Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Local politics, Sixties style





The election of 1964 was a landslide victory for the Democrats, both nationally and locally (with a couple of exceptions). Riding LBJ's coattails to victory that November was an obscure undersheriff named Doug Harvey, as well as District 2 Congressional candidate Wes Vivian who surprised longtime GOP representative Robert Meader. Unable to capitalize on the Democratic tide that year was Ann Arbor's Neil Staebler. The former state Democratic party chairman was unable to defeat popular Republican Governor George Romney.

When Vivian ran for re-election in 1966 he was challenged by Marvin Esch who had bucked the Democratic trend two years earlier when he was elected to the State Legislature. Esch's campaign workers were out in force at every public event in '66 distributing hundreds of yellow and blue "Esch for Congress" indian hats to kids. Not exactly a politically correct move nowadays, but acceptable back then. Since I was a Vivian supporter, I went to work at home and constructed my own "Vote Vivian" indian hat, modeled in the above picture by our cat Bootsy. Esch won the election.

Also in 1966, former Democratic Governor Soapy Williams ran for the Senate and appeared at the Ypsilanti 4th of July parade sporting his trademark green and white polka-dot tie. He lost the election to Republican Robert Griffin.

One of the more spirited races for the office of Mayor took place in the early 70s when incumbent Democrat Robert Harris squared off against maverick Republican Jack Garris. Garris had upset the hand-picked GOP candidate, Lou Belcher in the primary. A few years later Belcher would again run for mayor and would win. Garris' campaign was centered around his opposition to the rock concerts that were being held in West Park. Garris lived near the park, at the corner of Miller and Chapin, and was active in a neighborhood organization that opposed the concerts. Harris won the general election, and eventually a compromise was worked out with the concert venue being moved from West Park to Gallup Park. In addition to his brief but colorful political career, Garris is also remembered for his spectacular Christmas light displays at his house during the holiday season.

In the late 60s radio announcer Ted Heusel ran for and won a seat on the Ann Arbor school board. 3 years later he was re-elected by an overwhelming margin. Due to FCC equal time provisions, Heusel was forced off the air during the duration of the campaigns. After the results were in on election night he was interviewed on the air on his own station, calling the election a "great victory for radio."

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