The race for the 5th District seat on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners — which includes the City of Howell and Marion Township — could well be a harbinger for November’s general election, locally and beyond.
A right-wing Republican is being challenged in the August primary by a moderate Republican, and the Democrat — who will face one or the other in November — is urging Dems to cross over in the primary to vote for the moderate because to her, “based on a very solid, historic pattern of strong Republican turnout in Livingston County,” the winner of the GOP primary will be sitting on the county board.
In a post making the rounds on social media, Kasey Helton of Marion Township is urging supporters in her district to vote not for her in the Democrat primary as she is unopposed, but to instead cross over and vote for former Howell Mayor Nick Proctor; she is also urging Democrats to vote for state Sen. Lana Theis, who is facing a primary challenge from the wildly controversial Mike Detmer, who gained notoriety in the last election cycle for among other things posting a selfie with a supporter of the Proud Boys.
The 5th District county board incumbent in the Aug. 2 GOP primary is Howell attorney Jay Drick, labeled a “Trump extremist” by Helton. Throughout his last term on the board, Drick lashed his political fortunes to the right-wing, controversial county board chair and culture warrior Wes Nakagiri. This explains why he is facing a serious primary challenge from former Howell Mayor Nick Proctor, a moderate Republican popular for his bipartisan support of and work on behalf of the city, and who says he’s running for a seat on the county board to “stop the lunacy.”
Proctor is so well-liked and respected that he received one of the area’s highest honors when he was named the Howell Citizen of the Year in 2021 by the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce.
This local Clash of the Republicans illustrates the dynamics of national politics, making it one of the must-follow races in Livingston County.
Sparks between the Drick and Proctor camps reportedly started flying moments after Proctor filed to run. And recently, in a local publication, Drick took out an ad calling himself an “incumbent” and a “tax cutter” while labeling “N. Proctor” as a “tax raiser,” “non-partison (sic)” as well as a “private citizen.”
In the ad, he points to the defeated Headlee Override attempted by the City of Howell as proof that Proctor is a “tax raiser,” and inferring that he alone can fix whatever ails us.
I have to wonder whether that includes COVID?
Who can forget that at the Feb. 8, 2021, meeting of the county board, Drick offered to write a $2,000 check to the Livingston County Health Department to purchase Vitamin D-3 for residents, saying he had read somewhere that England mandated its citizens to take Vitamin D-3 to ward off COVID-19. (For the record, I’ve still not been able to corroborate that.)
Proctor isn’t taking Drick’s “tax raiser” attacks lying down.
In a release, Proctor explained that despite Drick’s assertion in his campaign ad, no taxes were “raised” in Howell. The city did ask voters for a Headlee Override, which they turned down.
“Residents preferred keeping tax levels as they were and forego residential road work,” Proctor said. “And, again, no taxes were raised.”
Proctor took aim at Drick for “spearheading salary increases” for the county commissioners, a move that drew bipartisan criticism from people across the county, including the chairs of the local Republican and Democratic parties. Click here and here for our stories on the raises.
“(Drick) placed his personal interest before that of the community in late 2020 by spearheading salary increases for the Board of Commissioners – all during state ordered pandemic shutdowns with many in our community unable to work,” Proctor said. “The Howell City Council never did that and preferred keeping money where it would best serve the community.”
In addition to offering to purchase Vitamin D-3 for county residents — an offer that left the director of the Livingston County Health Department “at a loss for words” and having to explain to Drick that the department’s priority was vaccination — Drick also voted NOT to accept $1.5 million in state COVID funding, a move Proctor said was akin to “throwing the baby out with the bath water.”
You can read about the decision to forego the $1.5 million by clicking here.
“Decisions must be made for the good of our entire community, absent ideological litmus tests,” said Proctor, who describes the 5th District county board race as a “a tale of two diametrically opposed candidates in substance, style, and leadership.”
It’s a distinction well understood by Helton, who is making her third bid at elected office and knows well the reality of politics in Livingston County.
“At the risk of angering very hard-working Democrats … and as a Democratic candidate myself for county commission, I feel compelled to weigh in,” Helton said as she explained why she is voting for Proctor, and why she hopes her fellow Democrats in the 5th District do the same.
“As a candidate, I do not feel right telling you to vote for me in my uncontested primary when I myself will be voting on the Republican side in this primary. I’m doing this out of concern for what is at stake,” Helton wrote. “There’s really no other way to put it: democracy is on the ballot in Michigan and that’s what makes this election year so exceptional.”
Beyond the county commission
“I absolutely refuse to throw away a vote on myself in an uncontested primary when this upcoming primary election will be my only opportunity to vote strategically and effectively against Mike Detmer,” Helton said. “Those who say that there is no difference between Detmer and his supporters and Theis and her supporters are wrong.
“Mike Detmer has threatened to bring weapons to the polls, making national news when he told his supporters to show up to the polls ‘locked and loaded’ alongside his friend, gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley, who together told a room full of people at a Moms for Liberty event in Brighton that they should ‘unplug voting machines’ if people were not voting the way they wanted.”
Helton also takes issue with Detmer’s appearance at the upcoming 2A rally in Fowlerville, an event that will also feature other Livingston County Republicans — including Drick — as well as the controversial Shane Trejo.
“In just one week, Mike Detmer will headline a 2A rally in Fowlerville appearing alongside Kelley and special speaker Shane Trejo, a right wing radio personality who has promoted white supremacist ideologies and referred to the Charlottesville Unite the Right white supremacists as ‘civil rights heroes,’” Helton said. “Make no mistake: Mike Detmer is dangerous for this county and he’s dangerous for the state of Michigan.”
