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This Will Not Be Quietly Swept Under The Rug

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Mar 05, 2012 at 11:23:00 PM EST
Tags: "DELE-GATE", Bobby Schostak, Sharon Wise, Saul Anuzis, Holly Hughes, Eric Doster, Mike Cox, Bill Runco, MIGOP Credentials Committee, backroom shenanigans, disingenuous hypocrisy, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, primary process, delegate math, ex post facto rules changes, memory holes, conflicting memorandums, MIGOP Party Leadership, MIGOP Paid Staff, MIGOP District Chairs, MIGOP State Committee (all tags)

Last week, the Michigan "Dele-Gate" Fiasco was a big deal. A whole bunch of media outlets, both in-state and nationally, had something to say about it. Tony Roza over at The Green Papers is also keeping track of this mess, though for now he has the official delegate count consistent with last week's backroom banditry. But funny things tend to happen over the weekend with media stories. If there isn't someone actually pushing the narrative, then the story tends to die off. And when someone who's actively involved in burying the truth is controlling the narrative . . . well, that's probably cause for concern.

Rather than address that map just above the fold, I'm going to start out by providing a sample of some of the media coverage generated by what we're now referring to as Michigan "Dele-Gate":

Detroit News (February 29 and March 02)
Detroit Free Press (March 01)
San Jose Mercury News (March 01)
Red State (March 01)
Washington Post (March 01)
The Hill (March 01)
The Ticket via Yahoo! News (March 01)
U. S. News (March 01)
MSNBC (March 01)
CNN Politics (March 01)
FOX News (March 01, March 01, and March 03)
Grand Rapids Press (March 02)
Seattle Times (March 02)
KSAZ FOX-10 Phoenix (March 02)
The Weekly Standard (March 03)

Quite a bit of exposure, I think. But to look at the media coverage today, the only thing that we should be paying attention to is what's coming up today. We should note that Mitt's win in the non-binding Washington Caucus gives him badly needed momentum headed into Super Tuesday, where 10 states are on the line. We should pay attention to what the republican candidates' schedules are in states where they're trying to get out the vote. We should note that President Obama was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (because Barry's got Israel's back, don't you know). Oh, and the Boston Massacre happened today in history, 242 years ago.

But the backroom banditry pulled off by Bobby Schostak (who's praying we forget about this interview), Sharon Wise (who's on the Dave Camp payroll by virtue of running his constituent contact office in Traverse City), Bill Runco (who seems to have some interesting legal troubles and potential grudge issues), and Saul Anuzis (of whom a mere overview should suffice) to retroactively rewrite the delegate allocation rules, because they apparently didn't care for the result produced by the rules, and the beyond disingenuous hypocrisy that's been spun from MIGOP's headquarters to "explain" the reason for the change, including arranging for Matt Frendewey (MIGOP Director of Communications) to fall on his sword, about that . . . crickets are a-chirpin' . . . unless you're paying attention to Interlochen Public Radio or pro-lefty Electablog.

The way that the Romney supporters in Michigan would have us take it, this whole fuss-and-fluff over one measly delegate isn't worth the hassle. Looking at the map back up at the beginning of this article, the clear narrative is that Mittens is on a roll, and if he can do well through Super Tuesday, then all he needs to do is clear the field and we can crown him . . . so that we can get busy with the general campaign.

Except that this isn't over just one measly delegate. Consider this:

Attempted precinct hijacking in Iowa
Ignoring the delegate allocation rules in Florida
Credible allegations of ballot box fraud in Nevada
Attempted precinct hijacking in Maine
Ignoring the delegate allocation rules in Arizona
After-the-fact rewriting of the delegate allocation rules in Michigan
Last-minute rewriting of the ballot access rules in Virginia (Oh, you didn't hear about that? Big stink in the Old Dominion.)

In each case, these shenanigans benefitted one candidate, and one candidate only . . . Willard Mitt Romney. Evidently, the establishment bluebloods are more than concerned that the coronation train for the heir-apparent is going to get derailed. That some Romney family members are now on the stump for Ron Paul probably isn't helping their indigestion any.

I've been hearing from a few MIGOP State Committee members that I'm connected to that some members of the MIGOP paid staff have spent some time on the party's dime last weekend contacting state committee members, district chairs, and county chairs. The intent, I'm told, is that state party is attempting to circle the wagons in order to protect Anuzis (who has to stand for re-election at the May state convention) and Schostak (who may face a no-confidence vote at the same convention). Hmm, methinks they're just a tad worried.

I think that we would do ourselves well to start calling our way through the 2011 Michigan Republican Party Directory (party officers start on page 3, state committee members start on page 10, and county chairs start on page 25) and make sure that they hear loud and clear our opinions about this mess, and that it the delegate allocation decision ought to be revisited.

Hell, I think that might even be worth setting up our own robo-call (here, here, or maybe here).