoken to them about it.”

States among the earliest to hold presi dential primaries have traditionally wield ed significant influence over the trajectory of the race.

Those primary results help “winnow the field” of candidates and draw media attention and campaign spending to those first states, Matt Grossmann, political sci ence professor at the Michigan State Uni versity, told Bridge Michigan.

“Traditionally, that (process) has mostly

been about reducing the number of candi dates,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily seen as ‘Iowa and New Hampshire get to pick the winner.’”

Those who perform well in early prima ry states do not always win the presiden tial election, Grossman noted. In 2020, Pete Buttigieg won Iowa and Bernie Sanders swept New Hampshire, but both dropped out of the race, he said.

Michigan Democrats have long fought to be among the first to hold primaries. Dingell, who represents most of Washten aw and Wayne counties, lobbied the Dem ocratic National Committee to reevaluate its nominating calendar in 2005, although Michigan failed to make the cut, Roll Call reported.

The national party again fully opened the nominating process this year after Iowa faced backlash in 2020 for delays in caucus results and for its lack of racial di versity. The states have also been criticized for exerting an outsized influence while not representing the majority of American voters.

“Iowa and New Hampshire happen to be among the whitest states and among the most liberal states in the Democratic elec torate,” Grossmann said.

Michigan, in contrast, is in the middle of the pack among states when it comes to diversity, as 25 percent of voting-age resi dents are non-white.

Dingell said the state also has a range of diverse industries, from agriculture to manufacturing, and interest groups.

“To win Michigan, you have to talk to each of those constituencies,” Dingell told Bridge in an interview.

She and others argued that Michigan is a longtime swing state that is crucial to de termining the presidential race outcome.

“Michigan picks presidents,” Dingell said. “For the last four decades, nearly ev ery candidate who wins Michigan becomes president.”

Additionally, Michigan offers cam paigns “competitive” rates for television and radio slots in seven media markets across the state, Barnes said at the Thurs day presentation.

The effort to move Michigan up on the calendar has support from groups such as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Manufacturers Association and the Michigan Restaurants and Lodging As sociation, Dingell said Thursday.

“People are clamoring to join us,” she said.

In an opinion published in the Detroit News, Anuzis called Michigan “the most diverse battleground state and a micro cosm of America” and argued the nomina tion would bring Michigan “a tremendous economic benefit” by drawing campaign investments in small businesses, hotels, restaurants and tech companies.

Multiple contested races for Ionia County Board

Continued from Page 5B

reviewed, I would then promote the need to add structure to the board meetings and support the chairperson to maintain order on the issues at hand — not meddle in the weeds on topics not relevant to the board’s duties.

“Once those are established, I would seek to adequately review budgets and ensure Ionia County is getting the best value for the services and materials it needs with the funding provided by our hard working taxpayers while looking to save for the future to prevent budget defi cits,” Hendges concluded.

Shattuck 63, is a self-employed farmer with 26 years of experience as a county commissioner, including serving as the past board chairman.

He has served on multiple county boards related to the airport, parks, Road Department and negotiating union con tracts. He’s also been vice president of the Workmen’s Compensation Board for Michigan Association Counties and served on state agricultural and tourism boards with the Michigan Association of Counties.

If re-elected, Shattuck said his goal is to “maintain a conservative budget and provide appropriate staffing levels for county services and also to ensure new state and federal programs are properly found out for Ionia County residents.”

DISTRICT 7

Terence Frewen of Danby Township is challenging current Commissioner Geor gia Sharp of Portland Township for the county’s new District 7, which includes Portland Township, the city of Portland,

and a portion of Danby Township east of Charlotte Highway and north of Butler Road and a portion east of Frost Road, and north of McCrumb Road.

Both candidates are Republicans.

Frewen, 53, is a broker and owner of Coldwell Banker Frewen Realty in Port land. He was previously field office man ager of Denton Concrete Paving Co. He has a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Ferris State Universi ty and he previously served as president and member of the Greater Lansing As sociation of Realtors, which he says over saw budgets and financials similar to Io nia County.

“My experience as a business owner and a construction manager will aide in helping make good financial business decisions for the county,” Frewen said.

“Also, my past affiliation with county boards, which include the Ionia County Land Bank, Ionia County Economic Al liance and the Ionia County Redevelop ment Authority, gives me the knowledge and importance of those boards. My nearly 30 years of owning and operat ing a successful small business in Ionia County will help me relate to the issues of other small business within the coun ty and think of them during key decision making.

If elected, one of Frewen’s main goals is to learn the financials of Ionia County and be a contributing part of the budget process.

“Fiscal responsibility is very import ant to a healthy organization,” he said. “I also plan to have an open door policy to listen to residents comments and con cerns — not just during public comment at a meeting.”

Sharp, 73, is retired from Portland Public Schools after nearly 40 years of teaching. She has been a county com missioner for three terms and she serves on the EightCAP Governing Board, the Michigan Department of Health & Hu man Services Executive Board and Ionia County’s mental health services board in conjunction with The Right Door for Hope, Recovery & Wellness.

“I am running for office because I believe as a public servant, I have not finished my job,” she said. “I have been on the board of county commissioners for three terms. The past term has been the most difficult due to the pandemic. I would like to serve another term in order to see the projects and goals we as a board have set to reach completion. I believe the citizens of Ionia County deserve a public servant that has experience in what we have successfully completed.”

Sharp describes herself as a “fiscal conservative.”

“I believe the current Board of Com missioners has done an excellent job in managing the budget for Ionia County,” she said. “Though at times we have been forced to make difficult decisions related to the budget, we have kept our finances at a healthy level. The budget was always balanced and the county maintained a healthy general fund. My experiences with five other boards that I serve on has helped me to learn, understand and act on budgets for public organizations.”

Sharp said the motto of her campaign for the last three terms, and this one, is “Engage, energize, educate.”

“I am focused on transparency of all elected bodies,” she said. “I believe the citizens of Ionia County are the constit

uents, but also the employers of elect ed officials. I receive many phone calls, emails and texts from my constituents regarding issues and votes of the Board of Commissioners. I welcome these con versations and exchange of information. Any issue that affects the people of Ionia County and their quality of life is an is sue that I care about.”

Sharp said she has three main prior ities, if re-elected: Personnel policies, roads and bridges and enhancing county department staff.

“Being chairwoman of the Personnel Committee, we have had to deal with many, many difficult issues,” she said. “Some took an extended amount of time in researching, investigating and inter viewing to make what we believed to be a fair and equitable decision. During this time, the committee members discussed that the county is in need of a human re sources position in the Administrative Department. Also we need to revise the Employees’ Handbook policies.

“Priority 2 will be a continued focus on the quality of roads and bridges. We have a very well organized and managed Road Department with strong leadership after a couple years of difficult times. It has been a positive thing to bring the Road Depart ment into the county structure.

“Priority 3 will be to enhance our county departments’ staffs in terms of compensation, benefits and working en vironments,” she said. “It seems like we compete with the counties around us, especially financially. This makes it dif ficult to do everything we would like to do for our county employees. I appreciate them and thank them for their dedication to Ionia County.”

Ionia Community Library officials are asking voters on the Aug. 2 primary election ballot to approve .98 mills for 20 years for a total collected of $8.5 million to help maintain and improve library services. — DN file photo

MONTCALM COUNTY TOWNSHIPS Q&A

1.Name, age and city/village/ township of residence?

2.Current employment (or former employment, if retired)?

3.What qualifications do you have that would effectively serve and ben efit your district if you are elected to this position?

4.What sets you apart from your opponent(s)?

5.What goals would you like to ac complish during your term, if elect ed?

Belvidere Township Board trustee (three Republican candidates run ning for one seat)

1.My name is Tarin Minkel, I am 32 years old and I am a Belvi dere Township resident.

2. I am employed as an engineer.

3. I believe I am qual ified for the township trustee position because of my involvement with many committees and my vast experience with public meetings. I have organized and led many committees through my experience as a 4-H member in my young er days, my involvement in college level clubs, my previous employment (MSU Extension, 4-H Program Coordinator) and community involvement. Some of my involvement with committees has been as a non-voting member where my role was organizational only. This al lowed me the opportunity to be a listen ing ear only and really showed me the im portance of hearing what everyone has to say. Another role I served was advisory to a youth committee. My biggest challenge with that role was helping youth advocate their needs to adults. This role provided me a lot of experience in advocating for what the majority wanted, not simply my opinions and preferences. Many of the committees I have been a part of are open to the public and provided me the experi ence of the importance of involving the public in decision making and keeping them informed about what was going on. I think my experience will help me be “A Voice for the People” and a listening ear for the township residents.

4. I think what sets me apart from my opponents is my age. I feel it is time for younger generations to get involved in their communities and politics and I feel I can represent, respect and relate to a younger generation of voters. I believe I can help younger generations get in volved and show them their voices can be heard. I feel I can represent a variety of viewpoints, regardless of age, and will represent all citizens.

5. If I am selected as Belvidere Town ship Trustee, I hope to bring transparen cy to township business, be a listening ear for township residents, be a voice for resident concerns, encourage public at tendance and involvement in township happenings, support preservation of our rural community, support and encourage open communication and public decision making with township business and sup port township road improvements. Most of all, my goal is for the people of Belvi dere Township to know that I am work ing for them and will serve them to the fullest.

