Obstructionists
to the end...

6/13/07

Many in town were surprised by the wild changes in this year's Novi City Council race. What initially appeared to be a tight four-way race for three council seats turned into a done deal by Monday - three candidates for three seats.

Toni Nagy and Lynne Paul had lead many to believe they would be running for reelection this year, and they had made no public statement to the contrary by late Friday, the deadline for filing. Then, they simply failed to show up. Imagine that.

Interestingly, Nagy supporter and close friend Carol Jean Crawford seemed to know - she showed up at the last minute, apparently expecting to be a shoe-in for what would have been a third open seat with Nagy and Paul out of the running.

Carol Jean's hopes were dashed, however, when well known Novi resident Dave Staudt also threw his hat into the ring late Friday. By Monday, she had apparently resigned herself to the fact that defeat was likely. She was in the race for only three days.

Initially expecting a very tight City Council race this year, no other candidates came forward in recent weeks. In a city with so many good, smart people, that's a shame. At the same time, we're pleased to have three high quality candidates running for City Council. Regardless, it's still not right.

One issue we've noted repeatedly is that, while there are many good, smart people in town, there still aren't that many who are willing to run for an elected, or even appointed, position in Novi. This is one of the reasons, folks.

We the People are displeased, but not really surprised, by what Nagy and Paul have done. If there's a reason, we've already given them a chance to explain and they didn't even respond. It seems to us that personal agendas came first, and the People second, for these two.

Nagy and Paul have a few more lame-duck months to go as Novi City Council Members, and it now looks like they'll go out the way they've operated for the past couple years: as obstructionists to the end.

Hopefully, this will be the end of that era for the good of the People.

p.s. - No one is willing to take on our good Mayor David Landry, who will be running unopposed for reelection this year. Now that is certainly no surprise.

p.p.s - This may well be the first time in Novi history that a mayor and council will be elected without a real contest, and Carol Jean's political career may well be the shortest in Novi's history too!