Lumpkin bows out of alderman race

Kenneth Lumpkin, who recently retired as publisher of the Insider News and had planned to be a candidate for Fourth District alderman and Racine Fourth District County Board Supervisor, says he will purposely miss today's 5pm deadline at City Hall to turn in his economic interests paperwork, which will get him kicked off the ballot.

If Lumpkin was not willing to pull out of the three-way contest in the fourth District Alderman race, the city would hold a Feb. 16 runoff election between incumbent Jim Kaplan, Lumpkin, and a newcomer Sherrie Lawson.

If Lumpkin does not turn in his economic interests statements, he cannot be certified and his name will not appear on the city ballot for Alderman, according to Janice Johnson-Martin, Racine city clerk.

Lumpkin did file his paperwork Thursday with the County and will challenge Kaplan for his Racine County Supervisor position.

Lumpkin said that the needs in the city and County are too vast for one individual to tackle.

"I feel that I can best serve the constituents of the Fourth District by being on the County Board where I have gathered my most experience," he said.

Lumpkin served eight years Racine County Board supervisor until he was defeated in 2008 by one vote.

City Council: Kaplan, Lumpkin ready for another round

No surprise here, but Ken Lumpkin is officially running against Jim Kaplan for a seat on the City Council.

It'll be a rematch of the 2008 race that Kaplan won by about 50 votes. There's no love lost between these candidates, who ran two campaigns against each other two years ago. Kaplan won them both, taking Lumpkin's County Board seat by a single vote.

The only other contested race, so far, is Donald Dwyer taking on Dennis Wiser for the City Council's now vacant 10th District seat. Incumbent Kelli Stein is declining to run for re-election. Dwyer and Wiser both applied for the open seat in August when the City Council picked Stein.

With a week to go before the filing deadline for City Council, Aldermen Sandy Weidner, Aron Wisneski, Ron Hart and newcomer Eric Marcus are running uncontested.

Lumpkin considers run for County Board, City Council

Ken Lumpkin is looking to break back into local politics.

The former Racine County Board supervisor and owner of the Insider News took out papers today to run for County Board and City Council, though he hasn't decided if he'll run for one or both offices.

Lumpkin ran for both seats in 2008, but lost them both to James Kaplan.

December 1 was the first day candidates could begin to circulate paper for the April 6 spring elections. Primary elections, if needed, are Feb. 16.

Two recounts underway at courthouse

Ken Lumpkin and Kaplan's attorney Michael Maistelman
watch as Rosanne Kuemmel and Joan Rennert examine ballot

UPDATES: Kaplan wins by one vote. Mount Pleasant recount won't be finished until Thursday.

ORIGINAL POST: What's the old quote about two things you never want to see being made: sausage and legislation?

Add recounts to that list.

Two recounts are underway at the Racine County Courthouse this morning -- one in a storage closet and the other in a more spacious meeting room.

Relegated to the storage closet are Ken Lumpkin and Jim Kaplan, fighting over Kaplan's two-vote margin in the contest for the Racine County Board seat in District 4.

In the meeting room was Ruth Gedwardt, trying to overcome a 41-vote deficit in her effort to win election to the Mount Pleasant Village Board. Gedwardt came in fourth in a three-seat race.

The Lumpkin/Kaplan recount was the more interesting affair, what with Kaplan's two lawyers monitoring every step County Clerk Joan Rennert and her assistants made in the claustrophobically confining space, crammed with 14 people. Atty. Michael Maistelman, fresh from a recount in Franklin yesterday, pointed out to Rennert that in Franklin "the table was much bigger and the clerk bought us pizza."

"In that case," Rennert replied, "you should buy today."

Instantly, all decided that would be inappropriate, so the nitty-gritty of counting ballots, examining absentee forms and zero-ing out the voting machine for testing went on.

Things were more refined in Gedwardt's recount, where clerks sat quietly around a big table -- at least four times larger than the one Rennert and her two assistants were using. Gedwart, too, had an attorney present.

The recounts were expected to last up to eight hours...

Jim Kaplan and his wife, Julie

Ruth Gedwardt and Atty. Joe Kremkoski

Kaplan takes two; Lumpkin wants recounts

Update 2: Lumpkin is planning on recounts in both the City Council and County Board races. He believes absentee ballots may have not been counted. It appears his argument is stronger in the County Board race, where he lost by two votes and there are 38 undervotes - registered ballots without a vote in the race. He lost by 51 votes for City Council, an insurmountable number considering there were about 350 total votes cast in the race.

You may recall Lumpkin is no stranger to recounts. He lost by two votes to James Rooney for the County Board in 1998. Lumpkin defeated Rooney two years later by 20 votes.

Update: Well, our headlines holds ... for now. The county results show Kaplan defeated Lumpkin by two votes for the County Board seat, 220-218. Expect a recount here.

