Voters meet the candidates in Presque Isle, share views on several issues

The League of Presque Isle Association Voters hosted a ?Candidate Night? Monday at the Presque Isle Clubhouse. Both candidates for the Judge of Probate in Presque Isle County and 106th District State Rep. were in attendance, along with Democratic State Senate challenger Sharon Unger, who made the trip across the state from Bellaire. Incumbent Senator Jason Allen had a prior commitment and could not attend the forum. Led by local resident Barb Mosier who served as moderator, each candidate was given 10 minutes each to tell the 20 residents in the audience about themselves and the issues that are important to them. That was followed by questions from the audience. Topics during the question and answer period included the dove hunting statewide ballot proposal, threats to the Great Lakes, the new duties of probate judge, Canadian garbage, pesticides, and limited cell phone service in the Presque Isle Area. The program got underway with Mosier leading the group in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by some opening remarks. She then handed the floor over to the candidates.

DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENT State Rep. Matt Gillard started the program by telling the audience about his last two terms in the Michigan House. ?I feel I have done a good job of making sure you all have a voice in Lansing and that your voice can be heard in our legislative process,? said Gillard. ?This is a critical election that Michigan is facing. The results of this election will shape our state for decades to come, I honestly believe.? He said Michigan is at a crossroads as it moves away from automotive dependency. ?I honestly can sit here and tell you, I have worked hard to represent the citizens of northeast Michigan and the 106th District, in my four years in the legislature.?

Republican challenger Howard Viegelahn, a potato farmer from Belknap Township, said he has become leader in the agriculture community, serving on agriculture boards at the state and national level. He is currently is serving as co-chairman of the National Potato Board. He told the gathering that one of his attributes is working with people to seek changes that make a difference for others. ?I think the gift that the good Lord has given me is the ability to find the people to work together and to find a compromise. That is the ability I would like to bring down to Lansing, to work both sides of the aisle, learn compromise, and bring the best ideas forward.?

BOTH CANDIDATES for the newly created fulltime position of probate Judge, incumbent Ken Radzibon and former county prosecutor Don McLennan, friends for the last 30 years, traded barbs during their opening remarks. The new fulltime time Probate Judge will take additional cases in District Court. Both Radzibon and McLennan agree that there will be challenges. McLennan said he has the work ethic to make this new position work. ?I am the kind of fellow who, I am very serious about this, I can make this system work,? said McLennan. ?It is going to be complicated. There is no question about it, because there is going to be a broad spectrum of cases, but I have experience. Anyone who knows me knows I have a very serious work ethic.? McLennan cited his track record of not losing a felony case in 26 years as an example. ?I will make it work. Now, I like Ken, but as probate judge he has been working a caseload of about one third of one position. He has not been able to keep up with the responsibilities of that office, even at one-third. I can do better.?

Radzibon described some of the history of the probate judge position and how the State Supreme Court justified the establishment of the fulltime job by giving the probate judge the additional role in District Court.

RADZIBON SAID he assumed additional family court work in 2003, when the Circuit Court was realigned. ?Now family court work is really a calling,? he explained. ?It?s a calling because it is often work a lot of other judges don?t like. It is the most gut-wrenching work. It can be very emotional in the courtroom, on almost a daily basis, and it can be very tough work, but it is work I feel strongly a calling for. That is why I took the job years ago. My motivation has not changed. I am still interested in that work.? He continued, ?I have done the work for 23 years, even though it was part time and very poorly paid. I did not seek to run because the legislature more than doubled the salary.? Unger, the former social worker said northern Michigan is too dependent on downstate tourism dollars

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?The problem we have here is jobs,? said Unger. ?Most of our district is heavily dependent on the tourism industry, and because automotive jobs are gone downstate, people that normally vacation in northern Michigan have not been coming up here this summer.? She also said there are plans incentives, and tax breaks to get the economy moving downstate, but in northern Michigan, ?we are not getting any of the action.? She also commented of Allen?s fundraising, saying, ?He has forgotten the spirit of the campaign laws.? She also said Allen has several accounts set up that are not regulated by campaign account laws.

Nancy Brown, who helped organized the program, as a way to educate local voters of the area, especially transplants not familiar with the candidates, was pleased with how it turned out.

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