Muskegon Gets Fortu PowerCell Jobs

by: philgoblue

Tue Dec 22, 2009 at 06:16:06 AM EST

State Representative Mary Valentine worked 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."

The Senate passed the credits two weeks ago, so it is now moving to the Governor Granholm, who has promised to sign the bill.  With it and other projects, Michigan is well set up to be the center of new battery development and manufacturing.

Friday Thank You: David Farhat

by: pbratt

Fri Oct 09, 2009 at 19:25:31 PM EDT

For the Senate Democrats looking to pick up the Muskegon County-based seat, this is great news. Until now only Republican Representative Geoff Hansen, who currently represents District 100, has entered the primary. Despite Farhat's thrashing by Valentine in 2006, expect many to consider Farhat to be leading contender for this seat. To see why, check out the map below the fold:

Preparing for the Future of the County

by: philgoblue

Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 18:19:18 PM EST

Last Thursday, George Erickcek, of the Kalamazoo-based W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, gave his annual forecast speech for The Right Place Inc.

Erickcek predicted that the Kent-Ottawa-Muskegon economic area will see a slight decline in growth and jobs in 2009, but slight increases in 2010.  However, he argued that West Michigan is doing significantly better on the economic and jobs front than the rest of the state and is more on par with the rest of the nation. If DC can get their act together, Michigan and America can come out of the recession and West Michigan will lead the way to economic recovery.  Indeed, with the right policies we can still become the model medium-sized city in the entire Midwest.

Congressman Conyers to hold Fundraiser for Fred Johnson (MI-02) in Muskegon on Saturday

by: Bill_Kim

Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 16:41:31 PM EDT

Fred Johnson, Candidate - United States House of Representatives (MI-2)
and
US Representative John Conyers, United States House of Representatives (MI-14)
for an Afternoon Reception Saturday, October 18th, 2008, 3:00 p.m - 5:00 p.m. (Please Note Time Change)

At the City Cafe, 415 West Western Avenue, Muskegon, Michigan 49440

$100 Suggested Donation at the door

Muskegon Chronicle Endorses Obama: "potential to be [a] great president"

by: philgoblue

Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 14:29:42 PM EDT

From the editorial, National Crisis Cries Out for Best to Lead - Obama.

America is deeply troubled today. Our nation is in economic crisis, mired in debt, at war and adrift in a sea of global and domestic turmoil.... [W]e believe Obama has more potential than McCain to be the great president these times call for.

Over the months of this grueling campaign, Obama has demonstrated the leadership, compassion, intelligence and courage America expects from its leaders....

Then The Chronicle hammers McCain on pocket-book issues:

Muskegon Debate Musings

by: gauchiste

Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 12:04:13 PM EDT

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.  

Valentine vs Hughes after the flip!

Report from the Valentine Campaign Rally

by: philgoblue

Mon Sep 15, 2008 at 10:09:20 AM EDT

"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.    

Winning and What We Stand For!

by: chrisbedford

Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 18:21:36 PM EDT

Phil wrote,  "In Muskegon County the Party primaried three commissioners they felt had gotten too close to Republicans and defeated one of those incumbents and just missed the other two my literally a handful of votes -- but they've likely brought the Muskegon County Commission back into fully Democratic hands."

His interpretation of the Muskegon County results reveals  the problem facing the Democrats that I am concerned about. As a Muskegon County Democrat, I respectfully disagree with his interpretation of the recent Primary results.

The defeated incumbent was Don Aley, one of the smartest and most open members of the Muskegon County Commission (the Commission). He was fiscally conservative, watching the county budget closely. But he was a caring Democrat. He lost to Charles Nash, a Muskegon School Board member, primarily because he didn't campaign in Muskegon (part of his district). Nash's agenda is not very clear except to oust Aley, which he did.

The other supposed "liberal" challengers to the incumbent Commission members, were part of a public employee revolt against their managers over budget and personnel issues. Frank Swiatek (a Sheriff's depurty) ran against incumbent Charles Buzzell, on a platform of "no new taxes".

