You may not know who James Edward Decker of Fowlerville is, but today the 59-year-old independent became one of Michigan’s most-powerful people; he will help shape the state’s political profile for at least the next decade by redrawing its U.S. Congressional and Michigan State House and Senate districts.
In November 2018, voters amended Michigan’s Constitution with the “Voters Not Politicians” ballot proposal, which empowers an independent commission of citizens to draw district lines for U.S. Congress and the Michigan Legislature starting with the 2022 election.
Decker, an Independent, is one of 13 Michigan residents — five independents, four Republicans, and four Democrats — chosen at random from an initial pool of 9,000 applicants by an independent accounting firm to serve on the Michigan Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Commission.
In his application, Decker, said he prefers to “solve problems”: “We need to work to put aside preconceptions, naivety and prejudices to consider other points of view or opinions that may not always agree with our own so that there can be negotiation, consensus, and a little give and take as life is imperfect and you have to try and make the best of it for as many people as you can.”
To his political affiliation, Decker wrote about the value of flexibility.
“As I have moved through my life from single man to married man to father and hopefully someday, grandfather; the only certainty is that nothing is black or white but lots of shades of gray so I think you can be conservative fiscally and socially, or liberal in your attitudes and those thoughts will always change based upon the circumstances at hand. A little flexibility goes a long way.”
You can view Decker’s application by clicking here.
