The Michigan Conservative Dossier

Dear Pro-Life Republican:
We need your help!
There is something you can do right away to help protect the lives of the unborn right here in Michigan.
The South Dakota state legislature has been working hard to define life as beginning at conception. Now it is our turn to carry the torch and bring this important effort to Michigan. We commend Mr. Cal Zastrow for his efforts in collecting signatures to amend the Michigan Constitution to read:
“The right to due process, whereby no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, guaranteed in Article 1 Section 17, and the right to equal protection of the law, guaranteed in Article 1, Section 2, vest at conception. A ‘person’ for the purposes of the Constitution and laws of the State of Michigan, exists from the moment of conception.”
We are supporting his proposal and ask you to do the same.
The official website is located at http://www.michigancitizensforlife.net/ and the blog is at http://personhoodamendment.blogspot.com/.
Please logon to these important sites or call Cal Zastrow directly at (810) 441-5309 and ask for a petition.
Sincerely,
Chuck Yob Holly Hughes
Republican National Committee Members

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186202,00.html

Campaign Irritated With Yob The Campaign for Michigan Families, a conservative organization, is upset that Republican National Committeeman Chuck YOB endorsed U.S. Rep. Joe SCHWARZ (R-Battle Creek), in the U.S. Senate race. The group feels Schwarz is too liberal of a candidate. Gary GLENN, with The Campaign for Michigan Families, didn’t like Schwartz’s opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment and his support of U.S. Rep. John CONYERS’ (D-Detroit) “hate crime” legislation.

The Democrats could make a play in the 84th District being vacated by Tom MEYER (R-Bad Axe), but this Tuscola County/Huron County seat also tends to perform comparatively well for Democrats in presidential years. Otherwise, the GOP is counting on its 57 percent base to be good enough to get its candidate into the Capitol. For now the Republican field includes Huron County Road Commissioner John HUNT of Bad Axe, who has already raised $36,000 for the run. Recently retired Cass City School Superintendent Ken MICKLASH just entered the race. He’s raised $3,515 and has $1,715 on hand. Phil HARDY is running out of Tuscola County, which boasts 60 percent of the population base. He formed a finance committee last month after flirting with a run at public office in the past. He’s raised $3,396 and has $263 in cash on hand. Also coming out of Tuscola County is Christine YOUNG of Unionville. She’s raised $3,184 and has $123 in the bank. Don’t be surprised if more candidates jump into this race as the candidate filing deadline approaches. Democratic candidates include Bad Axe attorney John NEEB and Terry BROWN, who worked for the Huron County Intermediate School District for years. He’s also a pastor.

My adopted Congressman endorsed Joe Schwarz

State Representative Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw) is seeking the 32nd district Senate seat held by term limited Senator Mike Goschka (R-Brandt) which encompasses all of Saginaw and Gratiot counties.

Kahn has $157,000 cash on hand, more than any of his Democrat opponents. None of the candidates on the Democrat side have more than $15K cash on hand. In a district that is supposed to lean Democrat this comes as a surprise.

Kahn has raised more money than any non incumbent Senator in the entire state and ranks 4th among every incumbent Senator (Republican and Democrat) in the state. Surpassed only by Senators Sanborn, Patterson, and Schauer.

We predict Kahn glides to victory in November.

It appears as if neither Fmr. Rep Steve Ehardt or term limited State Rep Tom Meyer plan on taking on Senator Barcia. Campaign filings indicate that neither have raised over $1000.

Senator Jim Barcia is popular in the area. Some Republicans even get upset if anyone attacks him. Little known to people outside of the district Barcia is more conservative than a couple GOP Senators including VanWoerkom.

With over $35K cash on hand Barcia is sure to glide to victory.

