Steve Klein
for Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner
Contact
Basic Info
Running as Republican, but I do not subscribe to any kit of policy positions.
Age 37.
Interested in the long-term public benefit.
Experienced with ecology, local government, and community leadership.
Email humanpriori@gmail.com to request any further details to be added!
More info
Political Beliefs:
In elementary school, I was told by teachers to pick R, D, or third party.
In middle school, I found out on Myspace forums that Libertarians are a thing. Became that.
In recent years, I realized that few people would accept a limited government, and decided to focus on helping run our programs in a high quality manner.
Personality:
Function > Form (I always need help decorating). You could call me utilitarian.
Very cautious, yet high in trait openness.
I like kids and animals. And plants. Only some bugs.
I like to engage with people who are isolated, sometimes. I read Machiavelli in high school and one of his suggestions was to befriend the smaller nations, not the rivals. It has social application, according to my experimentation. Introverts make great friends.
I was raised on Star Trek and my early education included non-fiction books which highlighted the significance of technological advancement in solving human problems. My vision is friendly to technology, therefore. I have experienced resistance to technology (Luddites) in the workplace and I feel that people should NEVER be replaced by tech, they should instead be empowered by it and freed-up to work on something else.
For:
Candid truth
Technology
Kindness
Fiscal sustainability
Native species ecology
Health
Fairness
Planning
Transparency
Against:
Cancel Culture
Bandwagon behavior
Urban Sprawl
Other Things I do:
President and co-founder at Conservation of Waterford Lands, a pioneer 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to protecting ecology in our local municipality. New chapters (one for each city or township) are welcome to come under our 501(c)3 umbrella and use our techniques - after the first new chapter joins, we would change our name to Conservation of Wild Lands - Waterford.
CEO (honorary) at League of Extraordinary Beings, a group of combat veterans whom I have befriended. The league provides mission support services for civilian-side activities (I am not a combat veteran myself) and gather regularly to talk about life and intellectual topics.
Young Professionals Network board member for Waterford Area Chamber of Commerce. We support local businesses run by younger folks.
Tending my yard and learning about the plants and bugs in it. I use the iNaturalist app to catalogue the species.
Expecting my first child due July 4, 2024.
Weightlifting and treadmill at the gym.
Volunteer activities with land conservancies such as Blue Heron and Six Rivers.
Delivering Pizza part-time to pay the bills.
Why I'm Running:
I have a habit of serving needs when they arise if nobody is attending them. The Oakland County GOP had no candidate with just days left before the deadline, and I was requested specifically. I would love to do the job, but am neither running a campaign nor raising/spending money. I expect Mr. Nash, the incumbent, will win this race for a 4th(?) time due to demographics. If the voters ask for a Republican candidate, I'd love to do the job. There is a staff of approximately 370 at the Water Commission, and they presumably do not all need the commissioner present to perform their job, so my first duty would be to learn everything I can, straight from the source. As I am not the incumbent, I do not have enough information to formulate a policy change proposal. It might turn out that I do not end up wanting to change anything. I just can't say right now. I will say that I don't want anyone being fired in the future due to lack of planning, so I will not be adding more staff if it's not sustainable and justified. I will try to use simple technology to expedite all duties and provide granular, accurate data to help us make the best decisions. I will be looking into creating an investment fund, whether managed by the Water Commission or the County, in order to fund future operations off the fund's growth alone, in the distant future. I would create this for all government programs if I could, to reduce the need for taxes. Even a small initial investment would be better than nothing, but it's a great place to put surplus revenue where applicable. This has already been done with COWL, and Norway's sovereign fund is a fine example.