1. Patrick Stuller, 78, of Six Lakes.

2.Owner of Pigeon Creek Crafts.

3. I am currently on the Belvidere Township Plan ning Commission and a member of the Montcalm County Republican Party.

4.I have 31 years in law enforcement, 19 years as supervisor for Bierlein Companies.

5.I want to build a bet ter rapport with township resident and the township board.

1.My name is Wayne Watts. I’m 58 years old, and l reside in Belvidere Township.

2.I am retired from Morbark LLC, where I was employed as the company’s governmental sales representative.

3.As a g raduate of Central Michigan Univer sity, I have both finance and psychology degrees. In past years, within my church, I have served on several of its boards and as its treasur er. As an employee of Morbark LLC, I have secured million-dollar contracts, supervised projects and worked with both federal and state governments on contract bids and financial reporting. Serving on the the Belvidere Township Planning Commission for the past eight years, along with the Belvidere Town ship Board for the past year, has enabled me to personally interact with our town ship residents. I worked with our town ship clerk to renew our SAM contract allowing us to secure the second half of our ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act)

LOCAL TOWNSHIP CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRES

funding.

4.I am a third-generation Belvidere Township resident who has been em ployed in our area my entire life. While serving the township as a trustee, I be lieve it is vital to keep in mind that I am representing all township residents. I feel that I am very approachable. I’m able to listen to both sides of any issue in order to reach middle ground. And I believe it is extremely important to be fiscally re sponsible and never wasteful of taxpay ers’ money.

5.Since this is an abbreviated term of two years, the specific goals I have may be somewhat limited. Regarding the ARPA funds which we have received from both the federal and county governments, I would like to see these used to complete projects at the First Lake Park and with in the village of Six Lakes. As a boy grow ing up in our area, First Lake Park was a focal point, as was the ball field and bas ketball court. I would like to spruce up the area behind the township hall, mak ing it more family-friendly. In addition, I feel it is important to have a solar energy ordinance in place as soon as possible, since we need to protect township resi dents, while enabling future growth and sustainability of both our farmlands and wetlands. Working together on a town ship board doesn’t always mean we agree on every topic. But we know that prog ress is made when everyone pulls in the same direction. I feel that, throughout this past year, we’ve been able to function at a high level. My hope is that we contin ue to maintain this productive level of co operation. Lastly, I would like everyone to know that I consider having my name on a ballot as being both a privilege and an honor. If I am blessed to be elected, I will responsibly and consistently serve the residents of Belvidere Township.

Douglass Township Board trustee (two Republican candidates running for one seat)

1. Patrick Althoff, 62 Douglas Town ship.

2.Wilbur Ellis.

3.Common sense.

4.I am in favor of elec tricity. I might actually be addicted to it! I like to come home and flip a switch and have lights. There are people who think their electricity should come from some where else. They all use electricity but it should be someone else who has to put up with the generation of the electricity. When they shut down all coal and gas genera tion where would you like your electrici ty to come from? If people are so against turbines and solar they should not sup port the companies that produce it and support it. Like, shut off your power and get off Facebook. Maybe Montcalm County should generate the electricity for the county. Wind turbines are a legal land use. Land owners should be able to use their land how they see fit. I will not vote for an ordinance that is not legal.

5.I would hope that someday we can do something other than work on a wind ordinance.

1. Eric Tester, 63, Douglass Township resident.

2.Retired from USPS as a rural letter carrier after 28 years at the Stan ton Post Office. I worked on local farms and local businesses prior and during my postal career.

3.I g rew up on a farm in Douglass Township and raised my children here. Being a lifelong res ident brings a strong per spective of what the community needs and deserves.

4.I will look out for the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Douglass Township by listening and addressing their concerns, prioritizing their best interests. Any potential project or issue, that may impact the footprint of Doug lass will have initial and ongoing due dil igence, assessing the benefits and risks.

5.As a Douglass Township trustee, I will serve and represent the will of the people. Protecting and preserving our community against predatory interests. Our rural community deserves to be eq uitably represented. Communication op tions need updated, enabling citizens to be informed openly and timely. Township business, including well detailed board minutes and financial reports, should be readily available, creating and building trust through transparency. Building and maintaining trust is done by doing more than what is minimally required.

Maple Valley Township clerk (two Republican candidates running for one position)

1.My name is Cathy Benson. I am 58 years old and I live in Maple Valley Township with my husband. 2. I am the director of accounting/payroll and com pliance for Sackett Transportation Ser vices in Mecosta County. We are a grow ing trucking company and have our own

drivers and semi trucks. We haul potatoes to Frito Lay, Snyders, Great Lakes and other potato chip and snack plants.

3.I have more than 15 years of experience with working elections in an other township where I was also deputy. I have been clerk in Maple Valley Township since October 2021. I have accounting and bookkeeping experience from past and present jobs. I am detail oriented and professional with my dealings with the public and have ex tensive experience in customer service.

4.I have more experience since I am the present clerk and have years of ex perience with elections and accounting. I also believe a township official should look at both sides of the issue and do the best for the township as a whole. Officials need to set aside personal feelings and bi ases to stay neutral on hot issues.

5. I want to work to make elections run as smooth as possible and work on get ting the technology at the hall updated enough that would best suit our needs as a small township. I would also like to get more of our records preserved digitally for future reference.

1. Andi Knapp, 48, Maple Valley Township.

2. Self employed as a li censed massage and cup ping therapist.

3.I have 15 years work ing as an administrative assistant to the executive secretary/treasurer of the Michigan Quarter Horse Association which is governed by a board of 25 directors. I am ex perienced working with different opinions and thought process es to accomplish common goals for the association. My job entailed managing the overall membership database, news letters, mailings, hiring staff, coordinat ing travel and lodging, collecting and tracking of membership fees as well as tracking money collected during horse shows and events. I am a Notary Public, which is another service I will be able to offer the residents of the township. I have experience analyzing problems and situations from a practical and logical viewpoint. I am currently the secretary of the Maple Valley Township Planning Commission. Since my appointment in March 2021, I have been taking education al classes (at my own expense) offered by Michigan Township Association on planning and zoning for townships, along with all classes associated with the posi tion of township clerk. The classes about the clerk have covered the duties and re sponsibilities of the position, including but not limited to, the Open Meeting Act (OMA), the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), taking accurate minutes, checks and balances between the clerk and trea surer, state and local relationships, town ship laws, and election updates. I have completed the Election Inspector Train ing with the City of Grand Rapids and will be working in one of the Grand Rap ids precincts on the Aug. 2 election.

4. I am willing to uphold the oath that elected and appointed officials take to represent everyone in the township as a whole. I will also encourage dialog amongst the board members when delib erating on township business.

5.I would like to encourage more com munity involvement and awareness by having open and transparent commu nication with all the residents of our township; education of residents on the several different ways to access township information; and anyone elected or ap pointed to a position in the Township to take educational classes to better under stand their duties and responsibilities and to be aware of the laws that govern our township.

Maple Valley Township Board trustee (two Republican candidates running for one position).

1. Ben Newell, I’m 33 and live in Ma ple Valley Township.

2.I’ve worked for my family’s dairy farm for the last 18 years.

3.Being from a rural, agricultural township farming has always been an integral part of our community. Growing up and gradually stepping into a managing position with the farm gives me a great deal of experience understanding a big portion of the eco nomics in our township. Along with that I have also serve on the Trufant Cham ber of Commerce for the last four years volunteering my time to the community. During that time I’ve gotten to know the needs of other businesses in the commu nity.

4.Being a younger conservative gives me a different perspective, which has been lacking on the board. Along with volunteering in the community and my year and a half experience serving as trustee already.

5.If elected I would like to continue working to maintain and improve on our roads, along with using the ARPA (Amer ican Rescue Plan Act) monies to bring our township into the 21st Century.

1. Tim Thornhill, 49, Maple Valley Township.

2.Self employed pro cess engineer, self em ployed farmer, prior five years military service in the U.S. Army.

3.I have 22 years ex perience business man agement, 27 years experi ence in engineering and eliminating redundancy, 15 years experience as a land steward in Maple Valley Township and five years military service to this great nation.

4.Life experience in general. I am a father, grandfather, farmer, soldier, busi ness owner. I have a heart for the people and the ability to listen and consider two sides of every situation.

5.I would like to see Maple Valley Township fully utilize what it has to of fer as a scenic farm and lake community. I would like to see the town cleaned up to help generate tourism — let’s have a few cleanup days per year until this is accom plished. I would like to see the ballfield and parks cleaned up and expanded to help generate tourism. I would like to see the town help the owner of the flea mar ket continue to make that a better event, he has done a great job and the township should be helping him in whatever way possible. Let’s increase public access to our lakes — the state has done a good job, but more can always be done. One local restaurant put in a canal to the lake and rents boats — what a great idea, we need more of that.

IONIA COUNTY TOWNSHIP Q&A

1.Name, age and city/village/ township of residence?

2.Current employment (or former employment, if retired)?