Dan Willea ran against incumbent Jim Derezinski primarily on public safety issues. Christie Jensen ran against incumbent Roger Wade, a strong UAW activist and a progressive, basically on a "throw the incumbents out" platform. Buzzell and Derezinski retained their Democratic nominations. Roger Wade faces a recount.

I am not sure what this Muskegon primary says about the future, except that our political system's ability to face the challenges of our collective future is broken.

If our agenda is only to oust Democratic incumbents we don't like and all Republicans, then we will fail even if we succeed in winning elections. West Michigan Rising needs to be about more than partisanship, in my view.
Michigan is facing a fundamental challenge. We will never return to the glory days of the Big Three and UAW contracts that made it possible for a high school graduate to lead a middle class lifestyle.

Today, our principle economic development strategy is to get sick. Healthcare is the fastest growing sector of our economy. Our natural resources are still treated as unlimited inputs.

Corporations rule the agenda of both parties, particularly in the critical issues of food, water, and energy.

So what do we stand for? I want to start a conversation on this blog, not just about how bad the Republicans are, but on how we can build a coalition of all people (not just Dems) to regenerate our economy and our future.
Peace and good food.

Canvassing for Barack in Muskegon

by: minvis

Mon Aug 11, 2008 at 19:33:05 PM EDT

I live in Illinois, but my father has a summer home in western Michigan about 20 miles north of Muskegon.  Before I got up there, I was interested in helping out the Obama campaign up there.  I was talking with my sister, who was up there as well, and she said that she wanted to help too when I got there.  This was surprising since my sister has never been very interested in politics and certainly not interested about a presidential candidate as long as I remember.  BTW, I'm 43 years old so my memory goes back to at least Nixon-McGovern in 1972.  Needless to say, I was happy to hear about her interest, so I contacted the campaign at their local office in Muskegon Heights to see what we could do.

I'm used to canvassing door-to-door, so I was up for doing that and again I was surprised when my sister said she was willing to do that too.  For someone who has not been involved in politics to not only volunteer, but also have the nerve to go door-to-door, was truly astonishing and obviously a testament to Barack Obama and his campaign that inspired her to do this.

Visiting this week

by: minvis

Sun Aug 03, 2008 at 00:49:50 AM EDT

I'm part of a DFA (Democracy for America) group in Chicago and the Obama campaign is sending us out to Iowa as they have each of the Illinois congressional districts' volunteers going to different states.  My congressional district (9th) is set to go to eastern Iowa every other Saturday from now until election day.  I'm not sure which congressional district, if any, are scheduled to go to Michigan.

Join us in Muskegon Saturday for Rep. Mary Valentine!

by: Granholm Cherry Ground Crew

Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 16:46:05 PM EDT

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!

Oh Holly Hughes, You're the Life of the Republican Party

by: Muskegon Critic

Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 01:02:50 AM EDT

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.

Valentine Headquarter's Grand Opening

by: philgoblue

Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 08:17:07 AM EDT

Mary Valentine Campaign Headquarter's Grand Opening

Friday, 11 July
from 7:00 -- 9:00 pm.

at 3510 Henry Street
Muskegon, Michigan
(same location as 2006)
Phone 231-733-2870

Join Representative Valentine and her team as the campaign moves into high gear.

Beer, wine and food provided.

Dissention in the Ranks, Muskegon-Style

by: gauchiste

Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 12:49:57 PM EDT

The author is Jay Jurkas, brother of George Jurkas, our recently retired County Sheriff.  Jay is also a cop and a well-known local Dem who is mighty pissed about the budgetary woes here in Muskegon.  So pissed, in fact, that he has recruited the referenced candidates to primary those he considers as DINOs on the County Board.

http://muskegontaxdollars.info/

Jurkas' wrath does not extend to much-beloved County Treasurer Tony Moulatsiotis, who has indicated more than once that the County isn't as broke as it claims to be.