Original post: Jim Kaplan will be working double duty for the next two years. The City Council member won re-election to his District 4 seat and also beat Ken Lumpkin for the District 4 County Board seat.

Kaplan is a former city employer who has won two straight contested elections for the council.

Lumpkin is out of elected office after eight years on the County Board.

City's 12th District candidates spending big

Money is flowing in the race for the City Council's 12th District.

Incumbent Aron Wisneski and challenger Joey LeGath have raised the most money among candidates for city office this spring, according to the March 24 campaign finance reports.

Wisneski, finishing his first term, raised $2,959 year-to-date and has over $2,000 to spend in the closing days of the election. He had the most individual contributions of all candidates, receiving donations from 16 individuals.

LeGath, who owns three bars, raised $6,295 year-to-date and spent $2,562.06 through March 24, leaving him over $3,700 to spend before Tuesday's election. LeGath gave his own campaign $4,000.

Ken Lumpkin has spent $2,278 so far in his race with Jim Kaplan for the council's Fourth District. Kaplan has spent $174.50 so far. Lumpkin and Kaplan are also running for the County Board.

Troy Johnson has spent $1,775 in a race for the Ninth District seat vacated by Pete Karas. His opponent, Terry McCarthy, has spent $223.53. Johnson and Wisneski had several donors in common on their reports.

And, challenger Jameel Ghuari is outspending Bob Anderson in the Second District. Ghuari has raised and spent $791, nearly five times as much as Anderson.

Local candidates are required to file a pre-election campaign finance report with the City Clerk by March 24. Another report is due after the election.

Here's a recap of each candidate's campaign finance report:

District 2

Bob Anderson

Contributions - $200
Expenses - $169.76
Balance - $30.24

Jameel Ghuari

Contributions - $791.67
Expenses - $791.67
Balance - $0
* $30 contribution from Donnie Snow

District 4

Jim Kaplan

Contributions - $418.28
Expenses - $174.50
Balance - $243.78
* $100 contribution from the First District GOP

Ken Lumpkin

Contributions - $2,278
Expenses - $2,278
Balance - $0
* Campaign finance report filed three days late

District 6

Sandy Weidner
* Reported no campaign activity

District 8

Q.A. Shakoor II
* No report filed; expected to file no campaign activity

District 9

Terry McCarthy

Contributions - $300
Expenses - $223.53
Balance - $81.47

Troy Johnson

Contributions - $1,775
Expenses - $317.25
Balance - $1,457.75
* 16 contributions

District 10

Tom Friedel
* Reported no campaign activity

District 12

Aron Wisneski

Contributions - $2,959
Expenses - $893
Balance - $2,066
* Citizens for Helding gave Wisneski $100

Joey LeGath

Contributions - $6,295
Expenses - $2,562.06
Balance - $3,739.94
* $200 from the Wisconsin Peoples Conference

District 14

Ronald Hart
* Reported no campaign activity

RIC hosts City Council candidate forums

The Racine Interfaith Coalition is hosting two local election forums this week. The forums include:

12th District

Tuesday, March 25, 6-8 p.m.
Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 322 Ohio St.
Candidates: Aaron Wiseneski and Joseph Legath

4th District

Thursday, March 27, 6-8 p.m.
Greater Mt. Eagle Baptist Church, 929 State St.
Candidates: James Kaplan and Ken Lumpkin

Candidate wants $1 homes for police officers

County Board Supervisor Ken Lumpkin has an interesting idea to solve crime in his district's neighborhood: get cops to live there.

Steep discounts on homes for police officers is one part of Lumpkin's three-part plan to address crime on the city's near north side. Lumpkin represents the area on the County Board and hopes to serve the area on the City Council, as well. He's up for election for both offices this spring.

For the first phase, Lumpkin wants to create a Police Home Loan Program, which would takes abandoned or condemned houses or seized crack houses and offer them to policemen for $1. The program would also provide the officers with a low-interest loan to improve the dwelling.

The Police Home Loan Program would be a part of the city's community-oriented policing model, which is designed to place officers in neighborhoods where they can get to know people and help them address problems.

Lumpkin said his plan is designed to promote better neighborhoods and to fight crime at the same time.

"The city already have a program to create homeowners by providing down payment and low-interest fix-up loans to city residents," he said. "This would extend these resources to officers wishing to make a dramatic difference in the city."

To purchase a $1 house, officers would have to make a five-year-commitment to live in the neighborhood. The home would have to be located in the present five-census track area.

"Officers who live in the community are more understanding of their neighbors and can better service them," Lumpkin told listeners at one of his ten listening sessions he is holding throughout the 4th District.

"I feel strongly that we must take new steps to curb crime in a way that we can put problem-solvers measures back in the neighborhoods," Lumpkin said.

The second part of Lumpkin's plan would be a negotiable merit pay incentive for officers who are willing to live in high-crime census tracks.

"We already know the benefits of our COP Houses are doing throughout the central city," Lumpkin said. "Couple that with officers living in the neighborhood, the result can only be the reduction of crime."

