Word on the street has Nerd-in-Chief Rick Snyder getting involved in the race for Michigan Republican Party chairman. That's right, the governor-elect and titular head of the state party is planning to anoint his preference for the day-to-day leader.

Insiders say he's like to pick another bandwagon Republican, someone who won't cater to the "partisan extremes" that divide Michigan. This rhetoric won him the governorship, but it won't win at a tea party-dominated Republican State Convention in February. Grassroots GOPers across Michigan want a real conservative. They tolerated Snyder after he picked conservative Brian Calley for lieutenant governor but they became inflamed when the governor named Tax-Hiker-in-Chief Andy Dillon to the state treasurership.

Dillon is by no means a conservative. He is directly responsible for everything that is wrong with Michigan and his appointment sets up a potential '14 gubernatorial campaign, in which either Snyder could lose a heated Republican primary or face Dillon in a general election. Dillon could claim he tried his best to help the governor "reinvent Michigan," as the Snyder team likes to say, but the Republican extremes wouldn't help him. He could resign in protest over a conservative-dominated State House and State Senate's refusal to raise taxes. Of course, he could also take credit for the economic turnaround that could happen in the Snyder administration and then run against the governor, claiming Snyder took the credit but didn't actually do anything. This is a very serious threat. Snyder's appointment of a very partisan Democrat to such a high position in a Republican administration raises serious questions about his commitment to build the party and grow the Republican majority.

That is why it's crucial a real conservative become chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. This party isn't the Michigan Independent Party. It isn't the Michigan Non-Partisan Party. It's the Michigan Republican Party and Republicans expect a real Republican, let alone a Reagan conservative, would be at the ship's helm.

Snyder's likely pick? Bob Schostak. He's the rich businessman who's wooing the party establishment Judases who control the party apparatus. These folks only see money, which is something Schostak has a lot of. He's willing to buy influence at any level necessary to have power. Sure it's great to have a chairman who can raise money (who doesn't want to have money?), but it's not worth selling out the party and the conservative movement's core principles for a few pieces of silver.