Candidate Profile: Charlie Cavell For Oakland County Commissioner

Charlie Cavell, a Ferndale resident is running for Oakland County Commissioner District 18.

Age: 29
Party affiliation: Democratic Party
Family:Caitie Fey, 28, Partner, Counselor at Berkley High School
Occupation:Social Worker (8 years)
Previous elected experience:N/A
Family members in government:No
Campaign website: https://www.cavell4commission.com/

The single most pressing issue facing our state is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.
The single most pressing issue facing our state is our aging population, and the lack of a comprehensive plan to meet their needs. Oakland County in particular is one of the fastest aging places in America. Our growing senior population faces challenges to their ability to age and thrive in place within the homes and communities they know and love. On the County Commission, I will work with experts and community leaders to develop a regional plan to support our growing senior population, and fight for funding to support their needs as well.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?
I am running to improve regional cooperation, create racial, social and economic justice, make Oakland County a leader in innovative government, and address the needs of our aging population and infrastructure. As a social worker, I will also work to transcend the transactional nature of politics, and increase the voice of my neighbors in county governance. These are my unique values and goals.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?
Prior to running for office, I founded an innovative nonprofit called The Pay it Forward Initiative, whose job-training model was adopted by the State of Michigan and provided 3,000 of our neighbors with career-path work. I have also worked internationally as a Community Development Specialist in India and East Africa and served locally on Mayor Mike Duggan’s Economic and Tax Policy team during the City of Detroit’s restructuring and revitalization process. I hope to combine my community development, public finance, and social work expertise on the County Commission.

What steps should state government take to bolster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic for local businesses?
State and local governments need to step up to provide relief to local small businesses if they are to survive this pandemic. For decades, Oakland County has concentrated on giving out sweetheart tax breaks to large corporations to get them to relocate to the county, in exchange for a promise of job creation that never materializes. That method has neither been effective, nor sustainable. We need to embrace a new model of economic and community development heading out of this pandemic; one that emphasizes economic gardening, where we invest in the growth and health of our own local small businesses. This entails providing them with grant funding and access to operating capital, debt relief, PPE and other resources to allow them to safely operate, and assistance with scaling back up operations as our economy starts to re-open. I will work with both my local and state-level partners to get this needed support to our community institutions.

How will you address the calls for racial justice and police reform?
Fighting for racial justice, police reform, and criminal justice reform are some of the main reasons why I chose to run for office, and they will be some of my highest priorities on the County Commission. For too long, our Black and Brown neighbors across my district and the County have borne the brunt of a web of unjust policies and practices at the national, state, and local level. I have also been personally touched by the mass incarceration epidemic, with my father having been sent to jail when I was just a young boy. In order to undo this systemic injustice, I will work with our County Prosecutor and Sheriff to reduce the number of residents we throw in jail for petty offenses, establish the means for effective community police oversight, and end cash-bail for non-violent offenses. With nearly half of our County budget dedicated to the criminal justice system, I will also work to promote more diversion programs, and to remove the corrupting profit incentive from our criminal justice system. In order to further address the racial wealth disparity in our county, I will additionally work to establish County children's saving accounts to set up our most disadvantaged County youth for success later on.

List other issues that define your campaign platform:
In addition to fighting for the needs of our seniors and criminal justice reform, another core priority of mine on the County Commission is supporting the fight to finally achieve effective regional transit solutions. Our region lacks truly effective regional public transit, and it is holding us back. We can no longer afford to keep kicking this can down the road. I will work with my peers and state-level counterparts to support the effort to create and fund a comprehensive regional transit plan once and for all.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?
Our campaign's positions are rooted in our respect for the inherent worth and dignity of all people; even those we disagree with.

This article originally appeared on the Ferndale Patch