Macomb doesn’t disappoint – wacky lineup for 2016 elections

UPDATE: Jared Maynard has withdrawn from the sheriff’s race.

For political junkies, the lineup of candidates in Macomb County for 2016 is weird and wacky and well … just wonderful.

The always entertaining name-game is flourishing again in 2016 as some Macomb candidates blessed with a popular political surname believe that shallow voters with limited political knowledge are the key to victory.

With the filing deadline now past us, we have three Millers (none related), three Grots (all related), two Cusumanos, two Lucidos, two Servittos, one Hertel, a Notte, a Rocca, a Wojno, a Sierawski, a Carl and a Farrington.

So, let’s sort this out:

• In the race for county sheriff, names are not part of the game but incumbent Democrat Anthony Wickersham awaits the winner of a Republican primary that includes former Macomb GOP chairman Jared Maynard, who has no law enforcement experience, and failed 2015 Sterling Heights mayoral candidate Paul Smith. Beyond his lack of cop expertise, Smith, a tea party activist, has the reputation of a racist Islamophobe who is sort of a cross between Donald Trump and infamous former Republican official Dave Agema of west Michigan.
• In the contest for county treasurer, Democrat Derek Miller, appointed recently to replace deceased former treasurer Ted Wahby, can sit back and enjoy the GOP show. One contender vying for the Republican nomination is Larry Rocca, a perennial candidate who has a history of legal troubles and has tried to cash in on the Rocca name for two decades, though he is not related to Sal, Sue or Tory – the Roccas (unrelated to Larry) who have served in the Legislature. The next candidate is another several-time loser at the ballot box, libertarian-style Republican Erin Stahl. And the third is Paul Viar, who was a controversial Shelby Township treasurer, surviving a recall and a prosecutor’s investigation, before taking a step back in 2012 to serve as township trustee.
• The election for county clerk seemed fairly routine until just a couple of hours before the Tuesday 4 p.m. filing deadline when rumors spread that longtime incumbent Carmella Sabaugh would be dropping out of the race. As a result, county Commissioner Fred Miller abandoned his seat to run for clerk. Warren City Clerk Paul Wojno, husband of former state representative Lisa Wojno, also jumped into the fray. So far, Sabaugh is staying put, supposedly ready to face Miller and Wojno in the August Democratic primary. It should be noted that Miller is not related to Derek Miller or to Candice Miller, the retiring congresswoman who is challenging county Public Works Commissioner Tony Marrocco.
• I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the lone Republican in the prosecutor’s race, making his third consecutive run at Democratic incumbent Eric Smith, is Mike Wrathell, who splits his time as an artist, musician and attorney. Some of Wrathell’s paintings have featured his bizarre vision of what inhabitants on Pluto – Plutonians, if they existed – would look like.
• In the state House competition, the Macomb race that stands out is in the 30^th District (Utica and portions of Sterling Heights and Shelby Township) to replace term-limited Republican Rep. Jeff Farrington. The GOP field includes Farrington’s wife, Diana; Jackie Ryan, a tea party disciple of Paul Smith (refer back to the sheriff’s race summary) who was clobbered at the ballot box last November while trying to secure a Sterling Heights council seat; and Maria Grot, who is the sister of Stan Grot, who is running for re-election as Shelby Township clerk, and the sister-in-law of Sylvia Grot (Stan’s wife), who filed as a Republican for county clerk. On the Democratic side, Michael Notte is in the mix. He is the son of former Sterling Heights mayor Richard Notte who passed away in 2014.
• Elsewhere we have Julianne Cusumano running for a north Macomb state House seat. She is the wife of Frank Cusumano, who is taking a stab at county commissioner in a Macomb Township district. The crowded 33^rd District GOP race to replace term-limited Republican Rep. Ken Goike also features Colleen Carl, daughter of frequent candidate and conservative activist Maria Carl and the late state senator Doug Carl. The surprise entry into that 13^th District county commissioner race with Cusumano is former GOP state representative Leon Drolet.
• Fred Miller’s departure from the 9^th District county commissioner contest (centered in the Mount Clemens area) led to election bids by former Michigan Democratic Party chairman Mark Brewer and fellow Democrat Elizabeth Ann Lucido. She is the wife of 41B District Judge Sebastian Lucido.
• More than six months before the November general election, the winner for the most hallucinatory candidate in Macomb County has to be Jim Perna, the Democrat-turned Republican running in the 12^th District (Clinton Township) for county commissioner. Though Perna was removed by state authorities in 2014 as CEO of a credit union after the financial institution lost $1.5 million, he is making his fourth consecutive attempt to defeat Democratic commissioner Bob Smith. (By the way, Smith is the brother of county Prosecutor Eric Smith.)

As for the other name-game candidates, Liz Sierawski, Michael Servitto and Trese Servitto-Smith all share names with currently serving judges, while Kevin Hertel is part of the four-decade political dynasty of the Hertel family.

The list is too long to continue but suffice it to say that some of these candidates have the right name to get elected, and some have a name that dooms them to failure (Jim Senstock, candidate for treasurer in Harrison Township, certainly fits that bill.)

As Macomb County political folklore goes, one local politician first won election by a narrow margin several years ago because many voters assumed a connection between her name and a prominent area auto dealership. They were wrong. But I still wonder: Why would anyone choose a name on a ballot based on a familiar-sounding car dealer?

As I’ve said before, there must be something in the water in Macomb County that causes so many delusional candidates to sprout on a routine basis. Maybe these people have a storm-tracker’s mentality, hoping that lightning strikes.

But if a bolt from the heavens made contact, the only sure outcome would be that the voters would get burned.