My name is Tom Berry and I am in the third year, of my first four year term, as Council person in the City of Dearborn Heights Michigan. 1. Why did I decide to run for public office a. I was at a point in my life where I was happy with my job and was looking for a hobby. I decided with my business experience, I could be an asset in the city I live. 2. Where do you file to run a. You must first decide what position you want to run for, then go the City Clerks office and ‘pull a petition’ or ‘file to run’ 3. How do you run for office? a. Much like any business, you need to target your audience, your voters, not necessarily all citizens because every citizens does not vote. There is a registry called the ‘Grubner List” that lists every voter in each district in your city. Knowing who those voters are, you walk those districts and knock on their doors, hand-out a piece of literature about yourself and ask for their support. 4. How much does a campaign cost? a. It really depends whether you run a primary before the general election. You need to determine how many times you want to mail literature, how much literature and what you want to hand-out while walking. Generally speaking, in my campaign, my city is very small, it cost me $20,000.00. 5. Where did you get the money to do it? a. I had a fund raiser. I reserved a local hall, printed tickets and asked people to attend the event. 6. What sort of things do you do as a Councilperson? a. As a Councilperson I am primarily responsible for the budget of the city. We review each department’s budget and approve, amend or deny department budget requests. 7. How long do you stay in office? a. The length of each term is four years and there is no limit on the number of terms you can run. 8. What are your future plans in politics? a. I hope one day I can become the Mayor of my city. I believe this could happen in eight to ten years. 1. 1. WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS THAT ARE FACING DEAR-BORN HEIGHTS NOW? - FORTUNATELY, WE ARE NOT IN DEFECT MODE BUT OUR GREATEST CONCERN IS THE HOUSING CRISIS. WE NEED TO MARKET OURSELVES AND FILL THE EMPTY HOMES. 2. 2. HOW IS U HELPING IN SOLVING THESE PROBLEMS? THERE IS NOTHING I INDEPENDENTLY CAN DO OTHER THAN CONTINUE TO PAINT A GOOD IMAGE OF THE CITY. 3. 3. WHAT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TOWARDS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS? THE REPUBLICANS HAVE COMPLETED THEIR ASSIGNMENT AND HAVE TAKEN US CLOSER TO A TWO TIER