3.What qualifications do you have that would effectively serve and ben efit your district if you are elected to this position?

4.What sets you apart from your opponent(s)?

5.What goals would you like to ac complish during your term, if elect ed?

Keene Township clerk (three Re publican candidates running for one position)

Tamara Hardy, the current Keene Township clerk, did not return a Daily News questionnaire.

1. Carol Johnson, 51. Resident of Keene Township since 2015.

2.Database adminis trator for Magna.

3.I decided to run for the office of township clerk when I learned that the position was eli gible for election. I really enjoy living in our com munity and I believe it’s important to be knowl edgeable about our local government and how it works. I have not been in an elected office before, so this is a new opportunity for me. My goal is to gain as much knowledge from our board as possible and hopefully bring in some new ideas we well. I look forward to meeting and getting to know as many of my neighbors as possible. Small town communities are very im portant in the U.S. The conservative family values and neighbors helping each other is so great.

4.My professional experience of plan ning, organizing, communication and drive I think will serve me well. I have a lot to learn but I really enjoy learning new things and take pride in learning quickly and effectively.

5. There will be future changes coming for our township and I hope to be as ed ucated on the pros and cons as possible to ensure the correct decisions are made for our community. My top priorities are making sure our elections stay secure as they have been in the past, to make board information as widely available as possi ble and to be available for questions and concerns.

1. Tina Stranger, 52, Keene Township.

2.Premium billing spe cialist

3.I am a lifelong resi dent of Keene Township with over 25 years work experience in account ing/bookkeeping and office management. I am honest, hardworking and eager to continue learn ing.

4.I believe in doing what is best for all town ship residents.

5. Learn more about local government, doing and being the best clerk I can be for the township while helping it stay rural, but not without controlled growth.

Saturday, July 16, 2022 | Daily News | Page 7B Montcalm County voters to decide on variety of requests

would raise $99,000 in the first year for town ship road improvements and maintenance.

current millage, so those dollars where they may have been very significant at one time, we try and stretch those dollars as far as we can,” he added.

PINE TOWNSHIP ROAD MILLAGE

Pine Township is proposing a new road millage on the ballot — 1.5 mill ($1.50 per $1,000 of taxable value) over five years, through 2027.

If approved, the first year of the millage

“We have a lot of projects that need to be tended to,” Pine Township Supervisor Bill Drews said. “The longer that we delay get ting them addressed, the more it costs us.”

Drews said he understands the dilem ma, but said this issue could snowball if no action is taken.

“No taxpayer wants to pay more taxes, but if we’re pledged to keep the residents safe and if we can’t address those issues we have with the roads it’s a public health,

safety and welfare issue,” he said.

“One thing I can bring attention to is the road millage is on the back page of the bal lot,” he added. “Make sure you understand that there is also that millage on the back.”

RICHLAND TOWNSHIP

FIRE MILLAGE

Richland Township residents will vote on whether to renew 1 mill ($1 per $1,000 taxable value) for general fire operation. The millage would last four years, through 2025, and would generate $65,000 within the

fist year.

“It accounts for 63% of the operating funds for the fire department,” said Rich land Township Supervisor Jody Penrod. “If the millage goes away we lose about two-thirds of our operating fund, and at that point, we’d have to make some serious decisions as to what we cut for township services.

“It’s just a renewal, so it’s nothing new. If you want us to keep working on the local roads and providing fire services, then the millage is important,” Penrod noted.

Tarin Minkel

Ben Newell

Andi Knapp

Patrick Stuller

Wayne Watts

Eric Tester

Patrick Althoff

Carol Johnson

Tim Thornhill

Tina Stranger

Cathy Benson

Drag queens and MAGA: Dixon fights culture wars

JONATHAN OOSTING | Bridge Michigan

LANSING — Fighting what she calls liberal “indoctrination” in public schools isn’t just a talking point for Michigan Re publican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon.

It’s a business model that launched her second career in conservative media and a swift ascent in statewide politics for the Norton Shores resident, who has emerged a favorite of the old-guard GOP establish ment.

Dixon, now 45, stepped out of the steel industry in 2017 to co-found Lumen Stu dent News, a subscription-based news service for schools designed to promote American exceptionalism and civics she argued were sorely lacking in contempo rary classrooms.

Too many students, she said at the time, have a “romanticized, glamorized view of socialism” and traditional media is “on the socialist side.” Her service produced feel-good features like “Awesome Ameri ca” and reporting on current events.

The idea, Dixon told Bridge Michigan, was borne of fears that “kids are learning that the United States isn’t a great place to live anymore.” While it proved “hard to get into schools,” Dixon parlayed the production into a job as a news host on a conservative streaming network that in troduced her to a national audience and influential GOP leaders.

After two years of reporting on issues such as government restrictions early into the pandemic that shuttered busi nesses and cut family access to the nurs ing home where her grandmother died, Dixon said she was eager to find solutions.

“When I started to talk to folks around the state … they were saying, you know, COVID is terrible, but this administration has really been hard on us in general,” Dixon told Bridge Michigan in a phone interview, explaining her decision to run for governor.

“There’s a part of me that is a doer, and I just wanted to be able to help.”

With absentee voting underway in what is suddenly a wide-open primary, Dixon appears to be the traditional Re publican establishment’s pick to take on Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who faces a complicated path to re-election given pushback to her COVID restric tions and other state policies, along with national factors like inflation, gas prices and President Joe Biden.

Dixon has racked up major endorse ments from the powerful DeVos family, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and GOP lawmakers like state Senate Major ity Leader Mike Shirkey, and U.S. Reps. Bill Huizenga and Lisa McClain.

Right to Life of Michigan is also sup

Candidates for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and the Michigan Supreme Court are nominated at conventions. Nine candidates for governor either withdrew or were disqualified from the August primary election.

The winners of the Aug. 2 primary will face off at the Nov. 8 general election.

DEMOCRATS: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (gretchen whitmer.com) of East Lansing.

REPUBLICANS: Tudor Dixon (tudordixon.com), a media personality from Norton Shores; Ryan Kelley (ryandkelley.com), an activist from Allendale; pastor Ralph Rebandt (ralphrebandtforgovernor.com) of Farmington Hills; businessman Kevin Rinke (rinkeformichigan.com) of Bloomfield Township and chiropractor Garrett Soldano (garrettformichigan. com) of Kalamazoo.

OFF THE BALLOT: Michael Brown, a state police captain; Donna Brandenburg, a Byron Center business owner; James Craig, a former Detroit Police chief; Perry Johnson, a metro Detroit business owner and Michael Markey, a Grand Haven financial adviser.

porting Dixon, who recently celebrated the fall of Roe v. Wade, supports a dor mant 1931 law that would make most abor tions illegal in the state and has argued sex education programs run by Planend Parenthood are part of “business model” to ensure student abortions.

(Editors note: Under existing Michi gan law, sex education programs cannot discuss abortion as a form of reproduc tive health. Planned Parenthood, which only works with school districts whose advisory boards invite them, says none of its sex education programs include infor mation about abortion.)

In a political balancing act, Dixon has also courted grassroots Republicans loyal to former President Donald Trump, who has twice publicly praised Dixon but not yet endorsed in a primary race that ex perts say he could ultimately decide.

Continues on Page 9B

Rinke channels Trump’s business outsider label

JONATHAN OOSTING | Bridge Michigan

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Kevin Rinke isn’t buying Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen,” but the Michigan gubernatorial hopeful is spend ing millions on ads comparing himself to the former president and echoing unsub stantiated claims about “dead” voters.

Closing in on the Aug. 2 primary elec tion, the wealthy Bloomfield Hills Repub lican is channeling Trump as he seeks the nomination of a party the former presi dent redefined, re-introducing himself to television viewers as another “outsider” businessman who can “restore Michi gan’s greatness.”

In a field of five candidates who have never held elected office, “there’s no ques tion” he is the most prepared to govern a state of 10 million residents, Rinke argued in a recent interview with Bridge Michi gan.

“The job,” he said, “is running the busi ness of the state.”

Rinke, 61, made his fortune in Mich igan auto dealerships and is touting his business acumen in the race to take on Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who angered many business owners with shut down orders early in the COVID-19 pan demic. He’s pledged to spend $10 million of his own money, making him the biggest spender left in a GOP primary rocked by disqualifications.

After buying the family business from his dad in the late 1980s, Rinke expanded Pontiac/GMC, Toyota and later Cadillac franchises into what he called ”probably the most successful private auto dealer ship group in Michigan” before selling the company to Roger Penske in 2003.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but Rinke told Bridge the deal made him “one of the larger private shareholders” in Penske’s firm, UnitedAuto Group, which he then worked for as an executive. Rinke later bought and grew a Michigan company that ran traumatic brain injury rehabilitation centers and eventually sold it for $24.3 million, according to federal re cords.

“All that experience is applicable at the state level and how you solve problems,” Rinke told Bridge. “How an effective busi ness leader pivots to be able to address and create a good outcome is learned over many years, not on the job.”

Rinke’s business record is not without blemishes, however.

