Incumbent Grand Rapids City Commissioner Kelsey Perdue and her challenger Richard Griffin each offered differing pitches to voters Wednesday ahead of a contested election to claim one of two seats representing the city’s third ward.
The two met face-to-face during a Connect With Candidates event held downtown in which they each received a brief moment to address a crowd of voters. Also in attendance at the event were Commissioners Marshall Kilgore and AliciaMarie Belchak, though neither were there for campaign purposes.
Griffin launched his bid against Perdue last week after calling for a change in leadership style in the third ward. He told The Grand Rapids Herald at the event his bid was several years in the making after he was urged to run by many of his third ward neighbors.
“I believe that Ms. Perdue as well as Mr. Kilgore have done a wonderful job in their positions as commissioner in their tenure that they’ve been there, but every community member doesn’t feel the same,” he said. “This campaign is at the behest of those community members.”
Griffin notably received two life sentences in prison in 1996 at the age of 16 after he was found guilty of killing 18-year-old Ronald Jones. He was paroled in 2017 after serving over 20 years and went on to work for the ACLU of Michigan and as director of the Cure Violence Program for the Urban League of West Michigan.
His past, Griffin told The Herald, is not something he plans to shy away from while serving the city.
“As a 16-year-old kid, we all make horrible decisions,” he said. “Mine happened to be one that was not only detrimental to myself, but to another human.”
“I am nowhere near the 16-year-old I was today at 47,” he added. “I believe that not only my professional track record, but my academic track record, and the time in which I’ve been back in this community shows and proves exactly who I am and what I’m capable of.”
Commissioner Perdue, a graduate of Yale University, served on the City Commission for the past three years. Her term will expire later this year, but she plans to run for reelection.
She told The Herald at the event her decision to run for reelection was motivated by a desire to continue work in areas like economic development and community investment.
“There’s more work to do,” she said. “I’m excited to go back to the voters and tell them what I’ve been up to on their behalf and ask for their support again.”
When asked her thoughts about running for the seat contested, Commissioner Perdue said she was glad to offer voters a choice and cheered Griffin’s decision to enter the race.
“It’s a good thing for voters to have options and for people to see different representations of leadership,” she said. “It takes a lot to say ‘I want to step up and run for office’ and be willing to do that, so it’s always great to see folks doing that.”
The commissioner also touched on Da’Quain Johnson, whose death at the hands of Grand Rapids Police sparked fierce anti-police backlash. Commissioner Perdue said she is among members of the commission who are currently looking for policy solutions to prevent a similar incident in the future.
“After an incident, it’s always a really great time to step back and say ‘what else could we have done to prevent this?’ and ‘let’s go back and look at our policies and see what we have in place and make sure they’re aligned with best practice and in a way that works for our community at this time,’” she said.
Her comments came ahead of the Thursday release of a Michigan State Police investigation which found that Johnson had a loaded pistol and 10 grams of cocaine at the time he was shot.