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My name is Branden Gemzer and I am a Democratic candidate for State Representative in the 91st district. I am running to protect the rights of workers and local businesses, strengthen our children's education, and to be sure we are utilizing our natural resources in clean and sustainable ways.
I grew up in Egelston Township of Muskegon County, Michigan. I graduate from Oakridge Public Schools in 1999. After a summer internship in the City of Muskegon Clerks Office, I started college at Wittenberg University. In the spring of 2000 I followed my father's example by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as an infantryman. My next two years were spent balancing school and military duties.
In the spring of 2003, my unit was deployed to Iraq for the initial push to Baghdad. When we returned from Iraq, I went back to college distinguishing myself as a leader amongst my college and military peers.
In 2005, I was finishing my senior thesis and preparing to return to Iraq. I graduated in May of 2005 with a degree in Philosophy, a minor in Political Science, and significant course work in women's studies. We began our active duty deployment in June. While in Iraq I achieved the rank of sergeant. I returned home in 2006, and found my community to be in need. Several friends and I formed the Muskegon Oakridge Alumni Association in order to foster greater community and support education opportunities for Oakridge Students.
In 2008, I volunteered for Mary Valentine as a doorknocker and precinct captain, where I learned about the good that a State Rep could do, not just in legislation, but also in constituent services. Mary and her staff taught me that if you want to work hard for the people, you must work hard reaching out to the people.
I also did some work with my father and his fellow United Steel Workers to canvass for then Candidate Obama in Jackson, Michigan.
Two events led me to enter the race for State Representative. In 2009, the Oakridge Alumni Association had a banner year of fundraising for our scholarships and grants. In the same year, devastating cuts were made to education across the board. This disadvantaged many of the working class families I lived among, and had the effect of eliminating everything achieved by our organization. A short time later, I heard that Mary planned to run for the 34th Senate District, and I was compelled to make sure whoever replaced her cared about education, working families, and our State.
I am working very hard to keep this seat in democratic hands. To date I have knocked on over 3,450 doors, made over 1,000 phone calls personally. My campaign as a whole has reached out to over 7,000 people. I know we can have a better Michigan, and a better way of life. It will take a mountain of hard work and dedication and a willingness to break from what is comfortable but unsustainable and move to what is unfamiliar but more just and reasonable. I invite all my fellow readers of West Michigan Rising to help as we endeavor to make the title of this blog an apt narration of our community. Please feel free to contact me at any time.
Branden Gemzer
Candidate, 91st District
State Representative
Branden@BrandenGemzer.com
(231) 903-3838
There is one thing that is true about Michiganians. We love our water. We swim in it, fish in it, walk beside it, ski beside it and on it, snowmobile across it, and travel in it with every kind of boat imaginable. We admire its sunrises and sunsets, and the moon's reflection dancing on its surface. We take thousands of pictures of it in all the seasons of the year. It is the basis of our life and our economy.
Our strong agricultural tradition thrives on the water we have here, along with pop-making, beer-making, paint-making, baby food processing, in addition to dozens of other industries, and the thousands of jobs they create. Water is our heritage. It is our past, present and future.
(Talking with folks from The Right Place -- central West Michigan's economic development corporation, they believe we need to give high priority to advanced, high-tech manucaturing because of our universities, skilled researchers, and engineers. Plus, the suggest improving and expanding on our transportation infrastructure -- our deep port in Muskegon, cargo rail, etc. With quality public servants like Mary Valentine, Michigan's best days are ahead of us. - promoted by philgoblue)
One of the most rewarding aspects of my job here in Lansing is working on projects that bring jobs and new development to the district I represent. One day the word fortu showed up on my calendar. I wondered what this appointment would lead to as I ushered a group into my office from fortu PowerCell, an advanced battery manufacturing company that utilizes a radically new technology with twice the energy content and half the material cost of traditional batteries,
For fortu PowerCell to even consider Michigan, a lot of work was done by Governor Granholm and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation on a plan that creates centers of manufacturing excellence for advanced battery technologies. For many years Muskegon has been ready for a big opportunity to replace our waning manufacturing base, and here it was.