(Grand Rapids, February 8, 2006, 3:35 a.m.) One of the three men debating at Grand Valleys State’s Grand Rapids campus Tuesday night will take on Democrat Debbie Stabenow in the fall. The three were trying to distinguish themselves in front of a the party faithful.
The three men are former State Senator and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, Keith Butler, an Oakland County minister and former Detroit City Council member, and Jerry Zandstra, a Kent County minister and member of the Acton Institute.
Bouchard pointed to spending when he said that “Washington is spending like drunken sailors. We have to get back to our roots: fiscal conservatism.”
For Butler, it was a matter of running as a non-politician, according to his statement on the issue. “I’m not a lifetime politician, and I think that’s what we need in Washington. I think Washington has forgot about good ordinary common sense.”
“If I didn’t feel that my economic back ground is the strongest of the three of us I wouldn’t be here because that is how you beat Senator Stabenow,” said Zandstra.
While all three chided Washington for over-spending and being out of touch, none blamed their own majority party or GOP President Bush. They instead chose to blame Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow on issue after issue, including Social Security, healthcare, tort reform, and immigration.
The candidates sounded similar themes, though Zandstra stood out for his support of the so-called affirmative action initiative that will be on this year’s ballot. Bouchard and Butler do not support the measure.
Tuesday’s early test was a chance to sway the base and try to win a primary. Each had a different approach. For Zandstra, it was a consistent theme.
“It is economics. It’s jobs and jobs all over again, and I think that’s my strong suit,” he said.
Butler said, “We have to get our message out to all the people in Michigan that will vote in the primary.”
Bouchard called on his experience. “I’ve got tangible experience of creating jobs as a small business owner and in homeland security as a police officer.”
Most polls show any of the three Republicans trailing far behind Stabenow. It is important to note that it’s early in the campaign cycle, a campaign that each of the candidates tried to convince the crowd that they could and would be successful in November.

The 84th District which comprises of Tuscola and Huron counties has three people vying for the term limited Tom Meyers (R-Bad Axe) seat.

Campaign filings indicate that Huron County Road Commissioner John Hunt has blown both of his opponents out of the water with his fundraising. With a $10K personal loan and another $20K+ raised.

Hunt raised roughly $36K and spent a little over $5,000 leaving him with $31,000+ cash on hand.

Phil Hardy, a well known party activist in and outside of his district came in a distant second to Hunt. Hardy raised roughly $3,400 and spent nearly all of it. Hardy gets a gold star from us for having a website up. www.hardyforstaterep.org

Lastly is Christine Young who has raised nearly $3,200 and spent all but $123.

Though Hunt absolutely has the money edge, Hardy is well known in Republican circles in and out of his district.

The picture to the the left is Rep. Roger Kahn and Phil Hardy

The Nation Tue Feb 7, 10:44 AM ET
The Nation — Nina J. Easton’s Boston Globe article on Jack Abramoff’s college days is well worth a read. An example Abramoff’s early dirty work:
A training manual from the period… described
Ralph Nader’ network of Public Interest Research Groups on campus as ”tyrannical” and ”radical.” Abramoff’s team accused the United States Student Association — a 350-chapter liberal campus group that in 1982 protested Reagan’s student aid cuts — of being a ”pro-Soviet, pro-terrorist, Marxist-Leninist organization.” The manual advised boycotting ”Marxist” professors, and soliciting support from alumni college donors to oust them.
p> Seems eerily similar to the kind of tactics Andrew Jones– the recent UCLA grad who was offering $100 to students who reported examples of left-wing bias in their professors– is employing. Jones also boasts in his resume of having carried out the nation’s first “Affirmative Action Bakesale”– a nationally popular conservative activist stunt in which whites are charged more for cookies than are minorities.
As Ari continues to point out, Abramoff’s fall has clearly shaken Congress, but I wonder what effect it’s having on the rising generation of conservatives. The lesson of Abramoff’s college days– and those of Karl Rove and Lee Atwater, for that matter (also leading College Republicans in their day)– is that those who use cut-throat tactics and dirty tricks early on are the ones who become the stars of the movement. Jones certainly seems to believe this, as does Paul Gourley, current president of College Republicans, whose brutal “knife-fight” campaign tactics were vividly depicted by Franklin Foer in TNR.
But now that Jack’s finally headed for the slammer, will these youngsters think twice, and if they do, what will it mean for the Republicans in the near future? Can you imagine the conservative movement continuing to thrive– or even survive– without a new generation of Abramoffs, Roves and Atwaters?

