Potts will seek GOP nomination for state House seat

An article by Kirk Pinho    No Comments

Oakland County Commissioner David Potts (R-Birmingham) is running for a newly-drawn state House of Representatives district seat that will represent a part of west Oakland County.

Potts, an attorney and the husband of Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Potts, announced his candidacy yesterday, Tuesday, Jan. 24, for the new 40th state House District, which includes the eastern portion of West Bloomfield Township, in addition to Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills.

“I am proud to have been a three-term commissioner who has helped Oakland County maintain its AAA bond rating during an economic maelstrom that is gripping our entire country,” Potts said in a press release announcing his candidacy. “Oakland County has succeeded because we are led by one of the foremost county executives in the nation — L. Brooks Patterson — and his team of economic development gurus. In addition … I have taken a magnifying-glass approach in examining all of our county budgets.”

First elected in 2006, he is the chairman of the county board’s Planning and Building Committee and also serves on the board’s Finance Committee. A former vice president and general counsel for the Detroit Lions, he earned his law degree from the Wayne State University Law School.

Oakland County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Houston said he’s “assuming right now that (state Rep.) Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield, Commerce, Wolverine Lake) is going to run for (the new 40th House District seat).”

State representatives serve two-year terms and are paid $79,650 annually.

According to staff in the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Elections Division, no candidates — Republican or Democrat — had filed to run for the 40th state House District as of Monday, Jan. 23.

Brown, who was first elected to the state House in 2008, could not be reached for comment prior to press time.