Board of Canvassers to meet Thursday to certify results in Ann Arbor City Council primary
Ann Arbor’s four-member Board of Canvassers is expected to meet Thursday morning to certify the results of Tuesday’s primary election, which featured one of the closest races in city history.
City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry said board members will pay close attention to the 3rd Ward, where unofficial totals currently have Stephen Kunselman winning over incumbent Leigh Greden by six votes.
If all goes as planned, Beaudry said, official totals should be certified by the end of the day. Greden then has six days to file petitions for a recount with the Washtenaw County Clerk’s Office, which he has indicated he will be doing.
“You can’t get much closer than six votes,” Greden lamented Wednesday, still in disbelief that he lost by so narrow a margin.
“I can guarantee you that there are 12 people who I know were supporters of mine who didn’t vote,” he said. “But I have no one to blame but myself. I just didn’t have my get-out-the-vote procedure that I should have.”
No Republicans filed to run for the City Council this year, so Tuesday’s Democratic primary most likely determined who takes office come November in the 3rd and 5th Wards. Unofficial totals show Kunselman edged past Greden 511-505, while LuAnne Bullington finished with 379 votes.
In the city’s 5th Ward, incumbent Mike Anglin cruised to an easy victory against opponent Scott Rosencrans, 1,301-694.
About 11 percent of the 30,631 registered voters in the two wards cast ballots, a higher turnout than election officials predicted. That’s nearly double the turnout from the last off-year primary in August 2007.
Kunselman said he believes voters are ready for change, which is why they came out in stronger numbers.
Kunselman waged a campaign that was heavily critical of Greden’s character, including his use of a city-provided laptop to exchange e-mails with fellow council members during city meetings over the past year. Some of the e-mails were filled with jokes and comments that critics deemed rude and insensitive; other e-mails quietly discussed City Council deliberations outside the public eye, which some critics argue is in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act.
“This vote is reflective of where people want to take our City Council and that’s in a new direction,” Kunselman said. “This was about who the incumbent really is, and when you’re a politician, it’s all about your character, being trusted. And I think that’s what this election is about.”
In his six years in office, Greden has grown into one of the forefront leaders in city government, his colleagues on the City Council say. Greden, an attorney, is chairman of the city’s Administration Committee, which helps set the agenda and handles personnel matters. He also is a member of the Budget and Labor Committee and chairman of the Student Relations Committee.
“Leigh has been not just a leader on council, but he’s been a leader in the city with affordable housing issues, downtown issues and budget issues,” said Councilwoman Margie Teall, D-4th Ward. “He’s an incredibly smart guy. He’s somebody who puts in a lot of time and his constituent services are unparalleled.”
Teall said Greden also was instrumental in pushing for new height limits in the South University area last year when a developer was proposing a 24-floor, student-housing complex. Greden thought the building should be no more than 120 feet; a compromise was reached at 150 feet.
Greden said he’s not happy that his opponents chose to run negative campaigns criticizing him based on e-mails he sent.
“It didn’t used to be like this,” he said. “When I first ran for office in 2003, you could have disagreements about policy issues, but that’s what it was, and that’s it. It’s not that way anymore. It’s very personal, nasty and negative campaigning.”
Several voters told AnnArbor.com at polls on Tuesday they were voting against Greden because of the e-mails. Others took issue with Greden’s push to put a city income tax proposal on the November ballot.
Both candidates favored by voters Tuesday - Anglin and Kunselman - have been critical of the income tax idea, which calls for taxing Ann Arbor residents 1 percent of their income and non-residents a half-percent. Greden says Ann Arbor homeowners would see a 15 percent reduction in property taxes if an income tax is enacted and the city could raise an extra $7.6 million a year, mostly by shifting the tax burden to an estimated 75,000 commuters to Ann Arbor.
Ryan Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at 734-623-2529 or ryanstanton@annarbor.com.
Comments
Juliet Pressel
Sat, Aug 8, 2009 : 9:28 a.m.
