The city elections in Macomb County on Tuesday were
limited to three districts in Warren but, since Warren is the third-largest
city in Michigan, that sounded like a fairly significant primary vote to narrow
the field.

Apparently the voters didn’t think so. The turnout was
just 7.6 percent.

In fact, in District 5, which encompasses much of south
Warren, an area with many renters and a fairly transient population, the turnout was
just 5 percent.

It’s hard to place any credibility on an election where
95 percent of the people don’t vote. On the other hand, the incumbents
dominated the vote so thoroughly that it’s hard to imagine that they are not
heading for re-election in November.

The top vote-getters were Councilmen Keith Sadowski, with
60 percent of the vote in District 2; Cecil St. Pierre, with 69 percent support
in District 3; and Robert Boccomino, with 73 percent in District 5. Each faced
two or three challengers.

The four other incumbent council members, who did not
face a primary challenge, are favored to win in November and Mayor Jim Fouts is
all but certain to receive another 4-year term.

Among the survivors of Tuesday’s primary were Lanette Olejniczak,
who unsuccessfully challenged in court a questionable move by a city attorney
that doubled Warren’s term limits to 24 years. She will take on St. Pierre, one
of the beneficiaries of the extended term limits, in the fall.

In addition, her attorney in that term limits case,
Richard Sulaka II, son of former city clerk Rich Sulaka, advanced to the
general election where he will face Sadowski. Sadowski is the other incumbent
who would have been term-limited out of office this year if not for the
circumspect decision made in April by then-city attorney David Griem, who resigned
shortly afterward.

 

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