He’s Acted Locally. Now He’s Thinking Nationally

Eugene Jorissen taught junior high school social studies all his first professional life. Then he retired.

For his second career, he decided to be part of what he had taught. He accepted an appointment to fill a term as supervisor of Pere Marquette Township in Michigan and be a member of the township board. When the term expired, he was elected. That was 12 years ago, and he’s been re-elected ever since.

Living civics is a lot different than teaching it, Jorissen says, because the nuts and bolts of zoning issues or road repairs rarely make it into textbooks. “There is so much emphasis in books on national government, and they don’t do a lot on local government,” he says. “I didn’t see as much on local government in the classroom.”

Jorissen is a bedrock Republican, believing in the conservative concepts of lower taxes and less government, particularly at the national level. But it’s at the local level where citizens can more easily influence their leaders, he says. “I would defy many people in Mason County to talk to the president, but there have been a lot of people in Mason County who talked to me,” says Jorissen, who with his wife, Carolyn, has two grown daughters and five grandchildren.

There are 15 townships and 29,074 people in Mason County, about 250 miles northeast of Chicago along Lake Michigan. Pere Marquette, which means “Father Marquette” and is named for the French explorer, surrounds the small city of Ludington.

A township supervisor is the equivalent of a mayor or city manager, Jorissen says, and the seven-member board does “everything a city does—water, sewer, assessors, inspectors, zoning.”

More than textbooks and knowledge propelled Jorissen into politics. His father was elected county clerk in the 1960s and served for more than a decade. “He worked hard to be elected—he was not expected to win and he did,” Jorissen says. “He was an inspiration.”

Jorissen’s political position has allowed him to meet what he calls “famous” people and to travel a bit. He met William Milliken at a “nice party” at the former Michigan governor’s home in Traverse City. During Milliken’s years in office, from 1969 to 1982, he was known for his civility and support for the environment, sentiments that Jorissen admires.

He also met John McCain, when the U.S. senator from Arizona visited a nearby Kent County Lincoln Day dinner in 2005. “I shook his hand,” Jorissen says. “He will never remember me, but it was the closest I’ve ever come to meeting a presidential candidate, let alone the president himself.”

Earlier this year Jorissen initially liked Fred Thompson as the Republican presidential candidate. Now Jorissen’s firmly in McCain’s camp. He’s the only one on his block displaying a McCain sign in his yard, at least so far.

Although Jorissen’s had plenty of experience in politics, this will be his first national convention. Jorissen allowed himself to be nominated at the state party convention this year as an unpledged alternate delegate. His selection is a nod to his background, party service as a former chairman of the Mason County Republicans, county commissioner and his unsuccessful candidacy for state representative.

“It didn’t take a lot to say, ‘Boy, I should do this,’ ” he says.

He’s looking forward to seeing this big, national convention in St. Paul and comparing it with his experience with state conventions, sort of like adding a chapter in his personal social studies textbook.

Elaine S. Povich is a freelance writer who covers politics.