A lot of hard work and persistent leadership have paid dividends this week. Last Thursday, the House passed a plan that is the key to bringing 745 direct jobs to Muskegon County. This bill provides $100 million in important tax credits for Fortu PowerCell, the advanced battery manufacturer that plans to build its research and manufacturing facilities at Bayer Chemical plant in Muskegon. Additionally, even more jobs will be created in construction and support industries.
State Representative Mary Valentineworked hard to make sure that these Fortu PowerCell jobs will be coming to Muskegon.
"This plan is exactly the boost that Muskegon needs. I have been working hard to pass these battery bills that will bring jobs to Muskegon. Fortu will create the good-paying jobs our workers need to turn Muskegon around. In years to come this will create thousand of spin-off jobs. By continuing to attract these emerging industries Michigan will again become a leader in manufacturing. Our state has the top-notch workers and facilities that this company needs to thrive. In order to turn our economy around, we have to attract these 21st century businesses that will put our residents back to work."
(Representative Valentine is running for a must-win State Senate Seat. She's a great candidate and I'm sure we'll be hearing more of her in the coming year-PB - promoted by pbratt)
Last month, State Representative Mary Valentine (HD-91) officially announced her candidacy for the open 34th Senate district. Over 100 supporters joined her on September 26th at Muskegon's Margaret Drake Elliot Park. Valentine was also joined by many of her constituents whose lives have been directly impacted by Rep. Valentine's exceptional work as their State Representative; telling their stories of how Valentine has helped them and their families.
Rep. Valentine cited several reasons she chose to run for the open senate seat, including her deep commitment to continued service for her West Michigan constituents and the need to move Michigan forward by changing the face of the senate.
"During the ongoing budget crisis of recent years, the current Senate has consistently failed to provide the leadership Michigan needs to move forward," Valentine said. "This lack of leadership has had a profoundly negative impact on our state and the people I represent in West Michigan.
Valentine ... has fought hard for the environment and for jobs, has helped boost Michigan's fledgling movie industry, and is a leader in providing constituent service for individuals who turn to her when all other avenues are exhausted.
Active with the Center for Michigan, a bipartisan group leading a statewide effort to develop a common sense agenda for Michigan's future, Scripps is an outdoorsman who impressed our editorial board with his commitment to the Great Lakes and preservation of Michigan's natural resources. As a centrist Democrat, he'll be a good fit for his district.
The Rising Dozen: Our Top Endorsed Candidates for 2008
We'll we'd meant to get this going back in Labor Day, but stuff always gets in the way at our little all-volunteer group blog. Still, we wanted to get it out and since TODAY is the final financial filing deadline for Michigan State House races, this seems like a last change opportunity.
So, we're now announcing nine of our Rising Dozen candidates for 2008. Each editor has picked three candidates in their coverage area.
But you -- our beloved readers -- also get to pick three candidates in the poll below to get us up to a dozen.
We're always going to write about our candidates as much as possible, but these, for a variety of reasons our the ones we really want to highlight. The reason? They're in important and tight races -- they are helping West Michigan Democrats Rise. There are some other great candidates out there who are close friends of WMR -- Roy Schmidt and Robert Dean (though you can vote for the Reverand in the poll since others may see this as a closer race than I do) -- come to mind, but they're in races that they are going to win, and we want to allocate our few resources to where they will have the greatest benefit.
We encourage you to support these Rising Dozen candidates with your volunteer efforts and by throwing them some cash to pay for those final mailers, radio ads, etc that help push close campaigns over to victory. Some of these candidates now have ActBlue pages so you can give to them via our Rising Dozen ActBlue Page. When you give to via ActBlue, the candidates get to use the money immediately. So, show these candidates who have worked so hard for so long that the readers of West Michigan Rising support them!
