Tag: Terri Lynn Land (page 2)

This meant that, for the two months between Election Day and Inauguration Day, a rule-of-empathy majority still existed on Michigan's State Supreme Court.  And just like the legislature, the high priesthood of creative interpretation held a lame-duck session, in which they've managed to come up with a way to screw us all.

It's no secret in Republican circles that term-limited Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is running for chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.

The secret may be her real reason. Apparently, Land sees her next career move as a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2012 against Debbie Stabenow. Land's aspirations are widely known though her electoral successes have been less than successful. She's won statewide twice but she's also lost quite a few races. She ran for the Legislature in the past, tried running for governor and then dropped out before ultimately running for lieutenant governor in the August GOP primary as Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard's running mate.

Land's a consummate politician; she's been active on the campaign trail since the unsuccessful primary with Bouchard.

By becoming chairman, she would have a statewide soapbox to keep her name out there and generate publicity before fully committing to a Senate campaign in late 2011 or early 2012. The chairmanship would also allow her to clear the field of potential challengers.

I've been following the recent conversation here about the straw poll on Mackinac Island I'm not sure I understand how people can be upset about Rick Snyder bringing volunteers to the island.  I'm a MSU Republican who heard from several campaigns that were trying to recruit me to come to the island and offered to pay for my lodging and other expenses in exchange for voting for them.  A friend of mine sent me exactly what Cox's campaign was going to pay for which you can clearly see here.  I also picked up this letter from Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land asking for contributions to a fund that was paying for volunteers to go up to the island.  I'm sure that voting for Bouchard was a part of their requirements.  So it's clear that Rick wasn't the only candidate paying for volunteers to attend.

And as to the video, the person who was interviewed actually did an interview with Michigan Public Radio Network that explained exactly why he was supporting Rick - because of his background in business - on the island and he posted this response.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1559408/Michigan.News/Michigan. GOP.Looks.to.2010

By the way, It'll be interesting to see if Right Michigan moves something that shows Cox and Bouchard were trying to buy the poll too to the front page or if they're only trying to go after Rick's campaign.  From my perspective, Rick's campaign did nothing differently than the other campaigns other than recruit more supporters and run a more effective operation.

Read these materials from the other campaigns, and decide for yourself if the pots are calling the kettle black.

Click here to download the letter Mike Cox sent out to his supporters. Click Here to download the letter Terri Lynn Land sent out to her supporters. View them as images beneath the cut.

This in from Joanne Voorhees, Chair of the Kent County Republican Committee (KCRC).  Those of you in West Michigan (or within driving range of Grand Rapids in any event) who would like to have a chance to meet the Republican candidates for the 2010 Michigan Gubernatorial Election are cordially and enthusiastically invited.

County Chair Joanne Voorhees called the meeting to order at 6:01 PM.  The first order of business, approving the January meeting's minutes, was dispatched quickly and with the committee's usual efficiency.  Chairwoman Voorhees recognized all of the elected officials in attendance and then gave the floor to Terri Lynn Land, the current Secretary of State and 2010 gubernatorial candidate.

Secretary Land stated that she is a fiscal conservative, and will run on a platform of fiscal responsibility and limited, more responsive government.  She pointed out that she has been practicing these principles in her current position by reducing her department's staff only through attrition and consolidating services statewide (closing unnecessary offices in the process).  Her stated goal is to have every single SOS branch office completely modernized by the end of her current term.  While there is no one "silver bullet" that will solve Michigan's economic problems, Land said that she will start by recommending the termination of unnecessary, unneeded programs (specifically not touching good programs that work) instead of across-the-board cuts that do not discriminate between useful and useless government expenditures.

Read more.

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land announced this week that Schauer has been hit with the largest punishment for campaign finance violations in the history of the state of Michigan!  According to the Lansing State Journal:

The campaign fund of former Democratic state Sen. Mark Schauer of Battle Creek is paying the state $208,250 for improperly donating money to help elect Democrats to the Senate in 2006.

Thus concludes a story we've been discussing here on Right Michigan since all the way back in December.  Of 2007.  The Battle Creek Enquirer reported at the time:

Schauer chaired the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and oversaw the Senate Democratic Fund, for which his bombastic chief of staff, Ken Brock, took over as treasurer.

The fund raked in $440,000 above the legal limit of $20,000 per person - which the Dems don't deny. Twelve senatorial candidate committees did, with Schauer's as the worst offender at $187,000.

The moolah was instantly pumped into the campaigns of four key candidates, three of whom were trounced anyway.

For state races, this is a staggering chunk of change. The grievance is pretty cut and dried (some might call it money laundering). When seven candidates got wind of the GOP's secretary of state complaint, they ostensibly demanded a refund. Marky-Mark did not.

Here's how Schauer's illegal scheme worked.  The Congressman, then a state legislator decided to go ahead and raise a bunch of illegal campaign cash.  He received illegal money from Democrats including Carl Williams, Alexander Lipsey, Bob Schockman, Gretchen Whitmer, Mickey Switalski, Buzz Thomas, Liz Brater, Mike Prusi, Gilda Jacobs, Glenn Anderson and Mark Slavens and then pitched in $187,000 himself.  Mind you, the limit is $20,000.  

Once the Democrats realized they'd been discovered each of the folks who were still working in the legislature went ahead and asked for refunds.  

Essentially they said "oops, our mistake, don't punish us for it!"  Prusi, Whitmer, Switalski, Brater, Thomas, Slavens and Jacobs all took their illegal cash back, admitting they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar and trying to make things right (well after the fact).

But no such change of heart from Mark Schauer.  When he breaks the law he stands by his criminal activity!  And he stands by his man, too.  Ken Brock, the anti-Semite who's racist comments drew the ire of everyone in Michigan except Mark Schauer, was the Senator's treasurer on this particular money laundering operation and signed all of the papers.  

Until this week there was no backing down from either of them.

Still, the settlement with the Secretary of State winds up being a peach of a deal, compared with the penalties that COULD be exacted.  Each violation of this particular statute brings along a penalty of as much as 90 days in jail and / or serious monetary fines.  Schauer admitted to twenty-two violations.
That's nearly 5 ½ years in jail.  

By comparison, I'd say Congressman Schauer got off pretty easy.  Only time will tell, though, how seriously his constituents frown on an admission from their Representative in DC that he broke the law twenty-two times.