On the campaign trail

By Charles Sercombe
The city council primary election is just a little over two weeks away.
So far, the campaign trail has been kind of quiet. That’s not surprising since there are only nine candidates seeking three seats on council.
But there are some peculiar things going on out there, this being Hamtramck after all.
One thing that caught our attention is an invitation that went out for a fundraiser for Cathie Gordon, a former councilmember, by one of her supporters, er, we think. You could probably file this one under: With friends like this who needs enemies?
Here’s how Andrea Bonaventura invited folks to a fundraiser for Gordon, and we’re not making this up:
“Cathie Gordon is one of the biggest mouth pieces in Hamtramck.
“Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because I’m sure I can hear her yelling about something off in the distance. And this is why we need her back on city council in Hamtramck. We need someone who has a big mouth that is not afraid to speak up and that really gives a s*** about Hamtramck and its residents.”
It only gets better:
“I know sometimes that Cathie’s gruffness is a force to be reckon with but Hamtramck is full of assholes. All my friends are assholes. Everyone who hangs out at New Dodge are assholes. Let her be your asshole council person! We need someone who isn’t afraid to speak up.”
The, uh, invite continues on, but we should clear up why New Dodge is being singled out. Gordon is the owner of New Dodge and Bonaventura works there.
The fundraiser was held on Thursday, July 23.
There’s an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished.
City Councilmember Robert Zwolak, who is up for re-election, got a taste of that punishment.
We received a call Wednesday afternoon from Del Slezak of Botsford who was mighty upset with how Zwolak was caring for a lawn next-door.
Slezak said that Zwolak cuts the grass there, but fails to bag the clippings or sweep up after.
“The clippings blow on everyone’s lawn,” Slezak said.
We met up with Zwolak at the house. He had just finished cutting the grass, and indeed there were clippings all over.
Zwolak doesn’t live there, and said he was doing the yard work for a friend, and as a favor to Slezak. Apparently Zwolak meant that there would be no yardwork if it weren’t for him.
That friend in question turns to be Dolores Sanchez, who has been an acquaintance of Zwolak’s for a number of years.
Slezak didn’t hesitate to lay into Zwolak in a war of words. Essentially, Zwolak told Slezak, after dropping the F bomb a couple of times, to take her complaint to city hall.
Slezak countered that as a councilmember, Zwolak should be helping out.
In a moment of frustration Zwolak said: “You know what, I won’t do this anymore.”
And asked why he doesn’t do a better job, Zwolak blamed it on Sanchez, who he said is a “cheapskate.”
Sanchez is the publisher of El Central Hispanic News, and owns several houses in Hamtramck. Zwolak also works at the newspaper. Or after this, maybe not.
Long story made short, you could say Zwolak can forget about one vote on Botsford.
The primary election is on Aug. 4. Out of the nine candidates seeking office, three will be eliminated in this election. The survivors will face off in the November General Election.