Former Grand Haven man seeks U.S. Senate seat
Sat, Feb 6, 2010 
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BY MARK BROOKY
mbrooky@grandhaventribune.com
A former Grand Haven man is campaigning for the U.S. Senate on a shoestring.
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"I'm going into this with no money, no fortune and no friends in Congress," said Raymond O'Donnell, 67.
O'Donnell, who lives on a Van Buren County Christmas tree farm with his wife of nearly 50 years, Barbra, will make a brief speaking engagement at the VFW Post in downtown Grand Haven at 1 p.m. today.
O'Donnell said he plans to run as an independent for the Senate seat held the past nine years by Democrat Debbie Stabenow.
"I wouldn't go any other way, and I refuse to take anything from either the Republicans or the Democrats," he said. "I only want to be accountable to the voters and not any party."
The Lawton man says political parties and elected officials are not working for American citizens. He said the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "devastated our state" — and he's concerned that the federal government is now handing out too much money for education and to academia, and not balancing it out by helping small businesses to create much-needed jobs.
"They're not listening to us," he said. "... What we need are jobs."
O'Donnell lived in Grand Haven for five years in a house across the street from what is now the Boyden House Bed & Breakfast, when he took a job in Muskegon in 1979. He was hired by an air defense equipment manufacturer in Kalamazoo in 1984, and the O'Donnell family moved to that area at that time.
Raymond and Barbra raised eight children, now ages 24-45; and they have 19 grandchildren. O'Donnell was in the U.S. Army for seven years, earned a fine arts degree at the University of Cincinnati, and worked in manufacturing and construction for 40 years.
Late last year, O'Donnell said he began watching television news again after a 35-year hiatus. That's when he realized federal and state lawmakers were disregarding the U.S. and state constitutions, he said, and he became passionate about politics again.
While he's never sought an elected office before, O'Donnell says he prayed about it and was given "a clear vision" that he should seek a seat in the U.S. Senate.
"That vision has become clearer and clearer ever since," he said.
However, O'Donnell has about 200 of the 30,000 signatures he needs to get on the November 2012 ballot in Michigan as an independent candidate. But with nearly three years to go before that election, O'Donnell says time is on his side, as he can run a simple door-to-door and speaking engagement campaign.
"It's going to be a challenge all the way," he said.
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