Kevin Spicher, a Republican candidate for supervisor in Genoa Township, has suspended his campaign immediately due to family circumstances. In doing so, Spicher endorsed Bill Rogers for the position.
That’s very bad news for Linda Rowell, the third Republican candidate in the race – and here’s why.
Rowell, a current Genoa Township trustee, has come under intense fire in the past year for her crusade to keep a Christian school out of the township, and now she doesn’t have two opponents to split the anti-Rowell vote.
Rowell and Rogers square off in the Republican primary on Aug. 2, and with no Democrat in the race, the winner is all but guaranteed to be Genoa’s next supervisor.
With a significant number of voters vehemently opposed to Rowell, she was no doubt hoping for two opponents to split the anti-Rowell vote. Now there’s only one – Rogers – and he’s been endorsed by the third candidate who dropped out.
Rogers is a former state representative and county commissioner with decades of experience representing Genoa Township at the state and county level. He’s also part of the most well-known political family in Livingston County. His brother Mike was a Congressman and now a national talk-show host; his father John was a longtime Brighton Township supervisor; and his late mother Joyce was the beloved director of the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce for years.
With his strong background, resume and name, Bill Rogers had a huge leg up on Rowell to begin with. When you add on the ugly political baggage she’s accumulated over the last year – and now Spicher dropping out and endorsing her opponent, Rogers – Rowell’s road just got a whole lot rougher.
In endorsing Rogers, Spicher said, “I am endorsing Bill Rogers because I believe he is most likely to deeply consider the residents’ opinions before making the very important decisions this job entails.”
Rowell, on the other hand, has shown a tendency to disregard residents’ opinions on important matters.
She ignored the dozens of parents, teachers and students who spoke at a Genoa Township meeting last summer, begging the board to allow the Christian school to open in the township. At the meeting, only one person spoke out in opposition to the school, compared to the dozens who spoke out in favor of it. Despite that, Rowell voted to keep the Christian school out.
Rowell’s costly crusade to keep the small Christian school out of Genoa Township has become one of the biggest issues in the campaign.
Last summer, going against the recommendation of the Township Planning Commission, Rowell voted with three other board members to keep Livingston Christian Schools out of Genoa Township.
Livingston Christian sued, and Rowell and the other board members decided to wage a costly battle to fight the lawsuit. A federal judge recently ruled in Genoa’s favor, but only after the township racked up nearly $100,000 in legal fees.
Not surprisingly, Rowell has avoided talking about her crusade to keep the Christian school out of the township. She doesn’t mention it anywhere on her campaign website or campaign Facebook page.
The issue hasn’t gone away, though, and now she has another political headache to deal with.
