By Staff
EDWARDSBURG – Cass County Democrats and friends met Saturday, Sept. 9, at the American Legion Hall in Edwardsburg to kick off the election season with a "Victory Dinner" and to support national, state and local Democratic candidates on Nov. 7.
A crowd gathered to hear: Kim Clark, of Three Oaks, 6th congressional District candidate for Congress; Valerie Janowski, of Dowagiac, state Senate candidate in District 21 (which covers Berrien, Cass and Van Buren counties); and Judy Truesdell, of Niles, state representative candidate in District 78 (which covers southern Berrien County and Howard, Silver Creek and Wayne townships and the City of Dowagiac in Cass County).
Janowski described a number of "rail and road" events coming up, beginning Sept. 21.
Cass County commission candidates attending included three incumbents, former county board chairman Johnie A. Rodebush (District 13), of Howard Township, David P. Taylor (District 7), of Ontwa Township, and Edward D. Goodman (District 1), of Silver Creek Township, as well as Ernie Kurdys (District 5), of Porter Township, Tony Catanzarite (District 8), of Edwardsburg/Ontwa Township, Debbie Ann Johnson (District 14), of Howard Township and Jim Kladis (District 2), of Wayne Township.
Marcellus attorney Burke H. Webb, longtime party activist, was honored with a plaque thanking him for his more than 25 years of service as chair and nearly four years as vice-chair of the Cass County Democrats, as well as a two-year stint as chair of 6th District Democrats).
Having already served more than 15 years as a Marcellus Village trustee/member of the Marcellus Village Council, he is a candidate for re-election in November.
Dan Lee of Cassopolis opened the event, led the Pledge of Allegiance and introduced Webb, who led the invocation.
Lennel Smith, of Cassopolis, acted as master of ceremonies for the evening.
Jerome Marks, special assistant to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, was the principal speaker for the event.
Marks has been a key part of her staff for the past five years, traveling all over Michigan and the world with her as she meets with companies encouraging them to invest in Michigan.
He told both funny and poignant stories about the governor and encouraged all to work hard during the campaign and election and to take nothing for granted.
Coordinators for the fundraiser were Amadeo Lese, of Edwardsburg, Linda and John Kerr, of Porter Township, Gwen and Ron Alexander, of Porter Township, and Cathy LaPointe, of Volinia Township.
The Cass County Democratic headquarters is located in the Family Dollar Shopping Center in Cassopolis.
It is open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Anyone interested in volunteering can call (269) 445-1651 or stop by the headquarters.