A millennial generation member is about to reach the top spot on Macomb County's Board of Commissioners.
David Flynn, first elected at age 20 while studying political science at Michigan State, is in position to become the board's youngest chairman ever Thursday evening. He'll also be the region's youngest elected leader.
The 27-year-old from Sterling Heights is one of nine Democrats on the 13-member board, which Chad Selweski of The Macomb Daily says makes him a shoo-in.
Flynn is expected to win the support of all his Democratic colleagues. Chairwoman Kathy Vosburg, a Chesterfield Township Republican, is not expected to put her name into nomination for re-election. . . .
Flynn’s election would end a uniquely Macomb County situation in which the outgoing board, despite a 7-6 edge for Democrats, was led by a GOP chair.
Older generations head Metro Detroit's other county commissions.
Gary Woronchak of Dearborn, 57, chairs Wayne's board. (He graduated from Edsel Ford High 12 years before Flynn's birth.) Michael Gingell, a 41-year-old corporate executive from Lake Orion, has the top spot on Oakland's commission.
Flynn, a graduate of Sterling Heights High and MSU, was elected in 2006 and is in his third term. He's an outspoken critic of County Executive Mark Hackel, the local reporter notes.
Flynn is the son of longtime Michigan Education Association official Rick Flynn, former president and now executive director of MEA Local 1, the union which represents most Macomb County teachers.
"In terms of being taken seriously, or my age, I didn't see any problem from the board at all," he told Chad Halcom of Crain's Detroit Business in 2010 as one of the magazine's "20 Under 20" young achiever honorees.
The young politician has worked in the offices of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and State Sen. Michael Switalski, D-Roseville, and is a former intern at the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development.
-- A.S.