Our goal is $1000 in one week. We get about 2,500 readers a week and we have over 240 readers with accounts. We can do it, but only with your help. Yes We Can!
So, here they are The Rising Dozen for 2008 an order I put them in.
I attended last night's candidate debate at Muskegon Community College. I did not have a tape recorder. I did not take notes. I do not profess to be an objective observer. Here is what I remember of the highlights:
JOHNSON V. HOEKSTRA: First up were Republican incumbent Pete Hoekstra and Democratic hopeful Fred Johnson, both battling for the 2nd congressional district (Benzie, Manistee, Wexford, Mason, Lake, Oceana, Newaygo, Muskegon, Ottawa, northern Allegan and the northwest Kent). The audience was lively; the moderator was inundated with questions from the audience for these two, and kept saying so. He managed to pick questions representative of the whole, which dealt with issues from the bailout to health care to Iraq.
Pete Hoekstra defended his "yes" vote on the 2nd round of the bailout bill (he had voted "no" the first time). He claimed that the billions of dollars in add-ons to the 2nd bill were the fault of Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid, who made this bill even more expensive to the American taxpayer in an effort to make it more palatable to their fellow [evil, partisan] Democrats.
Fred Johnson countered by saying that he would have voted "yes" the first time, when the bill was billions cheaper, in a show of bi-partisan leadership when American needed it most, rather than waiting for the wind to change.
Pete spoke about the tax monies that flow to Washington from Michigan, and his successes in "getting that money back" - he did not use the word "earmarks", probably because the McCain campaign has made it a profanity. In fact, he did not mention McCain or Bush at all. But he implied that Fred Johnson's high-and-mighty ideas aren't accomplished in Washington, but right back here in the district by its own residents, thereby painting himself as a straw man - a mere conduit through which federal money flows - and not a real representative of the people.
Fred Johnson's words hit home the hardest when he spoke about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, making sure to stress his boots-on-the-ground experience in the Marine Corps.
Fred brought the message of the Obama Campaign to the 2nd District: that change is needed and it is on the way. He summed up by saying that the problems we face at home and abroad were not days or weeks in the making; it has taken years (at least 16 years, Rep. Hoekstra's career) to get us where we are today.
Conclusion: Pete Hoekstra was ineffectual; he wasn't in his element, and he knew it. I've seen him speak to the Chamber of Commerce crowd, where he was quite a bit more dynamic. At the very least, he has discovered during the course of this campaign that Fred Johnson is not to be taken lightly. Fred is determined, eloquent, hard-working and dedicated to his beliefs. He has a good resume. Voters will be able to draw parallels between him and the Democratic presidential nominee this election cycle - a big advantage to an unknown.
Pete is entrenched in Washington politics and has big money supporters. However, he now knows that he's not bulletproof.
Thursday, the Michigan House of Representatives adopted a resolution introduced by State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) that calls on the U.S. Congress to enact a comprehensive energy plan to move our country toward independence from foreign oil, while also protecting the Great Lakes from oil drilling.
Valentine, looking for a comprehensive approach to cutting dependence on foreign oil, said:
"Increasing the production of home-grown energy is essential to breaking our dependence on foreign oil. The best way to do that is to increase the production of renewable energy both in Michigan and across the nation. The Great Lakes account for 20 percent of the world's fresh water. Allowing drilling within or underneath the Great Lakes puts them at risk - a risk that we simply must not take.
Our Great Lakes are a driving force in Michigan's economy. Tourism is our third-largest industry, and it's driven by our beautiful lakes and other natural areas. Drilling in the Great Lakes will leave them vulnerable to accidents that could devastate our tourism industry, as well as agriculture and manufacturing. I urge Congress to search for energy solutions while protecting our Great Lakes."
