Hewitt out, six others get in 1st Ward race

The news coming from Tuesday’s Lansing City Council filing deadline wasn’t who filed for office, but who didn’t.

Councilman Eric Hewitt, the first-term member from the 1st Ward, opted against filing for re-election, creating a wide-open, six-person race that features a former councilman, a former state representative and several aggressive newcomers. The top two will face each other in November.

Hewitt, a senior financial policy analyst for the Department of Human Services, told City Pulse that "I’m looking at taking this opportunity to focus on personal and professional opportunities for advancement."

While some around City Hall took this as code for "I don’t want to get clobbered in a re-election effort," I’m told Hewitt is eyeing a promotion within DHS that could take him out of the city. To avoid a potential future conflict, he opted against seeking a second term.

Hewitt was a strident supporter of Councilwoman Carol Wood, the chief critic of Lansing Virg Bernero, and his absence could leave Wood without a rock-solid supporter outside of Councilman Brian Jeffries. 

The leading candidates in the 1st Ward could not be categorized as people susceptible to lining up with Wood on a regular basis. The frontrunner in the 1st Ward would appear to be former state Rep. Lynne Martinez, whose long history in the city and with the county commission gives her oodles of contracts to tap.

Former Council President Harold Leeman is getting back into the race after losing his seat four years ago to Hewitt by a handful of votes. The question won’t be Leeman’s name ID. Nearly everybody in the ward knows Harold. 

The question will be whether he’ll get out and work in a race where some of the newcomers, like 25-year-old Joe Manzella, the manager at the nonprofit Lansing Area Economic Partnership, and Jody Washington, the vice president of the Eastside Neighborhood Association, could out-hustle him. Leeman admitted to dogging it on door knocking when he lost to Hewitt.

One of the six candidates, 35-year-old Philip Damico, is a Sparrow Hospital laboratory technician for 11 years who has served in leadership positions within his local union. Given a choice between being classified as a Bernero or Wood supporter, Damico said he that it would a tough choice but he’d pick Wood.

"I’d like to see what Carol would do," he said.

The final candidate, Sarah Surface-Evans, is an anthropology professor at Michigan State University. She describes herself as a non-politician who’s a "passionate advocate" for the city of Lansing and "all of its potential."

Meanwhile, Wood will face a re-election challenge of her own. Both Wood and Councilman Derrick Quinney are running for re-election in the at-large races. For Wood, it would be her fourth term. It would be Quinney’s second.

Both will have to run in a primary since five candidates have filed for the two slots. (The top four will face each other in November.) Rory Neuner, the network manager for the Safe Routes to School project, has been out there the longest and is seen has having the biggest headstart of the three challengers. Neuner already has talked with Councilwoman Kathie Dunbar and is presumed to have the support of Bernero in her bid to win one of the seats.

Tom Stewart is a relative newcomer to Lansing. He is the CEO of a startup business consulting firm called Common Wealth Enterprises and chairman of Downtown Lansing Inc.’s Organization Committee. The Bath native has worked around Lansing for the last six or seven years.

The final candidate, John Krohn, is a musician who on the City Pulse radio show last week chronicled alleged harassment by a Lansing police officer.

There will be no drama in the 3rd Ward in the primary but plenty in the general. Incumbent A’Lynne Robinson will be running for re-election against Jason Wilkes, an active member of the Averill Woods Neighborhood Association.

Robinson was seen when she came into office more than three years as a Wood ally and voted that way for her first several months on the job. But since becoming the City Council’s president, Robinson has broken away from the Wood alliance and been more independent in her voting.

Wilkes is now seen as the Wood ally. A lifelong resident of the Lansing area, Wilkes works for a Tier 1 supplier in town and is active in the UAW. A graduate of Grand Ledge High School, Wilkes is now a team leader for the Averill neighborhood association who has arranged community events for the area.

With his connections in the community, Wilkes is seen as a formidable candidate who will give Robinson a solid run. Incumbency isn’t necessarily a huge advantage either. Remember Robinson knocked off incumbent Bill Matt in 2007 to get her post in the first place.

With only around 15,000 people expected to participate in the general and maybe half that for the primary, these races are close by nature. 

And, as of Tuesday, the starting gun has been fired. These races are on.

(Kyle Melinn is the editor of the MIRS Newsletter. He can be reached at melinn@lansingcitypulse.com.)