In Ward 4, Incumbent Elizabeth Nelson Faces Two Challengers

by P.D. Lesko

Democrat Elizabeth Nelson was elected to represent Ward 4 on Ann Arbor City Council in 2018. After her election, she began publishing a chart of Council meeting votes and publishing a newsletter. In her time in office, Nelson has sponsored or co-sponsored 72 resolutions, two of which have been defeated. The majority of her resolutions have passed unanimously. To put Nelson’s record into perspective, Ward 5 Council member Ali Ramlawi (D), also elected in 2018, has sponsored or co-sponsored 100 resolutions, according to public records. Ward 2 Council member Linh Song (D), elected in 2020 to represent Ward 2, has to date sponsored or co-sponsored 22 resolutions. Nelson is being challenged by Library Trustee Dharma Akmon, who is endorsed by Mayor Taylor.

In addition, in the Democratic primary, Nelson faces second- time candidate Dr. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist employed by the University of Michigan. Dr. Savabieasfahani, when filing her campaign documents, checked the waiver that says she expects to spend less than $1,000. She is not required to file itemized campaign finance disclosures. Dr. Savabieasfahani’s campaign issues include expediting the clean up of the three decades old 1,4 Dioxane Gelman Plume, sustainability, affordable housing, and a $15 minimum wage. Dr. Savabieasfahani’s gorilla marketing campaign has included lampooning the Mayor and his six allies elected in 2020 in a series of political cartoons posted to social media. The cartoons, drawn by the candidate, have painted the Mayor and his six “sycophantic clowns” elected in 2020 as environmental greenwashers, and politically corrupt “bloodsuckers” who whitewash their own conflicts of interest. The cartoons mock the Mayor and his Council allies as “jesters” who are damaging Ann Arbor through ineffectual, out-of-touch leadership.

Nelson v. Akmon: The Numbers

An analysis of Elizabeth Nelson’s campaign finances in May 2022 found that when she ran in 2018 the majority of the Council member’s campaign funding came from residents of Ward 4. Her July 22, 2022 campaign finance disclosures show Nelson raised $15,554 in the most recent reporting period. Combined with her previous balance, the Council member has a total of $21,749 plus $2,467 in in-kind donations. She has spent, thus far, $20,541. The majority of Nelson’s spending has been on printing and mailing. Unlike her opponent Akmon, Nelson’s money has gone to Washtenaw County printing and mailing businesses. In 2018, Nelson self-funded a large portion of her campaign. In this election cycle, she disclosed no self-funding.

An analysis of Akmon’s campaign finances published in May 2022 found that the majority of her campaign funding came from out-of-state and out-of-Ward donors. Her most recent campaign finance disclosures filed July 20, 2022 show that one-third of the $29,836 Akmon raised during the most recent reporting period came from donors who don’t live in Ann Arbor and another third came from donors outside of Ward 4. Together with her donations from the previous reporting period, Akmon has raised $42,234 and spent $33,621 in her effort to unseat Nelson.

To put these amounts into perspective, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates median annual earnings at $41,535 in 2022 for workers aged 15 and over.

Of the amount she has expended thus far, Akmon has spent over half of her funds on two things: a Kansas City, MO political consulting firm (Meyer Consulting Group “Turning Your Vision Into Votes”) ($4,669) and on Blue Path Solutions, LLC ($13,600) for campaign management services. According to Michigan Business entity records, that company is registered to 23-year-old Ruby Schneider, an Administrative Assistant employed in Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit’s office.

Campaign finance disclosures show that In Ward 1, candidate Cynthia Harrison, likewise, has paid Washtenaw County employee Ruby Schneider $6,500 to manage her campaign. In Ward 5, challenger Jenn Cornell Queen (running as Jenn Cornell) has paid Schneider’s company Blue Path Solutions, LLC $6,500.

Nelson v. Akmon: Their Records as Elected Officials

To view the legislative records of Ann Arbor Council members present and (some) past, the public can visit the City’s Legistar website. This is a sampling of Nelson’s resolutions that have been passed since she took office in Nov. 2018:

• (2018) Resolution to Improve Transparency of City Boards, Task Forces, Commissions and Committees
• (2018) Resolution to Direct the City Administrator to Study Potential Regulation of Short-term Rentals
• (2019) Resolution Directing the City Administrator to Evaluate Use of 1510 E. Stadium Boulevard for Redevelopment as an Ann Arbor Housing Commission Affordable Housing Location
• (2019) Resolution Directing the City Administrator to Collaborate with the Ann Arbor Housing Commission to Provide Coordinated Analysis on the Feasibility of City-Owned Properties as Potential Locations for Affordable Housing
• (2019) Resolution Approving a Contract with Harvest Solar, LLC to Purchase and Oversee Installation of Solar Panels on Fire Station 6 ($73,710.00)
• (2019) Resolution Creating a Resident-Driven Sidewalk Gap-Filling Program and Appropriate $150,000.00 from the General Fund, Fund Balance (8 Votes Required)
• (2020) Resolution to Approve a Waiver of Late Penalty Charge for Late Tax Payments in Response to the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic
• (2020) Resolution in Support of More Substantive Civilian Review of Policing Practices and Incidents
• (2020) Resolution to Advance Healthy Streets Outside of Downtown Ann Arbor to Promote Safe Social Distancing Outdoors and Appropriate $15,000.00 from the FY 2021 Major Street Fund Operations and Maintenance Budget
• (2020) Resolution to Extend Resolution R-20-194 – Resolution to Approve Downtown Street Closures for Restaurant and Retail Use During the Time of Mandated Physical Distancing
• (2020) Resolution to Approve the Acquisition and Renovation of Lurie Terrace by the Ann Arbor Affordable Housing Corporation, an Affiliated Non-Profit Entity of the Ann Arbor Housing Commission, Approve 5 FTE’s and appropriate funds ($260,000) (8 Votes Required)
• (2021) Resolution Establishing a Council Subcommittee for the Purpose of Studying and Setting Parameters for a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) Program for the City of Ann Arbor
• (2021) Resolution Directing the Energy Commission to Consider the Question of a Feasibility Study Regarding a Public Power Utility
• (2022) Resolution Requesting the Completion of a Feasibility Study Regarding Creation of a Traditional Municipal Electric Utility and an Evaluation of Other Energy Pathways to Achieve the City’s Clean Energy Goals, Along with Initiation of Next Steps to Advance a Local Municipal Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU)

A Library Trustee elected in 2019 to a four-year term, U-M employee Dharma Akmon has no legislative record. She has no Library Trustee website to inform the public about her work as a trustee of the Ann Arbor District Library’s $18 million budget–revenue from a dedicated millage. Since her 2019 election, she has provided no voting charts to inform the public about the actions taken by the Board of Trustees, and sent out no newsletter to inform the public about her work as a trustee.

In fact, on her Council campaign website, Akmon says nothing about her election to the AADL Board of Trustees, or her work as a member of that Board. The AADL has no easily searched record of Trustees’ votes. The most recent AADL Board meeting minutes posted for the public are from May 2022.

Dharma Akmon’s City Council campaign website is simple in its messaging: she promises to do what the incumbent is already doing (or has done via resolution above). Akmon’s imitation of the incumbent includes posting photos of herself cycling around Ward 4 while campaigning. It is an homage to Nelson’s 2018 Council campaign which the Council member did by bike.

Akmon’s messaging aims to convince voters that she’s “a leader known for rapport-building communication, curiosity, and creative, impactful problem-solving.” However, as a Library Trustee, she has provided no constituent services, outreach or constituent communications.

Akmon’s messaging also says: Ann Arbor residents “deserve a transparent city government that listens to and engages with a broad range of community constituents….” This implies Council member Nelson has not pushed for transparency or worked to engage a broad range of community constituents. Akmon’s insinuations are untrue as evidenced by Nelson’s legislative record, above (i.e. Resolution to Improve Transparency of City Boards, Task Forces, Commissions and Committees; Resolution in Support of More Substantive Civilian Review of Policing Practices and Incidents).

“Ann Arbor needs progressive leaders who collaborate, problem-solve, and build effective working relationships through respectful communication and integrity,” says Akmon’s campaign website. Since June, the newspaper has heard from confused Ward 4 voters who have alleged that while talking to Akmon she told them Mayor Taylor supports Elizabeth Nelson. This is untrue.

When she ran against incumbent Graydon Kraphol in 2018, Nelson was pilloried in the media for having created, a decade earlier, what looked like an official notice from the City in order to get neighbors to paint an unsightly garage. In 2020, on a Facebook local politics page, Nelson participated in a discussion in which she mocked local Corporate Dems and their YIMBY supporters. Nelson, using chicken coops as a metaphor, skewered their ineffective panacea of more high rise, luxury development as the “solution” to the city’s lack of affordability and gentrification. The resulting social media brou ha ha was dubbed “chicken gate” by supporters of, and donors to, Mayor Taylor. The critics claimed the discussion was mockery of residents in need of affordable housing.

Under Mayor Taylor’s administration, Ann Arbor is several thousand units behind in the creation of promised units of affordable housing.

Ann Arbor’s primary election is on August 2.