What's Old Is New Again, or The Future is Now (or at least next year)

by: philgoblue

Fri Jun 20, 2008 at 12:20:58 PM EDT

The Grand Rapids Press reports that Grand Valley State University's Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center and its director Imad Mahawili (last seen touring West Michigan with the Gov) have developed a simple off-the-shelf but high-performance wind turbine for residential use -- a "wind turbine in a box."

The innovative wind turbine is the first major launch of a commercial product from GVSU's energy center in Muskegon. Plans are to sell the turbine at home improvement stores for less than $2,000 to homeowners who can use it to provide up to 20 percent of their electricity.

The project will be a joint venture between the MAREC, E-Net -- a technology development company -- and EarthTronics in Muskegon.  It looks like the brand name will be "WindTronics."

EarthTronics President Reg Adams said his company is working on a refined prototype that could be put into production by the first quarter of 2009. Adams said the initial units will be assembled in Muskegon with parts potentially coming from across the globe. Muskegon vendors are being sought for the units made of metal and composite plastics.

That's getting into the realm of affordability, especially if the price drops after initial production and/or their is a state or federal tax break.

Another example of Governor Granholm's dream of a green economy for Michigan coming true.

Oh, and MAREC itself is a great example of how businesses, civil society groups, government at all levels, and universities can work together to stimulate a better economy for everyone.

Mary Valentine -- The Vulnerable Incumbent

by: philgoblue

Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 16:48:25 PM EDT

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.

Foreclosures Kill Property Value

by: Muskegon Critic

Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 00:45:36 AM EDT

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.

Mary Valentine Announces Reelection Bid Tomorrow

by: philgoblue

Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 17:00:52 PM EDT

This Saturday, April 26th, Mary Valentine will be officially announcing her re-election campaign for the 91st District State House seat.  The announcement will occur at 10:30 am at the Coffee House, 255 Seminole Rd. (Just off Seaway Dr next to Tony's Bistro) in Muskegon.    

The race to retain District 91 will likely be the toughest fight (link now broken) we have in West Michigan.  While we work hard to expand our West Michigan Democratic caucus to numbers like 8 or 9, we should remember that to do that we need to do what we can to help Valentine get reelected.

Rep. Mary Valentine was recently listed in the MIRS newsletter's list of the three "most vulnerable incumbents" and that wasn't really news to anyone.  Valentine won her first term in 2006 -- 53.6% to 46.4%.  In 2004 Republican incumbent David Farhat won the seat 52.0% to 48.0% against Democrat Nancy Frye. In 2002 Republican David Farhat won the seat 50.6% to 49.4% against Democrat Nancy Frye.

So, as Peter noted this is about the swingingist district out there.

In 2008, Valentine will be running as an incumbent and she has ample resources.  Her Republican opponent is Holly Hughes, a Republican National Committeewoman and McCain sweetheart with deep-pockets.

If anyone wanted to cover this event, that'd be pretty cool.

Phil Talked Me Into It

by: Bill_Kim

Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 18:31:16 PM EDT

The caveat is this:
Any comments made are mine, and not those of Fred Johnson or any other candidate (unless, of course, I'm directly attributing them to a specific candidate).  I know that won't stop people from assuming that almost anything I say is Fred's words, so I'm going to have to be careful about what I say, but I'm at least going to try and make the attempt at some separation here.  

I may or may not talk in detail about Fred's campaign, strategy, etc, but I'm always willing to listen or even discuss what's going on.  I'll give as much of an inside look as I can...but that may not be much.  (And obviously, actually running the campaign is going to have to take priority).  

Anyway, the announcement is this:
This Saturday, April 26th, Mary Valentine will be officially announcing her re-election campaign for the 91st District State House seat.  The announcement will occur at 10:30 AM at the Coffee House, 255 Seminole Rd. (Just off Seaway Dr next to Tony's Bistro) in Muskegon.  

If you can, come and show your support!