Roy Schmidt for State Representative

by: philgoblue

Thu Mar 11, 2010 at 17:01:17 PM EST

At Roy's Swearing In

by: philgoblue

Tue Dec 23, 2008 at 21:05:00 PM EST

Mr. Schmidt Goes to Lansing

by: philgoblue

Mon Dec 15, 2008 at 23:12:42 PM EST

See you there!

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.

Roy Schmidt's Campaign Finale Reception

by: philgoblue

Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 08:00:00 AM EDT

You're invited to a Campaign Finale Reception for Roy Schmidt, Democratic Candidate for the 76th District, Michigan State House of Representatives hosted by Scott Bowen and John Wheeler (owner of Rockford Construction).

Thursday, 16 October
5:00 -- 7:30 pm with Roy's comments at 6:30 pm
at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel's Pantlind Room.

I'll be there and hope you will too.

Roy Schmidt Paints the Town Red and Green

by: philgoblue

Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 22:13:08 PM EDT

Roy showed up with 115 friends and supporters donned in red long sleeve shirts specially designed and printed for the parade (Roy is smart enough to know the Poles love Red, even if his regular campaign colors are Irish Green).  The shirts had a Polish Falcon on the front with the phrase "Na Zdrowie: Vote for Roy Schmidt"* and on the back a bigger falcon and "Pulaski Days" (Roy, even though I didn't march, I gotta get me one of those shirts! Can I get one?).

The unit was undoubtedly one of the largest in the history of the Pulaski Days parade (a celebration of Polish-American Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski and the Polish heritage of West Michigan). Heck, the pictures I have don't come close to capturing the entire contingent.

When the parade was over Team Roy piled in vans and cars a visited every one of the 14 celebrating halls in town (Knights of Columbus, St. Casimir's, Polish Falcons, Kosciuszko Hall, Stanislaus Aid Society etc), handing out literature and giving t-shirts to bartenders, doormen and special friends. It was an impressive display of support for Roy who has enjoyed this kind of enthusiasm throughout his 16 years of service as a First Ward City Commissioner.

And if that wasn't enough Roy had nearly 50 people show up the following morning to split up into teams and put up over 1200 yard signs throughout the 76th District!  Democrats I've talked to have called it one of the most impressive displays of yardsign dominance they've seen (at least rivaling the current champ Mike Sak).

Roy has not only made November's election victory a foregone conclusion, he's demonstrated that it is pointless to run against him for the seat in the future.

Na Zdrowie Roy!

more photos on the flip....

One Last Weekend of Parades

by: philgoblue

Thu Oct 02, 2008 at 00:19:49 AM EDT

Yea, yea, Obama's coming to town tomorrow, but all of our problems can't be solved in DC.  If we want a better Michigan and Kent County, we've also got to show our support to local candidates.  You can do that this weekend during the last parades of the season.

I've heard from Roy Schmidt, Bruce Hawley, Chris Yates....  Here's the information.  Pick and candidate and give them an easy two hours of real important help.

Roy Schmidt in the Grand Rapids Pulaski Days Parade
Roy Schmidt for Michigan State House, District 76: Grand Rapids.

Saturday, October 4, 10:30 -- 12:00 noon
The Roy Schmidt parade team will meet at 10:30 am in front of the McDonalds on Michigan Street.
The Route starts at Michigan and College, ends at Michigan and Diamond.

Following the parade, a Roy Schmidt Blitz Tour will commence. We will be visiting all of the Pulaski Halls and you're invited to come along!
The schedule and sign-up information is available on the Roy Schmidt website or contact Linda Prus (616) 822-8227 for more information.  Please go, Roy thinks I'm going, but I'm going to Ann Arbor instead for the game with old friends.

Bruce Hawley in the Cedar Springs Red Flannel Parade
Bruce Hawley for Michigan State House, District 73: northern Kent County

Saturday, October 4, 2:15 -- 4:00 pm
Parade Starts: 3:00 pm.
The line up area is on the west end of town.  The line up area entrance will be at the corner of Muskegon (17 Mile Rd) and West Street.  Off of 17 Mile, go South on West Street (West St is ½ mile east of US 131).  We're not sure which street in this area we will be on, so you'll have to ask at the entrance.  Our line- up number is 48. We suggest that you be there by 2:15 pm.

