Roy Schmidt Bristles at Political Circus

by: philgoblue

Sun Nov 02, 2008 at 13:52:14 PM EST

I have just studied reports about a group of Republicans hosting a news conference to rail against early parole. That in itself is a worthy subject in the proper setting. But for state Sen. Alan Cropsey and state Rep. Judy Emmons to "recruit" the Bean family to be a part of what was little more than a political dog and pony show is unwarranted, un-necessary and misguided.

I'm sure the grief that the Bean family is feeling is overwhelming and the circumstances of that tragedy compelling enough to speak out against. I don't think anyone could argue that. But having politicians use their grief and their tragedy to politically profit is just awful. I have been in public life for over 16 years and I have never seen such degrading demagogic grand standing, and I thought I'd seen plenty. This is the kind of shameful act of underhanded campaign trickery that turns people away from believing in our government and our leaders and furthers the partisan divisions that have hamstrung this state.

Hawley and Huckleberry Go Up on TV Together

by: philgoblue

Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 20:03:29 PM EDT

Announcing the Rising Dozen and Your Picks Poll

by: philgoblue

Fri Oct 24, 2008 at 12:37:34 PM EDT

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!

The Rising Dozen ActBlue Page

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.

Dan Scripps
Michigan State House District 101: Leelanau, Benzie, Manistee, Mason Counties
WMR State House Ranking: #6
Dan Scripps Website
WMR Stories on Dan Scripps
WMR Stories by Dan Scripps
Donate to Dan via the WMR Rising Dozen ActBlue Page

Bruce Hawley
Michigan State House District 73: northern Kent County
WMR State House Ranking: #10
Bruce Hawley Website
WMR Stories on Bruce Hawley
Donate to Bruce via the WMR Rising Dozen ActBlue Page

Judy Truesdell
Michigan State House District 78: Berrien and Cass Counties
WMR State House Ranking: #8
Judy Truesdell Website
WMR Stories on Judy Truesdell
Donate to Judy via the WMR Rising Dozen ActBlue Page

Brandon Dillon
Kent County Commission District 18
Brandon Dillon Website
WMR Stories on Brandon Dillon
WMR Stories by Brandon Dillon
Candidate Profile on Brandon

Fred Johnson
US Congress District 2: Allegan, Ottawa, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Mason, Benzie, Lake, and Wexford Counties
Fred Johnson Website
WMR Stories on Fred Johnson
Donate to Fred via the WMR Rising Dozen ActBlue Page

Julie Rogers
Michigan State House District 61: Kalamazoo County
WMR State House Ranking: #7
Julie Rogers Website
WMR Stories on Julie Rogers
Donate to Julie viaher website

Mike Huckleberry
Michigan State House District 70: Montcalm and Ionia Counties
WMR State House Ranking: #9
Mike Huckleberry Website
WMR Stories on Mike Huckleberry
Donate to Huck viahis website

Mary Valentine
Michigan State House District 91: Muskegon County
WMR State House Ranking: #5
Mary Valentine Website
WMR Stories on Mary Valentine
Donate to Mary viaher website

Don Cooney
US Congress District 6: Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren Counties
Don Cooney Website
WMR Stories on Don Cooney
Donate to Don via the WMR Rising Dozen ActBlue Page
MI-6)

The group from which you our readers will pick three to add to the Rising Dozen is in the diary below, but the list is on the flip.

Cherry and Huck Go Trap Shooting For Good Causes

by: philgoblue

Wed Oct 08, 2008 at 09:11:31 AM EDT

A well-known conservationist and marksman, Cherry will shoot and then speak in support of Huck, a fellow Second Amendment supporter and our candidate for the State House of  Representatives from the 70th District.

Charlie West, president of the Belding Club is excited:

"This is a big day for Montcalm-Ionia Counties to have such a show of support for shooting, hunting and conservation in general. We're inviting all the conservation clubs from Ionia, Montcalm and Kent Counties to enter their presidents in the shoot-out. The other clubs' members, families and the general public are also invited to use our club's ranges, grounds and facilities Saturday as well."

Proceeds from the club's cash-bar sales, shoot-out entry fees and Huckleberry rent will go towards hunter education programs and the disabled shooting event scheduled at the Belding club for 18-19 October.

The winner of the 2:00 pm elimination trap shoot round with 10 shooters respresenting all clubs attending, will then face off in a finalist round competing with Cherry, Huckleberry and West.

Supper follows and will feature beans, franks and cornbread "in honor of the Wall Street CEO's who have now lost their jobs too," Huck quipped.

Tickets are $10, a table of 11 is $100. Unemployed adults who are 70th District residents, and are looking for work, receive supper compliments of Huckleberry.

Cherry and Huckleberry will give brief remarks during supper in support of Constitutional Rights -- like the Second Amendment.

Carl Levin's West Michigan Odyssey for Rogers, Dean, Hawley, Valentine and Huckleberry

by: philgoblue

Wed Jul 30, 2008 at 23:53:36 PM EDT

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!

Senator Levin Tour in West Michigan Today To Support State House Candidates

by: philgoblue

Sat Jul 19, 2008 at 11:15:40 AM EDT

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.