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District 40 House Race
The 40th District encompasses
the cities of Bloomfield Hills and
Birmingham, Bloomfield Township
and a portion of West Bloomfield
Township. The seat is held by
Republican Rep. Michael McCready,
who is term limited.
REPUBLICAN
NAME: David Wolkinson
AGE: 38
CITY OF RESIDENCE:
Birmingham
SYNAGOGUE/
CHURCH (if any):
Young Israel of Southfield
David
PROFESSIONAL
Wolkinson
BACKGROUND: B.A.
and M.A. in economics
and law degree from the University of
Michigan. After graduation, I became
an executive for America Works, placing
over 400 welfare recipients back into the
workforce. Later, I joined Rick Snyder’s
gubernatorial team as policy director
and helped create the solid framework
that led to Michigan’s economic come-
back. In 2013, I started my own business
called Bentzion Properties. As president,
I own and manage a portfolio of multi-
family apartment buildings locally and
throughout the state.
WHAT WOULD YOU MOST
LIKE READERS TO KNOW ABOUT
YOU?
I am a businessman. I have built
up a small but successful real estate
management company in the last five
years. I know how economies work
and I have deep experience in public
policy from my years of activism in the
Republican Party and my service as
Gov. Snyder’s policy director.
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3
PRIORITIES?
Education, roads and regulatory
reform.
Education: There is no more import-
ant function of state government than
education. Too often in Lansing when
we discuss education we talk about
funding levels and tax regimes. We
need to get back to the basic question of
how we can provide the best education
possible for our children. We need to be
strategic in how we spend our tax dollars
on public education. We need to adopt a
P-20 model that focuses on a child’s edu-
cational development from pre-school
through graduate studies. Studies show
that at-risk children particularly bene-
22
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fit from early childhood educational
opportunities. Through public-private
partnerships, we know that we can pro-
vide these at-risk children with educa-
tional opportunities at a very low cost.
Roads: $175 million is not sufficient.
While I would support legislation to
use money from the rainy- day fund,
my first priority would be to fight for
our district’s fair share of the current
road money being spent. We are the
biggest donors to the state (as far
as House Districts go). In Oakland
County, we only get back some 70
cents on the dollar of what we send
to Lansing. The bottom line is that
Oakland County (and the 40th district
in particular) do not get our fair share
of road revenue based on the current
formulas, and the next state representa-
tive needs to fight for our fair share.
Regulatory reform: The single big-
gest obstacle business owners face is
Michigan’s complex regulatory struc-
ture. We need to reform or eliminate
regulations that inhibit businesses from
operating and investing in Michigan.
Rather than adding more regulations,
we need to look at the ones we have
and to start aggressively eliminating
those that no longer serve a purpose or
inhibit economic development.
DEMOCRAT
NAME: Mari Manoogian
AGE: 26
CITY OF RESIDENCE:
Birmingham
SYNAGOGUE/
CHURCH (if any):
I attend St. Sarkis
Mari
Armenian Church in
Manoogian
Dearborn.
PROFESSIONAL
BACKGROUND: I am a foreign policy
professional with career experience
at the U.S. Department of State and
U.S. Mission to the United Nations. I
earned both my bachelor’s and master’s
from the Elliott School of International
Affairs at the George Washington
University. I began my career in the
office of former Congressman John D.
Dingell (D-Mich.).
WHAT WOULD YOU MOST
LIKE READERS TO KNOW ABOUT
YOU?
It’s an honor to be a candidate
for state representative in my home
community. This is the community
that I was born and raised in; I am a
proud product of our public schools
and enjoyed so many opportunities
that prepared me for my career in
public service.
While public service has always
been my passion, I didn’t always
envision myself pursuing elected
office. My great-grandparents escaped
the Armenian genocide and came to
Detroit with the hope of achieving
the American Dream. Today, folks in
Lansing are creating policies that are
extinguishing that dream. As state
representative, I will promote progres-
sive values and policy solutions that
benefit all residents in our community.
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3
PRIORITIES IF ELECTED?
I’m focused on repairing our infra-
structure, including having safe, clean
drinking water, investing in public
education and fostering a strong envi-
ronment for small business growth. I’ll
fight to make corporations pay their
fair share and stop corporations from
using overweight trucks that damage
our roads.
We can protect our lakes and rivers
by making polluters pay steep fines
when they pollute and ensure compa-
nies like Nestle pay their fair share for
bottling our fresh water by having laws
that protect our watershed.
Public schools in our district are
among some of the best in the state; I
support investment in education at all
levels.
Local business owners deserve to
have the tools they need to create jobs
with strong wages and good benefits
for Michigan’s families in our district.
Thus, I’d like to increase support for
small businesses through the Office of
Talent and Economic Development.
This includes grants for entrepreneurs,
help for startup companies and minority
business development.
District 39 House Race
District 39 includes weste rn
W est Bloomfield Township, Commer
ce Township, the Village of Wolverine
Lake and Wixom. The seat is cur-
rently held by Republican Rep. Klint
Kesto, who is term-limited.
DEMOCRAT
Jennifer Suidan
Jennifer Suidan did not
return a questionnaire to
the Jewish News.
Jennifer Suidan
REPUBLICAN
NAME: Ryan Berman
AGE: 38
CITY OF RESIDENCE:
Commerce Township
(grew up in West
Bloomfield)
SYNAGOGUE/
Ryan Berman
CHURCH (if any):
Temple Israel (my
great-grandparents were founding
members)
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND:
Attorney and counselor at law, also a
reserve police officer and active volun-
teer for many organizations, such as the
Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces
and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
WHAT WOULD YOU MOST
LIKE READERS TO KNOW ABOUT
YOU?
I’m very reasonable, responsible,
family-oriented and honest.
I’m a lifelong resident of the district
with deep roots in this community.
My wife, Stacie, is now the kinder-
garten teacher at Temple Israel. A fun
little story: My bar mitzvah service
at Temple Israel was a b’nai mitzvah
shared with Stacie’s best friend at the
time. When I met Stacie at Michigan
State University seven years later, we
obviously played “Jewish geography”
and quickly figured out the connec-
tion and that, coincidentally, Stacie
happened to be at my service! We’ve
now been married for more than 13
years and have two beautiful daughters,
Sloane, 11, and Morgan, 9.
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3
PRIORITIES IF ELECTED?
• Prioritization of our state budget
for proper funding and allocation
toward the roads/infrastructure, educa-
tion and public safety.
• Lower car insurance rates by
reforming our auto no-fault laws.
• Bring more transparency to
our government by expanding our
Freedom of Information Act. ■
Compiled by Managing Editor Jackie
Headapohl.
METHODOLOGY
Candidates were sent the emailed
questionnaire on Sept. 13 with a
deadline for response of Sept. 27.
Those who did not respond by Sept.
27 were sent another email that day
extending the deadline to Oct. 4.