Coalition For Progress is airing this ad and similar ads for State House candidates in West Michigan in the 101st for Dan Scripps (above), 61st for Julie Rogers and the 91st for Mary Valentine. You can help keep them on the air by donating here.
This is the first of what I suspect will be a lot of independent ads and support in our House races.
Dozens of campaign volunteers and supporters met up at Mary Valentine's campaign headquarters in Muskegon Friday evening to re-energize and prepare for the final 50 days of the 2008 campaign season which will begin on Monday. Chris Kilgroe, Valentine's Campaign Manager, said:
"There has been a lot of work done so far in this campaign. Our volunteers and supporters have been the back-bone of this campaign and we wanted to take an evening to thank them for all of their hard work and sacrifice."
Kilgroe opened the floor with staff introductions and a few words about the tough road ahead. He highlighted Holly Hughes' new campaign theme of "WE DESERVE BETTER" and how elitist and condescending that slogan is, how absurd that slogan is. He likened it to the absurdity of John McCain's attacks on Barack Obama spinning the protecting children in Illinois to teaching kindergartners sex education. He added that Mary's victory in the last election was made possible by the campaign's volunteers and that they would be the key to this year's reelection.
Mary Valentine talked about some of the highlights of her first term in office (rough transcrips):
"We have done so much during my first term in office. Drug Immunity was a problem in Michigan, so we passed a bill to end the Immunity for Negligent Drug Companies ... we passed it in the House ... it remains stuck in the Senate. Protecting our water is important to the sustainable future of Michigan. We brought forth legislation to protect Michigan water, we passed it in the House, it passed in the Senate, and was signed in to law by the Governor."
Valentine went on to discuss legislation that she is currently working on like the Energy Plan, new incentives to bring the movies industry to Michigan, encouraging new subsidies for homeowners who install Alternative Energy in their homes and a few other issues currently being worked on in the House.
Senator Carl Levin with Bruce Hawley and his wife Jean in Sparta
Last weekend (yeah, 12 days ago ... hey, lay-off, I've been busy) the incredibly energetic Carl Levin made a swing out to West Michigan to support some great Democratic candidates for the Michigan State House of Representatives. Now, a few things were amazing about this trip.
First, how impressive is it that in the midst of his own reelection campaign, Senator Levin spent an entire Saturday supporting state-wide candidates. He didn't take a dime of the fundraising proceeds, just came out to support these Democrats working to improve our state from Lansing. Now that's just selfless and impressive -- Carl is thinking about all the ways he can work to improve Michigan and build a Democratic farm team. No one can ever say that Levin has forgotten Michigan or the Michigan Democratic Party.
Second, geez, Senator Levin must have gotten up around 6:30 am and probably made it home at about 10:00 pm and for most of that time he's got to be in full public mode which is exhausting.
Third, he pulled it off (kudos to the staff) and was on-time to everything.
The first stop was a 10:00 am house party for Julie Rogers (District 61) in Oshtemo (Kalamazoo County). WMR's Mark Miller was there and gave the following report:
[Levin] was able to speak at some length and answer questions.
One memorable story was about trying to break a recent Republican filibuster on Medicare funding. Sen. Levin asked a colleague (I was taking pictures, so I didn't concentrate on some of the details) if Sen. Kennedy would be there to vote to close debate. He was told no, but in fact Kennedy did arrive, to thunderous applause. The Senate Dems were keeping his appearance a secret so the Republicans would not be able to react to it with another maneuver. That is the sense of Sen. Levin gave of the Senate these days - not a place of much collegiality.
All in all, a very good event with friends old and new, including former Congressman Paul Todd, Rep. Robert Jones, County Commissioners Brian Johnson (who is also Julie's manager) and Leroy Crabtree, former Rep. Mary Brown, and others.
Levin, then drove up highway-131 to downtown Grand Rapids for a fundraiser for Robert Dean (District 75). I was able to attend that reception, though I had a bunch of things to do that morning and was late. I got to hear the tail end of Levin's remarks -- on the Iraq War.
