Who should I vote for? MSU BOT

Serious question - I've never really paid much attention to BOT elections, but I have recently learned that this is an important thing.
I used to FAFO, and vote UM trustees from the Green party, Libertarians. US Taxpayers or Natural Law (UM really attracts a lot of fruits & nuts). But enough about them.

So I recognize none of the names, I would lean to vote for 1 D and 1 R to keep some sort of balance; but apparently the group is already very unbalanced.

TRUSTEE OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Vote for not more than 2
Dennis Denno $ Democratic
Renee Knake Jefferson $ Democratic
Mike Balow $ Republican
Travis Menge $ Republican
Claranna Gelineau $ Libertarian
Max Riekse $ Libertarian
Robin Lea Laurain $ Green wrote:

Wally Fairway wrote:Serious question - I've never really paid much attention to BOT elections, but I have recently learned that this is an important thing.
I used to FAFO, and vote UM trustees from the Green party, Libertarians. US Taxpayers or Natural Law (UM really attracts a lot of fruits & nuts). But enough about them.

So I recognize none of the names, I would lean to vote for 1 D and 1 R to keep some sort of balance; but apparently the group is already very unbalanced.

TRUSTEE OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Vote for not more than 2
Dennis Denno $ Democratic
Renee Knake Jefferson $ Democratic
Mike Balow $ Republican
Travis Menge $ Republican
Claranna Gelineau $ Libertarian
Max Riekse $ Libertarian
Robin Lea Laurain $ Green wrote:

Soapbox psa for anyone reading- please don’t actually do this. Petty rivalries aside, the best thing for our state would be for these two universities to be ranked #1 and #2 in the world, with us being #1 of course.

My suggestion is that if you are close with someone who is invested in um, trade your vote on trustee with them, get two votes for the msu candidate you want and they get two votes for the um candidate they want.

If not, just abstain.

Balow - one of the patriotic republicans running - is basically doing so in hopes of bringing back the swim and dive team. That's fine.. whatever.

however, he's also one of these folks who whined about the mask mandate and, I believe, the vaccine mandate. In the name of "medical freedom" or some other code phrase for not caring if people live or die. So, vote for him if you want people to swim and dive while being infected with, and spreading, a virus that killed over a million fellow Americans.

Travis Menge has been endorsed by the GOP christian patriot Tim Walberg who, among other things, is an election denier. Menge is also vocally opposed to the mask and vaccine mandate Stanley had implemented.


so, while I get wanting to vote in a balanced way, you have to remember, the modern GOP isn't one we grew up with. These people are ideologues who have no concern whatsoever for the MSU community. They're interested in forcing their religious and political agenda down the throats of a fine university. MSU, like all large institutions, has some problems, but political and religious extremism isn't the antidote.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Balow - one of the patriotic republicans running - is basically doing so in hopes of bringing back the swim and dive team. That's fine.. whatever.

however, he's also one of these folks who whined about the mask mandate and, I believe, the vaccine mandate. In the name of "medical freedom" or some other code phrase for not caring if people live or die. So, vote for him if you want people to swim and dive while being infected with, and spreading, a virus that killed over a million fellow Americans.

Travis Menge has been endorsed by the GOP christian patriot Tim Walberg who, among other things, is an election denier. Menge is also vocally opposed to the mask and vaccine mandate Stanley had implemented.


so, while I get wanting to vote in a balanced way, you have to remember, the modern GOP isn't one we grew up with. These people are ideologues who have no concern whatsoever for the MSU community. They're interested in forcing their religious and political agenda down the throats of a fine university. MSU, like all large institutions, has some problems, but political and religious extremism isn't the antidote.

So just vote for the 2 Dems? I thought Denno wasn't great either but maybe I'm off base here

Please vote for the candidate who wants to nuke Michigan Stadium.

aualum06 wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Balow - one of the patriotic republicans running - is basically doing so in hopes of bringing back the swim and dive team. That's fine.. whatever.

however, he's also one of these folks who whined about the mask mandate and, I believe, the vaccine mandate. In the name of "medical freedom" or some other code phrase for not caring if people live or die. So, vote for him if you want people to swim and dive while being infected with, and spreading, a virus that killed over a million fellow Americans.

