Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics

2018 Michigan State Senate Elections

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Cross-posted at The Western Right, Right Michigan, and Red Racing Horses.

All 38 seats in the Michigan Senate are up for election in 2014.  Republicans currently have a 27-11 supermajority, and have controlled the senate since 1983.  Republican control of the state senate has prevented democrats from complete control of Michigan’s government in some years, and stopped a lot of bad things from being passed.

Fortunately for Republicans, the Michigan state senate is up only in midterms, which usually favor Republicans much more than presidential years.  Republicans had a good year in 2014, picking up one state senate seat, following four pickups in 2010.

The 2010 redistricting produced a map that was moderately pro-Republican, while complying with all relevant laws.

Michigan Redistricting: Official Republican State Senate Map Released
Michigan Redistricting: Republican State Senate Map Passed

There are 26 open seats due to term-limits, 7 D and 19 R.  There may be other openings due to retirement or seeking another office.

All current state senators are former state representatives except three (Colbeck, Conyers, Hertel).  This pattern held in the past, and most credible candidates this time are current or former state reps.

I have included election data for the 2014 state senate election, and McCain (2008), Romney (2012), and Trump (2016) results in each district.  More data is available from Republican Michigander and RRH Elections.

Republican Michigander district profiles (see sidebar)
RRH Michigan Senate Data File

The McCain numbers look terrible for Republicans because he collapsed after publicly pulling out of Michigan.  The largest McCain percentage in any Michigan state senate district won by a democrat in the past twelve years is 46.2% in (old) district 31.

Here is a breakdown of the individual races.  State reps years in office are listed after their names, with P meaning present.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Pensions & Retirement Benefits, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Who Rules Michigan?

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The Administrative State or the People?

The titanic political struggle unfolding in Washington is sucking the oxygen out of Michigan politics, but is analogous to the central political struggle which has been playing out here in Michigan for 48 years. Political media breathlessly report on a struggle between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. This struggle is not between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, nor RINOs and true believers. The Democrats, liberals, and RINOs are completely discredited in Michigan, as they are across most of the United States. All that remains of them is jammed into the Hillary archipelago.

The present political struggle is between the people and the administrative state. Call it bureaucracy, deep state, or administrative state: they are unelected government employees, their agents in the media, and the select beneficiaries of government largess. Their opponents in this struggle are the majority of Americans and Michiganders who pay the price for the administrative state; a now seething mass whose ascendancy was a rude surprise to the administrative state.

The outcome of the struggle in Washington is yet to be determined, but in Michigan the administrative state is clearly winning despite its total responsibility for the Flint water fiasco. The administrative state owns Governor Snyder body and soul. The administrative state will stop at nothing to manipulate the Michigan Legislature when the chips are down. Refractory (but innocent) legislators are expelled before legal process while cooperative (but guilty) legislators sit unfettered until legal process is completed.

How else can you explain the PA 177 of 2015 road tax package, indistinguishable from the soundly trounced Proposal 2015-01? Or the bogus Detroit bankruptcy which somehow neglected a $ 491 million financial hole which will haunt the city with a vengeance in 2024? Half the city’s annual budget. Or the refusal of Michigan government units at all levels to even consider tax reductions due to the simmering public employee pension catastrophe? Those pensions enjoyed by members of the administrative state are but a distant memory to the Michiganders who pay them.  Indeed, all of Michigan’s units of government are jacking up fees to get around Headlee Amendment taxation limits.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Jihad Better Believe It!

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Washtenaw County fails in its mission to equally apply the law.

Stupidity must be painful or it continues.

Unfortunately, it continues.  From Jihad Watch:

Back in November, a University of Michigan Muslim student reported that she was “accosted by a white man who told her to remove her hijab or he would set her ablaze with a cigarette lighter.”

So eager was she to be the face of an “Islamophobic” attack by a white supremacist that she invented the whole story about this “white man.” Yet rather than be held accountable, “the Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office is not proceeding with any legal action,” perhaps because they don’t want to appear “Islamophobic.”

At the time of her fabricated report, the university’s public safety and security division flew into emergency mode and rushed to “call the incident an act of ‘hate and intimidation’ and ‘ethnic intimidation’”.

Michigan penal code 750.411a says “not so fast”

Sec. 411a.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) and (3), a person who intentionally makes a false report of the commission of a crime, or intentionally causes a false report of the commission of a crime to be made, to a peace officer, police agency of this state or of a local unit of government, 9-1-1 operator, or any other governmental employee or contractor or employee of a contractor who is authorized to receive reports of a crime, knowing the report is false, is guilty of a crime as follows:

And while the prosecutor has a degree of latitude as to whether this crime is prosecuted, the lack of prosecution in this case clearly defines ‘unequal treatment’ under the law.

The law is NOT equally enforced in Washtenaw is it?   In a ten year period Washtenaw prosecutors stuck it to 197 felony false reporters, and 139 misdemeanor false reporters.

FAIL.

 

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Moderation

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Post, Comment, Whine. this isn't Facebook.

Sometimes you gotta make the call.