PRIOR TO PARADE:  We will have a Campaign Table set up in front of Stein Brothers Pizza on Main Street starting at 10:00 am.  We will be filling balloons and walking the streets handing them out.  We will need people to help with this, so anyone who is available, for any length of time, would be appreciated!

Well, this is it -- our last parade of the season!  The Red Flannel parade in Cedar Springs is this Saturday, October 4.  This should be a fairly big parade and we would really love to end our parade season on a HUGE note!!!   We believe we have made quite an impressive showing at all of the parades, even at the Kent City parade where it rained buckets the whole day.   We were quite a sight to see, but we made our appearance and it was GREAT - thanks to all you die-hard, faithful who showed up!  We truly can't thank all of you enough!  Whether you've walked in one parade or all of them, we just appreciate your dedication and support so much!  If you have not walked in a parade with us, come join us and find out how much fun it is. Thanks again for everything, -- Bruce & Jean

MIRS Profiles Roy Schmidt

by: philgoblue

Wed Oct 01, 2008 at 23:15:21 PM EDT

Yesterday, MIRS profiled Roy Schmidt, Democratic State House candidate from Grand Rapids (District 76) in Schmidt Fighting To Protect Grand Rapids In House.

The articles riffs off of Roy's work with boxing as well as his long history of civic involvement in Grand Rapids, first in the West Grand Neighborhood Association followed by 16 years on the City Commission.

Clearly, Schmidt plans on working to reignite our economy and being an advocate for urban issues while he's in Lansing:

Among one of his bigger concerns is how the state has cut revenue sharing money to local governments to balance the books. The City of Grand Rapids has lost $40 million alone in state revenue sharing dollars in recent years, which has caused great stress in the city's police, fire and parks departments.

"Sixty percent of the state's coming came on the backs of local government," Schmidt said. "I understand the money is tight, but it's affecting our quality of life."

In the interview with MIRS, Roy pushed his goal of bipartisan solution-finding (though the conservative MIRS probably overplays that aspect -- apparently Bill thinks you're "conservative" if you're for economic growth):

"If you look at my record in Grand Rapids, I think you'll see that I worked at how to get things to 'yes' . . . how to get things done. I understand there's partisanship, but I'm going to try to work with everyone and I say that sincerely."

I truely wish Roy the best of luck with that and do believe that there are some Republicans that can be reasoned with.  The problem is, the reason city grants were cut is because far too many Republicans don't care much about cities since Republicans don't live there and Republicans slash taxes mostly to weaken government so it functions poorly allowing them to keep bashing it as ineffective so they can drown it in the bathtub.  However, it should be clear from the utter failures of Republinomics during the Bush era, that tax giveaways, deregulation, privatization, and debts are the path to weakness in the new global economy whereas public-private cooperation, fair playing fields, oversight to insure the profit motive is working in the common interest of Americans is the path to growth in the 21st century.  The Renewable Portfolio Standards is a perfect case in point -- government can create a playing field to stimulate Michigan being a leader in alternative energy -- much of which will end up here in West Michigan -- and so many libertarian Republicans pushed it down belovw 15% so that its effectiveness will be far less than it could have been.  We know their plan, we saw it at the Policy Conference: deregulation, right-to-work, privatization, and switching the tax burden onto the middle class. Can we try to find some Republicans who are pro-business in a smart way? I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.

WMR's Second Look at the West Michigan State House Races, September

by: philgoblue

Tue Sep 23, 2008 at 23:58:48 PM EDT

We've developed a ranking system based on the past voting history of the district, the financials of the campaigns, our (oftentimes limited) knowledge of the campaign organization on the ground, and the Republican opposition.

We at WMR continue to believe that we're likely headed into a tidal wave election at the national level -- given the upset wins in Strong Republican districts in Illinois, Mississippi and Louisiana, the rallying around nominee Barack Obama, the organizational strength of the Campaign for Change, the economic crisis, and an anti-incumbent mood -- and believe it is reasonable, if optimistic, to believe that we'll see that wave filter downticket to the State House races here in West Michigan. Indeed, we believe that we can increase the West Michigan Democratic delegation to the House in Lansing from the current five representatives all the way to ten. That's a big goal, but that's where we're at: 10 West Michigan Democrats in November 2008!

