FORWARD FOCUS

Rochester Hills Clerk Tina Barton may be running for the Republican spot for Oakland County Clerk in the August primary, but you wouldn’t know it judging from a recent election letter sent out. In it, she makes it clear where her focus is, and who she is targeting, and it isn’t her Republican primary opponent, Patrick Wilson, but incumbent clerk Lisa Brown (D). “Why am I running?” Barton asked. “Current Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown has let us down. I’m sure you recall that in 2018, there were precincts all over Oakland County that ran out of ballots on Election Day. People waited in long lines and some left without voting … We cannot afford another four years of Lisa Brown letting us down.” Barton, an award-winning municipal clerk, ran for the position in 2016, but lost to former county clerk Bill Bullard. While the county is leaning Democratic, by reminding voters of Brown’s election debacle, along with her wide network of bipartisan local support among clerks, could give her the edge up in the general election. As long as Wilson doesn’t get in her way first.