Usually I prefer to let things lay.  If someone posts a comment that is especially rude, it may come down, but there is a high threshold.  Sometimes an article is a little too ‘titillating’ to be allowed, at least on RightMi.com.  Again, it takes a pretty bad piece for me to kick in website survival mode.

Some contributors have no such survival instincts however.  They could care less about the their own reputation, much less that of this site.  And for a conservative web log, the liberal practice of allowing random postings for self (or specialized) promotion has been allowed to continue.

But if your only post is to slander another member of the community here, or to whine about how badly you were treated, it goes into the private (members only section)

I’ll let you figure out how to get there.

 

 

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy, Republicans

Manasseri: Enemies Within at War with Trump’s Army

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Who are we really fighting on this issue?

Dick Manasseri has been chronicling illegal immigration, the refuge crisis, and the effect on Michigan for some time now.

He writes today on the effort made by our president, and then about those who presumably wear the mantel of Republicanism.  Manasseri points out the contradictory elements within the GOP and other leadership ranks, and how they affect our fight to keep our country safe and viable.

He Reports:

If you voted for President Trump, you need to take the protest, chaos, and general blowback directed at him personally. The Muslim Brotherhood [MB] protests/chaos triggered by his executive order on refugee resettlement are a direct attack on you and your personal security.

Good Guys

These are the people who understand the refugee threat, speak out and take action like President Trump:

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

#SurrenderCaucus: Sakwa-Led Sabotage Plan Backfires Spectacularly in 11th District MIGOP

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It’s been a jubilant year in the wake of Trump’s ascension to the Presidency, but the excitement hasn’t lasted. I regret to report to you that the Trump wave is already being aggressively squandered by the same, old, establishment Republican forces. Activists in the 11th District Republican Party made national news for their efforts to get Trump elected. Instead of embarking upon a new era of unity, the establishment actors decided to kick their deceptions up several notches at last week’s county convention.

The Oakland County GOP convention actually got off to a good start. After a series of grueling conventions, there was a sense that all involved wanted party unity and a smoothly-conducted affair. It ran fine up until the point when delegates were slotted into their district sub-caucuses. From there, establishment forces showed that they were not acting in good faith but instead were leading principled delegates into an unsuspecting ambush. The Trump ‘kum-ba-ya’ moment was not meant to be. The establishment cares more about pride, ego, and control than keeping the peace and crushing Democrats, and their agenda couldn’t be more obvious.

First, Matt Maddock was elected chair by an overwhelming margin. This is what usually happens, but due to Chairwoman Theresa Mungioli’s unilateral slaughter of over 500 precinct delegate posts throughout Oakland County, the result was not as certain as it was in convention’s past. Unfortunately for the establishment, their dirty tricks backfired, and Matt easily claimed the chair. Instead of taking their loss with dignity and self-respect, they rushed headlong into a new series of dirty tricks. This latest disgrace has perhaps obliterated any lasting opportunity for party unity once and for all.

After Maddock was elected to his position, there was a fierce debate over the rules. Discussion was called, and delegates began to speak. In spite of a tense atmosphere and heated animosity between the grassroots and establishment factions, none of the establishment lackey speakers were shouted down. Even as they were spewing deliberate falsehoods and other ignorant nonsense, they were granted their right to speak. On the other hand, Matt’s wife, Meshawn wasn’t treated with the same respect. She was Co-Chair for Trump in Oakland County and led Michigan Women for Trump. She was one of the most influential and hard-working Republicans out there working to turn Michigan Red Again. She went around the state at her own expense on Trump’s behalf to stage events and even invented the flash mobs that went viral and spread to other states as well.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

So What About That ‘Establishment?’

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What constitutes an ‘Establishment’ player?

Since the rise of the ‘Tea Party’ movement, certain elements of it have been co-opted by those who were originally threatened by it. The reality that money is the mothers milk of politics cannot be ignored however. The left has their billionaire backers, and we have our own.

Power is an aphrodisiac.

After spending more than a couple million in political expenditures attempting to gain a regents seat on the most liberal university in our state, Ron Weiser finally succeeded in 2016.  Riding the coattails of the now-president, a man who was one of the few candidates he did not financially support prior to Trump winning the GOP nomination.

That is how it works however, when an power seeking opportunist with a full wallet wants access to the oval office perhaps?  Truth be told, the $120,000 (roughly) given to the Trump Victory PAC may well have played a small part in Trump’s victory in Michigan.  Even one stop missed (easily $100K in expense) might have spelled doom for the effort.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Trump Inaugural

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A great address, and some photos from our Michigan Delegation

That was fun.

With the vanquished foes captured by pomp and tradition, the incoming president made it clear that it would not be business as usual.  With Obama directly behind, Donald Trump laid waste to the ideas responsible for the ruinous past 8 years, and possibly more.

What it would have like to be the fly running the show in the 44th president’s skull for that 20 or so minutes.

Wow.

These pictures were taken by Tom Stilling who was at the event.

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Government Incompetence, Humor in Michigan, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy

The democrats are coming! The democrats are coming!!!

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Let's see if they can last?

I’ve mentioned previously that get contacted fairly frequently asking for my input on various political things going on around the area.

This one is too good for me not to share with everyone here.

{Continued below}

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