Keeping Tabs—Local To Watch In 2014: Ward 4 Council Member Jack Eaton
Friends say: He’s measured. Collegial. A leader. Detractors say: He’s a DINO. Anti-everything. Bad for Ann Arbor.
Jack Eaton speaks slowly, so slowly that sometimes you wonder how he doesn’t nod off in the middle of a sentence. Should you nod off, however, you’re likely to miss something important, because Eaton is incredibly thoughtful and has a wicked sense of humor that pops up when you least expect it. He’s a lawyer, but not that kind of lawyer; he’s the other kind of lawyer. A self-described “old hippie,” Eaton drove a city bus in Kalamazoo, and was the president of his bus driver’s union. Above all, Jack Eaton is a self-deprecating man whose two loses in 2010 and 2012 City Council races were difficult to shrug off, but not impossible. After all, he ran a third time in the Democratic primary election and knocked off 14-year incumbent Marcia Higgins.
Political detractors dislike his stance on transit (he favors making local transit better before branching out to create a larger system) and on downtown development (he favors what he calls “mindful” development). Eaton is a neighborhood activist who measures proposals in how they will impact the city’s various residential areas.
Local media have portrayed Eaton as an obstructionist, a man whose political career was launched in opposition to a controversial student apartment project known as 42 North. However, during his short time on City Council he has established an obviously cordial relationship with his Ward 4 colleague Margie Teall—a staunch supporter of John Hieftje. Eaton recently co-sponsored a resolution to increase funding for the AAPD by $125,000 for enhanced pedestrian safety patrols. The resolution passed 10-1, with Hieftje casting the lone dissenting vote. Eaton is having a significant impact on City Council. For instance, he has pushed for strict observance of legal strictures surrounding closed sessions, meaning that closed sessions are no longer free-for-alls, and more of Council’s business than ever before is conducted in public.
How long will it take Eaton to win over the harshest of his critics? These people interpret his support of fiscal responsibility, his desire to improve local transit—as opposed to dumping money into trains—and his desire to rebuild the city’s safety services as a sign that the Ward 4 Democrat is secretly a Republican.
The thought makes him chuckle. “Believe me, you don’t get to be this old and not have a lot of secrets,” he says, his moustache twitching as he grins, “but being a closeted Republican isn’t one of them.”
