News from Troy: Knollenberg fails to unseat Slater and ownership of Transit Center in question

Dexter cityhood and Washtenaw County millage elections weren't the only election news I was following last night.  The special election for Troy Mayor also was, as Troy voters keep moderate in office after recall of tea party mayor Janice Daniels.

In a special election today in Troy, residents chose to keep the interim mayor Dane Slater in what pundits viewed as approval of the city’s moderate turn since the recall of Troy’s former tea party mayor Janice Daniels.

Slater won with 50.4% of the vote to challenger Marty Knollenberg’s 45.9%.

This isn't the first election Knollenberg has lost in the past six months.

Knollenberg, 49, a former state representative for Troy and Clawson, came with a famous last name by virtue of his father Joe Knollenberg’s six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Knollenberg, also a former county commissioner, ran unsuccessfully in November for Oakland Country Treasurer.

So much for Knollenberg using Mayor of Troy as a resume credit while he runs for higher office, as Sharon at Keep Troy Strong thought he might.

Marty Knollenberg has no intention of serving a full term as mayor
...
The fiscal conservatives who are throwing our money away on this election want us to believe it's a GOOD thing that Knollenberg is running for a job he plans to dump out of early and then lead us to yet ANOTHER costly election.
Yes, it is those folks who always whine about how the private sector does a better job than the public sector who want to HIRE A MAN WHO WILL QUIT TO GET A BETTER JOB IN A YEAR.

Knollenberg would most likely have run for George Pappageorge's Michigan Senate seat when Pappageorge has to leave because of term limits next year.  Who knows, he still might, but not as a sitting officeholder.  Also, he'd have two losses in two years, something he and his father were trying to avoid back in 2006, as Sharon also pointed out when she quoted the head of the Troy-Clawson Republican Club.

His intellectual acumen and general brain power (or lack thereof) notwithstanding, his Daddy intends to see he doesn’t lose because that would make two losses in as many years. If you plan to retire and let your son inherit his kingdom on the Potomac, him being a two-time loser just won’t do!

He may have avoided that fate in 2006, but it caught up to him last night.

In other news from the city next door, Court rules Troy does not own transit center site.


Oops.  Still, it looks like it's most likely that construction will continue, so there will be a transit center.  I can take comfort in that, just like I can take comfort that Troy rejected the pro-austerity Knollenberg.