The fundraiser was well attended and the campaign was reportedly able to raise some good funds for the upcoming battle with the winner of the Republican primary (my prediction: Tietema). Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell introduced the Senator. Also in attendance were City Commissioners Rosalyn Bliss (and yes she was "chipper" (and I think David LaGrand was there, but my memory is fading), Kent County Commissioners Carol Hennessy and Paul Mayhue, and Kent County Democratic Party Chair Sue Levy (there were others, I'm sure I'm leaving out, but there's no way I can find my notes on this mess of a desk). I spent most of the time chatting with Rosalyn about the Jail Millage issue and the Green Grand Rapids initiative. We're blessed with a lot of great progressives in Grand Rapids and Rosalyn is one who can have a very bright future. I saw that Levin was leaving and shaking Rev. Dean's hand so I tried to get in to take a picture. By the time I whipped out my camera Dean was gone and Levin assumed I wanted a picture with him and me in it. So, sure, I thought and his staffer took the photo (below). I mentioned we had met a month ago at the bloggers meeting at the Michigan Policy Summit, praised Carl for taking time out of his busy schedule to support these candidates, and mentioned that I couldn't hold a candle to his work that day since I was only doing two events. He asked what the other one was and I replied, "I'm marching in the Sparta parade with Bruce Hawley who is a friend running for the State House in the 73rd district in northern Kent County." Well, the Senator says, "Sparta! We were thinking about hitting that parade on the way to Muskegon." I urged him to march with Bruce and told him that Hawley was a candidate worthy of strong Party support. I gave him Bruce's phone number and then, after Levin left (about 1:00 pm), quickly called Bruce and his campaign manager to let them know that Levin might soon be calling. I talked with Jeff Winston, who is fast becoming a well-respected campaign staffer, and then drove up to Sparta (passing lots of Raymond and Stelma for Sheriff signs on the country roads).
I parked at Bruce's church, and then walked to the staging area where I found 75 other folks waiting to march for Bruce Hawley, but no Carl Levin. Oh well, I thought, I tried. But just as I turned around from a conversation with his wife Jean, up walks the Senator. Now, Levin and Hawley don't agree on a few things, but Bruce is just a real nice guy, and it never popped into his head not play the gracious host and march right next to Carl Levin. Bruce introduced Senator Levin to his friends and lots of photos were taken (like the one above). It looked like it would rain on our parade, but that wasn't going to stop anyone from getting Bruce's message out to the people of Sparta. I'll talk about the parade in a post I hope to write tomorrow, but here's a another photo:
I did get a chance to talk with and listen in on conversations with Carl Levin. Again and again (with Elizabeth Edwards, Jennifer Granholm, Bart Stupak, Fred Miller, etc), it's always nice to see that these famous and powerful people are just regular folks when you get down to it. Carl, I, and an old friend of Bruce spent the time walking out of the staging area toward the start discussing the chances the Tigers have to make the playoffs.
About half-way through the parade, Carl had to leave to make the next reception in Muskegon. He told me he was leaving, we shook hands again, I thanked him, and I knew that this was another indication that Bruce was getting the recognition he deserves. Thanks again Senator Levin!
(Y'all know this is the seat that will be the toughest to hold, so get on out and support Mary Valentine. And hey, did y'all know we continue to search for a correspondent/editor from Muskegon to cover this race and everything Muskegon County. If you're interested, email us. - promoted by philgoblue)
Join the Granholm Cherry Ground Crew as we go door to door talking to voters this Saturday for Rep. Mary Valentine in Muskegon! Going door to door talking to voters is the best way to maintain our Democratic State House majority, and we want to show Rep. Valentine a strong showing of support!
RSVP and find out more today at http://www.jennifergranholm.com/valentine. We'll be having lunch after canvassing back at the Valentine for State Rep headquarters. If you have any questions, contact Graham Davis. We hope to see you Saturday!
