Tag Archive for Elections

The Good The Bad & The Other

Expected Republican candidates for governor reviewed.

The Michigan Republican field can be quite interesting sometimes.

As many might already realize, a Democrat candidate could be a criminally challenged former State Representative, and still get the full (and active) support from the party of the left in a bid for major office. The bland but nevertheless regressive nature of the left allows even the most obscene stupidity in it’s ranks.  No special prerequisites for candidates other than kill babies, deny God, and let little boys be little girls if they want.

Republican contenders must have their own specific characteristics and features.  No such amorphous qualities are allowed to exist on the right (as they do in the left) to win over all factions of the GOP brand. Below is a list of the expected and declared Republican candidates for governor, and my own estimation of their specific advantage and disadvantages in securing maximum support from GOP supporters and grassroots.  They may or may not be in the order suggested by the title of this piece.

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Human Error?

Plausible deniability of the year tale comes with "machines bumping up against each other"

I probably could have commented on this several times since the recount nonsense.

The unintended consequences of the Jill Stein recount, was to officially put the Michigan Secretary of State on notice that there are irregularities with the voting in the motor city. Of course the unspoken truth has always been known, but proof of such shenanigans was elusive and considered inconsequential for most elections.

Given the revelation of fraud, and the incredible magnitude which it has appeared, it would seem only proper to fully investigate all of those who are entrusted with our voting responsibility in these precincts.  Criminal sanctions are likely warranted in some cases revealed by Stein’s efforts, yet the players caught with their hands in the cookie jar are not going to admit culpability too easily.  From the New American

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Breaking – Illegal Voting In Traverse City

We are becoming a nation of the lawless.

Sometimes law enforcement or appropriate legal action arrives too late.

This morning, I learned about an election law violator.  A call from a contact in Lansing gave me the heads up on a high profile lawbreaker in Traverse City.  Apparently, Michael Moore thought it would be good to let people not just know how he voted, but to broadcast the image of his ballot explicitly:

Gosh, haven’t we been warned incessantly by the media constantly about how showing pictures of our ballots is illegal?

Certainly in Michigan it is.

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(0)

Busy Times

The posts are as usual high quality, but currently a little more sparse because of some ongoing election efforts.

10x25MM has done a fine job pointing out the DPS foibles, and this morning reminds me that bankruptcy really was the legitimate option for the failed district.  It appears that even after 617 Million has been approved, no one knows who is in charge yet. From the Detroit News:

Davis, who has been board president for two years, on Sunday said Lemmons was making his move.

“LaMar Lemmons is trying to hijack the ship, but he is not currently the president, even though he would like to be.”

Both insist they are following the June 9 board meeting results even though the stint is short..

Boys. boys…  Just remember, the Captain goes down with the ship.

In any event, I mentioned election efforts, right?  Below is a radio ad I have prepared to run this coming week, and then again closer to the election. I thought it might be of interest, and that THIS TOO might be of interest.  Higher taxes.. Right?

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I’ve Heard It Snows In November

Natural disasters, or 'states of emergency' CAN happen in our Great Lakes State.

circled-wagonsMichigan is not immune to the effects of nature, and the SoS may have once again missed an opportunity to protect the electorate.

“Once again,” I say because when it mattered, Ruth Johnson sided with the governor in his lawbreaking. In the Proposal 1 (loser by 80%-20% statewide) leadup, the governor broke the law in front of Johnson, Schuette, and nearly every single lawmaker and judge in the state.

Nothing was done, and in-fact there was an effort to circumvent the process that had been defended only years before.   Even the Michigan GOP’s pet poodle Greg McNeilly noted the infraction saying “.. it was “inappropriate” for Snyder to use the televised speech to advocate for a “yes” vote on Proposal 1.” yet stopped short of calling a misdemeanor what it is. Flame Hard indeed.

But this recent failure by the SoS is a little more local, yet profound.  When a natural disaster prevents voters from reaching the polls, ought not the top elections official be a little more proactive?  In the case of an Elmwood township millage question, Johnson’s office went from a failure to uphold the law to negligence and simple abject failure.

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Michigan House Leadership Off-The-Rail Witch Hunt

Speaker Kevin Cotter's antics in Lansing may reveal an underhanded effort to raise taxes.

kevin-cotterMichigan House speaker Kevin Cotter is turning out to be a real turd in the punch bowl.

Personal ‘Impropriety,’ and the lack of ‘qualifications’ are two very different things. Of course the State Constitution allows each house to determine the qualifications to occupy a seat as a representative.  It ALSO allows the house under certain circumstances to (remove) “expel” sitting representatives with a two thirds majority vote.

§ 16 Legislature; officers, rules of procedure, expulsion of members.

