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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Charles H. Kimmerle |
| Address |
Lagrange Township, Michigan , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
June 12, 1859
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| Died | October 27, 1950
(91 years)
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| Contributor | ... |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Dec 05, 2015 09:48pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Charles H. Kimmerle is one of the leading representatives of Democracy in Michigan, and his invested interests are so extensive and important as to render him a leading business man of Cass county. Moreover he deals to some extent in real estate, but finds that his time is largely occupied by the supervision of his property. He has long been recognized as a prominent representative of the Democracy in his county and moreover has a very extensive and favorable acquaintance among the leaders of the party in the state. For many years he has been known for his sterling qualities, his fearless loyalty to his honest convictions, his sturdy opposition to misrule in municipal and state affairs and his clear-headedness, discretion and tact as manager and leader.
Mr. Kimmerle is a native of Lagrange township, his life record having begun on the 12th of June, 1860, upon his father's farm. He is a son of Henry and Mary. J. (Hain) Kimmerle and had two sisters. His public school course was supplemented by study in the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso, and thus well equipped he entered upon his business career. His father was one of the early California fortune seekers and, unlike many others, he met with splendid success in his efforts to achieve financial independence on the Pacific coast. At the time of his death in February, 1905, he was one of the wealthiest men in Cass county. Although Charles H. Kimmerle has inherited large property interests, such a condition of affairs has never fostered idleness with him, and, on the contrary, he is a busy man, his time being fully occupied with his private or public interests.
Happy in his home life, Mr. Kimmerle was married in 1882 to Miss Ella Dunning, and they have five children, three son and two daughters.
From early manhood Mr. Kimmerle has been a student of the complex political problems before the people, and as an advocate of the Democracy is well known in Michigan. He has been honored with the candidacy of his party on various occasions, receiving the nomination for county clerk in 1880, for judge of probate in 1888 and for the state legislature in 1902, the strong Republican majorities, however, rendering election impossible. He has been a delegate to two national conventions of the Democratic party, 1884 and 1900. In local affairs, where party lines are not so strongly drawn, he has been a factor, serving for twenty-one years as supervisor of Lagrange township, while for the last fifteen years he has represented Cass county at the state equalization at Lansing. For years he has served as chairman of the county central committee and also as a member of the state central committee, and has thus been the associate and co-laborer of the most distinguished representatives of Democracy in Michigan.
Perhaps Mr. Kimmerle's most notable work has been in connection with his efforts to suppress unjust assessment. In 1903 the state tax commissioners came to Cass county and raised the valuation of real property in every assessing district from seventeen to sixty-five percent. Mr. Kimmerle questioned their authority to do so and for a long time refused to surrender his assessment roll to them. They, however, finally succeeded, Mr. Kimmerle claiming that the commissioners made two per cent on all real property assessments. The matter was taken into court and Mr. Kimmerle, with the other seventeen assessing officers, were enjoined from using the state tax commissioners' valuations in apportioning the tax, but directed to use the figures adopted by the supervisors and board of review. The next year the state tax commission called on Mr. Kimmerle and asked him to make a general raise in the values. This he refused to do at their dictation, and because of this refusal the commission, through Governor Warner, cited him to appear and show cause why he should not be removed from office for wilfully undervaluing property. They also charged him with favoritism in making assessments. Between forty and fifty witnesses were called by the prosecution and examined. The commissioner designated by the governor to take the testimony reported that the prosecution had failed to make out a case.
Before the governor acted on the report Mr Kimmerle was elected for another term by an almost unanimous vote. The result of his opposition to the state authorities led to the repeal of some objectionable features of the law creating the commission and two of the commissioners who were so acting were legislated out of office. Mr. Kimmerle is president of the state Supervisors' Association, composed of not less than sixteen hundred assessing officers. He is at this writing (September, 1906), the Democratic nominee for the office of governor, and has warm endorsement in various sections of the state. He is a man with an eye to practical results and not glittering generalities. It will be observed that his turn of mind is eminently judicial and free from the bias of animosity. Strong and positive in his Democracy, his party fealty is not grounded on partisan prejudice and he enjoys the respect and confidence of all his associates irrespective of party. Of the great issues which divide the two great parties, with their roots extending down to the very bed rock of the foundation of the republic, he has the true statesman's grasp. Well grounded in the political maxims of the schools, he has also studied the lessons of actual life, arriving at his conclusions as a result of what may be called his post-graduate studies in the school of affairs. Such men, whether in office or out, are the natural leaders of whichever party they may be identified with, especially in that movement toward higher politics which is common to both parties and which constitutes the most hopeful political sign of the period. [Link]
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