Meet Pam Kaiser, Candidate for Grand Traverse County Commission for Long Lake Township
As a fourth-generation resident of Grand Traverse County, I have spent decades of my life connected to the farms, schools, businesses, land, and lakes of Grand Traverse County. From a farm in Grant Township to Traverse City Public Schools and Northwestern Michigan College, my grandparents, parents, husband, our four children and I have contributed to life as farmers, laborers, students, teachers, small business owners and volunteers supporting the community we are proud to call home. Having lived all over the world, I know that there is no finer place to call home.
I also know from personal experience that Grand Traverse County has real problems that need to be solved for the residents of our county and township. These include increased stress on the natural environment, the serious shortage and unaffordable cost of housing, and rising taxes that are beyond local residents ability to pay, the tremendous burden of having had Twin Lakes Park pulled out of the Grand Traverse County Parks and Recreation budget and placed on Long Lake tax bills with no public hearings, aging infrastructure including water shortages, roads and sewers strained from rapid expansion, insufficient access to health & mental health services, a shortage of childcare and illegal behavior by certain members of the Board. We must do a better job of protecting and uplifting life right here and now in our growing community.
Three of our four sons graduated from West Senior High School, where I served as parent representative and Co-Chair of the TCAPS District Advisory Committee, and from NMC, where I taught as an adjunct in Communications, reviewed books for the online journal Foreword Reviews, served on the Long Lake Shoreline Committee and volunteered for Outreach Lunch at Central United Methodist Church. I served on the Long Lake Shoreline Committee and am a member of the Long Lake Township Activity Centers Advisory Committee.
I hold a BA in Political Science from Kalamazoo College, an MA in American Studies from Purdue University, an M.Ed. & Certificate in Counseling from Rivier College in Nashua NH.
In addition to my work as an educator, I have worked as counselor, consultant, and litigation paralegal with a focus in commercial litigation and mediation, so I value avoiding unnecessary lawsuits by always operating in full in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, consulting with legal counsel on implications of matters well before voting on them, which saves time, money, and serves the greater good all GT County Commissioners are sworn to uphold.
An advocate for careful use of taxpayer funds, I hate to see poor planning result in wasted money for taxpayers. The expensive litigation against the County and Township by citizens abutting Twin Lakes Park could have been avoided at several junctions by public discussions and deliberation before the County voted to transfer Twin Lakes Park, which was gifted by the clear and explicit deed of Judge Parm Gilbert from his estate to Grand Traverse County to benefit the public, especially children. What his deed explicitly did not do is to leave Twin Lakes Park to the much smaller economic entity of Long Lake Township.
My experience and advocacy on committees that require compliance with local, state and federal law makes me uniquely qualified to fight for policies that protect the residents of Long Lake Township on the Grand Traverse County Commission from back room deals like transferring Twin Lakes Park out of the County Park System onto the tax bills of Long Lake Township residents in violation of the deed without due public process, which is costing us all expensive lawsuits to rectify easily avoidable procedural errors in nonpublic meetings.
My public advocacy for enforcement of gun safety laws in Grand Traverse County arose from the unexpected death of our 24-year-old son Aaron, an honors nursing student, on 4/28/2020 from a shotgun illegally sold to him during the Covid-19 Emergency Stay-at-Home Order. He died alone hours after that noncompliant transaction. Aaron’s life mattered, and he is dearly missed by friends and family here in our community and beyond. His death was a tragedy that could and should have been avoided by legal compliance with and enforcement of state law.
Unbelievably, due to discretionary non-enforcement of state law by our local prosecutor, the gun-shop owner was not even fined for violating state law following adoption a month earlier of the so called “Second Amendment Sanctuary” proposed by insurrectionist “Proud Boys” who misled the majority of members on the GTBOC in March 2020 into adopting it despite vocal public opposition. This vote contributed to Aaron’s death by encouraging violation of state law that did not define guns during the pandemic shutdown as necessary to maintaining human life. Obtaining a gun during the time of mental anguish prior to online rather than in-person final exams during the pandemic did not protect Aaron’s life. It ended it and serves as a warning to us all that State of Michigan gun safety laws must be enforced locally to be effective.
I am running for the GTBOC in 2024 in Aaron’s memory to keep our children and community safe from escalating gun deaths. I vow if elected to vote to end the dangerous “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” in Grand Traverse County. My goal is to ensure that legal gun violations are enforced in Grand Traverse County in accordance with Michigan law regardless of partisan politics, to serve as a solid, enforced safety measure and deterrent to accidental deaths and criminal violence. No other parent or family in our community should have to attend the funeral of their child or family from a gun.
Because of this dangerous vote, our county has been identified at high risk of violence. This does not reflect the will or wishes of the vast majority of Grand Traverse County residents who want to live in peace without constant threats of gun violence. I pledge as a parent and county commissioner to ensure that local officials comply with state law while enforcing local safety for all.
Stand by me as I work to protect our children, schools, families, workplaces, government buildings and public spaces from preventable gun violence, creating a safe, clean and respectful community with access to affordable housing and sustainable jobs.
Thank you for your vote to elect me as the most qualified and experienced candidate for County Commission from Long Lake Township, a community where we care for each other as neighbors and protect one another and our environment from harm.
I welcome hearing about your concerns and welcome your support of my campaign through sponsoring an open house, making contributions and volunteering to help turn our district blue during the August 6th primary and November 5th election. It takes a team to get out the vote during this pivotal election year when the future of our Democracy is at stake on every level of our government.
Since many hands make light work, please reach out to me to help bring neighbors together at open houses, knock on doors, distribute campaign signs and literature, gain endorsements and win the August 6th Democratic primary and November 5th elections for the residents of Long Lake Township and Grand Traverse County.
Thank you for your support and solidarity, positive energy, help spreading news about my candidacy, contributions and votes during this election. My goal is to strengthen the ties that bind us together as neighbors and friends in the beautiful, caring community of Long Lake Township and Grand Traverse County that we are all proud and grateful to call home.
I look forward to working with and representing you! Together we can form a more perfect union of citizens in what is still the greatest democracy on Earth, right here in beautiful Grand Traverse County.
Thank you so much for your support, your positive energy, and your vote. Together we can make Grand Traverse County stronger, healthier and more sustainable for generations to come.
Sincerely,
🌻 Pam
