Thn ~ inhrfnmr~niu IAnrlne~ni Kl~inm nr A 1-QQ ® 1 E L E C T IO N '9 8 !I eIii i gadI L d ty - Y et nesUd1, I OV emoer4 . .LDortfv Democrats e our o five seats on A Council - ° 1.G By Sarah Lewis Daily Staff Reporter Four of the five Ann Arbor City Council seats up for grabs went to Democrats in the election race last night. Joe Upton, the only Republican to win a council seat this term, is the only one of the five who is not a returning council member. Upton accounted for 82.63 percent of the votes in his race with 52 of 62 precincts report- ing in Washtenaw County, while his Libertarian opponent Kurt Verhoff had 17.37 percent. Upton said he is optimistic about his term despite the small number of Republicans on the council. "We're going to be a strong minority," Upton said. "When you're an 8-4 minority, you have Upton only GOP to gain seat to be realistic. We won't drive the agenda, but we will be able to shape the agenda." Jean Carlberg (D-3rd Ward) won her race against Libertarian opponent J.P. Denoyer. With 52 of 62 precincts in Washtenaw County reporting, Carlberg held 89.49 percent of the vote over Denoyer's 10.51 percent. Carlberg said she wants to work on afford- able housing for students and area-wide long- range planning development during her third term in office. "I plan on working more closely with the stu- dents," said Carlberg, whose ward includes East Quad Residence Hall and some other stu- dent housing. Tobi Hanna Davies (D-1st Ward) ran unop- posed for her fourth term in office. She said she plans to solve M-14's traffic problem, focusing on the Barton Road exit. Her campaign also emphasized non-violent student participation in anti-racist movements, referring to last May's reaction to the Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Ann Arbor. Stephen Hartwell (D-4th Ward), also unop- posed, said having a Republican mayor leading the Democrat-heavy board will not change the city council's objectives. Hartwell said he wants to strengthen the city employee-adminis- tration relationship during his third term and work on a "quick-response" problem-solving team for the city. "The city needs to be more pro-active," Hartwell said. "When something happens, the citizens shouldn't have to come to us to com- plain." The third Council member also winning without opposition was incumbent Elisabeth Daley (D-5th Ward). She said she will be involved in "the whole issue of development and congestion in Ann Arbor and in the county. It affects us in a lot of ways." As a Rackham and Business second-year stu- dent, she said her presence on campus puts her in a better position to hear students' problems. "I'm looking into the way the city enforces noise ordinances;'said Daley. adding that park- ing and commuter busing rank among impor- tant student issues. LSA junior Elizabeth Emerson said she feels one of the biggest issues for the Council mem- bers should be housing. "I would like them to work on the condition of low-income housing in Ann Arbor," said Emerson, citing the local Y[MCA as an exam- ple. "The facilities are adequate. but they could be improved." ---U k Partisan control at stake in Court race Taylor and fellow Republicans looking to obtain majority status on state Supreme Court DETROIT (AP) - Republicans in yesterday's election hoped to seize majority status on the state Supreme Court, a key part of their quest for dominance in Michigan. With 66 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Clifford Taylor was leading the race for a partial with 53 percent. A Democrat and a Republican were holding the top two spots for two full-length, eight-year terms. That would give the majority status to the Republicans. Taylor was appointed to the state Supreme Court last year by Gov. John Engler. His opponent, Wayne County Circuit Judge Carole Youngblood, had 47 percent in the late returns. Two-term incumbent Democrat Michael Cavanagh led the race for the full-term judgeships with 33 percent, with 66 percent of the precincts report- ing. Behind him was Republican Maura Corrigan with 25 percent, fol- lowed by Democrat Susan Borman at 21 percent. Borman is a Wayne County circuit judge, and Corrigan is the chief judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals. Republican nominee Wayne Circuit Judge Jeffrey Collins had I1 percent in the early returns. Libertarian David Raaflaub, independent Jerry Kaufman and Matthew Abel - nominated by the Reform Party - trailed. Supreme Court races are officially not partisan; party affiliations don't appear on the ballot. But candidates are nominated at party conventions, and both parties say the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court is cru- cial. Before the election, Democrats had a 4-3 majority. Terms of two Democratic judges were expiring and state law required appointed Taylor to run for a seat, meaning the election would decide the court's political makeup. Democrat Patricia Boyle, serving on the state Supreme Court since 1983, did not run again. In 1996, Republicans and Democrats had three seats each. Independent Charles Levin, who retired Dec. 31, 1996, held the seventh seat. The political makeup of the court has been fairly even for most of the 1990s and the latter half of the 1980s. Among the dozen candidates for the nonpartisan judgeships on the Michigan Court of Appeals, incum- bents Myron Wahls and Helene White were leading in races for two I st District full-term seats with 58 percent