There is a very serious and hotly contested United States House of Representatives race taking place in the city of Detroit's 13th District. Incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is facing two chief rivals, State Senator Martha G. Scott and former State Representative Mary Waters. As the race has seated up due to the problems that Cheeks Kilpatrick son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has, her race has become a referendum against her for many voters. The race for Cheeks Kilpatrick should not be close since she has held the seat since 1996 but this is her first real strife competition and Cheeks-Kilpatrick is making campaign mistakes like a newcomer to politics and not a 30 year veteran.
That's why as the Democratic race continues to heat up, it is evident that Cheeks Kilpatrick knows her stuff and is the most qualified and most experience for the job but that is still no reason for her to be re-elected to office. Change is not bad and inexperience will not hinder Detroit or the state of Michigan any further than it already is. In fact, Cheeks Kilpatrick has failed to do her job in representing her constituents and has failed to keep them informed on the issues. In fact, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick has failed to bring about positive solutions to many of the city of Detroit's problems and the state of Michigan's problems. While she talks about the $500 million she has brought to District 13 and the state, many in the city can't see where the money actually has went.
I am not against Cheeks Kilpatrick because of her son's troubles but I am against her because she has not delivered the type of positive results needed for the state. She has become ineffective and has not tried to speak out against any of her son's responsibilities. In fact she is continued to support her son and has not tried to speak publicly about her son and his troubles. Cheecks Kilpatrick represents the people of Detroit and the suburbs which is why her continued public support for her son baffles me since she has not tried to show her constituents that she is against her son's actions and continued mistakes. If Cheeks Kilpatrick really wants to be a good legislator than she has to understand that her son's actions are hurting the city of Detroit's economically and publicly.
That's the more Cheeks Kilpatrick doesn't show any remorse for her son's actions or for her lack of availability to her constituents is a real issue for Carolyn. Plus Carolyn easily could have put her opponents out of their misery if she had talked to the voters of District 13 sooner about her opinion of her son's actions and how she did not agree with it and feels that her son's mistake has cast a black cloud over the city but we have to allow the courts to play itself out before jumping to conclusions. However Martha G. Scott and Mary Waters have definitely been better at speaking to the people and connecting to the people but they don't know the ins and outs of Lansing. Now that doesn't mean they can't learn. Anyone who is elected to the United States House of Representatives can learn the ins and outs of Washington but the issue many people have with losing Carolyn is that Detroit, the state of Michigan and District 13 will suffer cause Carolyn is the National Congressional Black Caucus Chair and she seats on the House Appropriations Committee which deals with the distribution of money.
Nonetheless, my question is, do we allow Carolyn to stay in office because of what positions she holds or do we allow someone else to come in who can provide positive results to the problems that plague our community. We can no longer allow ourselves to be tricked by words such as inexperience and experience. Experience is only as good for if you use it for good positive things in terms of opening up doors that could easily close if the right person is not at the bargaining table. That's why the 13th Congressional District United States House of Representative race is a crucial race as we as a country move forward with believing that no politician should remain in office forever if they are not proving to be effective at their job.
So as voters go to the polls on August 5th, I strongly encourage each of them to not vote by name recognition but vote based off what has your politician done for you lately or better yet, what results can they show you that have impacted your life, your neighborhoods, your communities and your district. Be careful of listening to negative attacks because they can be misleading, instead look to do your own research on the candidates and look for candidates who are willing to talk to the people and intermingle with the people on a daily basis.
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