INSIDE:
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Mazel
Toy!
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Shelli Weisberg
RONELLE GRIER
Special to the Jewish News
andidates Shelley Goodman Taub, a
Republican, and Shelli Weisberg, a
Democrat, are running for the 40th
District seat in the Michigan House of
Representatives. The position, paying $79,650
- annually, plus $12,000 for expenses, is open
because current state Rep. Patricia "Pan"
Godchaux, R-Birmingham, is term-limited.
.
Shelley Goodman Taub
After 10 years as an Oakland County commis-
sioner in the 12th District, Shelley Goodman
Taub, a Bloomfield Hills resident, has decided to
turn her energies toward the state
Legislature by entering the race for
state representative in the 40th
District.
'As a county commissioner, you
eventually- hit a brick wall since most
of the legislation comes from Lansing,"
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said Taub, 63.
Although her work has involved
many different issues, Taub's primary
focus has been in the area of human
services, particularly children and sen-
ior citizens.
Taub, a former elementary school
teacher, chaired the first Children's
Summit in Michigan and produced a national
award-winning booklet on infant brain develop-
ment.
She started the first mental health crisis center
in Oakland County, which is now operated by
Common Ground.
Her concern over the low rate of conviction
for rapists prompted her to write the legislation
and procure the funding for Michigan's first rape
crisis center. This facility, housed in St. Joseph
Hospital in Pontiac and operated in conjunction
with HAVEN, a shelter for victims of domestic
violence, provides immediate treatment and
counseling for rape victims.
Taub also drafted the first Domestic Violence
Handbook in Oakland County.
TAUB on page 46
Community
Calendar
Children, seniors,
mass transit among
issues for
40th state
House
district
candidates
Taub
and
Weisberg.
Shelli Weisberg, Democratic candidate for state
representative in Michigan's 40th District,
believes the move will be a "natural progres-
sion" from her five-year term as a member of
the Birmingham school board.
"I've always been involved in the legislative
side of education, advocating in Lansing for a
variety of issues," said the Birmingham resi-
dent.
Weisberg, 44, has waged an ongoing battle
against the school tuition voucher system,
which provides public funding to parents to
send their children to nonpublic schools.
Because the vouchers allow public money to be
used for parochial schools, she believes it is also
a violation of the "separation of church and
state" principle.
"This issue is really being tested
now because of the national patriot-
ism that arose after Sept. 11," she
said, "but it's one of my strongest -
beliefs that the separation be main-
tained, especially in the schools."
Funding for special education also is
a priority of Weisberg's. "The public
has a hard time understanding how
much money it takes to provide these
specialized services," she said. "The
struggle between special and general
education is one that shouldn't exist;
every child deserves a good educa-
tion."
Weisberg would like to see public school
buildings used more efficiently year-round, to
house a variety of community programs.
As a participant in the Million Moms organi-
zation, a citizens group that advocates for
stricter gun-control laws, Weisberg would like
to enact legislation that makes it more difficult
for people to obtain gun permits. She would
like to see a provision that makes an adult
responsible for a child-related gun accident if
the child gains access to a gun because of
parental negligence.
Weisberg is adamantly pro-choice and
believes it is a core human issue, rather than a
political one. "I don't understand why some-
WEISBERG on page 46
10/11
2002
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