Shannon Price Continues To Make Mischief As Township Board Moves To Pick A Supervisor

Plymouth Township has to select a new Supervisor to replace the old one who resigned under tremendous pressure. Wayne County Commissioner, Shannon Price continued to make a mockery of these proceedings, by bringing in outside political operatives, but first, let’s talk about the business at hand. The interviews for this all important job.

The big day arrived on Tuesday, with eight candidates presenting themselves to the board for consideration. There were well known names like State Representative Kurt Heise, Wayne County Commissioner, Shannon Price, and Plymouth Township Trustees Chuck Curmi, and Bob Doroshewitz. There were also lesser known names, but longtime residents, Raymond Byers, Mark Cords, Ron Bullotta, and Steven Birmingham.

Each candidate was given 10 minutes to make an opening statement, and we got our first glimpse on what the candidates were bringing to the table, and what kind of performance we could expect, when the question and answer portion of the meeting came about.

My first thoughts after the opening statements were that it was really refreshing to see the lesser known candidates make a good showing for themselves. As for the generally perceived favorites in the race, we got an outstanding presentation from Rep. Heise, clearly outlining his strong educational credentials, his work experience, and how these assets would make him uniquely qualified for the Supervisor position. He also shared his honest assessments of the township’s strengths and weaknesses, and his short, and long term vision for our township moving forward. Mr. Heise has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Juris Doctor from Wayne State University, and a Master of Laws in Labor Law, from Wayne State University. He is a 9 year resident of Plymouth Township.

Trustee Doroshewitz also had a strong performance, with a very strong educational foundation, clearly outlining his varied work experiences, his experiences on the board, and his community involvement. He showed great integrity by outlining both his successes as a board member, as well as issues that he now feels he may have fallen a bit short on. I was very impressed by his honesty and candor. Mr. Doroshewitz has Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University, a Master of Arts from Michigan State University, and a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University. He is a 15 year Plymouth Township resident.

Trustee Curmi had a respectable showing as well, and is another candidate with an outstanding educational background, and has been very successful in his 37 year career in the automotive industry. Mr. Curmi has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, and an MBA in Finance at the University of Detroit Mercy. He is a 60 year resident of Plymouth Township.

Wayne County Commissioner, Shannon Price surprisingly had kind of a weak opening statement. He focused on his humble beginnings in West Detroit, spoke about his father who worked in the auto industry, and shared about how being a letter carrier gave him respect for folks from all stations in life. Now this is all good, but it left folks wanting details on how his education, and work experiences would translate into the job of Supervisor. Other than the US Postal Service, he worked for Trott & Trott, which is a law firm specializing in foreclosures, former Attorney General, Mike Cox, and part time for current Attorney General, Bill Shuette in constituent relations, which is basically a throw away political appointment rewarding folks who worked for your campaign. Shannon Price had a Bachelor of Computer Science Degree from Baker College, and again, this is very weak when compared to all of the other candidates. Of the eight on stage, Mr. Price’s educational background is not even close to any of the others. The lion’s share of his most recent work experience is simply working for politicians, and while that may be a benefit to him if running for reelection, it certainly does not prepare him for this all encompassing job. Shannon Price has lived in Plymouth Township for a little over 2 months.

Let me repeat that last line. Shannon Price, who wants the top leadership position in Plymouth Township has lived in our community for a little over two months.

In the question and answer phase of this process, the candidates pretty much held their positions if I were handicapping the whole thing. Heise expanded upon his vision, with more detailed explanations of how he would implement his ideas. Mr. Curmi, Mr. Doroshewitz, and Mr. Byers also excelled in this phase of the process. Mr. Price again left folks wanting. I say this because he failed to answer three of the questions, and instead just kept repeating boilerplate campaign slogans. In fact, he was the last person to answer the last question, and instead of making an attempt to answer, he did a closing statement, basically parroting his opening statement. I thought that was pretty unfair. I also found it noteworthy that Mr. Price was the only candidate of the eight that failed to mention the acrimonious relationship between board members, and between the board, and the taxpayers in the community. Maybe it is because he has only lived here a couple months. I suspect though, that it is because he was actively recruited by Treasurer Ron Edwards, and therefore, he has to parrot everything Edwards tells him to say, or he is out. That’s how Edwards rolls. Do what I say, or you’re out. Just ask Nancy Conzelman, or Kay Arnold. They go along, to get along. They go along to keep their seats. We all know this. At least everyone who has lived here more than 2 months. Shannon, bless his heart, will soon learn this.

I did an informal poll after the meeting, and after going home and looking over the results from those who were in attendance, here is how folks picked the performances.

1. Kurt Heise
2. Bob Doroshewitz
3. Ray Byers
4. Chuck Curmi
5. Shannon Price

Now I will get to the thing that I witnessed at this meeting that really bothers me. The same thing happened at the last meeting, and I wrote about it last week. Shannon Price, who has lived in the township less than 100 days, brought in a bunch of outsiders to this meeting. He brought in a bunch of paid political operatives from the Republican Party.

