Tonight, the last night before tomorrow’s primary election, a candidate forum for the Kent County Commission’s 16th District seat (view a map) was held at Divine Grace Ministries. The hour-long forum, featuring Democratic candidates Jim Talen and Robert “S” Womack, provided an overview of the two candidates positions on a variety of issues and provided a useful counter to the corporate media’s coverage of the 16th District Commission race. The corporate media—none of whom attended the forum—have provided coverage of disputes between incumbent Commissioner Paul Mayhue and challenger Robert “S” Womack, a radio talk show host whom Mayhue has accused of violating Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on candidate airtime (ex: 1, 2, and 3). Commissioner Mayhue did not participate in the forum.

In keeping with our effort to provide as much information on the candidates’ positions as we can, a summary of the forum follows:

Question: Why are you running for office?

Jim Talen (JT): He said that this is not his first foray into electoral politics and that he got in because he thought he had unique skills and experience through his work in neighborhood organizing with East Hills and Eastown as well as in his experience at Baxter Community Center. He previously served 8 terms on the Kent County Commission during which he felt his focus on justice issues and improving services were his strong areas.

Robert “S” Womack (RSW): He is running at the request of people in the community who have called his show and asked that he enter electoral politics. He wants to work on Senior Meals on Wheels as well as the issue of rehabilitation at the Kent County Jail. He wants to reduce the number of repeat offenders and the long-term jail population through rehabilitation and making sure that programs such as Honor Camp and Work Release are available equally to inmates. He also would look at the possibility of creating a mental health court as another jail reform.

Q: How can you influence budgetary policy in order to improve the 16th District?

RSW: The county spends $100 million on corrections but people come back to the jail on average four or six times. A considerable amount of money is being wasted as the jail is being run like a prison with people waiting over a year for trial instead of the 30 days outlined in the jail’s mission.

JT: The jail is overseen by the Kent County Sheriff—an elected post—and as such the Commission does not oversee policy but does do the budgeting. As such, Talen said that a commissioner can use their seat as a bully pulpit to raise the issue. Talen said that people can be prevented from going to jail by providing services, which he worked on and shared that he got $500,000 put into prevention after telling law enforcement that he would not vote for more law enforcement funding without money for prevention.

Q: What is your strategy to build an effective political apparatus in the 16th District to get your policies implemented?

JT: A big issue is communication and to that end he would send out a newsletter via print and email, go to neighborhood association meetings, and go door-to-door even after the election is over.

RSW: He looks at the Constitution and the separation of powers and sees that the commission does have power over the sheriff. He explained that some Democrats on the commission have almost given up because of the dominance of Republicans on the commission but he explained that he would pursue a policy of achieveing consensus and cited his work getting the City Commission to vote 9-0 in favor of the Martin Luther King Boulevard designation and the Grand Rapids Public Schools’ Board 7-0 vote for community input in the superintendent hiring process.

Q: In light of the fact that neither answered the question, how can you build an effective party apparatus to get initiatives through?

JT: He tried to answer and said that his talk of communication was key as the community has to know what is going on. In the past he has worked to get more precinct delegates and captains, but he is not convinced that the way to make change on the commission is through partisan politics. He said it is more important to build relationships as issues tend to be less partisan and deal more with a divide between urban and rural policy.

RSW: He would continue to do the things that he has already done such as reaching out to progressives and young liberals to get them on board. He will not be happy with just maintaining his seat but he wants to get more Democrats on the commission. He believes that many progressive initiatives can and have been pushed through even with Republican dominance and argued that there has been a lack of dialog between previous 16th District commissioners and the community.

Q: With the 16th District’s growing Spanish speaking population, stable African-American population, and young white entrepreneurs, why would you be a good representative of this community?

RSW: He was born and raised in inner city Grand Rapids but also spent time in inner city Chicago, the Bronx, and East Grand Rapids as a foster child. He would focus representing the youth and would work to get youth onto the commission and get elders to move towards higher offices. He pointed out that his two Democratic challengers are old at 53.

