Wolverine Lake Village Council Election: League of Women Voters candidate reponses for John Magee

Sadly, I have nobody to blame but myself. While I was gallivanting across the country on The Big Road Trip in August and spending a couple of weeks mostly offline, I missed the League of Women Voters election questionnaire that came into my e-mail box. Then it got buried in the midst of the dozens of campaign spams of various types that crowd my e-mail every day while we're in election season. When I went to find out why I hadn't yet heard from them about the election this weekend, I quickly discovered that I had missed the deadline for reply.

I really hate this because I consider the annual LWV election guide to be one of the most indispensable resources for voters. And failing to get your answers into the guide is really a basic competence test for any campaign. I just failed that test. (I would fire my campaign manager if I could, but since I'm the campaign manager I'll settle for docking my campaign manager's salary. It is henceforth reduced from zero to minus zero.)

Here are the responses you would've seen in the LWV guide had I made the deadline, in hopes that perhaps a few folks will come across this post.

League of Women Voters candidate reponses for John Magee, candidate for Wolverine Lake Village Council:

Question 1 (150 Words or less):
Please provide biographical information and explain why you are running for village office and relevant qualities and skills you would bring to the position.

I have served as Village President for the last eight years, on the council for nine years, and previously as the chair of the water management board for five years. As your President I have led the village back to financial health during the most difficult economy in our history. We've kept our local police department and invested in much needed long-term infrastructure improvements for the lake, the parks and pathways, and the village complex. We found an excellent developer to take over the abandoned and tax-foreclosed Heron Hills vacant land.

We did all this without raising the village property tax millage. If re-elected I intend to ensure we continue on our path of financial stability, local policing, and long-term improvements and investments.


Question 2 (150 Words or less):
What are the top 3 Priority Issues that your village should address and what actions would you, as a village officials, take regarding each of them?

1) We must continue to live within our means while making the most efficient use of our tax revenues. Examples include re-using the millings from the Glengary repaving project to build new pathways and replacing the crumbling stucco exterior of the village office with more durable, better insulating materials.

2) We must continue to rebuild our home values by making Wolverine Lake a desirable destination for home buyers. This means continuing our great record of community policing while also investing in infrastructure, park improvements, pathways, and improved recreational opportunities for all of our residents.

3) We must continue to protect and improve the lake. Our program of comprehensive lake management uses a variety of tools -- harvesting, herbicides, and now our aeration project in the Penny Lake arm -- to produce the greatest improvement with the least wasted effort.