In 1992, four former employees sued Rinke and Pontiac/GMC, alleging he dis criminated against them on the basis of sex, race and age, accusations he denies, though he paid a settlement to dismiss one

of the cases at the time. Two decades later, Rinke and related companies lost prop erties in a condominium development to foreclosure, which he chalked up to a problematic investment deal managed by his brother-in-law.

While he has never held elected of fice, Rinke contends his business success stands out in a primary race against chi ropractor Garrett Soldano, real estate broker Ryan Kelley, pastor Ralph Rebandt, and Tudor Dixon, who worked in the steel industry before becoming a conservative media personality.

They might be “great” at what they do professionally, but they’d also be “learning on the job” if elected governor, Rinke said of his GOP competitors.

“I’ve been involved in public companies that have had tens of thousands of em ployees, similar in size to the government of the state of Michigan. And because I represented automotive and health care in the state of Michigan, I worked with the Lansing bureaucracy for over 30 years,” he added.

“I know it, I understand it, and I’m qualified to do the job.”

‘DEAD’ SERIOUS

Rinke may be the closest thing to a tra ditional moderate left in the primary field: He is the only candidate who has not fully embraced Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged,” and he’s the only candidate who supports potential abortion ban exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

But he’s also staked out aggressively conservative positions on several fronts: He wants to eliminate state income taxes, scrap concealed pistol permits to make Michigan a “constitutional carry” state, use armed military veterans for school se curity rather than enact gun control mea sures, and he wants to limit school discus sions about race and sexual orientation.

Continues on Page 11B

Firebrand activist ‘100% unapologetic’ during bid

JONATHAN OOSTING | Bridge Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS — Ryan Kelley was in the Huron-Manistee National For est, where his kids had delighted in the sound of a tree falling and sang in the car during a pizza run, when he recom mended the experience to his viewers.

“Life is good when you’re camping,” he said in a fall 2020 YouTube video post ed on his “Kelley Krew” channel, where he and his wife chronicled their lives while offering advice on parenting, ho meschooling, sex, home makeovers and more.

Then, Kelley walked into the woods and recorded a very different video for the American Patriot Council, which he had co-founded earlier in the year. He de manded authorities arrest and imprison Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for emergency orders she had issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to start blowing up law en forcement across this nation, and we need to make a big deal out of this,” Kel ley said in the tense clip. “No more law suits, no more thinking a court is going to handle this. These are criminals.”

The videos highlight Kelley’s public transition from a self-described “You Tube entertainment personality” to a firebrand who had already organized a massive anti-lockdown protest at the Michigan Capitol and invited armed mi litia members to serve as “security.”

Now running for Michigan governor, the Allendale Township real estate bro ker and former family vlogger has po sitioned himself to the far right of the five-candidate Republican field compet ing to take on Whitmer, a first-term Dem ocrat seeking re-election.

Calling himself “100 percent unapol ogetically American,” Kelley is touting his activism over the past two years, including anti-vaccination efforts, his defense of a Confederate soldier stat ue in West Michigan and his recent arrest stemming from riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, when loyalists to former President Donald Trump at tempted to block congressional certifica tion of his election loss.

“I have a large history of things that I’ve done to stand up for the state, which really none of the other gubernatori al candidates have,” Kelley told Bridge Michigan earlier this year. “None of the other candidates actually took that kind of action in 2020, when it mattered most.”

Once considered a longshot by pun dits, Kelley has climbed in the polls since his June arrest on misdemeanor charges of “disorderly and disruptive” conduct at the U.S. Capitol. He has offered a se

ries of provocative policy proposals in his race against Garrett Soldano of Mat tawan, Tudor Dixon of Norton Shores, Kevin Rinke of Bloomfield Township and Ralph Rebandt of Farmington Hills.

Among other things, Kelley has prom ised to declare the pandemic “over” on his first day in office by lifting any re maining regulations, ban private em ployer mandates and eliminate any “di versity, equity and inclusion” positions in state government. He also wants to de certify” the 2020 presidential election and replace voting machines with full hand counts, which experts say could de lay election results for days, if not weeks or months, and reduce accuracy.

As with other Republicans competing in the Aug. 2 primary, Kelley has never held elected office. He was appointed to serve as an Allendale Township plan ning commissioner, however, and argues his fight against COVID-19 restrictions show he has the leadership ability to govern a state of 10 million people.

“It affected my real-estate business and my life with my family,” Kelley told Bridge, explaining how Whitmer’s COVID-19 policies compelled him to or ganize protests that launched his polit ical career. “It impacted all aspects of everybody’s day-to-day life.”

If elected, Kelley has promised to “au dit” the state budget to eliminate waste ful spending, reduce business taxes and regulations and make Michigan a “con stitutional carry” state by eliminating the need for concealed pistol permits. He also wants to form a “people’s cabi net” within his administration to en sure Michigan residents “have a place to make their voices heard.”

FROM PREGNANCY TESTS TO ARMED PROTESTS Kelley, 40, lives in Allendale Town ship with his wife and six children. He attended Grand Rapids Community Col lege but did not graduate. Prior to the

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Soldano walks on fire, gov race may be harder

JONATHAN OOSTING | Bridge Michigan

MATTAWAN — Garrett Soldano has been many things in his 43 years: A foot ball star, a chiropractor, self-help author, motivational speaker, firewalking instruc tor, supplement salesman and most recent ly, a pandemic lockdown protestor.

Now, Soldano wants to be Michigan’s next governor. And as he finds himself near the top of a field of Republicans com peting to take on Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer this fall, he’s surprised, too.

“If you would have told me 2-½ years ago that I would be running for governor, I would have laughed you out of the room,” Soldano told Bridge Michigan in an inter view at his family home in Mattawan out side Kalamazoo, where he lives with his wife and two children, ages 12 and 14.

“I never wanted to have anything to do with politics. I was your typical per son who fell asleep on the watch — vote straight ticket, go back to my lifestyle, which I earned, and then forget about it until the next race.”

Soldano is an outsider in a Republican primary field that is full of them.

Soldano’s turn to politics began in 2020 when started a Facebook group opposing what he called Whitmer’s “excessive quar antine” policies early in the pandemic. Five hundred people joined the first night, 300,000 by the third day and the group soon boasted more than 400,000 members, some of whom reportedly threatened vio lence against Whitmer.

When Facebook shut the group down, Soldano helped found Stand Up Michigan, an activist network that played a key role in repealing a 1945 law Whitmer had used to issue early pandemic orders. He orga nized “freedom festivals” and emerged as a conservative star in near-daily videos railing on “face diapers” and “smoothies,” code words he used to avoid censorship while bashing COVID-19 mask and vaccine policies.

In the process, Soldano built what he calls a “grassroots army” of supporters who flock to his campaign events and helped him stay near the top for both poll ing and fundraising in the GOP guberna torial primary.

“There was a lot of engagement, pas sion, frustration, anger,” Soldano said of his anti-lockdown Facebook group, telling Bridge he has always stressed non-vio lence. “It was my job to direct this unbeliev able force, this power, this movement, into a positive direction to get things done.”

His claims about pandemic powers and COVID — which has killed more than 33,000 Michigan residents — have

drawn criticism from both medical experts and Democrats, who have blasted Soldano as an “anti-science” “snake oil salesman.”

Unvaccinated himself, Soldano now acknowledges the shots likely saved lives among elderly and obsese people who were infected. But he contends many of his controversial positions have been proven right: The vaccine is less effective at pre venting infection than initially advertised, school closures led to learning losses and lockdowns ravaged the economy.

Scientific consensus evolves, Soldano acknowledged, and so has his messaging on the pandemic.

In 2020 Facebook videos, he compared Michigan under Whitmer to “Nazi Germa ny” and urged supporters to ditch “dirty nasty masks.” Now, he told Bridge, Whit mer may have been unbeatable if she had not closed high schools and restaurants a second time in November 2020, when oth er governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida had fully reopened their states.

“In the beginning, nobody knew what this was going to do,” Soldano said. “But true character was defined in those next months of what you’re willing to do, what you’re willing to stand up for.”

A PASSION Soldano entered the gubernatorial race as a longshot candidate, but he parlayed his social media stardom into an upstart campaign.

It’s clear at campaign events too. He drew thousands to an Antrim County farm last fall while boycotting the Mack inac Republican Leadership Conference. He garnered the loudest applause at the first GOP gubernatorial debate last week in Livingston County.

Continues on Page 12B

“We follow his Twitter, his Facebook, his Instagram — everything,” Lisa Throop said after attending a Soldano meet-andgreet at a Grand Rapids pastry shop. “We just kind of started following and listening

Tudor Dixon, seen here during an interview at an April Trump rally, has courted the former presi dent’s endorsement. — Bridge photo | Yue Stella Yu

Ryan Kelley made his mark on Michigan politics by organizing anti-lockdown rallies at the Michigan Capitol. — Bridge photo | Dale Young

Kevin Rinke is positioning himself as an “outsider” businessman who can deliver results in the mold of Donald Trump. — Bridge photo | Jonathan Oosting

Garrett Soldano, candidate for Michigan governor, has consistently polled second or third in the GOP primary. — Bridge photo | Jonathan Oosting

WHO’S ON THE BALLOT FOR GOVERNOR

Drag queens and MAGA: Dixon fights culture wars

Despite her high-profile backers, Dix on has so far posted sluggish poll num bers in a race against real estate broker Ryan Kelley, chiropractor Garrett Solda no, businessman Kevin Rinke and pastor Ralph Rebandt.

