Four Incumbents Pull Petitions for Dearborn City Election

Four incumbent city officials are among the 22 residents who have pulled petitions for the upcoming city council, mayoral and city clerk elections.

As of April 5, Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr., City Clerk Kathy Buda, and council members Mark Shooshanian and Brian O’Donnell are all seeking re-election.

O'Reilly is completing his first full term as Dearborn mayor. He previously spent 17 years on the city council as president, before being appointed mayor when Michael Guido died in 2006. O’Reilly was elected in February 2007 to finish Guido's term. He is being challenged by residents Edward Binkley and Rabih Elkadri.

Buda has also pulled petitions to run for reelection. Buda, a lifelong Dearborn resident, is currently serving her fourth term as city clerk. She could face resident Mark Dawdy in November. Dawdy has yet to return his petitions.

Seventeen residents have pulled petitions for the seven city council seats, including:

• Michael Albano
• Mohamed Berro
• Susan Dabaja
• Maureen McIlrath-Noland
• Colette Richards
• Tarek Baydoun
• Michael Berry
• Robert Bochenek
• Rapheal Coles
• Steven Guibord
• Patrick Melton
• Mike Sareini
• Nicholas Vandenburg
• Ejaz Virk
• Robert Watson

Suzanne Sareini, council president pro tempore announced that she won’t seek re-election. Council President Tom Tafelski and council members Robert Abraham, David Bazzy and Nancy Hubbard also have not pulled petitions.

All petitioners must submit 100 valid signatures by May 14 to the Dearborn City Clerk's office to be considered as official candidates. They may turn in up to 200 signatures, which will then be checked and verified by the clerk's office.

A signature will be considered valid if the signer is a verifiable Dearborn resident who is also registered to vote in Dearborn. Signatures and petition sheets must also meet other criteria, as identified by the State of Michigan.

A primary election will be held if the number of candidates for a particular race is more than double the available seats. So, three people would need to run for clerk, three for mayor, and 15 for city council, to necessitate a primary election.

Otherwise, verified candidates will head straight to a general election on Nov. 5.

All candidates must pull petitions to file to run for office, even if they are already an elected official.