Understanding the 19th district court primary election
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| Osama Siblani, Abbie Bazzi's image in the background |
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| Susan Dabaja celebrating her primary victory |
Understanding
the 19th district court primary election
A
milestone or just another community drama that shall pass?*
Judicial elections are usually low key events. Due to
the nature of the position itself and the fact that the race is nonpartisan,
one does not see the drama and negativity experienced in other races. The 19th
district court primary race of 2016 will be remembered for the drama that
unfolded in Arab Dearborn.
It was not the Arab American community, as would
usually happen, being attacked by outsiders. It was a divided community
exchanging accusations. But when all is said and done, what is truly remarkable
is that a longtime activist, Osama Siblani, and his paper the Arab American
News/Sada al Watan, were at the very center of the drama and the object of
derision and anger. To understand what happened, I spoke with a number of Arab
Americans who are familiar with Dearborn politics to get their insights into
what happened. Most of the interviews
were held before the primary election day.
Interview # 1:
-What do you think happened?
It is Osama Siblani and his paper. Had it not been for
Osama, it would have remained a simple contest where you would expect some
tensions between the Bazzis and their supporters and the Dabaja family and
their supporters. Just like in the old country. Because of Osama and his paper
things went out of hand. And, by the way, both Bazzi and Dabaj are wonderful
women. It is the men, especially Siblani, that made this into the mess it is.
The two candidates were above it and out of the dirty games played.
-What was the issue? Susan Dabaja wants to run for
judge and Osama and his Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC), a
group perceived as a collection of Osama’s buddies who rubber stamp Osama’s
wishes, wanted Bazzi. They told Dabaja to get out of the race, she did not.
Then the smearing campaign began. And Osama used his paper, a paper that is
supposedly a community paper, to spread the rumors questioning her “fitness”
for office. Dabaja was a top law student, is a well-respected attorney and is
the city council president. Osama himself supported her when she ran for city
council. People saw hypocrisy and they were angry with Osama for trying to
destroy the very same person he had promoted not too long ago. It was seen as
dictatorial, immoral and unethical.
- How did people in the community react to Osama’s campaign?
The Bazzi family want to vote for someone from their family which is
understandable. It is the Dabaja family that was upset that Osama is playing a key
role in spreading a nasty campaign that would have been very limited had he not
used his paper to magnify the effect.
- Why was Dabaja’s husband dragged into the fight?
Dabaja’s husband made a mistake and he paid for it. Susan is not his mother. It
is sexist to hold a woman accountable for the past actions of her husband.
Susan is not a weak candidate because of her husband. She is a young smart Arab
American woman who aspired to be a judge, which is her right. The attack campaign was unjustified. Had it
not been for Osama and his paper, there would be community tensions but not the
ugliness that was there for all to see.
- What was Dabaja’s husband issue? At one time, many
in the community thought it would be smart and a quick way to make money to bring
tobacco from low tobacco tax states to Michigan which is a high tax state and pocket
the difference in price. They were
discovered and paid a price. Many of them took plea bargains to avoid prison.
Some left the country. It is believed that the reason we have so many
informants in the community is due to that period with some defendants agreeing
to become informants in return for a plea. As to Dabaja’s husband, it is
believed that he made a mistake and paid for it. Had he become an informant,
probably he would have gotten a better deal and not gone to prison. Contrary to
Osama and his paper attacking Bazzi’s husband for his mistake, in fact many in
the community respect him for facing the consequences of his actions rather than
becoming an informant.
- How do you think this incident would affect Osama
and his paper? I don’t think people will forget. I think it is time for Osama
to retire. He calls himself the “dean”
of the Arab community. There is a new generation that does not accept Middle
Eastern style dictatorship.
-Why have people’s wrath centered on Osama and his
paper? People are just fed up with Osama using his paper as the National
Inquirer. People are sick of that. His years of activism have gotten to his
head. He thinks he is “the community,” that he “made” the community. There were
also those nasty robo calls. And we all know that Tarek Beydoun is the one in
the community who knows how to do that. And Tarek is in Osama’s clique. This is
the talk you hear in Dearborn.
Interview # 2
-What do you think of the 19th district elections?
I am not involved in Dearborn politics and have no agenda. The three candidates
are good.
- Why do you think it was heated? You have a person
who is deeply involved in politics and is the publisher of a paper. I don’t
think you can be the publisher of a newspaper that claims to represent a whole
community and routinely use this paper to take sides dividing the community. In
addition, you use this paper to settle scores. What kind of community paper is
that?
-Are there long term consequences to what happened in
the primary? Osama has done this over and over again. People forget. I am not
sure this time it will be different.
Interview # 3
-What do you think of the primary election? This
primary election is important for the community. We need to go beyond
sectarianism. Dabaja is the candidate that is appealing to all segments of the
community- all sects and all national groups. Bazzi is a great person but she
was “burnt” by Osama Siblani and his clique. Osama is really disliked by many
Sunnis and many of those who are not Lebanese. They believe he has evolved into
a parochial Shiite Lebanese activist and they reject him. The fact that he, in
effect, took ownership of the Bazzi nomination, hurt Bazzi with those who are
not Shiites and/or not Lebanese.
-But both candidates are Shiites, Lebanese and are
from families that are from Bint Jbail? Yes, and both are great women and great
lawyers. It is a question of who is supporting whom. Due to who is pushing the
candidacy, Dabaja is the whole community candidate and Bazzi, due to no fault
of her own, became the “Osama candidate.” And Osama is seen by many as a
divisive figure. Osama hurt Bazzi’s chances.
Interview # 4
-How do you see the 19th district primary
election? Bottom line is that you have the Shiites divided between Bazzi and
Dabaja. And the Sunnis solidly behind Dabaja because they don’t like Osama and
his politics which they see as Lebanese sectarian and divisive. Osama hurt
Bazzi’s chances.
-Who has better chances, Bazzi or Dabaja? Dabaja
does. She will benefit from what I call
the “sympathy vote.” Osama and his paper have wronged her and there will be
people voting for her because of the unfairness and nastiness she faced.
* Article will appear in the Forum and Link of 8/11/2016. www.forumandlink.com
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