Senator Carl Levin will be on a whirlwind tour of West Michigan in support of our great State House candidates TODAY, Saturday the 19th:
Julie Rogers Event with Levin 9:30-11:00 am.
6905 Northstar, Oshtemo
off 9th street, N of W Main.
(see report below - memiller)
Rev. Robert Dean Event with Levin (75th district, Grand Rapids)
11:30 am -- 1:30 pm at the Bite Bar and Restaurant at 151 Ottawa Ave, NW in downtown Grand Rapids. $100/guest.
Mary Valentine Event with Levin (91st District, Muskegon County)
3:00 -- 5:00 pm at the Kleaveland home, 1634 Sunset Drive, North Muskegon. $50/guest.
Mike Huckleberry Event with Levin (70th district, Montcalm and Ionia), Saturday, 19 July from 5:45 -- 8:00 pm at Huckleberry's Restaurant at 112 S. Lafayette, Greenville. $20/guest. Ribbon cutting on the Montcalm County Democratic Campaign Headquarters at 5:30 pm at 126 S. Lafayette. RSVP to Ed at 894-1606.
Head out, support your candidates and Senator Levin.
(It's nice to see Muskegon Critic back at WMR! I know I for one would love to hear more about the Valentine-Hughes race and get to know more about those Muskegon County Commission Democratic primaries. - promoted by philgoblue)
In case you don't know who Holly Hughes is, she's the Republican rival against Mary Valentine for State Representative in Muskegon. Yes. THAT Holly Hughes. The Republican Holly Hughes. The Holly Hughes that was appointed to the board of MUSTFA by Republican John Engler. The Holly Hughes who served numerous positions with the Michigan Republican Party. The Holly Hughes who was campain county chair for George W. Bush.
That's right. She's one of THOSE Republicans. Hard core. To the hilt. From her resume, one might suspect that being a Republican is her WHOLE LIFE. Holly Hughes is a Republican. Not a Republican Leader. A Republican Follower.
So if Muskegon is looking for somebody who will march in lock step with the Republican Party, no matter what, no matter where, Holly Hughes is the candidate.
You want unflinching devotion to the Republican Party? I mean, who doesn't? Uncompromising partisan rancor has really panned out well for Michigan for the past ten years, am I right? Am I right? No? Oh. Well fine.
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just a jerk. Maybe I should do some more research into Holly Hughes. Let's go to her website. No doubt we'll get some sound specifics from Ms. Hughes, something BOLD that makes a principled stand regardless of party.
About two weeks ago Don Cooney, candidate for US Congress from the 6th District (southern West Michigan) spent part of the weekend marching in two parades. On Sunday, 15 June Cooney and his supporters were on hand for the Three Oaks Flag Day parade. Cooney's campaign is already humming along, about which I'll talk more later today.
The Democratic Party float -- the Cooney campaign gave out white, campaign balloons -- a fantastic idea that gets kids to want you to come over to them and allows you to hand lit to the parents and make the kids happy which makes the parents happy and everyone leaves with good feelings. Candy works as well, but make sure you use union-made candy -- Jolly Ranchers hold up well in the sun and are union candy -- Meijer usually stocks big bags.
You can see that Judy Truesdell marched as did the Obama folks, the South Berrien County Democrats were on hand as well.
The day before, Cooney and Carol Higgins (candidate for State House District 59: Cass and St. Joseph counties) were at a Peace March in Cassopolis. Cooney spoke on the individual toll the war is taking on our soldiers while Higgins discussed the need to invest in alternative energy as a way to solve many of Michigan's and America's problems. The Niles Daily Star has an article with long quotations from their speeches.
