IN T R ODUCING
•
his policy decisions are driven by his
constituents, rather than by political
corisiderations.
Leland's political aspirations were
latent until the issue of insurance
redlining came up which, he felt, dis-
criminated against people based on
where they lived. In 1978, Leland
unsuccessfully ran for a House seat.
He called it a "trial run," and real-
ized that "the way you deal with that
issue is to deal with it legislatively at
the state level. So I ran against [Jack
Legel] in 1980 and beat him by 100
votes."
Out of 110 people elected, only 10
are left from the legislative class of
1980, he said.
One of those, Curtis Hertel,
Michigan's Democratic speaker of the
House, said, "You can't say anything
bad about Burton Leland. He's a tire-
less worker, very compassionate, and
cares deeply for the people he repre-
sents."
David Gubow, outgoing Democratic
state representative in the 35th District
(Huntington Woods and Berkley),
agreed that "most of [Leland's] energy
goes towards the people in his district.
In my opinion, that's how he won. His
constituents appreciated what he's done
for them."
Leland authored the so-called
"lemon law" in Michigan, which allows
consumers the right to a new car if the
vehicle they bought was repaired for
the same problem three or more times
in the first year after it was purchased.
He also sponsored a bill that would
require lower gross- weights for
Michigan trucks.
A bill he introduced to increase
staffing ratios in nursing homes already
passed the House and is now before the
Senate.
But his focus in Lansing "has always
been in the neighborhoods," he said,
and that has created a gap between
himself and the Jews he grew up
"The problem that I've always had
with me being where I'm at is, I'm not
really connected to the Jewish com-
munity," Leland said. "I don't live in a
Jewish community, and my con-
stituency is very removed from the
Jewish suburbs. It's poor, it's urban, it's
black.
"I'm not against anyone's lifestyle,
but my lifestyle has always been a little
different than maybe some other folks
from my tribe."
Tooling around his district in his
Dodge, motorists honk at him to stop
and kibbitz. Leland, it seems, is truly at
home.
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Mail to: The Heritage
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IllitilISING
MI1101111!
8/28
1998
Detroit Jewish News U