of precincts reporting. Wahls and White both had 35 per- cent of the late returns. Helen Brown followed with 18 percent, and Daniel Ryan had 12 percent. With 58 percent of precincts reporting, Michael Talbot, appointed by Engler this year, had 60 percent in the race to complete the unexpired term of retired Ist District Judge Maureen Reilly. Opposing him was attorney J. Vincent Brennan, who had 40 percent. In District 2, incumbent Martin Doctoroff had 51 percent of votes with 44 percent of precincts counted. His opponent, Pamela Gilbert O'Sullivan, a Macomb County probate judge, had 49 percent of returns. Rivers retains seat in House RIVERS Continued from Page 1 theme of "Rocky," Hickey jokingly began his 11:45 p.m. concession speech by asking "So, how was your day?" Hickey, a medical distributor business owner, gracefully thanked his family and numerous supporters who stayed to hear his concession speech. "We all can leave with our heads high and our chest out," Hickey said. Supporters said the lack of mudslinging in River's cam- paign was refreshing during the election season. "I think the campaign was clean until last week," said LSA junior Elizabeth Emerson, a member of the campus chapter of the College Democrats. Emerson added that the only negative campaigning appeared shortly after a campus debate between Hickey and Rivers. Hickey said he was proud of his campaign team, noting its reputation as one of the best campaign teams in the state. After spending close to $300,000 and thousands of hours seeking votes, Rosenstiel simply said when it was clear Rivers was the winner: "We gave it all we got." Rivers attributed Hickey's loss to his inability to "receive support across the district." "The Republican state party put a lot of money into this race" Rivers said. "He wasn't able to raise money in the dis- trict, and that reflects the views of the voters." Barb Fuller, Rivers' campaign manager, said the incum- bent's ability to relate to students resulted from her own experience of returning to school and raising a family at age 21. Social Security and the spending of the national budget surplus became the most prominently debated issue during the election, Fuller said. Hickey "tried to misrepresent what she was doing with social security," Fuller said. Rivers' supporter Erik Stalhandske said he backed the candidate because of "where she came from, and what she's made of herself." "She has a strong support of education, and she keeps in touch with the district," said Stalhandske, an Ann Arbor res- ident. Hickey, whose campaign focused on family values, edu- cation and crime, received a great deal of attention from the national Republican Party because of his method of using more high school volunteers instead of adult volunteers. w M Il DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Tom Hickey was able to keep his loss to incumbent Lynn Rivers in perspective last night, as he enjoyed a moment with his son. Miller holds post with name recognition LANSING (AP) - Voters gave Republican Secretary of State Candice Miller the ultimate job approval rating yesterday, electing her for a second term in a lopsided race against Democratic state Rep. Mary Lou Parks. With most precincts counted, Miller led 1,142,806 to 565,256, or 66 percent to 33 percent, while Reform Party candidate Perry Spencer had only 1 percent of the vote. "People have seen dramatic improvement in the last four years, and I'm pleased with what appears to be a vote of confidence;" Miller said during an election party in Lansing last night. EPIC/MRA pollster Ed Sarpolus said Parks was helped by the union vote. A spokesperson for Parks said she did not plan to make a public statement. Miller has held the seat for the last four years. With name recognition and a major edge in fund raising, she held a double-digit lead in pre-election polling throughout the campaign. Parks is a Democrat from Detroit being ousted from the House by term limits this year. Miller said she expected voters would cast bal- lots based on the faster service and other changes they have seen at secretary of state branch offices since she took office. To further improve service, Miller said she wants to install public kiosks where people could electronically reregister vehicles. She also wants to offer multi-year registrations for vehicles and boats. Miller's campaign raised $789,695 and aired several television ads in the last few weeks of the election. By contrast, Parks raised $35,950, including $34,000 from the United Auto Workers. The Michigan Democratic Party produced one ad for Parks that was scheduled to run sporadically in urban markets. Fund raising was a key issue in the campaign. Parks criticized Miller for receiving donations from auto dealers and others that the secretary of state office regulates. Parks also promised not to take such donations. Miller responded that there is no evidence she has shown favoritism to any of her campaign donors. She also criticized Parks for her history of late campaign finance reports. Parks has been fined more than $1,920 for late reports in state elections. GOVERNOR Continued from Page 3. from the hip hurt him," Marlinga said. "But he wins in front of juries because people have nine or 10 days to listen to and get to know him. "He'd be governor if each Michigan citizen had nine or 10 days with him," he said. But Engler said Fieger's campaign "He prove style, which he claims of a mena$ attempted to skew the OWn camp Engler cam- paign to a per- on Democratic ch sonal debate, proved more hurtful to the challenger's campaign than his own. "He proved to be more of a menace to his own campaign," Engler said. "Maybe that's the discipline that expe- rience brings." And Michigan GOP Chair Betsy DeVos said Democrats were hurt by the weak head of the ticket. "Clearly having Fieger at the top of the ticket had more impact than any- l hal thing nationally!' DeVos said. Oakland University political sci- ence Prof. John Kelly said a strong Engler victory would not have a dra- matic effect on other Michigan Democrats running for office. He said 20 to 25 percent of voters split their tickets and predicted a Democratic victory in the state House. "Americans want divided govern- ment," said Kelly, a K t be more Democratic candidate -a to hisjfor the Wayne State Mifl. University - Gov. John Engler Board of lenger Geoffrey Fieger Governors. "They like the interplay between the parties." LSA senior Donnie Tigay, who worked on state Republican cam- paigns, said the governor will return to office with a strong mandate from the people, but not much more than in past years. She said the Republican Party maintained Engler's strength. "We have a very good organiza- tion, very good grass roots," Tigay said. REGENTS Continued from Page 1 said at 2:45 a.m. "I've been patiently waiting for the results ever since the polls closed" Brandon said he is pleased with his party's success in the state. "I'm proud to be running as part of the Engler ticket," Brandon said. "I'm glad I'm with Gov. Engler, particularly from the higher education perspective. If I'm going to be a part of all this, that's great." Candidates focused on several issues during this campaign year, including lowering the cost of tuition, increasing the amount of technology coming out of the University to raise revenue and affirmative action in light of challenges to the University's use of race in the admissions process. Power, who turned into bed before midnight, said he was not discouraged by Engler's landslide, He said the governor's race in Michigan generally is not the tell-tale sign of how regents fair. "I'm cautiously optimistic because of how well (attorne general candidate) Jennifer Granholm ran," Power said. Like Brandon, Dalman remained strongly supportive of her campaign stances hours after Engler gave his victory address. "Tuition will always be the big issue," Dalman said. "Tuition and cost containment. I think it is for most parents, too.' She said that although Engler's victory made her feel more comfortable, she knew it would be a close race. "This race is more closely tied to a victory of the Republican party," Dalman said, adding that she intended to remain awake until early in the morning to hear the fina' results. Dalman's race for a spot on the board follows 10 previous political campaigns, all successful. As a state representative, Dalman served on two higher education committees, and is leaving the House because of term limits. Power owns and operates more than 40 newspapers in the state of Michigan and has served on the board - once appointed and once elected - for I1 years: Each candidate, except White, attended the University. SUICIDE Continued from Page 1 Michigan State Medical Society. Opposition came from Kevorkian, who said he has attend- ed more than 120 deaths but considered Proposal B too restric- MAYOR Continued from Page 3. It is extremely important to have someone that can do that in our city," Putman said. Putman said Kolb attempted to give voters the picture that Sheldon "hasn't done anything" during her three terms as mayor. "She's done everything the mayor of Ann Arbor is supposed to do,"he said. "She has kept her finger on the pulse of what everyone in Ann Arbor wants, and she's best suited for the job as it is now" Kolb's campaign manager Paul Heaton attributed the loss to Ann Arbor residents who are satisfied with the way the city is run and ignore what Sheldon has not done. "A key issue is a real lack of awareness of the potential that exists for Ann Arbor," Heaton said. "My concern is that neople were a little too com- NATIONAL Continued from Page 1 Gingrich and other party leaders could be challenged in the GOP caucus. A GOP majority would mark the first time in 70 years they had held the House three straight terms. But any Democratic inroads would contradict a post-World War II trend of an average of 27 losses in mid-term losses for the party of a sitting president. Not since 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt was president, has the party in the White House won seats at mid-term. Davis aside, Democrats celebrated other statehouse victories, ousting a pair of Southern governors and electing a governor in Iowa for the first time since cally the chair of the Republican Governors' Association. Alabama Republican Gov. Fob James was defeated as well. Democrats also kept the Georgia governorship in their hands, when Roy Barnes won his race to succeed Zell Miller. The most intriguing race of the night was in Minnesota, where former pro- wrestler Jesse Ventura, running as a Reform Party candidate, won a shock- ing victory over his two major party rivals in the race for governor. In one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races, Republican Rep. Jim Bunning edged out Democratic Rep. Scotty Baesler in a long count in Kentucky. IIAAIA I I AIAI A AIG fnil..