This Hansen Clarke is one interesting dude. (MI-13)

[Clio the Leo]

Clarke claims Democratic nomination in 13th district

LANSING, MI (MPRN) - State Senator Hansen Clarke won his bid to unseat Detroit Congresswoman Caroline Cheeks Kilpatrick. In a speech to claim the Democratic nomination, Clarke said he not only faced down a veteran member of Congress, but the political culture of Detroit.

"You and I know that for decades, people have run for office in this city to serve themselves, their family members and their friends, and not the people who pay the taxes," Clarke said, "That has come to an end!"


The 13th Congressional District is decisively Democratic and the primary essentially decides the race.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1683977/Top.Stories/Clarke.claims.Democratic.nomination.in.13th.district.

Hansen Clarke was born in Detroit, Michigan to a Bangladeshi father<5> Mozaffar Ali Hashem and an African American mother Thelma. He grew up in the city's lower east side. His father died when he was a child and his mother had to work as a crossing guard to try to make ends meet.

In third grade, Thelma Clarke received a grant from the Detroit Institute of Arts to pay for his further education. He attended Cass Technical High School, and then was admitted to a prestigious east-coast prep school to complete his high school.<4>

Clarke studied at Cornell University, graduating with a degree in fine arts. While at the university, he became interested in politics. He was elected to the student seat on the Cornell University Board of Trustees and was a member of the Quill and Dagger society.

After his time at Cornell, Hansen Clarke decided to pursue a career in law. He was accepted into Georgetown Law School where he graduated in 1987 with a Juris Doctor.<4> He is married to Choi Palms-Cohen.



Hansen Clarke worked as chief of staff to U.S. Representative John Conyers, as well as in Wayne County during the administration of Edward McNamara (politician).
Clarke was first elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives in 1990 and served one term before being defeated in the Democratic primary in 1992 by Joe Young Jr. In 1998 and 2000, Clarke was re-elected to the Michigan House.

Hansen Clarke was then elected to the Michigan Senate in 2002, defeating incumbent Senator Ray Murphy. After an unsuccessful mayoral bid in 2005, Senator Clarke was re-elected to his seat in the Senate in 2006. Since his re-election, Senator Clarke has made it his mission to cut auto insurance rates by 20%. In addition to introducing legislation, Senator Clarke has toured the state promoting insurance reform

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansen_Clarke

Fighting the power: Hansen Clarke vs. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick

Thirty years ago, there was hope Detroit was poised for a comeback. The population had fallen, but at 1,203,339 people, we were still the nation's sixth largest city. Times were tough, but there was hope. Chrysler had loan guarantees from the government and was about to introduce the K-car, the vehicle on which the corporation was pinning hopes for survival.

<snip>

Virtually nobody had ever heard of freshman state legislator Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, or her 10-year-old son Kwame, who even then had decided he was going to be mayor of Detroit. Fewer still had heard of Hansen Clarke, 23, who had wanted to be an artist, but then, confused, dropped out of college after his parents died. Later, he'd go back to graduate with high honors from Cornell, and then Georgetown law school.

Thirty years later, the once-little boy is in prison; his mother is in Congress; and Hansen Clarke, now a state senator, has a good chance of taking her seat in the Aug. 3 Democratic primary less than two weeks from now. Detroit's battered citizens should hope he wins.

<snip>

Clarke says he's running because it's the best way he can think of to do something to help one of the nation's poorest districts, and to push his signature issues, which include delaying foreclosures and reforming the auto insurers and banks to limit discrimination against the poor.

Personally, he is more intriguing than the average pol. For one thing, he and his wife are a rainbow coalition in themselves, people for whom there are no simple and easy boxes on the census form.

Hansen had a Muslim father from Bangladesh and a mother who grew up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Detroit. Hansen was raised Muslim, then converted to Roman Catholicism.

His wife, Choi Palmer-Cohen, was born in South Korea and was adopted by a Catholic mother and a Jewish father. What is she today? By day, a staffer at the Center for Continuing Legal Education in Ann Arbor. When she gets the chance, however, she's an impressive jazz singer, belting out Ella Fitzgerald tunes. Clarke is an artist himself, executing, in his spare time, hauntingly impressionistic oils.

These days, however, neither of them have spare time. They are working energetically to beat Kilpatrick on Aug. 3.

<snip>

He knows it isn't a sure thing; the four lesser-known candidates on the ballot will help drain the anti-CCK vote. But money is coming in now; he has ads on the air.

When he got into the race, one friend was horrified, saying, "Hansen, why are you doing this? She has so much power!" Clarke laughed. He'd gone from food stamps to Georgetown law. He knew about impossible dreams, and he knew something else too.

"Politicians don't have the power. People do."

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/jack-lessenberry/30211/fighting-the-power-hansen-clarke-vs-carolyn-cheeks-kilpatrick

Sen. Hansen Clarke donates hair to Children with Hairloss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeyuHwH_1J4

Hansen Clarke Trip To Beanibazar Sylhet Bangladesh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDSeF3YyOvY

[babylonsister]

1. Thank you, Clio! I would never have known anything about

him if it weren't for you. Interesting indeed.

[pruple]

2. K&R

I was glad to see Cheeks Kilpatrick defeated, but I didn't know much about her opponent. He sounds like he'll be a big improvement. Interesting guy.

[vaberella]

3. Thanks for this Clio. In another thread I was asking about him. n/t