Kailasapathy Defeats Challenger in Ward 1 City Council Race

SUMI KAILASAPATHY WON re-election to her Ward 1 City Council seat with 57 percent of the vote on Tuesday. She took nothing for granted in her run against Ward 1 neighbor Don Adams, Jr. She went out nightly and knocked on doors, participated in candidate forums and filled out the endless questionnaires that flood candidates’ email inboxes during  election season. The only way Council member Kailasapathy modified her 2014 campaign was by refusing to fundraise. People donated to her campaign and she raised over $5,000, but she never held a fundraiser.

“I have been accused of ‘pandering to the people,’” said Kailasapathy in her victory speech. “I look forward to continuing on listening to my constituents and doing what they ask me to do.”

The living room of her campaign manager’s home, where Council member Kailasapathy held her party, was filled with stuffed pandas wearing t-shirts printed with the slogan “Pandas for the people.”

Don Adams, Jr. told The Ann Arbor Independent that he knocked doors with John Hieftje, whose tenure in office will end in November.

“I called him up and asked him of he would show me the ropes,” said Adams. “He said yes!”

If Adams had paid attention to former Ward 4 Council member Marcia Higgins’s primary race in 2013, he might have thought twice about  walking with Hieftje. Higgins and Hieftje knocked on doors together, and the 14-year incumbent lost by a landslide.

Ward 4 Council member Jack Eaton frequently points out that the mayor went into his Ward, campaigned against him and the incumbent was beaten by a large margin. Like Higgins, Adams—a first-time candidate for local office—was beaten by a large margin.

It was suggested by political insiders, including David Cahill, the husband of mayoral candidate Sabra Briere, that Adams’s pro-life anti-marriage equality stances would not appeal to Ward 1 voters. On July 29, Cahill posted this comment to a local news blog: “My guess is that anyone who is anti-choice and anti-marriage-equality is going to be crushed in a First Ward Democratic primary.”

The Ann Arbor Independent revealed that Don Adams, Jr. did not support a women’s right to choose or marriage equality, yet enjoyed the endorsements of Democrats County Commish Conan Smith and former Ward 1 Council member Sandi Smith (a marriage equality activist), among others, including Sen. Rebekah Warren and Christopher Taylor.

Adams subsequently denied in an email to The A2Indy, The Ann Arbor News and AnnArborChronicle.com, that he was pro-life and anti-marriage equality.

Alan Goldsmith, who lives in Ward 4, said: “The question is why would a busload of ‘democrats’ be supporting a candidate who is anti-choice and anti-gay marriage? It appears, as always, for some of these ‘democrats’ they were uninformed and didn’t do their homework or that money talks and they’ll support anyone with a pulse if they are on the side of the Council Party, the DDA and the usual suspects. What a shock.”

Sumi Kailasapathy sits on the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission and has been vocal in her support of a woman’s right to choose, as well as marriage equality.

That the Ward 1 incumbent retains her seat means that the current push for Ann Arbor SPARK to provide an outside audit of its job creation and retention numbers will continue. Paul Krutko, CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK, has balked at Council’s request for an outside audit of his data. Krutko has said that the contract between the Local District Financing Authority and SPARK does not call for an outside audit.

In October 2013, the Ward 1 Council member told The Ann Arbor Independent: “I recently asked to see the audits for Ann Arbor SPARK.”

Emails shared with The Ann Arbor Independent show Kailasapathy requested the documents from City Administrator Steve Powers, who serves on the Board of Directors of Ann Arbor SPARK. In his reply to her, Powers wrote he would not share SPARK’s annual audit statements with her. Kailasapathy did not mince words: “It was outrageous.”

She eventually got the audit statements and SPARK officials now post that group’s annual audits online.

According to the city’s online checkbook, between July 1, 2011 and October 1, 2013, Ann Arbor gave $4,757,357.06 to Ann Arbor SPARK—including money from the city’s General Fund. The General Fund pays for services, such as police and fire, both of which have suffered deep staffing cuts.

Ann Arbor SPARK also diverts money from the Ann Arbor Public Schools through a tax increment financing (TIF) scheme. SPARK has skimmed over $3.5 million dollars from the local public schools over the past five years. In 2011, SPARK skimmed around $1.4 million in tax money that would have gone to a cash-strapped AAPS. All of this concerns Sumi: “In 2008, SPARK’s audit revealed several serious problems. I have had constituent questions about SPARK,” she said in October 2013. Her work on Council has obviously paid off with a win.