End of an Era: Gerry Corkin’s Service in Perspective
Marquette County saw a lot in his five decades on the county board
The passing of Marquette County Board of Commissioners Chair Gerry Corkin on Thursday marked the end of an era not only for the west side of Marquette County but also in politics. His very first election to the board coincided with Ronald Regan’s landslide in 1984, the same election that was the last time Marquette County voted for a Republican candidate for president and came when the U.P. (and the county) had its most significant pull in Lansing with longtime State Representative Domonic Jacobetti chairing the House Appropriations Committee (that oversees the budget process) and veteran State Senator Joe Mack being a senior member of the same committee on the senate side could get any project the U.P. needed through the legislature and on the desk of fellow Democrat Jim Blanchard and since that time he oversaw a significant change in the way the state, county and individual industries. Some highlights include
-Closing of KI Sawyer Air Force Base: In 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) recommended that the longtime military installation close in 1995. The county still feels the negative impacts almost 30 years later. In its heyday, the base operated as the second-largest city in the Upper Peninsula (12,000). The reliance on those jobs and enhancement of the area provided stability and prosperity for the southern portion of Marquette County. Throughout the middle to late ’90s, after the military left, it changed the region and focus to attract new industries. Over the last three decades, there have been improvements to the area that included making KI the home to the Airport (moving it from Negaunee, which in fact, led to a recall attempt against Corkin and fellow westside commissioner Paul Arsenault). Corkins enthusiasm for the area even led to local officials naming the road that goes into the Airport after him as a tribute for his work on the site.
-The Mining Industry: The county has been blessed to have rich, valuable minerals that have led to one of the biggest companies in the world operating in the county. However, those who have followed the news over the last few years have seen that the price of said minerals going through the peaks and valleys of the stock market has led to Cliffs to speed and slow production, which have led to many employees being laid off with the mines idling which had adverse effects on the local economy. With the Eagle Mine opening up in the earliest part of the last decade, another local battle came to the forefront with new projects trying to extract local resources and locals in the environmental movement opposing the projects vocally and through the new frontier of social media.
-Revenue Sharing/State Legislation: One of the most significant changes that Corkin oversaw was how the state legislature increased the mandates through passed laws but did not supply supplement funding to help ease those initiatives. Through the economy’s ebbs and flows, the state cut back on revenue sharing, which meant the county did not have many discretionary funds and often barely funded current programs. There was also no interest in raising current mileage from residents, which usually meant the commission was put between a rock and a hard place to make the budget work. The county not only had essential government services (road commission, law enforcement, human services, and an airport, to name a few) but also had to cut programs to make ends meet. The county, as a whole, also had to play an adversarial role in legislative battles. The two that come to mind the most are the mining severance tax from the Eagle Mine project that finally passed in the lame duck session of 2012 and the continued issues of the significant box stores taking advantage to have a reduction in their taxes, which was another loss of revenue for the county. Any time a piece of legislation was introduced that would burden the county with another unfunded mandate, every U.P. legislator could bet their campaign funds that a resolution was en route from the Marquette County Board explaining the hindrance it would cause the county.
Overall, Corkin has seen a lot over his years of service, and his personal papers could rival federal legislators to put his service in perspective he worked with
-5 Governors (Jim Blanchard, John Engler, Jennifer Granholm, Rick Snyder and Gretchen Whitmer)
-4 Congressman (Bob Davis, Bart Stupak, Dan Benishek, and Jack Bergman)
-5 State Senators (Joe Mack, Don Koivisto, Mike Prusi, Tom Casperson, and Ed McBroom
-7 State Representatives (Dominic Jacobetti, Mike Prusi, Steve Adamini, Steve Lindberg, John Kivela, Sara Cambensy, and Jenn Hill
If his replacement serves as long as he did they would be serving going into the 2060. It truly is the end of an era.