She has “struggled with an identity” in a primary that will be decided by voters increasingly unlikely to care about en dorsements from traditional power bro kers, said GOP strategist Dennis Lennox.

Dixon launched her campaign last year with appeals to the “MAGA, Briet bart hard-right base of the Republican Party,” but has since “morphed into an es tablishmentarian candidate who has the full support of DeVos world,” Lennox said “It’s quite a metamorphosis on her part.”

A ‘RIGHT TO KNOW’

Dixon, a political outsider in a field of political outsiders, has taken aggressive ly conservative positions in her bid for Michigan governor.

She wants to “phase out” Michigan’s personal income tax, make it a “consti tutional carry” state by eliminating the need for concealed pistol permits and “pardon” business owners penalized during what she calls “illegal lockdown policies” by Whitmer. Echoing Trump’s false claims he won Michigan in 2020, Dix on has also proposed tightening voter ID laws and voter fraud penalties.

Education is a top priority. And six years after starting her student news service, Dixon’s concerns about public school curriculum have become main stream in a party reshaped by Trump.

GOP candidates across the country are vowing to limit classroom conversations on race and sexuality, and Dixon has po sitioned herself on the frontlines of that culture war.

She proposed a “Parents Right to Know Act” that would require schools to post online the name of every textbook or library book available to students, the course syllabus for every class and any “diversity, equity or inclusion” programs or consultants hired by the district.

Dixon also wants to make it a crime for adults to bring minors to drag queen events. And she wants to limit transgender student athletes by only allowing students of the same biological gender to compete against one another in school-sanctioned, gender-specific athletics.

She supports a DeVos-backed plan for student scholarships to private schools and told Bridge she would support a Michigan-version of Florida’s Parents Rights in Education law, which would prohibit any instruction related to sexu al orientation or gender identity before fourth grade.

Critics have labeled it the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

“These are conversations that are con fusing and too big for students,” said Dix on, a mother of four, who told Bridge her 10-year-old daughter recently saw a trans gender person on television and asked if she too would “change into a man” some day, prompting a family discussion.

“It’s not appropriate in the classroom, where they should be focused on learn ing, especially in the state of Michigan, where we have such a low rate of reading literacy,” Dixon said. “We have to focus on the things that they need to be learning in school. Those social issues have to come from home.”

Critics contend Dixon and other Re publicans are stoking divisions by mak ing classroom discussions about race or sexual identity an election-year wedge issue.

Democratic Attorney General Dana

Nessel, who is gay and has feuded with Dixon while joking about a “drag queen for every school,” accused the GOP of fo cusing on “fake issues” for political gain.

“They’re taking advantage of people’s fears, and they’re putting the lives of LGBTQ people at great risk when they demonize this subset of the population,” Nessel told Bridge.

“Opening children’s eyes up to the fact that there are other people that are not identical to themselves, here’s all it does: It breeds tolerance. That’s it.”

But Dixon argued that parental fear over things like drag queen story hours — events where drag queens read children’s books to kids — is not a “fake issue,” reit erating her proposal to criminalize drag shows that involve children.

“We are done over-sexualizing our children,” she said. “Let them be kids.”

STEEL AND VAMPIRES

Dixon was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in suburban Chicago before at tending the University of Kentucky. She moved to Michigan in 2002, when she took a job at a Muskegon steel foundry her dad had purchased.

There, at her dad’s firm, Dixon worked her way up from customer service to run ning sales and human resources, helping handle “everything that had to do with our largest deals with customers across the globe,” she said.

Dixon left Michigan Steel Inc. to start a family in 2009, three years before the company collapsed. Facing millions of dollars in tax liens and unpaid property taxes, her dad closed the foundry and laid off the entire workforce in 2012, accord ing to a local news report from the time.

Dixon had “no involvement” in the steel business in those final years before it shut down, said campaign spokesper son Kyle Olson. “Like countless business es across Michigan, the company definite ly struggled after the economic downturn started and ultimately just couldn’t sur vive,” he said.

Dixon went on to work for two other steel companies between 2015 and 2017, according to her LinkedIn account. She and her husband still own another com pany, Cornerstone Foundry Supply LLC, which sells parts to foundries across the country, she told Bridge.

In endorsing Dixon on June 16, Mich igan Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jim Holcomb said she’s “demon strated a commitment to free enterprise, our state’s shared economic prosperity and a predictable regulatory climate.”

Dixon founded Lumen Student News with Olson, who now works on her cam paign as senior adviser and communi cations director. Together, they also pro duced Dummycrats, a 2018 movie that mocked Democrats and featured podcast ers “Diamond and Silk” trying — but fail ing — to confront U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California over liberal policies she had supported in Congress.

Dixon had dabbled in media before, both behind and in front of the camera.

She interned at a local Fox station while going to college in Kentucky, she said. After graduating, she also interned on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and then worked full-time as a production assistant for the Oxygen Network co-founded by Oprah Winfrey.

O’Donnell would later emerge as a fierce Trump nemesis. But when Dixon worked on her show and ran around New York City finding gifts for guests, “the world was different” and “there weren’t political conversations” on set, Dixon said, calling it a “very interesting” time.

Dixon has also worked as an actor, which she has called a “hobby” to help a group of aspiring filmmakers in Kalama

zoo. Between 2008 and 2012, she co-starred in a locally-filmed drama called “Lexiba by,” played a teen “bopper” eaten by zom bies in “Buddy BeBop vs the Living Dead” and was a leading vampire in a web series called “Transitions.”

Critics contend those films undermine Dixon’s public persona as a family val ues candidate. The Michigan Democratic Party said her participation in a zombie film whose own creators called it “dis gusting” “complicates (her) own crusade to demonize public schools” and Planned Parenthood.

A trailer for her first film shows Dix on’s character lifting up her shirt in a romantic scene with a man who had just snorted cocaine. The horror film includes other actors in graphic sexual scenes. In the vampire series, her charac ter uses a sword to slash someone’s neck.

Dixon scoffed at the criticism, calling it evidence that critics are “nervous” about her campaign because they think she can win.

“They’re bringing up movies that were made — obviously — for adults,” she said. “These are not movies that are por nographic in any way.”

The director of her first film, she pre viously told Bridge, “was looking at all the hardships of life,” including illegal drug use that is “a concern for adults, and that’s why it follows into art.”

‘STOLEN FREEDOMS’

Dixon’s father died recently after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, an affliction she knows all too well as a breast cancer survivor herself.

Dixon was diagnosed in 2015, a “shock ing” development that required faith and a resolve to “be a fighter, to keep pushing ahead, to keep a positive attitude and to make sure you are taking advantage of every moment in life,” she said.

Her father’s death was the latest in a series of recent losses for Dixon’s family. In November 2020, her grandmother and her husband’s grandmother died on the same day, she said.

The latter contracted COVID-19 and died in an Ohio hospital. Dixon’s grand mother did not have COVID, but Dixon said she suspects she “died of a broken heart” in a Michigan nursing home her family was not allowed to visit because of pandemic restrictions.

“Forget about governors, lockdowns and stolen freedoms — just protect those you love the most during the holidays,” Dixon wrote at the time on Instagram, pleading with her followers to take se riously a virus that had spread to other members of her husband’s family.

Their grandparents “died alone, prob ably scared and it breaks our hearts,” she added. “I know the survival rate, but when your people fall outside of that number the guilt and pain is 100%”

Dixon has said she believes COVID-19 vaccines saved lives among the elderly, But despite her personal losses, she re mains a fierce critic of Whitmer’s poli cies early in the deadly pandemic.

Michigan should have never fully barred family visitations at nursing homes, Dixon argued, suggesting that relatives who tested negative for COVID should have been allowed to visit dying relatives even at the peak of the pandemic.

“Devastated” by the experience, Dix on told Bridge she is developing “family rights” legislation that would “prevent families from being locked away from their loved ones in their final moments.”

“We took everything away from them,” she said of Michigan nursing home resi dents who were denied outside visitors in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. “There was no consideration for their mental health.”

BIG ENDORSEMENTS, SMALL POLL NUMBERS

In prior years, a candidate backed the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Right to Life and former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos might have been a clear front runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

But Dixon, who enjoys support from all three, has been stuck in the single dig its of most public opinion surveys of the GOP field, which thinned considerably in recent weeks with the signature fraud dis qualifications of early frontrunner James Craig and big spender Perry Johnson.

A recent EPIC-MRA poll showed Dixon in fourth place with 5 percent of the pri mary vote, trailing real estate broker Ryan Kelley, chiropractor Garrett Soldano and businessman Kevin Rinke. Another re cent poll from Mitchell Research showed her tied for the lead with Rinke at 15 per cent.

In each poll, “undecided” was by far the most popular option, which suggests there is still a path for Dixon to win the nomi nation, said pollster Bernie Porn, whose EPIC-MRA survey indicated nearly half of all primary voters do not yet know who Dixon is.

