The Arab American News - Lessons from election day

As the dust settles from Tuesday's municipal election in Dearborn, I, like many who analyzed the detailed numbers, see good news and bad news. And from what I have heard since Tuesday, it is clear that the individual candidates and their supporters have their own views on what went well and what went bad.

Tarek Baydoun

The good news from Dearborn is that Hussein Berry won a seat on the Board of Education and that Suzanne Sareini moved up in the Council to be Council President Pro-tem, and that Arab Americans George Darany and Robert Abraham were returned to the City Council with better results and more solid numbers than ever before. In other good news, Dearborn voters elected a young newcomer with fresh ideas to replace an old-timer who doesn't even live in this city all the time anymore. Brian O'Donnell, endorsed by the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), will most likely be a good addition to the City Council. More good news came from Dearborn Heights where incumbent Tom Berry was handily re-elected ranking second among the four winners.

The bad news is that turnout in our community was still relatively low and much lower than last year's. I will never understand why the Arab community in Dearborn can send more than 11,000 people to the polls in 2008 and what looks like 4,000 or less in 2009? Where did the others go? Approximately eight thousand people who turned out to vote for Barak Obama decided to stay home last Tuesday. What did I miss? A new version of Bab El Hara? Are they so busy following the Lebanese government soap opera? It is sad, but it is a reality that we all have to find a magic solution for one day.

As a member of AAPAC's Executive Board, I participated in the endorsement process and worked with the other volunteers to promote its slate at the polls and try to turn out as many voters as possible. Like in every election, not everyone agreed with our choices, but everyone should know that these choices were made after careful consideration of the interests of the community as a whole and consistent with AAPAC's stated mission.

We produced a full and diverse slate including the young and the not so young, the incumbent and the newcomer, the Arab and the non-Arab. We endorsed and promoted a slate which looks like the Dearborn we love and want to serve. We take our endorsement responsibility very seriously and we work hard to ensure all our candidates win. We truly believe that AAPAC and its electoral endorsement process are a major reason public officials give our community the respect they do. Despite our community's terrible habits, like low voter turnout, holding grudges when we disagree on an endorsement and back-biting, AAPAC has managed over 12 years to progress, despite anti-Arab stigma, community apathy and outright attempts by those who wanted to destroy our collective political voice. Today, AAPAC remains Dearborn's only credible political bloc, delivering a loyal following of votes in every election. This is a power our community absolutely needs. And as we stated at our 12th annual dinner last week, we don't work for the interests of the Arab community only, we work for the interests of the entire community, our city, our state and our country.

Now, let us simply look at the facts of this election to learn from them. It appears from my analysis of the precinct break-downs, that those who said that we should only vote for one candidate in the council race to increase his chances were not only principally wrong, but practically incorrect, despite their best intentions.

One of the candidates who worked hardest in the Council election was Ali Sayed. He and his volunteers spent countless hours campaigning. Let's consider the likely results had every Arab American voter "plunked" for Ali Sayed, for example.

1- Bazzy and O'Donnell would have both lost a considerable amount of the votes they got from the AAPAC slate and Sharon Dulmage, who did not seek the AAPAC endorsement, and who was unseated from the Board of Education by a campagin launched by AAPAC last year, would likely have won the 7th spot.

2- Sayed would not have gained any more votes than he did because he had already locked up the votes of the people who "plunked." He would have only brought Bazzi and O'Donnell down. This would not have produced a victory for him.

3- The non-Arab community would have again attacked AAPAC for only supporting Arabs, and non-Arab candidates would lose every incentive to seek endorsement and votes in our community.

Also, consider the likely results had 600 voters not "plunked" for Sayed. David Bazzy, who lost to Hubbard by 550 votes, probably would have won and Suzanne Sareini could have been council president.

Why are we discussing "plunking"? Because from the east end returns, it is clear that many Arab Americans plunked their votes for Ali Sayed. How else can we explain that Sayed, a first time runner, garnered 3,215 votes in these precincts compared to Suzanne Sareini, a five-time incumbent who obtained only 2,588 in the same precincts. Compare with Bazzy, who obtained 1,982 in the same east end precincts. I am sure the voters who plunked and the volunteers who encouraged them had good intentions and believed that their strategy was the right one. Unfortunately, experience shows that this was an unproductive strategy that may have cost Sayed many votes from the supporters of the other candidates.

Of course, hind sight is 20/20. From this point on, we should move forward, pooling our resources together and capitalizing on the new voters and new volunteers that candidates like Ali Sayed brought forward, and continue working towards a better future for our city and our community.