In the 11th congressional district,
an enthusiastic challenge to unseat
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
A
s Tuesday, Nov. 7, nears,
West Bloomfield's Matt
Frumin continues his quest
for the 11th District's U.S.
House seat.
"It is getting more feverish, with
more requests coming for me to
appear in different places," says the
41-year-old Frumin. "My days are one
thing stacked on top of another."
But that was the expected plan
when he challenged four-term U.S.
Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Republican
whose previous wins included the
defeat of Frumin's father, Dr. Morris
Frumin of Bingham Farms, in 1996.
Speaking with the Lions Club and
the Rotary Club, in small coffee
groups in private homes and in high
school classrooms, the younger
Frumin pushes forward, striving to
make a difference in the lives of those
in his district and in the country.
Frumins Creativity
Often, the marketing of Frumin focus-
es on the unconventional. Many have
met him through his creative endeav-
ors designed to get him noticed and
out there discussing political issues.
When local bookstores planned
parties for the midnight release of J.K.
Rowling's newest book in the Harry
Potter series on July 8, a plan came to
Frumin's mind. Not only could he get
a book for his children, but also reach
"a lot of people just like me."
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2000
20
He didn't show up at stores with
typical campaign materials. Instead, he
and a dozen supporters went to six of
the local parties wearing special Harry
Potter/Matt Frumin shirts created by
Frumin and his artist/wife, Lena
Steckel Frumin.
The T-shirt slogans included
"Prescription Drugs for Dumbledore"
and "No Vouchers for Hogwarts," ref-
erences to the Potter books. "It was a
way to get noticed," Frumin says.
He also mailed a series of postcards
featuring Lena's paintings of cities and
townships within the district. On the
back of each is a list of issues, includ-
ing support for prescription coverage
for seniors and improvement of the
public-education system.
"The pictures are linked to commu-
nity. It makes it personal," the
Democrat says.
"Some of the things I've done were
not intended to be signature state-
ments, but they are," he says of proj-
ects that include his Web
site
www.frumin2000.com
For example, he col-
lected 2,500 e-mail
addresses from friends
and colleagues. He sent
messages to all, including
information about his
Web site, which includes
his platform, biography
and campaign clips.
"People do mailings all
the time," Frumin says.
"But this was free, and it
gets an awful lot of information out."
At the Democratic national conven-
tion in Los Angeles in August, he and
State Rep. Gilda Jacobs, D-
Huntington Woods, participated in an
online chat forum, fielding questions
on the Web site voter.com
Frumin also was a guest on a Web
broadcast on MSNBC, intriguing
viewers with a demonstration of how
to tie his signature bowtie.
Despite all his innovative and high-
tech campaigning, Frumin says "going
door-to-door is still probably the most
important thing." He tries to join
other party candidates on the
Michigan Democratic Party's cam-
paign trail every day. "I'm a team play-
er," he says. "I campaign for [Vice
President Al] Gore, [Sen. Joseph]
Lieberman and [U.S. Rep. Debbie]
Stabenow."
The Road To The Campaign
Although a new candidate, Frumin is
no stranger to politics. "I learned to
believe in politics and public service as
a child working with my mother
[Natalie "Tommy" Frumin] and her
friends on behalf of -the local schools,"
Frumin says, of canvassing neighbor-
hoods at age 9.
"They made a real difference and
they included me in that process. I
have been active since."
A graduate of Berkley High School,
the University of Michigan and
George Washington University in
Washington, D.C., Frumin spent 18
years on Capitol Hill, working in pri-
vate practice, doing commercial work
and handling international trade cases.
A 1995 call from his father, a retired
psychiatrist dissatisfied with the cur-
rent status of health care, changed the
course of Matt's life. In 1996, Dr.
Morris Frumin, 74, ran for Congress
against Joe Knollenberg, with Matt
running his father's campaign.
"Given my interests and skills, my
father originally suggested
that I come home and run
in 1996. I did not think of
myself as a candidate for
congressman and suggested
that he do it, as much as
anything out of politeness,"
Frumin says.
"I was inspired by his
tenacity and sense of princi-
ple and his hardheaded
sense of the opportunity for
a Democrat to win."
Frumin sees the process as
a personal lesson. "I [real-