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Mazel
Toy!
48
TWO JEWISH CANDIDATES
HOPE TO FOLLOW
IN THEIR
FATHERS' FOOTSTEPS.
David Gubow
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
I
n one of the milder political races of the Nov. 5
elections, two Jewish candidates, David M.
Gubow and Michelle Friedman Appel, both of
Huntington Woods, are trying to follow in the
footsteps of their fathers and become judges.
They finished first and second of the. four candidates
who survived a field of nine in the Aug. 6 primary_ to
be nominated for two seats in District Court 45B,
headquartered in Oak Park.
Gubow was the primary's top vote getter with 4,000
— 114 more votes than Friedman Appel. Both had
comfortable margins over Gil Whitney McRipley of
Royal Oak Township, who was third, followed by
Angela Diggs Jackson of Oak Park. All four candidates
are lawyers.
The $134,000-a-year judicial positions are being left
vacant by the retirements of Friedman Appel's father,
Judge Benjamin J. Friedman, 71, and Judge Marvin F.
Frankel, 70, both of Huntington Woods. With their
jobs age-restricted under Michigan law, the veteran
jurists, each with 34 years of service, will retire when
10/4
2002
34
Michelle Friedman Appel
their current terms expire at the end of December.
District Court 45B covers Oak Park, Huntington
Woods, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak Township.
Judges handle everything from traffic tickets, zoning
violations, barking dogs and other misdemeanors to
felony arraignments for circuit court.
The four nominees for the six-year terms speak
about each other in polite terms, to date declining to
participate in negative campaigning. Their campaign
literature is pretty much positive — extolling their own
virtues, rather than decrying their opponents. They
even tend to agree on most of the issues. The non-par-
tisan nature of the race also helps diminish political
bickering.
Gubow, 53, has been assistant clerk for the Michigan
House of Representatives for the past two years, mak-
ing the 80-mile commute to Lansing daily from his
Huntington Woods home. The non-partisan clerk's
office operates the business part of the state House of
Representatives, encompassing about 400 employees.
Before that, Gubow spent seven terms — 14 years —
in the House himself, giving way to term restrictions in
1999. He was majority whip for nine years.
He made a try for the state attorney general nomina-
Lion on the Democratic ticket in 2000, but deferred to
Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, now the
Democratic candidate for governor.
Gubow's father was U.S. District Judge Lawrence
Gubow, well respected in the Jewish community and
on the federal bench for 10 years. He died at age 59 in
1978. David Gubow says he learned from his father
and mother, Estelle, 76, of Bloomfield Hills, the
importance of public and community service and the
value of hard work.
'After serving for so many years in the state legisla-
ture, I would like to take my career to another level as
a member of the judiciary," Gubow said. "I wrote laws
for 14 years, I've always been involved in community
service, I've heard the complaints and problems of the
citizens, and I pride myself as being a good listener,
mediator and parliamentarian.
"The community needs judges who are fair, honest
and firm — and who really listen in the courtroom. If
elected, I'll treat defendants and lawyers alike with dig-
nity and respect," said Gubow, a graduate of Henry
-
Ford High School in Detroit.
His next stop was earning a bachelor's degree in
urban studies at University of Michigan — Gubow