JT: He said that he is not that old. It is a challenge to represent a diverse district in terms of race and class but he has always lived within blocks of the 16th District and feels that he has “unusual gifts” that allow him to represent diversity. He said that he feels he has always lived, worked, and worshipped in diverse areas by choice and that this experience would help him in his work as commissioner.

Q: How can the 16th District Commissioner work with the City Commission to improve the 16th District?

JT: He looks forward to working on this question and has experience working with and relationships with many City Commissioners. He said that there used to be monthly meetings between City and County Commissioners when he was on the Commission and he would like to bring those back.

RSW: Pools have been closed because of budget deficits in the city and the county has responded to the influx of urban youth into Millennium Park by instituting fees. He would like to make county parks more accessible and would also like to make county jobs more accessible for urban youth as a means of preventing crime.

Q: What would you do to bring down re-incarceration rates?

RSW: He is running on a platform of rehabilitation and pointed out that many first-time offenders are not getting into work release. He described some demographics in the jail—20% in for disorderly conduct, 16% for traffic offenses, and 3% for robbery. He said that there is a youth initiative program now and 90% of people going through the program are not re-entering the jail but it is not well advertised to inmates. The jail is over capacity 65 days out of the year.

JT: He continues to support alternative sentencing for nonviolent crimes and believes that the best way to address the issue is by spending money on programs for youth and young parents. He said that this spending saves later on and cited how every dollar spent on Healthy Start saves ten that could be spent in jails.

Q: With the airport expanding, would you support more diversity in hiring for county projects?

JT: He would like to make contracting better for minorities – county has not done enough on this. He said that the county is doing alright with representative for its own employees but management representation needs work.

RSW: He said that when you look at the committee overseeing the airport it talks a lot about security and employee benefits, but never discusses diversity. He said that diversity rarely comes up as he has been reading through commission documents over the past two years. He would vote to improve the airport but would like support on diversity.

Q: Have you received much feedback when going door-to-door on problems with Friend of the Court? If so, how would you reform it?

RSW: Friend of the Court is ultimately overseen by the commission and he believes it is a necessary in that it helps mothers obtain child support money. He said there are currently problems with the Friend of the Court taking driver’s licenses from men that need them to be able to work to pay child support.

JT: He hears of a lot of problems and while it is under the court and that budget goes through the commission, commissioners cannot tell the court how to administer the program. However, they can use their position as a bully pulpit, although he believes the best way to reform it is by building relationships.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Senior Millage?

JT: He was on the board of Area Agency on Aging of West Michigan and the commission when this first passed and he enthusiastically supports more funding.

RSW: He has been pushing for this since last year and with it more seniors can stay in homes, can be educated about programs, and fed via senior meals. He would like to see all commission candidates advocating for this as they run.

Q: The county generally runs a large budget surplus – is this too high and what would you do with the surplus?

RSW: There is a need for a rainy day fund and he applauds the commission for being fiscally responsible. However, he does not believe that the county should charge for Millennium Park and that there should be county funded green spaces within the city.

JT: The county had a $76 million surplus last year, with $35 million for a rainy day fund and $26 million beyond that. This extra money is not needed to maintain a positive bond rating and he believes it is time to talk to the community about how this money should be spent.

Q: The large surplus means considerable interest money – how does this get back to citizens?

JT: There is a discretionary fund where the Department of Human Services decides how to spend it. The general fund dollars are spent on a variety of programs.

RSW: Incumbent and previous commissioners have not talked to the community and developed innovative programs that have inspired the commission to provide bipartisan funding out of the surplus. He said it is a failure on behalf of the commissioners that people are asking what the Commission can do for you – it should be known and promoted.

Q: The county has not been part of a City Commission GRPS liaison board, how would you work to build that relationship?

RSW: The public schools are attacked via No Child Left Behind and vouchers (Talen’s kids when to Christian schools) and he would personally volunteer for this position to help the schools. He also would work to promote the county’s varied vocational programs within the district.

JT: He is willing and enthusiastic about working on this and while some county commissioners might not be willing to officially participate in this, he would work on it informally.