Communities in the lakes area and across Oakland County will have the opportunity to put before their respective electorates with a familiar funding proposal for Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) bus services during the Aug. 7 primary election. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved on Wednesday, April 18 a resolution granting the communities the authority to put a 0.59-mill, two-year millage collection on the primary election ballot. The millage would be levied [...]

Democrats are taking their case to court over district lines approved by the Republican-controlled Oakland County Board of Commissioners earlier this month in the latest chapter of the political saga revolving around the redistricting process that, until recently, was controlled by Democrats for the first time in the county’s history. The nine members of the county board’s Democratic Caucus — including county Commissioner Marcia Gershenson (D-West Bloomfield), the lone Democrat representing a portion of the [...]

Commerce Township Republican Albert Clawson is joining an already crowded GOP primary field seeking the party’s nomination for the newly-drawn 39th state House of Representatives seat. Clawson ran in the 2010 Republican primary election for the current 39th state House District seat, which represents West Bloomfield and Commerce townships and Wolverine Lake, and is currently held by Democratic state Rep. Lisa Brown, who defeated eventual Republican nominee Lois Shulman. Clawson lost in the 2010 GOP [...]

The field of candidates seeking an open seat on the Oakland County Circuit Court bench has grown to four. Jason Pernick, 51, joins Sahera Housey, Layne Sakwa and Karen McDonald in vying to fill the vacant seat created because Circuit Court Family Division Judge Edward Sosnick is barred from seeking re-election due to state age limitations on judicial candidates. Whoever fills that seat will earn approximately $140,000 annually and serve a six-year term. Pernick, an [...]

A group of local elected officials serving at the county and state level, as well as a candidate for the 51st District Court, are vowing to not put up campaign signs until a month before the Aug. 7 primary election. State Rep. Gail Haines (R-Waterford, West Bloomfield), who is spearheading the pledge initiative, said public displeasure over signage in Waterford Township led her to take the pledge. “I have heard from countless community members and [...]

The gloves are off in the battle to repeal the state’s personal property tax (PPT) imposed on business equipment, now that Republicans in the state Senate have put forward a plan to do just that. In a legislative package unveiled last week, the upper chamber’s GOP Caucus is proposing to begin phasing out on Dec. 31 the PPT for commercial or industrial businesses that have personal property valued at less than $40,000, thereby eliminating between [...]

Lisa Brown’s political path is now decided after months of speculation about what she would do following the redistricting process for the state Legislature that made her 39th state House District lean Republican. Brown, whose current state House district represents West Bloomfield, Commerce, and Wolverine Lake, has announced that she will run for Oakland County clerk/register of deeds, a job currently held by Republican Bill Bullard, Jr. “Elected officials should be public servants before being [...]

The 127-year-old Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is asking voters in Oakland County — as well as Wayne and Macomb counties — to approve a tax that would fund general operations for the museum located on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. The museum is looking for a levy of up to 0.2 mills for no more than 10 years. A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value, which is generally [...]

Oakland County Commissioner John Scott (R-Waterford, West Bloomfield) is going back on a previous statement that he would seek the Waterford Township supervisor job if Republicans were allowed to redraw county Board of Commissioners districts. Scott, who has served on the county board since his election in 2002, will instead be seeking re-election as a county commissioner in 2012. He had said that if the state Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Public Act 280 [...]

A group of local elected officials serving at the county and state level, as well as a candidate for the 51st District Court, are vowing to not put up campaign signs until a month before the Aug. 7 primary election. State Rep. Gail Haines (R-Waterford, West Bloomfield), who is spearheading the pledge initiative, said public displeasure over signage in Waterford Township led her to take the pledge. “I have heard from countless community members and [...]