Earlier analysis of the 2008 State House Races:
Part I: The Democratic Incumbents
Part II: Strong Opportunity for Democratic Flips
Part III: Possible Opportunity for Democratic Flips
Part IV: Long Shot Opportunities
Part V: Likely Safe Republican Districts
An Analysis of West Michigan House Districts

And we'll look at the races one last time in late October after we've completed all our Candidate Profiles.

The Basic Rankings 
1. Doug Bennett
2. Robert Jones
3. Roy Schmidt
4. Robert Dean
5. Mary Valentine
6. Dan Scripps
7. Julie Rogers
8. Judy Truesdell
9. Mike Huckleberry
10. Bruce Hawley
11. Phyllis Smith
12. Carol Higgins
13. Roman Grucz
14. Bill Richards
etc. 

The details on the flip with poll.

Walking with Brandon and Roy

by: philgoblue

Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 13:54:42 PM EDT

This past Saturday I did a little door-to-door canvasing with Roy Schmidt, Brandon Dillon, and Brandon's brother Brian.  On a beautiful, sunny day, the four of us walked through a nice neighborhood of well-maintained single family homes near Leonard and Fuller in north Grand Rapids.  Although we were only out for a few hours, we had good success in this mostly Democratic neighboorhood.  Brian
and I mostly did a brief,

"Hi, I'm x and I'm out talking to neighboors on behalf of Brandon Dillon -- your County Commissioner -- and Roy Schmidt, who is runninig for Mike Sak's State House seat since Mike is termlimited. ... They'll be back themselves later in the fall, but they hope you'll have the time to read these introductions [hand the two lit pieces].  Thanks, have a great day."

We also tried to get OKs for yard signs from folks who had done so for Brandon last election or from new folks who seemed enthusiastic.  Of course, the candidates themselves did better at the door and they got a bunch of acceptances for yard signs to go up later in the fall.  Both Brandon and Roy were great at the door and obviously have a comfortable way with people.  It's both nice to see Roy with one of the strongest Democrats in Kent County and to see Brandon with our future State Representative.

Brandon had a nice lit piece with his slogan "Honest Leadership. Better Government" prominent along with the website.  Inside, Brandon extolls his love of family and community and then gets down to stressing his opposition to unfair new fees, supporting greenspace preservation, pushing for "smarter development strategies for Kent County," and making sure the city "gets its fair share of county resources" (a "core cities vs. outlying townships" theme I think all Democratic candidates in GR, Kentwood, Wyoming, etc should be pushing).  He also included a joint quote from Rosalynn Bliss and David LaGrand the two city commissioners from the second ward which heavily overlaps with Brandon's 18th district.  On the back he's got his list of endorsements including state representatives Sak and Dean, four city commissioners, all the Democratic county commissioners (save one, one guess which), the County and City police union, the city firefighters, Scott Bowen, Alicia Pestka (for Steve who is a former State Representative and now a judge), Lupe Ramos-Montigny, Frank Lynn, Roy Schmidt himself, many others, and finally some guy named Phil Skaggs (I'm sure I'll get bumped for more important people later, but for now, it's nice to be included).

Roy's lit piece is extremely fansy and 8 pages!  It's mostly an introductory piece -- the title is "Hi, I'm Roy Schmidt.  It's probably for folks outside GR's Ward 1 where he was a city commissioner for 16 years.  It's not the easiest to find, but it does say "Democrat" on the front page.  The piece has a lot of feel-good photos of Roy listening to constituents.  But, he does talk issues -- solid Democratic issues --, stressing restoring some Revenue Sharing from Lansing to the cities, keeping school funding from Lansing at a level to insure good schools, taking a strong stand to protect Great Lakes water, creating jobs, and making "healthcare affordable and available to every family."  Unlike the webpage, it doesn't stress some level of post-partisanship and thankfully leaves out the "two great parties" part.  Overall, I continue to be impressed with the campaign Roy is running.

Later, the four of us went to a Creston Neighborhood Association cookout for hotdogs, brats, and some handshakes.  The Creston NA is extremely active and a great bunch of folks.  Brandon and Roy headed down to the Water Festival (dang, thtese guys work hard) while I headed off to a brief visit to the Grand Rapids Obama Headquarters which I'll write about later today.

