By BRIAN McGILLIVARY and LINDSAY VANHULLE
Record-Eagle staff writers
TRAVERSE CITY — A local school board member will throw her hat into the race for the 104th state House District as an independent.
Megan Crandall, 29, a member of the board for Traverse City Area Public Schools, said she will turn in about 750 petition signatures today to put her name on the November general election ballot to represent Grand Traverse and Kalkaska counties.
She needs 600 valid signatures to qualify as an independent.
"I've never had a party affiliation and I don't want one," Crandall said. "I want the freedom to make decisions on what makes sense for the state and our community, not a political party."
Crandall said she decided to run because she's frustrated with things the school board can't do and the lack of planning and forethought the state Legislature gives to its decisions.
"We have to have our budget done in June and the state Legislature doesn't seem concerned with letting us know what our funding will be," she said.
Crandall will face the winner of the August Republican primary race between East Bay Township Supervisor Glen Lile and incumbent state Rep. Wayne Schmidt.
John Scrudato, a retired teacher and former president of the Traverse City Education Association, also hopes to get on the ballot as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary.
Creating jobs is a major issue in this campaign, Scrudato, 62, said, but "sometimes it's really difficult for the Legislature to create jobs unless they're government jobs.
"I'd like to see us spend more time educating our public, our kids, and creating a high-tech field," he said.
No Democrats filed to appear on the primary ballot but Scrudato recently submitted paperwork that allows the state to count his write-in votes. He's estimated to need anywhere from 150 to 250 write-in votes to qualify for the November general election ballot, but the final number won't be known until after the primary election.
The vote total he needs depends on the greater of two percentage-based formulas, one based on population and the other on the number of Democratic votes cast for governor.
