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JOEL WILSON:
Geared to Break Stereotypes,
Confront Tradition,
and Challenge Career Politics in
the 95h District
By Robert E. Martin
As the rhetoric heats up with mid-term elections looming in November, one of the most fascinating races in the mid-Michigan area centers around a face-off perceived by pundits to be cut & dry: the 95th District House of Representatives contest between Democrat Andy Coulouris and Republican newcomer Joel Wilson.
While Coulouris is well known
throughout the district, having been covered thoroughly in these
pages, and by other major media outlets during the August primary
battle between Democrats Joyce Seals, Charles Braddock, Terry Sangster,
and Roma Thurin; Wilson is a relative enigma, which makes him
fascinating in this age of pre-packaged, digitally polished, and
predictable politics.
Biographically, he shares many similar
attributes with Coulouris: both candidates are in their early to
mid-twenties, both graduated from Arthur Hill High School, and
both are lifelong residents of the City of Saginaw.
What makes Wilson's bid so intriguing
is that he is an African-American Republican running for an office
that traditionally has gone Democratic in a district that consistently
votes along racial lines.
When former Rep. Mike Hanley nailed the
seat, he ran against two African-American opponents. Similarly, when
current State Rep. Carl Williams ascended, he faced off against two
Caucasian opponents.
Now, with Coulouris surpassing a field
of five African-American challengers in the August Primary, this is
the first contest in memory that actually pits a white Democratic
primary victor against a black Republican challenger - an irony
certainly not lost upon Wilson, though something he refuses to accept
as coincidence.
"There is no doubt that Race Politics
exists," admits Wilson, "but I don't believe in destiny. I do
believe in open-mindedness. If this race is Republican vs. Democrat,
Andy wins. If this race is Andy Coulouris vs. Joel Wilson, I've got a
good chance. The race becomes something to look at."
Fair enough, so let's start looking. ORIGINS & CONVERSIONS Joel Wilson attended Handley and North schools, followed by stints at Arthur Hill and the Saginaw Arts & Science Academy, which he says "gave him wings" to graduate from Boston University and explore the world, working in London, Stuttgart, and Dresden.
A nephew of Saginaw High sports legend,
Reginald Jones, and the son of Benjamin Pruitt, Chairman of
UAW 455 and the first Saginaw man elected to the UAW national
bargaining team, Joel says he returned to Saginaw to make a difference
for the people in his hometown.
"I had excellent teachers at SASA who
allowed me to express my opinions in class about politics," reflects
Joel. "I won a National Achievement Scholarship final at Arthur Hill
and then used that to go to Boston University & Germany, where I
studied theatre, language, and culture."
"To my mind, this race is not
Republican vs. Democrat. It's new vs. old, honest vs. corrupt, ideas
vs. rhetoric. When I was in living in Germany, I would keep up with
the news back home and started looking at City Council, asking myself
how it was possible a body could vote 30 times on replacing one
member?"
"Then I looked at the State Rep race
and saw these names of former City Council members, many of whom were
the same people bouncing around for the last 15 years or more, and
thought how can you get promoted to state office for doing a bad job?
We're a hard working state, and I don't think someone who fails to
build coalitions in a body of 8 or 9 members is going to function that
well in a body of 110. We need to reach across party lines."
"I think in a time when leadership is
required, we need a different type of candidate, which is
evident when you get such low voting turnouts."
Being an African-American running for a
major seat on the Republican ticket, Joel is obviously 'different'.
But at what point did his conversion take place?
"It's funny," he laughs, "being a Black
man we are born Democrats. Most people aren't born into political
parties, but we get it with the mother's milk. The change happened
swiftly for me, but had been building through my college years when I
started examining what I believed in."
"Assuming the Democratic Party was
'mine', I started doing research to determine where the two parties
stood on issues and found that I have problems with the Democratic
Party, particularly in Saginaw. The system of 'favorite sons' and
'merits' reeks of the 'good ole' boys' network and in my opinion is
part of the problem."
"Ask yourself, has the Saginaw County
Democratic Party earned your loyalty? Are they living up to their
glorious tradition and actually serving the people of Saginaw? Are you
better off than you were five years ago? In truth, the party to which
I was loyal is similar only in name."
"I represent a 21st
Century way of thinking," stresses Joel. "My opponent is still stuck
in the '80s. We need modern solutions to our modern day problems.
Times have changed, but the politicians in Saginaw have not."
"We need to get crime under control,
establish an education system that works, create jobs, and update our
infrastructure. We've needed to do this for the past 15 years, but the
politicians have just talked about it. I want to get these things done
in Lansing. These are not goals. These are fundamental things we need
to meet before we can achieve our goals."
