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U.S. Reps. Hansen Clarke and Gary Peters and Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence
gear up for the August Democratic primary for the 14th Congressional District.
Jack Lessenberry I Special to the Jewish News
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 -
This is not your usual election.
There is a Republican candidate — John
Hauler, a businessman who lives in Grosse
Pointe Woods and who was beaten by
Hansen Clarke two years ago by more than
four to one. Hope may spring eternal, but
this district is even more Democratic.
There are actually five candidates on the
Democratic ballot. Detroiters Mary Waters
and Bob Costello are running, but neither
is expected to be much of a factor. The real
race, especially for Jewish voters, is between
Congressmen Clarke and Gary Peters, with
Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence also
actively counting on Jewish support.
Here's a look at the campaign landscape.
Hansen Clarke
Many people know that Clarke defeated
Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick two years ago,
ending her congressional career.
But few realize that he is the only can-
didate with a wife named Cohen. Choi
Palms-Cohen, a stunningly lovely occa-
sional jazz singer, was
a South Korean orphan
who was adopted by a
Roman Catholic mother
and a Jewish father who
lived in Detroit.
Today, she practices no
religion. Her 55-year-old
Hansen Clarke husband, however, was
by turns Muslim, African
Methodist Episcopal and is now a practic-
ing Roman Catholic. Asked about his ties
to the Jewish community, Clarke, a former
state senator from Detroit, doesn't cite
specifics. Instead, he says, "Jewish commu-
nities in Metro Detroit have always played
a crucial role ... I am happy to have built
a strong and growing relationship with so
many in the Jewish community"
Though he doesn't cite prominent
Jewish supporters, he does tout his sup-
port for "a strong Israel and a close rela-
tionship between Israel and the United
States:' including providing significant
security assistance and security coopera-
tion with Israel and taking "strong action
to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear
weapons."
He says that he feels a sense of identity
with many Jewish immigrants, since his
father came to this country from what is
8 June 7 • 2012
now Bangladesh and pledges to combat
anti-Semitism in all its forms.
Brenda Lawrence
Brenda Lawrence, Southfield's mayor since
2002, is no stranger to that city's Jewish
community. Prior to becoming the city's
first African-American mayor, she served
on the city council and
the school board. Four
years ago, the 57-year-
old broadened her
knowledge of the county
by unsuccessfully oppos-
ing L. Brooks Patterson
for county executive,
losing 58 percent to 42
Brenda
percent.
Lawrence
Her good friend
Eunice Rose, the widow of longtime
Temple Emanu-, E1 cantor Norman Rose,
is enthusiastic about Lawrence's ties
to the community. "Brenda has always
had a close relationship with Jewish
Southfielders, including the ultra-Ortho-
dox," Rose said.
"She has traveled to Israel and has
met with at least one prime minister;'
she added, and also, according to Rose,
defended America's alliance with Israel to
the king of Saudi Arabia.
Lawrence herself says proudly, "I have
had the blessings of having a city that is
extremely diverse. Southfield has a very
large and rich Jewish population, and this
[congressional] district has one of the
largest Jewish populations in the state."
Actually, her main focus has seemed to
center around women's issues. She is the
only prominent woman in the race, and
notes that if she wins, she will be the only
Democratic woman in the House from
Michigan.
"I feel strongly that women should
have [more of] a place at the table. That
is very exciting to me she said when she
announced her candidacy in January.
Courting the women's vote may be a strong
strategy, and Lawrence badly needs a win.
While she has been reelected twice as
mayor, in the last four years she lost races
for county executive in 2008 and lieutenant
governor two years ago, both by wide mar-
gins. A third defeat could all but end her
viability as a candidate for higher office.
Her ability to win
another term in
Southfield next year
also could be dam-
aged; voters may ask
why keep Lawrence
as mayor if she keeps
trying to get elected to
other jobs.
Gary Peters
Congressman Gary Peters is
Episcopalian, not Jewish, and, as
of now, doesn't even live in the new 14th
District. However, most see him as the
most likely candidate to both win the
primary and take the
lion's share of Jewish
support. In any event,
his Bloomfield Township
home is only a few
blocks from the bound-
ary; he says he wants
to wait to move till his
daughter finishes high
Gary Peters
school.
Incidentally, there's no law requiring
congressmen to live in the district they
represent, and indeed, Hansen Clarke
didn't move within the boundaries until
earlier this spring.
Now serving his second term in
Congress from what was the 9th District,
Peters, 53, is no stranger to Jewish voters,
many of whom he represented during his
eight years in the state senate.
His one political misstep came a
decade ago, when he lost a bid to become
Michigan Attorney General in one of the
closest races in state history. After that
he served as lottery commissiorier before
defeating longtime Congressman Joe
Knollenberg in 2008.
Few candidates have been more diligent
about courting support at all levels and
locking up endorsements. Early in the
race, the conventional wisdom was that
Lawrence and Clarke would divide the
African-American vote. But by mid-May,
a number of prominent black Detroiters
had endorsed Peters, from Wayne County
Sheriff Benny Napoleon to Bishop Edgar
Vann of Second Ebenezer Baptist Church.
"I'm sensitive to the issues and con-
cerns of every community I represent, and
I believe that
the Jewish
community
appreciates
that about
nie," Peters
said. "For me,
it has always
been about
commonalities,
not differences."
Peters' declared
Jewish supporters include
State Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton of
Huntington Woods and Oakland County
Commissioner Helaine Zack of Oak Park.
Wendy Wagenheim, the retired com-
munications director for the ACLU and
a longtime Peters supporter, thinks she
knows why he has been so successful. "I
first met him 16 years ago when he was
in the state senate. There weren't many
women in the senate at that time, and
he became the go-to guy for women's
issues.
"Then he became the go-to guy for all
of the issues that concern Jewish voters:'
she said. "He has great integrity and
is honest and thoughtful and has been
very active within the Jewish community
— his values are so in line with our
values:' added Wagenheim, who is a
member of Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield.
Jewish support, including
Wagenheim's, may well have saved Peters
from losing his seat in the GOP landslide
two years ago, when he managed to
beat Rocky Raczkowski by a mere 6,405
votes.
But this year, she won't be voting for
him. She can't, because of a redistricting
plan that created what she called "one of
the most gerrymandered districts in the
country."
Which means that, despite polls and
pundits, nobody really can be sure who
will show up or send in absentee ballots
on primary day — and who, at the end
of that day, will prevail. ❑
Jack Lessenberry is senior political analyst
for Michigan Radio, a former executive
national editor of the Detroit News and a
member of Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park.