“If you’ve got enough advertising, any thing is possible,” he said, noting that financial backing from the DeVos family should help pay for exposure through tele vision ads, which Dixon told Bridge are in the works.

Experts say the DeVos backing could also end up as a complicating factor for Dixon, who continues to pursue an en dorsement from Trump.

Betsy DeVos this month acknowledged she and other Trump cabinet members discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office after his sup porters — fixated on his false claims the election was “stolen” from him — stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. When Vice President Mike Pence made clear that wouldn’t happen, DeVos resigned.

Trying to remove Trump from office “wouldn’t (have been) my choice,” said Dixon, who has echoed the former presi dent’s debunked claims that widespread fraud cost him the election.

The family knows “that Betsy DeVos and I differ on that, but they appreciate the fact that my plan is the right plan for them going forward,” she said.

In tweets following the 2020 contest, Dixon claimed the election was stolen and accused Democrats of “obvious” and “sloppy” voter fraud.

In a recent gubernatorial debate, Dix on said she believes Trump actually won Michigan despite his 154,188-vote loss to Biden, contradicting findings from former U.S. Attorney General William Barr and the state Senate Oversight Com mittee, both of whom investigated claims but found no evidence of widespread fraud.

Trump praised Dixon in February, calling her a “very special” candidate when her campaign paid $7,342 to host a fundraiser at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

In Trump’s April rally in Macomb County, he called her “fantastic” and “bril liant.”

Dixon told Bridge she last spoke with Trump “a few days” after that April rally but thinks he’ll “get involved in this race.” But whether he endorses her remains “the million dollar question,” she acknowl edged.

Trump remains very popular with GOP voters, and his endorsement “would probably tip the balance” of the race, said Porn. If Trump backs someone else, that would “potentially boost any of (them) over all the money behind Tudor Dixon,” he added.

pandemic, Kelley was best known for his real estate work, which landed him on lo cal television at least once, and as a You Tube influencer.

In 2019, Kelley and his family traveled the country in a RV on what they called a “#LetsConnect American YouTubers Tour,” meeting other families who also documented portions of their lives on the video sharing site. They sold T-shirts and stickers to fans who followed their jour ney online.

In one of their most popular YouTube videos, filmed back at their home in Michigan, Kelley purported to “shock” his wife by revealing she was pregnant after testing “a little bit of her pee” he said she left behind in their toilet.

“Normally, it’s the girl that surprises the guy,” Kelley said in the video, which played for laughs, is no longer online and doesn’t make it clear if his wife already knew she was pregnant.

Kelley has since used his social me dia skills on the campaign trail. He boasts more than 97,000 followers on Tik tok, where he’s earned more than 1 mil lion “likes” on campaign videos, includ ing an April post in which he promised to “prosecute” school boards that make “sexually explicit content” available to kids. It’s “one of the biggest problems” in Michigan public schools, he claimed.

“I learned a lot about America” and video editing through the YouTube se ries, Kelley told Bridge Michigan last week following a gubernatorial debate, saying the cross-country tour “brought our family together.” But those skills don’t easily “translate into running the government,” he acknowledged.

Instead, Kelley touts his real-estate business. He previously sold waterfront properties as chief executive officer of City2shore. His current firm, NuCon Realty, specializes in new construction homes and commercial property sales.

State records indicate Kelley also tried to start a limo service in 2009 and, as of 2014, told the Wyoming-Kentwood Cham ber of Commerce he was selling ASEA, a supplement that purports to use “redox signaling molecules” to improve health but is mostly just distilled water with salt, according to Joe Schwarcz, a pseudo science researcher at McGill University.

“I think our government is meant to operate like a small business,” Kelley told Bridge. Small business owners should be “engaging” in government to ensure offi cials are making “principled decisions” and “doing the right thing,” he added.

Kelley burst onto the scene as a polit ical activist in April 2020, when he orga nized a rally that drew thousands to the Michigan Capitol to protest Whitmer’s COVID-19 orders and demanded Repub lican lawmakers reject the governor’s request to extend an emergency declara tion. They eventually did.

At the time, Kelley told reporters he invited militia members to serve as a “security” detail at the rally and suggest ed anyone who had a problem with that should read the Constitution and “live life without fear.”

The protest made national news after armed demonstrators entered the Capi tol, including some who carried their fire arms into galleries overlooking the state House and Senate chambers. Two of the men were later arrested on accusations they helped surveil Whitmer’s home as part of an alleged kidnapping plot.

“We had so many guns, and we got the vote we wanted from our Legislature,” fellow organizer Jason Howland said in a podcast with Kelley. “We made noise and we let them know that we meant busi ness. A show of force is exactly what it means to keep and bear arms.”

Kelley organized another anti-lock down rally a few weeks later in Grand Rapids, followed by another at the Mich igan Capitol in June, where he urged fellow activists to “unite as a militia” to “protect our citizens in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.”

Later in June, Kelley openly carried his own firearm in a counterprotest against potential removal of a Confed erate soldier statue in Allendale Town ship, which he argued was an attempt by groups like Black Lives Matter to “erase our history.”

“We need to celebrate our history, to remember our history and why the free dom of slavery happened,” he told WW MT-TV at the time, suggesting that if the statute was torn down, the U.S. Constitu tion could be next.

JAN. 6 ARREST

After Joe Biden won Michigan’s 2020 presidential election by 154,188 votes, Kelley’s activism shifted to “stop the steal” rallies, where he coupled conspir acy theories about COVID-19 with claims the election was “rigged” against Trump.

“COVID-19 was made so that they can use the propaganda to control your minds so that you think, if you watch the media, that Joe Biden won this election,” he said in a November 2020 rally at the Michigan Capitol. “We’re not going to buy it. We’re going to stand and fight for America, for Donald Trump.”

The FBI highlighted those comments in a June affidavit when agents arrested Kelley for his alleged role at a pro-Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. Agents also raided his Allendale Township home in front of his wife and children.

Kelley has acknowledged he was in Washington, D.C., to protest the election on Jan. 6 but has denied entering the Capitol, and federal authorities have not produced any evidence to contradict that claim.

But they say video evidence —includ ing footage Bridge Michigan reported on last year as part of an extremism inves

tigation — will prove Kelley engaged in “disorderly and disruptive conduct” in a restricted area and damaged a tarp “cov ering the northwest scaffolding” outside the building, among other things.

Kelley has argued he was simply ex pressing his First Amendment right to protest the 2020 election and accused the Biden administration of “weaponizing” the Department of Justice. His GOP pri mary competitors rushed to his defense, questioning the timing of his arrest, which occured the same day a congres sional panel began a series of hearings on the U.S. Capitol attack.

Kelley last week pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanor charges, each punish able by up to one year imprisonment. He is not due back in court until September, which means he is not expected to stand trial on the criminal charges until well after the GOP primary is decided.

In the meantime, Kelley is prohibited from leaving the state without notifying the court and cannot possess guns de spite his attorney’s request he be allowed to continue carrying a concealed pistol for self-defense on the campaign trail.

The arrest has helped his campaign, Kelley said, suggesting he’s “seen the support grow across the state” and “the entire country.” He’s raised more than $16,000 for a legal defense fund and has garnered national attention, including a Fox News appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Kelley has polled at or near the top of several recent surveys of the GOP prima ry field. His arrest appears to have helped him with Republican voters who believe “that government isn’t just incompetent, it’s corrupt,” said John Sellek, a political veteran with Harbor Strategic Public Af fairs in Lansing.

“There’s no question he has an oppor tunity to win” the primary, but without additional fundraising to pay for adver tising, Kelley may struggle to build on his recent momentum and reach voters outside the “hardcore MAGA GOP social media circle” that “made him,” Sellek told Bridge.

In Colorado, Democrats recently bank rolled ads for a far-right Republican they thought would be more beatable in the general election. It’s possible Michigan Democrats could follow suit and encour age their voters to cross over and vote for Kelley in the state’s open primary, which is allowable under state law, Sellek said.

‘A THREAT TO THEIR DEMOCRACY’

Kelley’s recent popularity surge re flects a Republican Party that remains locked in the grip of Trump, said Jeff Timmer, a former executive director of the Michigan GOP who left the party over its fealty to Trump and is now working as a campaign consultant for Attorney Gen eral Dana Nessel, a Democrat who is up for re-election.

“Before his arrest, (Kelley) wasn’t

even in the conversation,” Timmer said. “He would have finished sixth out of the five candidates. But now, he is arguably the frontrunner for Trump’s endorse ment. The dynamics have changed com pletely.”

Critics have called the Jan. 6 riots an attempt to subvert democracy, and Dem ocrats argue that Kelley’s participation makes him unfit to serve.

He’s scoffed at the criticism.

“They see me as a threat to their de mocracy, and I am,” Kelley told NBC News last month. “I am a threat to their democracy, because we’re a republic which upholds the individual liberties and rights of the people.”

While the United States can also accu rately be called a representative democ racy, Kelley and other conservatives have increasingly called it a republic, which entrusts elected representatives to make laws on behalf of the people they serve.