Enough said.
Time to move into specifics. Three Top Priorities & the Ghost of Affirmative Action If Joel Wilson is indeed a new type of Republican, tired of the good ole' boy network of his former party, what is his take on affirmative action, which many perceive as nothing more than discrimination in reverse employed to reward mediocrity.
"When I went to college there were two
types of people at Boston University," explains Joel. "You had those
on scholarship and those with the last names of 'Spears' and 'Bush' -
people that could buy their way into school. They even had special
general study programs for people that paid to get in."
"That aside, even those that worked
hard would e-mail their papers over to their fathers who were doctors
and lawyers, so they could 'brush it up'."
"I had to work three times harder
because my Mother couldn't help me with homework after the 8th
grade, simply because of the conditions at the time when she grew up."
"I believe affirmative action works
when it's conducted properly. With the California proposal that
eliminated it, minority enrollment at UCLA is down almost 50 percent,
so I think this new proposal on the ballot for Michigan in November is
harmful to women, minorities, and a lot of people. The way it is
worded will present problems, even in health care. It will foster
preferential treatment, which affirmative action is designed to
discourage."
"After defeating Proposal Two in
Michigan, we need to define a new middle ground with articles that
deal with education, not just by looking at race, but looking at
financial situations, opportunities, and health care, because there
are a lot of white young men who are underprivileged and don't have
these options. They need to be included as well. The system is not
perfect."
And if elected, what would comprise
Joel's top three priorities in terms of issues?
"Jobs, crime, and education, which all
interact together in terms of forging solutions, answers Joel.
"During one of the primary debates,
Joyce Seals actually said, 'You can pull people out of the river, but
eventually you have to find a way of falling in'. We're good at
arresting and incarcerating people, but the problem is that it does
nothing to stop crime from re-occurring. We release prisoners and
they're back on the streets in 60 days. The recidivism rate is more
than 50 percent!"
"Michigan does have a prisoner re-entry
initiative, but Saginaw is now only a Round Two site, which is silly.
We should be a Round One site, only nobody was in the room to say
'What about Saginaw County?' I will be Saginaw's voice in the rooms
of power - in both the Republican & Democratic rooms - I will fight my
way in there."
"In terms of jobs, we need to train
people once they leave jail and we need to provide viable income
opportunities for young people so they don't wind up in jail. If
they're going to make mortgage payments and save for college, we can't
have them robbing the 7-11. We need to give people hope and teach
people how to fish rather than giving them the fish."
"That's the biggest straw that broke my
back in terms of why I'm not a Democrat - this idea of handouts. It
makes an entire black community dependent. We need to help them, but
not by handing out fish. We need to teach them. Teach them how to
manage their assets. Children of wealthy families learn this right
away. They inherit money and know what to do with it. Minorities and
poor white people need to learn these skills as well. They need to
know what a 401 K is. This should be taught in public schools. We need
to cut through the red tape and do what makes sense."
In terms of building an economy to
provide these jobs, in tandem with addressing issues of crime &
education, a lot has been made about this proposed elimination of the
Single Business Tax in Michigan. What is Joel's take on this?
"I favor asking economists on both
sides of the aisle, because I'm not an expert in tax law. I don't
want to dodge your question, but that's my honest answer. Frankly,
what I'm leaning towards is replacing the SBT with a Value Added Tax,
which is what things should have been in the first place before the
legislature messed them all up."
"It's clear that Michigan is not
competing and our jobs are going elsewhere. 48 states are doing well,
while one got hit by a hurricane, and then there's Michigan."
"We need to think of a better way to
address our infrastructure rather than mess around with the tax code.
There are places in Michigan where you can't get sewage and power! One
big plus of Michigan is that there is a lot of land and its relatively
inexpensive. But businesses look at taxes and the lack of
infrastructure, and they say, hey, they've got reasonable land in Ohio
and Indiana as well."
"Mainly we need to step up high speed
Internet access across the state," emphasizes Joel. "If that is
lacking, the future will pass us right by, like the highway not going
by the ghost town that is completely off the map. If I'm setting up a
business and can't communicate with Japan, or London, or California,
it's going to be impossible to attract my business."
And what about the impact of NAFTA,
which as Ross Perot once warned, would signal that 'big sucking sound
of jobs being lost overseas'?
"Who would have thought Ross would be right 10 years ago," asks Joel. "It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the problem with NAFTA is that it promotes lots of FREE Trade at the expense of FAIR trade."
"Honestly, our future in Michigan needs
to center on ethanol production and alternative fuels, the medical
industry, education, and most important, NANO technology," he states.