Volunteer for July 4th Parades! Do those photos look like fun? Well, the big parades of the campaign season is the upcoming July 4th (as I like to call it -- Revolution Day) parades. Campaigns are gearing up and always want a big contingent of marchers to show off to the public. So, you should be a part of their efforts. I'll try to keep a list and I do have info below for Muskegon, Grand Rapids/Kentwood, and Fife Lake, but the best thing to do is contact a local candidate through their website. Parades are an easy way to get involved in a campaign. You really just have to old a sign, smile and maybe toss candy, and for this you get a big thank you and, usually, a free t-shirt. It's an easy way to help and get to know the candidate and their staff and then think about getting more involved later. Plus, it's just a fun high to be in a parade.
(Originally posted by lakeshoremmm/gauchiste at http://www.muskegondemocrats.c... and crossposted (with some revisions) with her permission here. - promoted by philgoblue)
You wouldn't think so by looking at her, but Mary Valentine is one tough cookie. This year she's facing an incredibly rough campaign against Republican big-wig and media darling, Holly Hughes. The local coverage has been biased. Lansing insiders are trashing her. Holly's pockets are deep and her friends are many.
In May 2007, flabbergasted by the Muskegon Chronicle's coverage of Holly Hughes' candidacy announcement, I wrote to Steve Gunn:
"Back in 2004 [when I was running for office], you told me the Chronicle doesn't cover candidate announcements. For anybody. My guess is that you told Mary Valentine the same thing when she ran in 2006. And yet: just look at the front page love-fest for Holly Hughes -- over a year before the election, no less. Her "powerhouse" credentials must make her exempt from your policy."
Gunn admitted that Hughes received preferential treatment:
"We don't cover candidate announcements, but you are right - my editors and I decided that her credentials (we have never had a Republican national committee member from Muskegon County) made her decision to run a big story. That will be all the coverage she, or anyone, gets until our regular election coverage, barring something unusual or unforeseen."
Like John McCain coming to town, when Hughes was featured prominently as his campaign coordinator and a candidate in her own right.
And apparently Valentine's credentials of being a sitting representative (as opposed to a party hack) don't rise to the level neccessary to get in the Chronicle. Strange. But the Chronicle's biased reporting doesn't end with favorable and one-sided coverage of Hughes.
Next time I hear the words "what message does that send?" come out of a politician's mouth, I'm going to start ripping throats out.
Seriously...what are we? Some Pavlovian electorate waiting on cues from our elected officials to decide how to live our lives? For cryin' out loud.
So I give mad props to Mary Valentine (D, District 91, Norton Shores, Muskegon County) for supporting legislation that helps families avoid foreclosure.
See...to be absolutely frank, I like this decision for completely selfish reasons. I want foreclosure rates to be low in my neighborhood because empty houses with bank foreclosure signs in the window do nothing but DESTROY the equity in my own home.
I've heard conservatives grumble that foreclosure bail-outs reward risky borrowing. They want risky borrowers to be punished because bailing them out "sends the wrong message."
But from my point of view...our politicians shouldn't be sending messages at all. They should be solving problems. And for me, a responsible home owner, if my neighbors are losing their houses because they made a crappy borrowing decision based on suspicious lending advice, it HURTS ME, a responsible citizen. Mary Valentine's legislative vote recognizes that. She's not here to tell us how to live, she's not here to punish the bad and reward the good...she's here to Solve Problems. That's her job. And that's what she's doing. As a home owner who wants to keep my property value as high as possible, I extend my deepest thanks.