Travis Menge has been endorsed by the GOP christian patriot Tim Walberg who, among other things, is an election denier. Menge is also vocally opposed to the mask and vaccine mandate Stanley had implemented.


so, while I get wanting to vote in a balanced way, you have to remember, the modern GOP isn't one we grew up with. These people are ideologues who have no concern whatsoever for the MSU community. They're interested in forcing their religious and political agenda down the throats of a fine university. MSU, like all large institutions, has some problems, but political and religious extremism isn't the antidote.

So just vote for the 2 Dems? I thought Denno wasn't great either but maybe I'm off base here

vote for whoever you want.

I'd just advise you not to go in blindly. Better to abstain.

https://onyourballot.vote411.org/m/race-detail.do?id=25687859#c4173488

You can also Google search their names and most have a bio.

Posted in no particular order...

https://travismenge.com/about/

https://mikebalowformsu.org/

https://dennisdenno.com/

https://reneeknake.com/

https://electclarannagelineau.com/

for the UM Board of Regents I voted for both republicans.

Nordic wrote:Posted in no particular order...

https://travismenge.com/about/

https://mikebalowformsu.org/

https://dennisdenno.com/

https://reneeknake.com/

https://electclarannagelineau.com/

probably a good idea to remember, too, that candidates (especially the patriotic right) generally whitewash their campaign websites. They don't want their actual agenda out there to be consumed by the masses.

Trapper Gus wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote: probably a good idea to remember, too, that candidates (especially the patriotic right) generally whitewash their campaign websites. They don't want their actual agenda out there to be consumed by the masses.

I think the Libertarian's site is probably honest ...

Also, the one who says the BoT will be in charge is being honest in his intentions ...

I don't see this guy holding back much.

https://onyourballot.vote411.org/m/race-detail.do?id=25687859#c4160617

Nordic wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:

I think the Libertarian's site is probably honest ...

Also, the one who says the BoT will be in charge is being honest in his intentions ...

I don't see this guy holding back much.

https://onyourballot.vote411.org/m/race-detail.do?id=25687859#c4160617

Mad Max

Nordic wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:

I think the Libertarian's site is probably honest ...

Also, the one who says the BoT will be in charge is being honest in his intentions ...

I don't see this guy holding back much.

https://onyourballot.vote411.org/m/race-detail.do?id=25687859#c4160617

NO Necon Wars; NO Antifa or Communist's on Campus; NO CIA/BATF/NSA/WOKE/BLM/CRT/PRC/FBI/ on - at any Michigan University tax supported Campus; No draft to support future Necon wars; Free Speech on Campus; Re-elect President Donald Trump for 3rd time

No vaccine or mask mandates for all Michigan University students & Michigan National Guard;

Not endorsed by the left wing socialist MEA

It's OK to be White

I didn't know Guest was a candidate for the BoT.

Looks like Balow and Menge won. Personal opinion, Menge seems fine. Balow seems a power hunger douche, par for our board. We'll see.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wkar.org/wkar-news/2022-11-09/msu-board-of-trustees-general-election-results%3f_amp=true

From Balow's website linked above...

This source says the opposite-

https://twitter.com/mirsnews/status/1590334391058071552?s=21&t=kQdnDWWJFh8Gqjt0fqSMTw

https://twitter.com/mirsnews/status/1590378577127960578?s=21&t=W8fpQuT_jAc6wbuf3uBZkA

But any other source I can find says that the republicans are winning those races. MIRS is not some random asshole on Twitter for what it’s worth, it’s a legit source. But I can’t find where they are getting this information from because everything else says the opposite.

So I guess wait and see?

State news shows Jefferson and Denno having won now

https://statenews.com/article/2022/11/live-election-updates-from-the-state-news