Sec. 16.

Each house, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall choose its own officers and determine the rules of its proceedings, but shall not adopt any rule that will prevent a majority of the members elected thereto and serving therein from discharging a committee from the further consideration of any measure. Each house shall be the sole judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its members, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected thereto and serving therein, expel a member. The reasons for such expulsion shall be entered in the journal, with the votes and names of the members voting upon the question. No member shall be expelled a second time for the same cause.

Qualifications, elections, returns, are all specific to the elections, and the follow up is the expulsion clause.

You Betcha! (28)Nuh Uh.(4)

The Butterfly Effect

What happens when a radically unique species is introduced into a 'stable' environment?

Truthfully, its hard to not appreciate ‘The Donald.’

Sure, he’s given vast amounts of money to the bad actors over the years, been a buffoonish character on the ‘tele.’ and has pretty much enjoyed cronyism in his business dealings over the years with great success. Normally, one might expect all of this to be objectionable to conservative stalwarts who respect common sense and real free markets.

trumpedSomehow, the largely forgotten weaknesses in the Trump character is conveniently overlooked as he lambastes the existing federal mess of allowing importation of criminals through our porous borders, as he pummels current foreign policy (specifically handling of ISIS and China), and all the while reminds us of his fabulous wealth. He is indeed a self reliant, self promotions artist.

“I don’t need anybody’s money. It’s nice. I don’t need anybody’s money. I’m using my own money. I’m not using the lobbyists. I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich”

And yes, yes he is. Even by Michigan’s ‘wooden shoe ghey mafia’ standards.

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Arrogance Of The Aristocracy

Having no one to tell them "NO" previously, our leadership brazenly assumes immunity from the law.

Watching Obama the other night was something many of my friends could not do.

As he quite literally leaned on the podium and gave an in-your-face ‘I don’t give a damn about your efforts’ speech to the congress, he further provoked with the threat of veto for anything that did not meet his agenda. The soft sneer of disrespect to the people’s house and its ‘opposition’ inhabitants was palpable.  But it was not unexpected.

How else might a top executive act when he is given every thing that he wants? In what other way would he comport himself when weak threats are buttressed by inaction and outright political cowardice?  The Republican controlled House of Representatives has hardly put its foot down each time the president has acted in an unconstitutional manner, and there is little indication it might in the future.

So the law does not matter to this president, and for many of the same reasons, it does not matter to Michigan’s governor.  When people seek power, they are sometimes willing to overlook the blatant disregard for checks and balances, and pretend the emperor is indeed fully clothed.

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Ghosts Of Speakers Past

Former speaker comments from the political graveyard of deleted PR Pieces.

Yeah, the interwebs are forever.

Then Speaker Jase Bolger had something to say about fixing the roads.  Going to the taxpayers to fund or cover for the malfeasance of our MDOT and legislative road committees was not the top priority of the sometime Snyder enabler Jase Bolger, right?

Given the lame duck performance resulted in nothing positive for Michigan’s burdened taxpayers, it’s not surprising that their ONE opportunity to solve a real problem was passed along for the taxpayer to share in the blame.  A bad package with the promise of pain for the (even with the renewed EITC) poor, and particularly the middle class once again. (Yes, shameless populism – sue me)

Indeed, this is one of the few times we had no disagreement with the speaker.

He was on the mark.

 

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Michigan 56th District Race Mystery Mailers

Anonymous mailers flood mailboxes in Michigan's 56th state house district.

Bain-card3Randy Bain was pleasantly surprised that someone supports him in his bid for the Michigan House of representatives..

When mailers arrived at his home not just once, but TWICE, he wondered who might it be that would be sending out the cards describing Democrats and Republicans as having no discernible differences.  Who was it saying “Al Bain isn’t a party robot!” in two separate mailings?

Bain-card1Did we mention R. Al Bain is a candidate for the 56th District house seat as a (Constitution party) US Taxpayer?

Bain says that he knows of other Republicans who have received the postcards, yet his neighbors who are Democrats, have not. This could feed the speculation that Democrats are subtly assisting 3rd party candidates who have a strong possibility of drawing votes from Republicans to give THEIR candidates a better shot. This is not out of the question, as we have seen THAT before.

Interestingly, there is no disclaimer, a part 47 campaign finance violation.  The return address could be any number of businesses in the tower address. There are a number of election contributions from that address over the years, but nothing that would indicate a pattern of contributions or big money.   Bain says:Bain-card2

I googled the address it’s a 12 story office tower in Southfield I called a number and the girl said her company had the whole 12th floor they are a automotive marketing and research firm. There are several businesses in that tower.

Candidate Bain is already planning his victory speech.

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