District 20 Kalamazoo Robert Jones District 21 Berrien, Cass, Van Buren
Scott Elliott District 24 Allegan, Barry, Eaton
Michelle DiSano District 28 Kent (part)
Robin Golden District 29 Kent (part) David LaGrand District 30 Ottawa
John Chester District 34 Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Newaygo Mary Valentine District 35 Northwest LP Roger Dunigan District 37 Grand Traverse & north Bob Carr
Michigan State House Candidates
District 59 (St. Joseph & Cass Counties)
Carol Higgins District 60 (Kalamazoo) Sean McCann District 61 (Kalamazoo) Thomas Batten District 63 (Kalamazoo)
David Morgan District 70 (Ionia & Montcalm Counties) Mike Huckleberry District 72 (Kentwood & Cascade)
Brian Bosak District 73 (Kent County)
Jerrod Roberts District 74 (Ottawa County)
Leon Chase District 75 (Grand Rapids) Brandon Dillon District 76 (Grand Rapids) Roy Schmidt District 77 (Wyoming)
Scott Baron District 78 (Berrien County) Cindy Ellis District 79 (Berrien County) Julee Laurent District 80 (VanBuren) Tom Erdmann District 86 (Kent County)
Frank Hammond District 87 (Barry & Ionia Counties)
Greg Grieves District 89 (Ottawa County)
Donald Bergman District 91 (Muskegon)
Ben Gillette District 92 (Muskegon)
Marcia Hovey-Wright District 100 (Newaygo, Lake, and Oceana Counties)
Donald Bergman District 101 (Northwest) Dan Scripps
County Commissions Candidates
Allegan County Commission
9 Fritz Spreitzer (I)
10 April Carvalho
Barry County Commission
1 Bob Dickinson
Benzie County Commission
3 Kristin Hollenbeck (I)
4 Anne Damm (I)
6 Donald Tanner (I)
Berrien County Commission
3 Marletta Seats (I)
4 Mamie Yarbrough (I)
10 Andrew Vavra (I)
11 Jess Minks
12 Michael Ringler
13 John Klimek (I)
Cass County Commission
1 Ed Goodman (I)
7 David Taylor (I)
9 Judy Helpingstine
11 Clark Cobb (I)
12 Minnie Warren (I)
13 Johnie Rodebush (I)
14 Debbie Johnson (I)
Grand Traverse County Commission
1 Bernol Soutar
Ionia County Commission
1 Lynn Mason (I)
4 Mark Vroman (I)
Kalamazoo County Commission
1 Jack Urban (I)
2 Carolyn Alford (I)
3 Robert Barnard (I)
4 John Taylor (I)
5 Brian Johnson (I)
6 Mike Seals
7 David Buskirk (I)
9 Chuck Vliek
10 Michael Quinn (I)
11 Barb Hammon
12 Scott McCormick
13 Harvey Hanna
15 Leroy Crabtree
16 Thomas Post
17 Jerry Rudolph
Kent County Commission
1 Mary Lauka
2 Patricia Kramer
3 James Black
4 Fred Clowney
6 James Rinck
7 Al Nielsen
8 Keith Courtade (I)
9 Duane Sprague
10 Albert Abbasse
11 Russell Duffin
12 Pete Hickey (I)
13 Kyle Hinton
14 Carol Hennessy (I)
15 Dick Bulkowski (I)
16 Jim Talen (I)
17 Candace Chivis
18 Richard Tormala
19 Bob Synk (I)
Leelanau County Commission
3 Jason Harrall
6 David Marshall (I)
7 Karl Dungjen
Manistee County Commission
2 Marlene E. Wood-Zylstra
3 Glenn Lottie (I)
4 Ervin A. Kowalski (I)
5 Karl R. Waitner
6 Jim Krolczyk (I)
7 Carl Rutske (I)
Montcalm County Commission
1 Ronald C. Blanding (I)
Mason County Commission
5 Jerome Rybicki (I)
8 David Fonnesbeck
Musekgon County Commission
1 Kenneth Mahoney (I)
2 Charles Buzzell (I)
4 James Derezinski (I)
5 Carl Wentzlof
6 Lew Collins (I)
7 Scott Plummer
8 Anthony Longmire
9 Rillastine Wilkins
10 Benjamin Cross
11 John Jurkas
Newaygo County Commission
1 Barbara Geno (I)
5 Rick Werkema
Oceana County Commission
1 David Spitler
5 Evelyn Kolbe (I)
Ottawa County Commission
3 Jeff Williams
Van Buren County Commission
1 Claudia Maddox
3 Al Hughes
