Art Mirek - Mirror on Warren
  Attack Politics in Warren

A major Flip Flop has apparently gone down in the City of Warren. Sad to say, it's in the Mayoral election. The flip-flop involves attack flyers.

Hopefully I'm reading this wrong but I don't think so.   I did say in a previous column that both Candidates for Mayor were qualified and I still believe that.  I still feel all of the incumbents should be re-elected.  I still believe all those running in November are qualified.  While still a Candidate, I and others signed a letter authored by  Scott C. Stevens,  Candidate for City Council,  pledging that we Candidates would run a clean campaign. When I failed to make the cut  I packed all of my Campaign materials into a file and went about my business.  I attended to what seemed like an endless list of tasks put on hold and to several family matters that had waited for my return. 
Everything was going quite well until  three events came to my attention;   1. The Macomb Daily's September 9th "Insider" Column, 2. The televised City Council meeting of September 11th and 3.  Thursday's Candidate attack letter from the Committee to Elect Jim Fouts.  All three have made it necessary for me to point out what I believe is the same old hypocrisy in Warren's Political system.  This is truly a nightmare  just when I thought people would grow up they declare a holiday.
Point 1.  The Insider Column in the Macomb Daily alleged that Jim Fouts and Joe Munem got together after the Primary election and joined forces.  For those who don't reside in Warren, Fouts and Munem are on record of disliking each other.  Joe Munem is a political consultant who majors in attack Campaign flyers.  Fouts has been Munem's target since 1996.  Fouts has always managed to win walking away.  When I first read the Insider column I laughed.  No way.  Was I in for a surprise!
Point 2.  The Televised Warren City Council meeting was sparsely attended but the majority of the attendees were supporters of Jim Fouts.  When it was time for audience participation Fouts supporters out numbered his opponents 5 to 1.  Everything was going fine until Planning Commissioner Henry Krzystowczk came up to the microphone and as he spoke the microphone kept going on and off.  For reasons unknown to me and other viewers Mr. Krzystowczk accused Kathy Vogt of having something to do with the microphone going on and off.  She was very gracious about it and tried to tell him she was not the guilty party.  Soon a gentleman (who I shall not identify because of his crude remark) came out of the audience and began to "interrogate" Kathy Vogt.  When he didn't get the right answers he yelled out, "Get the hell out of here".   We are talking about an elderly gentleman who should have developed better manners.  Maybe I'm old fashion but profanity in a public place, especially directed to a lady from a man, is about as low as you can go. Hopefully he apologized to her after the meeting.   By the way Mrs. Vogt did not yell back. She has more class than that.  She considered the source and quietly left the Council table and returned after Krzystowczk's remarks.  After the meeting ended I wondered to myself why nobody came to Kathy Vogt's rescue, especially Jim Fouts who rather than saying something, kept alleging some kind of "double standard" and  a conspiracy directed to him and his backers.
Point 3.  Thursday's attack letter from the Committee to Elect Jim Fouts to Mayoral Candidate Richard Sulaka was mailed to my home.  It had all the appearances of a Joe Munem letter.  As a writer myself  I was able recognize his style.  First and foremost he used content from a previous letter as if to use that as his source material.  If you save copies of the primary flyers it's the one with the mad looking guy on the cover with this quote, "Some City politicians are coming to work less than 30% of the time."  It was put out by "Political action for Voter education."  The letter I received  is called "In Warren City Hall, he is known as Richard (censored) Sulaka because he shows up to work only 30% of the time.  It goes on to tell everything BUT the truth.  The 30% is easy to explain if you are truthful. The percentage is based on a "swipe card" used to get into the City Hall  offices.  In fact salaried people as a rule usually prop open doors and don't use the cards.  The other two "points" are further distortions of the truth.  Both blame Mr. Sulaka.  The first was for reprinting ballots in 2003 and 2007 and it costing the city "thousands" of dollars.  Not a mention about the complexities that brought on the problem.  As if to say don't bother the reader with the facts.
The second one is what brought me back to writing about politics again.  I really didn't want to come back but this really got to me big time. It concerns Precinct Workers. I'm proud to say that I'm one.  I've been a precinct worker for 7 1/2  years for the City of Warren and I really took offense at how this so-called Campaign literature insulted our integrity and demeaned a man who means so much to us.  Let me set the facts straight:
There is a Column in this flyer that proclaims in a bold headline; "Earn $210 a Day!"  and goes on to accuse Richard Sulaka of hiring "outsiders" and objects to his letter to Jim Fouts concerning  Warren Workers not being up to the challenge!   In a word BALONEY.  Here are the facts:
A Precinct worker receives $150 and a Precinct Chairperson receives $200.  An extra $10 is given for a mandatory training class.  It must be noted that Warren Precinct Workers are one of the highest paid in the State and that Richard Sulaka was responsible for getting the Workers that amount. 
"Outsiders" as the attack flyer calls them are used when Precinct workers from Warren are not available.  In fact, other Cities open their employment of Precinct Workers to other cities. There is a link on the City of Warren's website for an application and people are recruited throughout the year.
Being a Precinct worker is not an easy job.  Workers usually arrive at  6:30 AM  and are there to about 9:30 PM that is if all the paperwork is completed.  Precinct Chairpeople are responsible for all the Workers in their Precinct and have to pick up the Ballots at 5:00 AM and deliver them after the paperwork is finished. Some of them have arrived home at the midnight hour because of the paperwork.  There is no overtime pay.
Most of the Precinct Workers are Senior Citizens.  The search for younger people is always there but the hours are too long for some and others are starting families and can't stay away that long. I can honestly say that Warren Precinct Workers are dedicated workers, they care about the voters and have a lot of respect for Richard Sulaka. Richard has always treated  us with respect.  He is patient, kind and caring. I've know him for over seven years and have never seen him get mad.  He is truly a people person 
As usual the remark about Warren Precinct workers "were not up to the challenge of learning a whole new system"  was taken out of context.   It's amazing how attack letters only use few words from a lengthy letter.  The November election will be the 4th time the new system is being used.  Other cities have used them longer.  Warren was the last City to use the Mechanical machines.  From a management perspective it makes sense to import people who have used the new system to help those who are still learning.  There you have it.  It's taken me over two plus hours to put together these thoughts on paper.   We live in a world where some people try to get ahead at someone else's expense.  It seems at times that our society is all about money and sad to say it's not getting any better.  I promise my next article will be something to make you happy.  Last but not least do Vote.  It means a lot to all the Candidates and their families and even more to our City!  I'll make my endorsements in November.