Stuart “The Assassin” Sandler, who was at the last meeting, was replace by the Cox Machine. Both of them. Laura Cox came into the meeting about 2/3 of the way through, and her husband, former Attorney General, Mike Cox attended as well, he never walked in to the board room though, but rather held court in a cubby hole out in the hall. This had folks constantly walking in and out of the meeting, and they were nothing but an unneeded distraction. I can pretty much guarantee you that the Cox’s have never once attended a Plymouth Township Board of Trustees meeting, and why should they? They don’t live here, and they don’t represent Plymouth Township in any way shape or form. So why were they suddenly interested in our township business? We’ll get back to that.

A large group of people from the Wayne 11 Republican Committee were there as well. If they were from Plymouth Township, I could understand their presence, but they weren’t. They were from Northville, Livonia, and Canton. They were rude, they were confrontational, they were arrogant, and they were unwanted by us folks from the township.

There were a couple of ugly episodes, and I was involved in one of them. What? Me involved in a confrontation? Never! Well, maybe. I’ll be the first to admit that I let it be known that we don’t need outsiders coming in while we conduct Plymouth Township business. Yes I got into a pretty heated argument with some behemoth from Canton Township, and I’m pretty sure he video taped me telling him what I thought about his presence in a very colorful way. All I would say to Mr. Lame (I think that was his name) is that we don’t want outsiders in our township, trying to influence our decisions, and I don’t care how big and bad you are, I’ll tell you that to your face every single time you decide to come in and bully your way around.

Mr. Tom Stroup was there as well, along with Mr. Mike Mitchell, and a GOP Representative named Brian Szmytke, among others. None of these folks live in the township. I gave Mr. Mitchell, and the kid Szmytke a pass last time, but I’ll not do it this time. The word is that Mr. Mitchell got in the face and intimidated a 70 year old taxpayer, trying to get him to react badly, while Mr. Szmytke taped the whole thing. I have heard that a complaint has been registered with the Republican Party against Mr Szmytke, and it wasn’t registered by the victim, but rather a concerned citizen. Mr. Mitchell is the top assistant for Commissioner Price, and it reflected badly upon Mr. Price that his top assistant would behave in such a way, at such an important meeting, where his boss was asking to be named to the top leadership position in Plymouth Township. If picked, will bullies like Mr. Mitchell be hired in our township? Will he bring in a bunch of outsiders to intimidate us taxpayers every time there is a contentious issue discussed at a board meeting? These are things that should concern everyone in the township. Along with the fact that the guy has lived here a little over two months.

So back to the Cox family. There is no earthly reason that they would suddenly become interested in Plymouth Township politics that I can think of, and I can guarantee you that they weren’t going to talk to me, so I have to make some assumptions.

I can come up with two reason that they would show up. They were maybe there to intimidate other board members that want to get reelected into voting for their boy Price. It makes sense. I remember back to the last primary in August, when a really fine guy named Ken Crider was running for the State Rep. seat that Mrs. Cox now occupies. Mr., Crider was working for this seat for roughly a year before Mrs. Cox decided that she wanted it. Suddenly, Mr. Mike Mitchell, and Mr. Tom Stroup were telling Mr. Crider that he had to get out of the race. Remember those two? Stroup & Mitchell? Well when Mr. Crider refused, they began attacking him, and all of his supporters. That is how the Cox Machine operates, and as a proud Republican, I am embarrassed by that stuff.

Another scenario, is that Mr. Edwards told Shannon that the deal was done, and that he would be chosen at this meeting to be the next Supervisor. This to me, is equally plausible. Actually I think it was a combination of both. I can tell you that Ron Edwards told me at the meeting during a recess that they would be picking a Supervisor that night. I was shocked that they would actually do this after hearing 3 hours of interviews from 8 different candidates. How can you make a snap decision like that? You can if you have already decided who you were going to pick before the event even took place.

So maybe Mr. Edwards told Mr. Price that he was in, that he was the new leader. Mr. Price in all of his exuberance wanted to bring in a couple of heavyweights to kiss his new ring, and he invited the Cox’s. Remember, they showed up 2/3 of the way through the meeting, so we know they had no interest in the proceedings, but rather an interest in the final vote.

Yep, I think that the Cox’s attendance at this meeting was a combination of both. One to intimidate, and the other, for a coronation. Again, as a proud Republican, I was embarrassed for my party, and disgusted with the local leadership of our Republican Party.

Eight people applied for the job of Supervisor, and seven of them showed up alone to apply for the job. Shameless Shannon Price brought in a large group of outsiders, and I think that was a disgusting move that turned this whole thing into a charade.

The taxpayers of Plymouth Township deserve far better than this kind of behavior...