"I want to see Michigan leading the
nation in this new wave of technology that borders on science fiction,
but is happening today. You can set up a car plant in India now and
turn out a decent auto. That wasn't the case 50 years ago.
Unfortunately, we rode the good times of the auto industry a little
too long."
"On the positive side, at the Saginaw
Career Complex, 35 percent of those young men and women are getting
into medical fields, so our job in Lansing needs to focus on bringing
those high tech jobs here NOW, which goes back to building up our
infrastructure."
Legacy Costs, The Minimum Wage, & Lifestyle Legislation With 'legacy' costs and the expense of financing retirement & health plans eating up business & government alike in a pattern similar to other great civilizations of the past like Britain and Rome, what are Joel's thoughts about addressing the hemorrhaging?
"The concept of cradle to grave
employment is something I don't believe exists anymore in America.
Those days are gone and there is a reason for that, though it hurts us
now to think about it. But we need to maintain dynamism in our
economy. Look at China. Millions of dollars are being made and lost,
but it's the most moving economy in the world right now. We
move a lot, too; but Europe is stagnating."
"I lived there for two years and the
welfare states are collapsing on themselves. This is why you have race
riots in France. The idea of having one employer for life needs to
change. The idea that it's the state's job to take care of me needs to
change. We need to get into an 'ownership' society, with people
managing their own systems. We also need a safety net because this is
America and we don't want people starving on the streets, but we need
to develop more dynamics and stop looking at those old models that
have failed us."
"France is looking at two more years
before it all blows up and we need to accept the fact it's now a
global economy. We need to stay mobile and move. We're losing that
sense of 'risk' in our economy, which is essential to make it viable.
The Top 20 companies in France haven't changed in 50 years. America
and Michigan cannot fall into that boat."
"As for the minimum wage, I think its
due for an increase. I worry, however, because its one of our
psychological hedges against inflation, and not that many people are
making it. For some strange reason when the minimum wage increases,
prices go up at McDonald's,' he laughs. "But seriously, inflation has
occurred enough without an increase in the minimum wage destroying our
social system."
And what does Joel feel about the
recent anti-smoking ban enacted in Saginaw County and the Democrat's
plan to move that ban over to bars & restaurants?
"It's one of those issues we need to
step back from a little. Most restaurants offer smoking & non-smoking
sections, so what's the problem. A couple restaurants & bars have
already voluntarily gone all non-smoking in Saginaw County, but why
not offer both options? This is America, after all. When I go out to
eat with my family, my brothers do smoke, so they'll go over to the
smoking section for a while. I think its being made an issue and it's
not. Why are we even dealing or talking about this? The market place
will take care of it."
For Whom the Bell Tolls * Battling Stereotypes & Machine Politics As our conversation comes full circle, I rephrase a question submitted to Joel at the start of our interview: Does Joel Wilson have a chance to turn the tide and actually win this House seat? Will the mindset and sensibilities of African Americans be open enough to entertain the notion of splitting their ticket and voting for a Black Republican?
"There will be a lot of
close-mindedness and some African Americans that I've encountered
going door-to-door won't even take my literature and look like they're
going to spit on me. Others see me as one of them and ask why I'm a
Republican, so I get a chance to explain. Those people I can give my
literature to get sold pretty quickly, not on the Republican Party,
but on me."
"The funny thing is, if you look at
core values, most Blacks tend to be pro-life, church-goers, and
fiscally conservative. They don't like taxes, so you would think they
would break ranks more. But it comes down to that 'mother's milk' that
we're fed from birth."
"If nothing else, my candidacy changes
perceptions, because Black issues are not Democrat issues - they're
about the right of representation, which should be taken to Democrats,
Republicans, Libertarians, and Greens."
"Having said that, I'm not going to be
the 'Black' candidate. I don't want this race to come down on racial
lines. I want to have an open and honest debate on the issues."
"The Saginaw Area Democratic Club
actually stated on their website that I have (quote) 'shamelessly
attempted to make race an issue in this campaign in order to distract
voters from my glaring inexperience for this key office.'
"But the truth is, Andy won't debate
me. I would love to hear where he stands and let people judge from
that, because I think more people agree with me on the issues."
I think if Andy stays home and puts his
picture out there with that great smile, he's in. I've challenged him
to five debates and SASA agreed to host the first, but he's yet to
respond. He hasn't refused to debate me, but has yet to respond to my
challenge."
"Politically, I understand he has
little to gain and quite a lot to lose, so my campaign reverts to the
old fashioned way of knocking on doors."
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