We had a great time and I got to know Roy and Brian better.  I'm convinced Roy is a smart campaigner and elected official and will do Democrats proud in Lansing.  Roy is running hard and that's a good thing.  A blowout election would make this seat safe for us for decades and a big win, with a well-funded campaign that can donate some of that to other (including, hopefully West Michigan) Democratic candidates means that Roy will be in a position to quickly get into and move up the leadership ladder since he's got Mike's big shoes to fill.  Still, don't expect this one to end up too close.  Word is that his Republican "challenger" didn't even bother to show up for the Chamber of Commerce endorsement interview.  So, he can't be running that hard (he also apparently doesn't have a website).

Schmidt, Hennessy, Dillon, Bulkowski and Talen Win GR Chamber of Commerce Endorsements

by: philgoblue

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 15:14:08 PM EDT

While we wouldn't encourage you to support any of their other endorsees -- uh, don't vote for Jack Hoogendyk -- it is interesting to note that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has endorsed five Democrats among their 37 endorsements for US Senate and House, Michigan House, Kent County Commission, and Kent Drain Commission.  Those being:

* Roy Schmidt, State House District 76
* Carol Hennessy, Kent County Commission District 14
* Brandon Dillon, Kent County Commission District 18
* Dick Bulkowski, Kent County Commission District 15, and
* Jim Talen, Kent County Commission District 16, who is running against sitting Commissioner Paul Mayhue in the Democratic primary.

Certainly endorsing Schmidt has no down-side because he's going to win Sak's old seat with about 60% of the vote.  The endorsement will also make the reelection of Brandon Dillon and Dick Bulkowski that much more likely and is a blow to their weak Republican rivals.  Still, the most interesting are the other two.  Hennessy is in a tough race against Republican Tom Postmus and the Chamber endorsement will certainly help her win a much deserved reelection.  And endorsing Jim Talen (a former County Commissioner) over current County Commissioner Paul Mayhue is ... interesting.

In their press release the Chamber says it is endorsing "pro-business" candidates, though it is probably about time they realize that a well-regulated marketplace in which business, non-profits, and government at all levels cooperates to grow and develop an economy is far more "pro-business" than just deregulation, privatization and low taxes (which leads to nothing but a crumbling infrastructure surrounding a work force ill equipped for the jobs of today and tomorrow).

Don't think that these good folks have suddenly become DINOs, Schmidt, Bulkowski, Dillon and Hennessy have also been endorsed by the Kent County Friends of Labor (I'm not sure if or who they have endorsed in the Mayhue-Talen race).

Roy Schmidt (SH-76) Launches Website and Serves Up Spaghetti

by: philgoblue

Fri May 16, 2008 at 13:09:24 PM EDT

Roy Schmidt launched his new website a few days ago and it looks very good (though in time he'll need an "issues" area) -- "Democrat" is also prominent for which we give kudos.  But what's even more impressive is the list of campaign committee members and endorsers Roy has put together in his run for the State House from the 76th District (Mike Sak's district, which I'd now call Strong Democratic).

He's got Westside regulars like Johnny Brann and Ed Kettle as campaign co-chairs and prominent folks like Scott Bowen and Alicia Pestka (signalling Schmidt has the support of former 76th district representative -- before Sak -- Judge Steve Pestka) as finance co-chairs. His Steering Committee includes GR City Commissioner Rosalynn Bloss, union guys like Jay and Sean Egan and Don Oetman, Republicans like Sam Cummings, PWA leaders like Mary Alice Williams, Ruth Kelly and Susan Lewis, County Party leaders and activists like Lupe Ramos-Montigny, Frank Lynn, Linda Pestka Rogers, former Mayor John Logie, former State Representative Tom Mathieu, etc, etc.  Among the endorsers is just about everyone I can think of off hand: Friends of Labor, UAW, GR Police union, IBEW 275, State Rep. Michael Sak, State Rep. Robert Dean, Mayor George Heartwell, County Commissioners (Dillon and Bulkowski), all of the City Commissioners (LaGrand, Jendrasiak, Gutowski, Bliss, Lumpkins, and White), former GVSU President Arend Lubbers, Pat Miles Sr., and many others.

Roy's done his work to get into a very good place in this race.

So, check out the Roy Schmidt for State Representative website and sign up for the newsletter.  And if you really want to help continue the momentum and help Roy out, head down to his annual low-dollar fundraiser TODAY:

Roy's Annual Spaghetti Dinner
Where:
Knights of Columbus
1140 Muskegon Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

When: Friday, 16 May 16
Time: 4:30 -- 8:00 pm