A2Politico: Ann Arbor Politics Grilled To Perfection

It’s a cozy little political club here in A2. Somewhat like the Trust that was John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. Many of our A2 politicos are suckled by the She-Wolf of Michigan Democratic politics: John Dingell. Will one of Dingell’s pups turn rabid and run against him? He’s ripe to be picked off what with the body blow that was the loss of his Chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee to Henry Waxman—not to mention the political clout and donations that went with that Chairmanship.

2010 will be an interesting year, politically, in A2. Liz Brater and Pam Byrnes are both term-limited. This has set into motion a whole series of political machinations in deep-blue A2, some of which remind me of the goings-on in the movie “Angels and Insects”:

Senator Brater is out of the state game. This leaves her state senate seat open. State representative Rebekah Warren will run for Brater’s Michigan Senate seat. So will State Representative Pam Byrnes. This leaves Rebekah Warren’s seat in the State House of Representatives open, as well as Pam Byrnes’s seat. Warren, I would imagine, is stepping on some toes by running for the Senate before she is term-limited in the House, but alas, that’s what makes politics interesting.

Mayor Hieftje will run…for some political office. His only job for the past decade, after all, has been suckling at the public teat. He won’t run for Warren’s seat. Local Dem Ned Staebler and County Commissioner Jeff Irwin are planning to go head-to-head for Warren’s slot in the House. A three-way primary race would put Hieftje at decided disadvantage. So does his endorsement of Third Ward Council member Leigh Greden, despite the part Greden played in Emailgate, and the pending lawsuit over the library lot parking garage and alleged Open Meetings Act violations on the part of Council. Depending on what comes out during the discovery phase of the suit, we may see a mass exodus of A2 politicos from the scene, including Hieftje and, perhaps, even Judge Christopher Easthope. 

If he runs, will Hieftje face County Commissioner Conan Smith in the 2010 Mayoral race? Nope. Smith was quoted in the Ann Arbor News as saying though he’d like to be Mayor of Ann Arbor, he won’t run against Hieftje. Will Tom Wall run again? I wouldn’t count him out. First Ward Council member Sabra Briere has expressed interest in running for Mayor, but won’t run against Hieftje either, according to the Ann Arbor News.

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