It’s a notable distinction for support ers of Trump, who was elected without winning the popular vote but arguably reshaped American politics for decades by appointing three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Democracy is just “mob rule” where “51 percent of the people control the oth er 49 percent of the people,” Kelley told Bridge Michigan, explaining his frequent campaign references to the republic. “I believe that’s an important talking point for the next generation to understand that it’s not the emotional whims of 51 percent of the people that determine our future.”

Kelley and other “faux patriots” are using that language to justify “minority rule,” said Timmer, the former GOP offi cial turned Trump critic.

“We’re a democratic republic. We dem ocratically elect our representatives, and it’s not like Ryan Kelly is some kind of rocket scientist who’s figured that out,” Timmer said.

While Kelley’s arrest appears to be playing well in the GOP primary, it could be a boon to Whitmer if he advances to the general election, said Sellek, who worked on 2018 Republican gubernatori al nominee Bill Schuette’s campaign.

Kelley could allow Democrats to change the conversation away from things they don’t want to talk about, in cluding Biden’s unpopularity and “the complete sense of unbalance that the world is delivering to people” under his administration in Washington, D.C., Sell ek said.

Whitmer “really needs this to be a ref erendum about a person on the GOP side that they can tar and feather as Trump or anti-democratic or subversive in a way that makes people who can’t pay their bills right now uncomfortable,” he said.

And among the field of five candidates, Kelley would be “the easiest one for the Democrats to paint that way,” Sellek con cluded.

CREATING ‘MIRACLES’

In a television interview last fall, Rinke said he had “not seen anything to indicate” voter fraud decided the 2020 presidential election in Michigan, which Democrat Joe Biden won by 154,188 votes, a result that voters should trust, according to a GOP-led Senate panel that debunked many of the Trump camp’s conspiracy claims.

Rinke has subsequently seen more evi dence of how fraud “could have occurred,” he told Bridge, but he is not yet convinced it happened on a scale that would have tipped the election.

Rinke’s reluctance to embrace Trump’s election conspiracies “will hurt him” in a GOP primary decided by voters who be lieve the former president, said GOP poll ster Steve Mitchell, whose most recent sur vey showed Rinke polling at 15 percent, a statistical tie with Dixon and Kelley for the lead.

“It is a deeply held belief by these vot ers, and there is no amount of logic that’s going to dissuade them,” Mitchell said.

Rinke has used statewide TV ads to ca ter to voters who believe Trump’s claims, however, in one, he suggests “dead people always vote Democrat” before promising to clean up Michigan voter rolls and tighten the state’s voter ID law.

The zombie ad was ridiculed by fact-checkers, who called its dead voter claim “flat-out false,” but Rinke insists it was a “tongue-in-cheek” joke meant to grab viewers’ attention before telling them about serious election reform proposals.

“My ad isn’t about dead people voting or not voting. My ad isn’t about the Trump election. My ad is about election integri ty, and the citizens of Michigan deserve that,” he told Bridge. “I want voter IDs and so do people in Michigan and so do people in America. It’s not racist. It’s common sense.”

Despite pouring millions into television ads, Rinke “has not been able to gain as much traction as you think he would, giv en the amount of expenditures,” Mitchell said. “He still has not been able to move himself away from the rest of the pack.”

It makes sense for Rinke to start com paring himself to Trump because he had seen only a “middling” return on his early campaign messaging that had primarily focused on leadership, said John Sellek, a GOP strategist with Harbor Strategic Con sulting.

“To win the GOP primary, you’d can’t avoid it,” Sellek said of Trump’s lingering influence.

Trump has not endorsed in the guber natorial race, and Rinke declined to say whether he has actively sought the former president’s backing, as other candidates have done.

TAX CUTS

Rinke has turned heads with what he calls a “bold” policy proposal to eliminate Michigan’s personal income tax, which is currently set at 4.25 percent and generates nearly $12 billion in annual revenue for state and local governments.

Whitmer’s campaign has argued the plan would slash funding used to pay for “critical services,” including education, infrastructure and public safety, but Rinke contends the state could afford to put more money back in people’s pockets.

Speaking to Bridge, Rinke refused to name a single thing he’d cut from the state budget, which will grow to nearly $77 billion next year under a deal between Whitmer and the GOP-led Legislature that includes a surplus resulting from federal COVID stimulus funding and unexpectedly large tax collections.

Instead, Rinke said, he’d delay a tax cut for one year, giving himself and lawmakers time to negotiate any necessary spending cuts, which he called a “good-faith gesture” that is emblematic of “how a leader works with his team.”

Under Michigan’s current tax structure, a family earning $60,000, which is roughly the state median, would save $2,338 if the state income tax was eliminated. A family that earned $1 million would save $42,288.

Rinke said he trusts Michiganders to spend their money more wisely than the government. And axing the tax could help Michigan reverse population losses and compete with states like Texas and Florida that don’t tax income, he argued.

“We have the largest pre-COVID budget in the history of our state, by over eight billion dollars,” Rinke said. “So like Ron ald Reagan says, ‘You want to control gov ernment, you starve it’. And I happen to believe in the people of Michigan.”

DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS

While he touts his business record, Rin ke’s campaign has been dogged by a pair of 1992 lawsuits from four former employees who alleged he effectively forced them to quit by making their workplace unbear able at Rinke Pontiac/GMC in Macomb County, accusations he has repeatedly de nied.

One woman alleged Rinke made a series of “offensive and disgusting” comments.

Among other things, she claimed Rinke, in front of co-workers, asked her if she was wearing a matching bra and panties. He would also call her after hours at home to ask what “young stud” she was with, she claimed.

Another former employee, who is Black, accused Rinke of using the n-word repeat edly at a 1991 Christmas party, making him feel “extremely embarrassed, humiliated and outraged.” Rinke, the man alleged, ac cused him of stealing cars like the “rest of the n-” and speculated about the size of the employee’s penis.

Those claims “weren’t true” three de cades ago and “they’re not true today,” Rin ke told Bridge.

Rinke and plaintiffs eventually agreed to dismiss both suits, with court records in dicating a $15,000 settlement in the sex and age discrimination case. Rinke called that a “nuisance settlement” to end litigation that could have cost him up to $200,000 in attorney fees and related costs had it gone to trial. There was no financial settlement in the race discrimination suit, he previ ously told Bridge.

Jamil Akhtar, an employment discrim ination attorney who represented the for mer Rinke Pontiac/GMC workers, stood by the allegations. Rinke had an “inability to control himself,” Akhtar said. “He was a liar when I took his deposition, and he’s a liar now.”

GOP rival Tudor Dixon has also used the allegations to attack Rinke, calling him “pervy.” A super PAC supporting Dixon published online ads arguing the lawsuits make Rinke “unelectable” in a general election matchup with Whitmer.

Rinke has downplayed the criticism, arguing political foes don’t have much to attack him with if they continue to cite 30year old allegations that were never proven true in court.

Records reviewed by Bridge show Rinke was also part of a real estate investment gone bad that resulted in at least eight foreclosures on property in the Uplands condominium development in Plymouth Township.

Wayne County cited Rinke and OOUP LANDS LLC for failing to pay property tax es on time in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The coun ty eventually foreclosed on OOUPLANDS, which Rinke signed other paperwork for as “its member.”

Rinke told Bridge he was “not aware” of the foreclosure notices and was merely a “financial investor” in a project managed by his wife’s brother, who he suspects lost money on the deal.

Rinke has deep roots in metro Detroit. He was born in Wayne County, worked in Macomb County and now lives in Oakland County. “My family,” he said, “was in Mich igan before Michigan was even a state.”

Rinke went to work for his family’s auto dealership business full-time in 1983, after graduating college. He started as a Toyota salesman, but has been around the com pany his entire life doing odd jobs, joking, “Man, can I polish a toilet.”

He effectively took over the compa ny in 1988, when his brother — a leading executive who had groomed for the role — was killed in a plane crash shortly af ter taking off from the Oakland-Pontiac airport. Rinke had “missed the flight,” he said, but was “at the crash site taking the bodies out.”

Rinke didn’t just inherit the company, he said, telling Bridge he insisted his dad sell it to him as a vote of confidence. His dad agreed, staying on as a “consultant” while enjoying semi-retirement in Florida, he said.

“And fortunately the company — maybe because of my leadership, but certainly be cause of the actions of our employees — exploded in a good way,” Rinke said.

In roughly a year and a half, Rinke Pon tiac/GMC went “from something like 27th (largest) in the country to number one or number two. Our financial numbers and our growth was staggering,” Rinke said, noting he bought Rinke Cadillac a few years later, adding it to a portfolio that also included Rinke Toyota.

But on April 1, 2000, Roger Penske came knocking. Rinke thought the alert from his secretary was an April Fool’s joke, he re called, so told her that Penske would need an appointment first. Two weeks later, “in walks Roger” for the appointment he had scheduled, Rinke told Bridge.

Rinke went on to work for Penske and Sonic Automotive, but his career took an unexpected turn in 2009 when a friend asked him to consider buying a Michi gan-based company that operated two trau matic brain injury centers.

On his first visit, I was “completely freaked out,” Rinke recalled, saying he became dizzy and nearly passed out when confronted by the lived reality of patients who had suffered catastrophic brain inju ries.

