Christopher Taylor

NEWSPAPER endorsements are controversial for any number of reasons not the least among which is that readers can interpret endorsements as a paper supporting a particular candidate. Over the past several years, papers from the  Chicago…

JUST DAYS AFTER Ann Arbor and MDOT officials bulldozed a homeless encampment, four mayoral candidates signed a pledge to end homelessness in the city by 2018. The pledge which they signed reads: “We pledge to commit financial and political…

By P.D. Lesko IF A PLATITUDE falls from the lips of a political candidate and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound? The local media are breathlessly reprinting the platitudes offered up at the many mayoral forums sponsored by…

by P.D. Lesko AT A RECENT mayoral candidate forum, unabashed supporters of “crony capitalism”—what President Obama’s former economic expert Dr. Lawrence Summers called the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s programs—defended Ann…

by P.D. Lesko THE ANN ARBOR Charter requires City Council members to evaluate two of the city’s 690 employees: City Administrator Steve Powers and City Attorney Stephen Postema. City Attorney Postema, whose total compensation package…

by P.D. Lesko YOU PROBABLY DON’T know it, but sitting through a candidate forum in Ann Arbor is like watching paint dry. The same 50-60 people (many of whom are candidates in other races, office holders, political appointees or people…

WARD 3 COUNCIL member Stephen Kunselman repeatedly alleged that a resolution brought to Council’s June 2, 2014 meeting by Mayor Hieftje, Ward 1 Council member Sabra Briere, Ward 3 Council member Christopher Taylor, Ward 4 Council member…

FORMER WARD 4 City Council member Marcia Higgins, along with Mayoral candidates Christopher Taylor and Sabra Briere all voted to allow the city’s parkland to be “repurposed” for “transit.” It was Higgins who inserted language into a zoning…

ANN ARBOR CITY Council member Sally Hart Petersen announced in a press release sent to the media on January 14 that she plans to run for mayor. Petersen, elected to represent Ward 2 in 2012, unseated former state legislator Tony Derezinski…

POLITICAL INSIDERS are playing a game called: “Pin the Campaign Button on the Ann Arbor Mayoral Candidate.” They suggest that the person next elected mayor will serve a long time, thanks to voter apathy and an incurious media (present…