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NEWS
Thursday, July 13, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Democratic candidates for Michigan governor and U.S.
representative speak at a campaign stop in Bloomfield
Abdul El-Sayed,
Haley Stevens
discuss auto
industry, public
health issues
By NISA KHAN
Summer Editor in Chief
A crowd of 50 gathered in the
Bloomfield
Township
Public
Library to hear from guberna-
torial candidate Abdul El-Sayed
and Haley Stevens, the Demo-
cratic candidate for Congress in
the 11th Congressional District.
Hosted by the Birmingham-
Bloomfield
Democratic
Club
on Monday night, the speakers
spent the meeting introducing
themselves and their campaign
before taking questions from
the audience.
Stevens is an Oakland County
local who served in the previous
Obama administration. She was
the chief of staff on the Auto
Task Force for the U.S. Trea-
sury Department — this team
was delegated the task to work
on the auto industry in Detroit.
She also created the first online
training program for digital
manufacturing.
“This is a moment for all of
us,” she said, stating elected
officials were not steering the
country in the direction every-
one
was
comfortable
with.
“Because there is something
happening in Washington that
is disconnected from the rest of
us.”
Stevens was asked on her
positions
on
certain
issues
and her plans to work with the
opposition party. Along with
supporting Medicaid and rec-
ognizing the gerrymandering-
faults in Michigan, she said it
was imperative that Michigan
had younger representatives in
Congress that could work with
Republicans.
She further explained the
average age of a Michigan rep-
resentative was in their 60s and
they needed fresh, new voices.
After Stevens, El-Sayed, who
began canvassing in Ann Arbor
on Sunday, began explaining
his background the audience —
beginning with his parents back
in Egypt coming to the United
States and feeling like they
belonged in this country.
He then explained the crux
of his interest, which is the
politics of health. He explained
most sickness and life expectan-
cy comes from the politics side
rather than the biological side;
it is politics that affect the dif-
ferences of health care coverage
and sickness between Detroit
and Bloomfield Hills.
He emphasized Detroit had
MAX KUANG/DAILY
Construction on South University street in Ann Arbor.
plenty of hospitals; public health
was preventing care, and hospi-
tals were too meddled in bureau-
cracy.
Despite his young age, El-Sayed
said he would be a fit for gover-
nor with his expertise in public
health, following Michigan’s han-
dling of the Flint water crisis.
El-Sayed then answered ques-
tions as well.
An
audience
member
com-
mended El-Sayed for being a Mus-
lim man running during “Trump’s
era.” While El-Sayed thanked her,
he reminded the audience Trump
won by a small margin and “this
country is still our country.”
Over half of the audience were
newcomers
to
the
Democrat-
ic Club, ignited by the current
Trump presidency.
Audience members, such as
Bloomfield Hills residents Debo-
rah Bernstein-Seagal and Brian
Kott, were more familiar with
Haley Stevens and came to hear
her talk.
“My son went to high school
(Seaholm) with her,” Bernstein-
Seagal said.
“We were recently reintro-
duced to her as a potential candi-
date, and we think it is important
to elect Democrats in the current
environment,” Kott said.
El-Sayed was a new face to
many as well, who heard him for
the first time that night.
Kott
said
while
he
was
impressed by El-Sayed, his unfa-
miliarity
to
some
Michigan
residents may leave him at an dis-
advantage with the other, well-
known Democrat gubernatorial
candidate Gretchen Whitmer.
“I would was also introduced
to Dr. El-Sayed,” he said. “A very
impressive man … And I think his
problem is name recognition and
the fact that Gretchen Whitmer
is known fixture and a minor-
ity leader of the House and all of
those other things. He’s certainly
qualified and deserves to have a
voice in our current society.”
with
Kislyak
to
establish
communications between the
Trump
administration
and
Russia, reportedly to discuss
issues related to Syria. The FBI
believed the meeting included
talk of easing sanction against
Russia in exchange for financial
assistance.
Meanwhile,
at
the same time, the Obama
administration
increased
sanctions against Russia in
response
to
the
supposed
election interference.
U.S.
intelligence
agencies
released a report to explain
why they believe Russia was
involved in the hacking effort.
FBI Director James Comey
assured Trump that he was not
personally under investigation.
In fact, on different occasions
in February, March and April,
Comey
assured
Trump
he
was
not
personally
being
investigated.
After the inauguration, the
FBI interviewed Flynn about
his December meeting with
Kislyak, and his statements
differed
from
other
public
statements, sparking concern
Russia
could
compromise
Flynn by threatening to leak
information.
In March, for the first time,
Comey announced to the House
Intelligence
Committee
that
there
was
an
investigation
occurring
on
the
Russian
hacking and links to the Trump
campaign.
In
May,
Comey
testified
at
a
congressional
hearing
and was fired by Trump; he
never
publicly
stated
that
Trump himself wasn’t under
investigation,
which
the
president had asked him to do.
Former FBI Director Robert
Mueler then was appointed
special counsel to oversee the
FBI’s investigation.
According to Bill Moyers, in
June, Comey testified before the
Senate Intelligence Committee
and said he believed he was fired
because of the investigation.
“It’s my judgment that I was
fired because of the Russia
investigation,” Comey said. “I
was fired in some way to change,
or the endeavor was to change,
the way the Russia investigation
was being conducted.”
RUSSIA
From Page 1
and curb revamping, but it is
the work being done on South
University
Avenue
that
has
proved to be the most intensive.
Developer and city work on the
street began May 1 and has been
going on ever since.
According to the City of Ann
Arbor website, eastbound South
University
Avenue
between
East University and Washtenaw
avenues had to be closed to allow
for water main work to be done
as well as streetscaping, which is
the designing of streets based on
the natural and built fabric of it.
Elizabeth
Rolla,
project
manager for the Ann Arbor
Downtown
Development
Authority,
explained
the
goals are to widen sidewalks,
improve
seating,
create
rain
garden landscaping, plant street
trees, update pedestrian street
lighting and work on utility
improvements.
“Our
board
of
directors
selected this project because
it saw a need to create a more
vibrant part of downtown,” Rolla
said.
SOUTH U
From Page 1
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