Clinton Township

Sowerby takes treasurer seat

By Nico Rubello
C & G Staff Writer

With more than one-fifth of Clinton Township’s registered voters taking part in the Aug. 7 primary election, the election by all accounts ran as planned.

“I was very impressed with the procedure. I thought Clinton Township did a great job on their whole election process,” said Ronald Mac Kool, a former Roseville clerk hired by the township board to monitor the township’s election process.

In Clinton Township, voter turnout for the primary — including absentee voter ballots, which account for about half the ballots — stood at 20.7 percent, said Township Clerk George Fitzgerald. The township has a little less than 74,000 voters.

Incumbent Clinton Township Treasurer Bill Sowerby won a sound victory over his challenger. Sowerby took 73 percent of the vote, defeating Clintondale schools’ Board of Education President Jason Davidson.

With no Republican running for the treasurer’s seat, Sowerby will face no opposition on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

The primary also slightly narrowed the field of candidates running for four township trustees seats. Come November, four Democrats and four Republicans will vie for the four, four-year terms on the Clinton Township Board of Trustees.

From the Democrats, incumbent trustees Jenifer “Joie” West, Kenneth Pearl and Dean Reynolds emerged, as did top vote-getter Paul Gieleghem, a former Macomb County Board of Commissioners chair.

Trustee Ernest Hornung, who has served as trustee since 1994, did not win another nomination.

On the Republican side, David Pierce, Mike Aiello, Mark Gielniak and Leo J. Melise will represent the GOP ticket.

At the state level, Lynn Evans was voted as the Republican candidate to represent run in the 31st District race. The district represents Fraser, Mount Clemens and part of Clinton Township.

Evans will challenge incumbent state Rep. Marilyn Lane, D-Fraser, this fall.

In the 24th District, which now includes part of northern Clinton Township, Philip Kurczewski won the Democratic nomination. He will run against incumbent state Rep. Anthony Forlini, R-Harrison Township, in the general election.

Fitzgerald said running this year’s primary election — a process that included totaling all the votes from the township’s 46 precincts, plus tallying absentee voter ballots — went successfully. The township also updated the state’s voter files that same night — about a week ahead of the deadline, he added.

Mac Kool, now retired, said he expected to walk into a hostile situation, alluding to intra-office tensions between the clerk and his staffers that have recently garnered headlines. Instead, he found himself welcomed by everyone.

“They treated me nicely. Everybody was cooperative,” he said. “It’s as good an election as you’re going to see; there’s no doubt in my mind about that.”
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You can reach C & G Staff Writer Nico Rubello at nrubello@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1118.