Partisan control at stake in Court race

Taylor and fellow Republicans looking to obtain majority status on state Supreme Court

With 66 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Clifford Taylor was leading the race for a partial with 53 percent. A Democrat and a Republican were holding the top two spots for two full-length, eight-year terms. That would give the majority status to the Republicans.

Taylor was appointed to the state Supreme Court last year by Gov. John Engler. His opponent, Wayne County Circuit Judge Carole Youngblood, had 47 percent in the late returns.

Two-term incumbent Democrat Michael Cavanagh led the race for the full-term judgeships with 33 percent, with 66 percent of the precincts reporting. Behind him was Republican Maura Corrigan with 25 percent, followed by Democrat Susan Borman at 21 percent.

Borman is a Wayne County circuit judge, and Corrigan is the chief judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Republican nominee Wayne Circuit Judge Jeffrey Collins had 11 percent in the early returns. Libertarian David Raaflaub, independent Jerry Kaufman and Matthew Abel - nominated by the Reform Party - trailed.

Supreme Court races are officially not partisan; party affiliations don't appear on the ballot. But candidates are nominated at party conventions, and both parties say the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court is crucial.

Before the election, Democrats had a 4-3 majority. Terms of two Democratic judges were expiring and state law required appointed Taylor to run for a seat, meaning the election would decide the court's political makeup.

Democrat Patricia Boyle, serving on the state Supreme Court since 1983, did not run again.

In 1996, Republicans and Democrats had three seats each. Independent Charles Levin, who retired Dec. 31, 1996, held the seventh seat. The political makeup of the court has been fairly even for most of the 1990s and the latter half of the 1980s.

Among the dozen candidates for the nonpartisan judgeships on the Michigan Court of Appeals, incumbents Myron Wahls and Helene White were leading in races for two 1st District full-term seats with 58 percent of precincts reporting.

Wahls and White both had 35 percent of the late returns. Helen Brown followed with 18 percent, and Daniel Ryan had 12 percent.

With 58 percent of precincts reporting, Michael Talbot, appointed by Engler this year, had 60 percent in the race to complete the unexpired term of retired 1st District Judge Maureen Reilly. Opposing him was attorney J. Vincent Brennan, who had 40 percent.

In District 2, incumbent Martin Doctoroff had 51 percent of votes with 44 percent of precincts counted. His opponent, Pamela Gilbert O'Sullivan, a Macomb County probate judge, had 49 percent of returns.

11-04-98