My wife asked me, “who is this guy?”

She was referring to the now frequent television commercials for fourth district congressional candidate Paul Mitchell. And if you have never heard of him before, its because he has not held political office that you might recognize.  Another bucket list brigade member, GOP primary candidate Paul Mitchell has already piled tons of cash into Michigan’s 4th congressional district race in an effort to present himself as a real contender.

Cable and broadcast buys for April and May have already exceeded a quarter of a million dollars, and sources have indicated he intends to whiz away his entire bank account to feel extra special if necessary.  And who cares if anyone knows who he is, or what he stands for?

Ah yes, the “what do you stand for?” question. That place where people look beyond the claims of a candidate being a conservative first, and actually predict what kind of legislator they might actually be.

And if the nape hair instincts kick in at the point where you realize a candidate has no record to examine, is blowing a wad of his own cash, and was the finance chair for the Michigan Republican Party, then you might be paying attention.

Oh yeah.. All that.

Party apparatchik, big money donor, turns congressional candidate. Check.

Because he has no voting record, its next to impossible to know what his values are right? So we should listen to claims from commercials that he is some kind of conservative stalwart. Since his website (as of this article) has no stands on issues listed, the best way to determine where he stands might be donation records.

And looking at THAT, perhaps we can nip this crap in the bud right now.

Mitchell donated two separate $250 contributions to US Senator Debbie Stabenow less than ten years ago.

MITCHELL, PAUL
ST CLAIR, MI 48079
ROSS EDUCATION

STABENOW, DEBBIE VIA STABENOW FOR US SENATE
	05/27/2005	250.00	25020280792

MITCHELL, PAUL III
ST CLAIR, MI 48079
ROSS LEARNING EDUCATION

STABENOW, DEBBIE VIA STABENOW FOR US SENATE
	06/02/2006	250.00	26020532622

Which leaves us with these burning questions.

Do Paul Mitchell’s values line up with one of the most liberal members of the United States Senate? What policies of Debbie Stabenow was Paul Mitchell endorsing? Her reckless spending or her stalwart support for abortion rights?

Well?

Then, there is who he surrounds himself with.  The campaign manager for Mitchell is Jeff Timmer.  Reportedly, another strategist offering his services to Mitchell is Stu Sandler. Sandler a consummate establishment (as is Timmer)  type; putting at risk Mitchell’s claim of not being a ‘typical politician.’ Timmer took the lead from his former partner Steve Linder in attacking one of the few men who are still conservative within the Republican party; Dave Agema.  From 2013:

” Republican consultant Steve LINDER, took to Facebook last night by posting “Shut the f*ck up Dave Agema. This is it you bigoted moron.” “

Fortunately, for Michigan republicans, no one was listening to Timmer OR Linder.

And no one should be listening to Timmer this time either.

His candidate Paul Mitchell, is likely a fraud from the get go.  He is an unlikely conservative. He has already shown he will play both sides.  And like many others who have not failed to disappoint grassroots Republicans previously, we should expect no different simply because he has held a prominent and temporary position in the State GOP.

And he is willing to bet a small fortune there are some stupid Republican voters in the 4th congressional district who won’t care enough to look deeper.