“And within five years, it was the biggest in the state of Michigan and the largest in the Midwest for what we did. We created miracles. Arguably the most compelling work I’ve ever done in my life.”

Soldano walks on fire, gov race may be harder

because we weren’t really happy with the direction things were going.”

Soldano’s initial group, Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine, “made us feel like we were not alone,” Throop told Bridge. “And then everybody started join ing and it kind of gave us a little more moti vation to speak out.”

In Facebook videos no longer online, Soldano questioned former President Donald Trump’s claims the 2020 election was rigged, saying he didn’t have time to go down “rabbit holes.” He criticized riots in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying “hate can’t drive out hate — only love can do that.”

Soldano has more recently described the 2020 election as “a disaster” and called for a “full forensic audit.” Trump is “still my president,” he said in last week’s GOP de bate.

His campaign has largely focused on other issues, including reforming pandem ic policies, improving education, helping small businesses and supporting “ener gy-dense” power like nuclear and gas.

Soldano made national news in Febru ary when he said he thinks women who are raped should not have abortions because “that little baby inside them might be the next president.” That infuriated abortion rights activists, but he said the attention was “great news” that exposed him to a na tional audience.

Soldano is “a very strong candidate, because he came in early, has had enough money and has a compelling message to hardcore conservatives,” said GOP pollster Steve Mitchell of Mitchell Research and Communications.

“If you’re going to establish a niche in the primary, you want to try to become the most conservative candidate out there. And he’s done that.”

A DEATH THREAT, FROM WITHIN

In Facebook videos and campaign speeches, Soldano has claimed his work in Stand Up Michigan made him a target of the “woke left and their cancel culture.”

He has twice had to move his wife and kids to undisclosed locations “because we had a guy on video saying he’s gonna come shotgun me dead in the streets,” Soldano told Bridge, repeating the claims.

He claimed he lost 50 percent of the reve nue at his chiropractic clinic in Kalamazoo as online commenters left negative reviews, and someone destroyed his business sign.

“That was all for standing up for the Constitution,” Soldano said.

Bridge reviewed records and confirmed that Soldano reported an alleged death threat to police in October 2020, but the man who made the shotgun threat was a fel low Stand Up Michigan activist — not the “woke left mob,” according to a Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department report ob tained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

At the time, Soldano told a deputy the

man had lashed out after he was fired from Stand Up during a dispute over a video encouraging parents to speak to teachers about masks in schools.

The man thought the video, posted on Stand Up social media accounts, was a “di rect attack toward teachers,” including his daughter, and deleted it without approval from colleagues, according to deputy inter view notes.

The case was ultimately closed without any criminal charges. The man’s wife told police he was “hot headed” but “had no in tentions of harming anyone,” Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Kidd wrote in the incident report.

Kalamazoo and Mattawan police did not have any other records of alleged crimes at Soldano’s home or chiropractic clinic in ei ther 2020 or 2021.

In an interview with Bridge, Soldano ac knowledged the shotgun threat came from a colleague but said he was the target of additional death threats that he did not re port to police. Instead, he said, he called old police academy friends (he had considered becoming an officer several years earlier) and asked them to increase patrols in his neighborhood.

Other records show Soldano was charged with drunken driving in April 2009. He pleaded guilty to operating a ve hicle while visibly impaired and refusing a preliminary breath test in Kalamazoo Township. He paid $625 in fines.

“I’m going to make mistakes going for ward as a human being, as a dad, as a gover nor,” Soldano told Bridge, noting he has dis cussed the incident in social media videos.

WISHFUL THINKING

Soldano believes in the power of wish ful thinking, a philosophy he describes at length in his 2013 book, “God’s True Law: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Successful Chil dren.”

The spiritual guide borrows heavily from the New Thought Movement’s Law of Attraction, which holds that positive think ing produces magnetic energy that leads to positive experiences, whereas negative thoughts lead to negative experiences.

The theory was popularized in 2006 by self-help guru Rhonda Byrne, who pub lished a book and movie called “The Secret” that was endorsed by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Larry King. It’s largely de rided as pseudoscience, although research has shown a link between health and posi tive thinking.

Soldano told readers he recites daily af firmations like: “I am so happy and grateful now that money comes to me in increased quantities from multiple sources on a con tinued basis” and “I am so happy and grate ful now that I can feel my abundance grow ing daily.”

Likewise, Soldano explained that he had his sons — 2 and 4 years old at the time — repeat affirmations like “I’m smart!” and “Money comes easy to me!”

“God speaks to us through the Law of Vibration and when you have these feel

ings you must follow them,” Soldano wrote. “When you meet someone for the first time and you get a bad feeling about the person, you should follow what God is trying to tell you and stay away.”

Now, as a gubernatorial candidate, Soldano told Bridge he has a new daily af firmation that his campaign has printed on T-shirts and coffee mugs: “The power of one can lead to the power of many.”

A CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT

Soldano was born in Cincinnati but moved at a young age to Coldwater where he says he lived in a trailer and grew up relatively poor until his dad earned promo tions and better pay in the National Guard. The family later moved about 50 miles east to Onsted, in Lenawee County, where Solda no graduated from high school.

He was a star linebacker on the West ern Michigan University football team. As a senior in 2000, he recorded 115 tack les, was named team MVP and selected a First-Team All-Conference player in the Mid-American Conference.

In his book, Soldano wrote that Black teammates at Western helped him over come his own “racist belief” that was in stilled in the overwhelmingly white rural Michigan towns of his youth and trips to Ohio, where a relative had criticized “stu pid n*****” in his presence. (In the book, Soldano did not use asterisks)

“Racism is taught,” Soldano said.

Soldano dreamed of the NFL and was invited to the Chicago Bears training camp in 2001. But he was cut before the season be gan. He returned to school at Palmer Chi ropractic College in Iowa and eventually opened his own business, a clinic in Kalam azoo with plans to expand.

Soldano and his wife moved to Florida in 2016. There, he opened a “few” chiropractic clinics as part of a “20-year-plan” to move into a strictly management role, he said. But he missed working with patients and he missed Michigan, Soldano explained, so his family moved back home.

Secretary of State records show Soldano re-registered to vote in Michigan in March of 2018, making him eligible for both the August primary and November general election under the Michigan Constitution, which requires gubernatorial candidates be “qualified electors” of the state for four years before taking office.

Soldano closed other clinics in Mat tawan and Richland too, and he now op erates the single facility in Kalamazoo, where he applied for and received roughly $228,000 in forgivable COVID loans to con tinue employing nine people through the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program.

Online reviews for the Soldano Family Chiropractic Center are largely positive, al though some Yelp users say the clinic does not take COVID seriously. Former patient Carina Hilbert told Bridge that Soldano “was helpful,” but she got a “weird vibe” from his clinic.

“You get the feeling that he’s a sales

man,” she said. “He’s selling his book. He’s selling the supplements. He’s got posters up with his own quotes on the wall.”

‘AN ENVIRONMENT OF GREATNESS’

Soldano’s money-making ventures in clude his work as a national marketing di rector for Juice Plus, a health supplement that clients say he also sold at his chiroprac tic clinics. The fruit and vegetable capsules are sold through a multi-level marketing company that relies on sellers recruiting other sellers.

When the pandemic hit Michigan in spring 2020, Soldano reportedly claimed on his since-deleted podcast that if his family got COVID-19, they could “get over it” be cause they were already taking Juice Plus to boost their immune systems.

Similar claims by other Juice Plus rep resentatives prompted warnings from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which re minded that it is a federal crime to adver tise that a product can prevent or cure a disease “unless you possess competent and reliable scientific evidence.”

But Soldano contends initial reporting on his comments, as published by The Dai ly Mail, were not accurate. He would have had his chiropractic “license ripped up” and been fired from Juice Plus if he had suggested the supplements were a COVID cure, he told Bridge.

But Soldano stood by his larger argu ment that a strong immune system is ben eficial to mitigating the impact of viruses, even COVID. “I would say if you turn your body into an environment of greatness, you would dominate that,” he reiterated this week.

Soldano’s “Change Your Best” podcast is no longer available online. He told Bridge he deleted it as part of an effort to take his “whole life off social media” amid online attacks. He stopped working for Juice Plus because of his gubernatorial campaign but still uses the product, he said.

Podcast episode descriptions that re main online indicate he urged listeners to “chill out” about COVID-19 and “resist” fear about COVID.

“In the back of my head right now, I’m thinking holy cow, what if you’re wrong?” Soldano said in one episode, according to an archived recording reviewed by Bridge. “What if millions of people started to die? It could happen in two weeks. I may look like a clown.”

Soldano has led motivational semi nars here and in Florida where firewalking — teaching people to walk over hot coals — was featured as a final “breakthrough event,” a technique borrowed from selfhelp guru Tony Robbins, he said.

Running for governor is harder than firewalking because of the toll it takes on “family time,” he told Bridge, referencing his kids and wife, who encouraged him to run for governor after watching him emerge as pandemic protest leader.

“They all know what we’re doing this for,” Soldano said of his family. “We’re in this thing to win it.”