Leigh Greden is right that he has no one to blame but himself. But he's wrong that he failed to get out the vote. I was one of a number of people who decided we have had enough of Greden's Macchiavellian politics and canvassed for Steve Kunselman, one of his TWO opponents. And, no, it wasn't just the emails, though they illustrated how he and his cronies, while pretending to give their attention to Council meetings, instead spent their time telling their colleagues what to say and how to vote, mocking those who dared to think differently, and even plotting their political demise -- all of this right under the noses of the other attendees. (Actually, I'm sure that was part of the charm -- I saw his apology, but frankly, this bore only a slight resemblance to adolescents passing notes in class.) Kunselman may have won by one of the narrowest margins in history, but he did it in a 3-way race that ordinarily would have doomed both challengers and left the incumbent in office. In this case, 64% of the voters cast their ballot against Greden -- enough so that it boosted one challenger to a win. Still, for those of us whom Greden rolled over long before the emails came to light, this was just one more indicator of his contempt for anyone who wasn't on board with his agenda. I assume that Greden will attempt to regain some political position. I hope that if he does so, he will learn something from this defeat and change his approach. It wasn't someone else's negative campaign that blew him out of office. It was his own failure to show respect for his constituents and for the political process overall.
sottovoce
Fri, Aug 7, 2009 : 10:17 a.m.
technically, P is correct, but this election was about Greden. It wasn't a referendum on Bullington or Kunselman. 65% voted "anyone but Greden". He should accept defeat.
LBH
Thu, Aug 6, 2009 : 11 a.m.
So we have no problem with somebody who was admittedly and knowingly doing something which was against city ordinance, who then took up many hours of city council time with his special interest? Partial to fresh eggs, the 3rd Ward Democrat had been keeping a hen at his home before the start of his now two-year-old political career. As he headed for City Council, the hen illegal under city ordinances was shipped to a friend in Dexter. Ann Arbor News March 17, 2008. Way to go voters; guess you really showed people you were voting for integrity. Also how many of you would like your outbox made public for everybody to pick over? Proud of everything you have in there, are you?
Michael Olsen
Thu, Aug 6, 2009 : 9:50 a.m.
This vote is reflective of where people want to take our City Council and thats in a new direction, Kunselman said. This was about who the incumbent really is, and when youre a politician, its all about your character, being trusted. And I think thats what this election is about. Generally this is the type of statement one says before an election, not after winning. It is about character after all....
David Cahill
Thu, Aug 6, 2009 : 8:38 a.m.
There is a mistake about turnout in this story. In the Third Ward in the August, 2007 primary there were 1078 votes cast. In the Third Ward in the August, 2009 primary there were 1395 votes cast. This is an increase of 29%. Similarly, in the Fifth Ward in the August, 2007 primary there were 1660 votes. In the Fifth Ward in the August, 2009 primary there were 1995 votes. This is an increase of 20%. So the turnout was not "nearly double" from August, 2007.
Alan Benard
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 10:31 p.m.
I voted for not Leigh Graden.
Peregrine
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 9:36 p.m.
There's some math that fergus1mom is missing. While it's true that Greden only got 36.2% of the vote, Kunselman only got 36.7% of the vote, meaning a majority didn't want him either. So what's the point other than it's a way of saying you don't like Greden couched in some opportunistic math? That's the nature of a system in which a plurality rather than a majority is sufficient. We could fix that with something like an instant run-off or the Condorcet method.
stan
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 8:08 p.m.
I'm getting tired of reading that Greden lost by more than six votes by including the Bullington votes as votes against Greden. If Bullington were not in the race, it is hard to tell who would have got her votes. If you want to make that argument, more of the voting public did not vote for Obama than did (I'm counting people who voted for other candidates or did not vote at all). Clearly, using your logic, more people did not want him than people who did.
Moose
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 7:15 p.m.
Mike didn't cruise to his win. He and his ardent supporters worked hard for those votes.
fergus1mom
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 6:38 p.m.
There's some math that Leigh Greden is missing. He believes he lost by six votes, but that ignores the votes cast for Luanne Bullington. Of the 1,395 votes cast in the 3rd Ward, 505 of them--36%--were for Leigh Greden. The remaining 64% were cast for *someone else*. Instead of putting the city through the expense and effort of a recount in the tiny hope that it will change the outcome, the honorable course of action would be for Mr. Greden to admit that nearly 2/3 of those voting in the 3rd Ward do not want him as their councilman. It's time for him to go home; his term is over.
uawisok
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 6:31 p.m.
Greden thought he was "Too big to fail"...glad to see(chicken guy)Kunselman back on council and Anglin also...the people have spoken!!
Alan Goldsmith
Wed, Aug 5, 2009 : 4:55 p.m.
It didnt used to be like this, he said. When I first ran for office in 2003, you could have disagreements about policy issues, but thats what it was, and thats it. Its not that way anymore. Its very personal, nasty and negative campaigning. Yes, Mr. Greden. It didn't used to be like this. You know, council reps insulting other member's mothers, joking about how stupid people were, making threats and secret deals, joking about being so bored during council meetings that you had to internet surf to Facebook. You're right. Council wasn't like that before you were elected. It's so not your fault. You still don't get it do you? That's why you lost.