Ludington 2013 Mayor Election, a Preview

[XLFD]

The Ludington public given the right to vote, expressed their dissatisfaction with the City Proposal last fall to raise the amount of possible terms for mayor from three to five.  As such, this will be the last year for John Henderson to lead Ludington as mayor, as his third term ends on December 31, 2013.  Over this weekend, at the (Day Before) St. Patrick's Day Parade held on Saturday in the downtown area there were a few people wearing a green shirt making a political statement as to the next mayor. 

 

As reported in the Mason County Press:  "A group of people marched in the Ludington St. Patrick’s Day parade Saturday campaigning for Megan Payment to be the next Ludington mayor. The group wore green t-shirts with “Megan Payment for Mayor” written on them. They also held a banner and handed out pins with the same message.

Payment is the co-owner of the popular Mitten Bar in downtown Ludington. She also works for the Ludington and Scottville Area Chamber of Commerce."

A look at the calendar, sees that there is less than two months before the petitions need to be filed for anyone running for mayor or other offices for the City.  This year, there are also elections for City Clerk, and even numbered wards (2, 4, and 6), where all offices may have incumbents looking to be re-elected in the persons of Deb Luskin, Wally Taranko, Wanda Marrison, and Gary Castonia. 

 

Besides the possible candidacy of Payment, I have heard rumors of other interested parties such as former City Councilor August "Pete" Engblade and County Commissioner Bill Carpenter.  I also envision the possible candidacy of Councilor Taranko, allowing his 2nd Ward seat to be more readily available to soon-to-be-ex-mayor Henderson in a switcheroo of sorts.  Note: a former councilor candidate that runs a local muckraking website has no inclination to run for this office at this time. 

Nobody, however, at this point has threw their hat in the ring, so to speak, and Megan Payments paraphernalia stunt is the only sign of anyone's intent to run this year.  Is there any other confirmed candidates for giving it a shot this year?  Can anyone confirm Payment's intent to run?  Any other candidates for other offices that may run, or any of the incumbents deciding to retire?

[Dave]

What would be fun is if you ran X and managed to win... imagine the joy of city council meetings then! Shay and the gang would be beside themselves... haha

[XLFD]

I'd finally be able to talk for more than five minutes then too, as the current guy does, and call the meeting to order when the officials start patting themselves on the back as they are prone to do, or when they go after a citizen who dares comes before them and criticizes their actions civilly.

But then, negatively on the ledger, I'd have to worry about the wandering hands of the City Manager and City Attorney.  No dice. 

[Chris Dunn]

Probably worth mentioning that the "Megan Payment for Mayor" thing was an affectionate gag by a group of Megan's friends.

[XLFD]

I figured it might have been Chris, but she does have the proper credentials to consider a run and would probably get her share of adherents.

[Chris Dunn]

It seems that some of her adherents are a bit more serious about this than I had understood them to be.  We could do a lot worse, that's certain.

[XLFD]

Megan's definitely cuter, slimmer and got more hair (except on her back) than the current mayor, but such considerations do not make one a good candidate for mayor.  I will commit to saying that Mayor Megan has a nice ring to it, but she needs to make a case for herself based on policy and ideals.

[XLFD]

Megan Payment made it official today, she is not going to run for mayor.  I am a bit relieved, because I'm sure I would have been painted as some crazed misogynist going before Mayor Megan complaining about FOIA, OMA, tax raises, and city policy.  With Pete, Bill or some other WASP I'm able to drop the misogynist label.