The last part of his three-step plan is to bring people who make the decisions for the police department closer to the people in the neighborhood.

"In order for there to be good relationships between the police department and the community the two must be engaged with each other," Lumpkin told supporters.

He wants to work with the Fire and Police Commission in order to hold several Commissioner meeting at neighborhood community centers.

Lumpkin said that few people in the inner-city realized that the Commission is the governing body of the police department.

"These session would allow the commissioners to hear the voices of the people that police officers are sworn to protect," Lumpkin said.

Battle of Incumbents: Kaplan challenging Lumpkin for County Board

Jim Kaplan and Ken Lumpkin will be pulling double-duty this election season.

Kaplan, who sits on the Racine City Council, has taken out papers to challenge Lumpkin for his County Board seat.

The news comes less than a week after Lumpkin announced he was challenging Kaplan for his City Council seat.

It also sets up an interesting election for most voters in the city's Fourth Aldermanic District and the county's Fourth Supervisory District. The two districts largely overlap; map is the county district.

Voters will get to decide if one person should represent them on both elected bodies, or whether they should split their votes in hopes of both candidates winning an election.

The winner will not be the first person to serve on two bodies. Alderman and County Board Supervisor Q.A. Shakoor serves on both.

UPDATE: Ghuari running for City Council

UPDATE: Ghuari is running for council, along with several other challengers to incumbents. In all, five of the eight elections for City Council are contested, so far. There are no primaries, so far. The deadline to file is Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. Here's the list:

SECOND DISTRICT
ROBERT L. ANDERSON, 1638 S. MAIN STREET,
JAMEEL GHUARI, 1700 S. WISCONSIN AVE.

FOURTH DISTRICT
JAMES E. KAPLAN, 400 KEWAUNEE STREET
KENNETH LUMPKIN, 1646 EAST STREET

SIXTH DISTRICT
SANDY J. WEIDNER, 2310 THOR AVENUE

EIGHTH DISTRICT
Q.A. SHAKOOR, 1516 W. 6TH STREET

NINTH DISTRICT
TERRENCE A. McCARTHY, 317 WEST BLVD.
TROY W. JOHNSON, 1571 MARIA STREET

TENTH DISTRICT
THOMAS FRIEDEL, 1904 DWIGHT STREET
CHARLI WALTER LEROY SMITH, JR., 2312 WEBSTER STREET

TWELFTH DISTRICT
ARON WISNESKI, 1025 ARTHUR AVENUE
JOSEPH LEGATH, 1423 HICKORY WAY

FOURTEENTH DISTRICT
RONALD D. HART, 4420 REPUBLIC AVE.

Old post:

We're hearing from people that Jameel Ghuari, head of the Bray Center in Racine, has taken out papers to run for City Council. Ghuari would run in the city's second district, which is currently represented by first-termer Robert Anderson.

Lumpkin running for City Council

County Board Supervisor Kenneth Lumpkin, owner of the Insider News and a four-term Racine County supervisor, told supporters he'll run for a seat on the City Council in the upcoming April election.

Lumpkin, the owner of the Insider News, is running for the Fourth District seat currently held by incumbent Alderman Jim Kaplan. Kaplan was first elected in 2006.

Lumpkin whose business and home is located in the Fourth District said his experience in business and government makes him the perfect candidate to turn-around a waning community.

“We have watched as other areas of Racine go through a new growth while our historic district slowly declines because of the lack of attention and resources,” Lumpkin said.

He said because of so many needs in the diverse and changing community, the Fourth District couldn’t afford to spend more time training leadership. The district needs an alderman with a vision of how the neighborhoods need to look decades to come, Lumpkin said.

“My strong stand against crime in our neighborhoods, economic development for the Fourth District businesses, commitment to education and proven ability to help create jobs make me the best candidate to move the Fourth District forward,” Lumpkin said.

In a District that is 67 percent minority, Lumpkin is working with Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds to design a project that will aid small minority businesses.

He added that he worked closely with the Al Gardner and the developers to bring the new Corrine Reid-Owens Square project to the Central City.

Lumpkin said his efforts will help revitalize distressed business areas like parts of Douglas Avenue and bring affordable housing to the vacant lots in the district.

“The success of bringing change will be based on weeding crime out and seeding jobs opportunity in,” Lumpkin said.

About Lumpkin:

• Age 60

• Married, proud Father and Grandfather

• High School graduate

• 8-Years on the Racine County Board

• 20-Year Business Owner (owner Insider News)

• Member of New Omega Church

• Home and Property Owner

• Vietnam-Era Veteran

• Winner of the Ted Harris Humanitarian Award

• Winner of Gateway Humanitarian Award

• Nominated by Congressman Paul Ryan to the National Civil Rights Commission

• Member of the American Legion

• President of the Flatiron Mall Association

• A member of the City of Racine Community Block Grant Committee