By Scott Sullivan
Writer
Former 16-year Allegan County Commissioner Tom Jessup was named by that all-Republican board to replace the man who defeated him, the late Dean Kapenga, as commissioner for District 3.
The one-time Casco Township supervisor emerged from a 5-hour commission special meeting Aug. 21 to deliberate among nine finalists who submitted applications by the Aug. 19 deadline. Jessup prevailed by a 3-1 vote.
He said after he intended to run for a full term in the Nov. 5 general election, but the county GOP Executive Committee, meeting next night to decide what candidate’s name would appear on that ballot in place of Kapenga’s, demurred.
That body chose Brad Lubbers of Manlius Township over former commission chair Steve McNeal and Jessup as hopefuls for that designation.
All three were among nine applicants interviewed by commissioners last Wednesday. Others were former Saugatuck Township superintendent Chris Roerig, Manlius superintendent Lowell Winne, John Ric Curtis, Thomas Hickey, Tobias Hutchins and William Townes in a district that includes Douglas, Fennville and Saugatuck cities, plus Casco, Cheshire, Clyde, Ganges and Lee townships.
The field was eventually narrowed to Hickey, Hutchins, Jessup, Lubbers and Winne; then Hickey, Jessup and Winne. McNeal and Lubbers were not commissioners’ finalists.
“The executive board adjourned at 9 p.m. Thursday,” said county clerk Bob Genetski, also a Republican. “At 9:58 I received an unsolicited outside attorney’s letter questioning the committee’s legal basis for doing so.”
County commission chair Jim Storey announced this Monday in his weekly email newsletter that Genetski Friday declined to accept documents from that session presented him by Lubbers.
“The clerk,” Storey said, “cited a legal opinion rendered by the county’s outside counsel that questioned the legal basis for naming a replacement for Kapenga to appear on the fall ballot.
“However,” he went on, “the decision whether to place a name on the ballot is solely that of the county clerk. Unless the clerk reverses his decision, the commissioner elected for the four-year term that begins Jan. 1, 2025, will be determined by write-in votes.
“According to one report, faced with a similar situation in Ingham County, a candidate for that county’s
board of commissioners died prior to the Aug. 6 primary election. That county clerk
certified ballot placement of the person named by the Ingham County Republican party to appear on the fall ballot,” the local commission chair said.
Genetski confirmed Monday Storey, with whom he has not always agreed, was in this case correct. “I had time over the weekend to study the lawyer’s claim further. I anticipate reversing my decision later today or sometime tomorrow.”
Jessup, first elected to the board in 2006, won eight two-year terms before losing to Kapenga in the 2022 Republican party primary, when redistricting that shrank the panel to its current five-district setup pitted the incumbents against each other.
He will now complete the four-month current term held by Kapenga, who died Aug. 5 following a stroke.
In November, he and others can run as write-ins, but only one name will be on the ballot. No Democrat filed as a candidate for that seat.
During his at least four-month tenure, Jessup will have opportunity to weigh in on a March 2023 lawsuit filed by Genetski, county treasurer Sally Brooks and drain commissioner Denise Medemar asking board plans be halted to move their offices out of the county courthouse in Allegan city to the County Services Building near Dumont Lake.
Genetski, citing litigation costs, has since withdrawn his name from the lawsuit. Earlier this year, he ruled Storey ineligible to place his name on the Aug. 6 Republican primary ballot to retain his 12-year District 1 seat due to unfiled 2018 state campaign finance reports.
Craig Van Beek, whose name did appear on the ballot, won 2,808 votes to best Storey’s 612 as a write-in.
