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Campaign News
The Morning Sun: Three to seek Gratiot
judgeship
By LINDA GITTLEMAN
Gratiot Managing Editor
February 1, 2008
With the announcement
of Gratiot County District Court Judge James Mackie's retirement, three
local lawyers so far have thrown their hats into the ring.
Nancy Gallagher, Stewart McDonald and
Eric St. Onge are all hoping voters will pick them when they go to the
polls for the August primary.
The top two vote getters will face off
in the November presidential election.
Gallagher and McDonald, both former
mayors of Alma, grew up in Alma, while St. Onge is a native of Mackinac
Island who now lives in St. Louis.
Chairman of the Gratiot Republican
Party, St. Onge said he was resigning his position and would
"officially" announce his candidacy in late February.
...
After attending Michigan State
University, St. Onge, 37, earned his law degree at the University of
Arkansas.
It's his eighth year living in the
county with his wife Jill and two kids ages 18 months and 5 years, St.
Onge has been practicing law for 11 years. A civil litigator defending
hospitals, physicians and health care providers, he's a partner in the
law firm of Kitch, Drutches, Wagner, Valitutti and Shrebrook in Lansing.
The firm has seven offices throughout the state.
He's a member of the Gratiot Historical
Society, the St. Louis Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, the
Farm Bureau and the Gratiot Grange. He's also lived in Europe for a
year.
"I've had tremendous courtroom
experience," he said, "and complex litigation. I don't think anyone can
touch me with experience in court. I've been in every court in the state
and in 35 other states. Over the last decade I have cross examined well
over 1,500 witnesses.
"I moved here because the people in
Gratiot County have the greatest values in the state. I'm going to bring
those values to the court." |