Katie Wilcox, Michigan Students for Life Chair in the State News…
http://www.statenews.com/op_article.phtml?pk=34333

Someone wrote a response to her…
http://www.statenews.com/op_article.phtml?pk=34482

This is the state chapter of EMILYS List http://www.milist.org/
This is the coalition against MCRI http://www.oneunitedmichigan.org/

Today the Michigan Democrat party unveiled their own “Job Loss Thermometer”. Apparently this is an attempt to get back at the Michigan Republican party for the Granholm “Jobs Loss Clock”.

The very first sentence on the MI Dem website is at best misleading. It reads:

“Today the Michigan Democratic Party unveiled its Bush/DeVos Outsourcing Thermometer. The Thermometer displays the number of U.S. jobs that have been outsourced because of President Bush’s and GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos’ unfair trade and tax polices that promote outsourcing“.

First off, Dick DeVos does not influence trade and tax policies outside of his vote. Secondly, the count is a national one, not Michigan only.

It must be nice for the Democrats to have such a dimb witted constituency that will believe this garbage. At best the website and the statistics contained on it are an inaccurate hack job.

Source: http://www.mi-democrats.com/outsourcing.htm

The February edition of the Jewish bimonthly magazine, Moment, carries an excerpt from a book by Abigail Pogrebin, Stars of David; the book details conversations Pogrebin had with 62 famous Jews. The excerpt features Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of Pogrebin’s subjects. What Ginsburg had to say about Christianity was noted by Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

“In the January 30 edition of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger, Abigail Pogrebin was asked which Jewish persons have left a ‘profound impression’ on her. She answered, ‘I will never forget Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg saying, ‘Don’t put a [Christmas] wreath on this door.’ Indeed, Ginsburg admits to putting a gold mezuzah on her office door’s frame as a way of saying, ‘This is my space, and please don’t put a wreath on this door.’ To observant Jews, the mezuzah reminds them of their connection to God. To Ginsburg, who is not observant, it is a symbol of protest.

“Ginsburg used to attend the annual Red Mass, a Catholic Mass that honors lawyers, but then she had a bad experience: ‘I went one year and I will never go again, because this sermon was outrageously anti-abortion.’ So much for respect for diversity. Just imagine how it would go down in the Jewish community if a Catholic Supreme Court Justice were to say that he would never again attend a particular Jewish event because he had to endure a talk that was ‘outrageously pro-abortion.’

“In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled, 7-2, that it was constitutional to put a cross outside Ohio’s state capitol building. The ruling said that the park was a public forum open to all expression, and could not therefore exclude a Christian symbol. Ginsburg dissented, explaining to Pogrebin, that ‘a Jewish child who is passing by the Capitol’ would surmise that ‘this is a Christian country,’ thus provoking the conclusion that ‘There’s something wrong with me.’ Ginsburg had nothing to say about the fact that a menorah had been allowed on the same grounds prior to the ruling.

“What Ginsburg has said should give all Christians pause, especially Catholics. Her intolerance for our teachings and traditions is striking.”

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

In November, 14 Republican seats, 15 Democrat seats and 4 open seats in the Senate are up for grabs.

Out of the 15 Democrat seats all of them are considered to be solid and there is little chance of them changing hands. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) is going to have a primary challenge unlike any that he has faced before because of his stance on the war.

Bill Frist (R-TN) is retiring so that will leave the seat open. Although Congressman Harold Ford Jr has proven to be a good fundraiser, he will be no match for the Republican that comes out of the primary. Al Gore was a Senator from TN and when he ran for President he lost his home state. It is unlikely that the seat will fall into Democrat hands. Mayor Bob Corker will likely be the primary victor.

Jim Jeffords (I-VT) is also retiring. This came as a shock to many in VT considering that nearly all of the statewide office holders had endorsed him including Patrick Leahy. The seat will most likely be picked up by the Democrats.

Mark Kennedy is running for the seat that Mark Dayton (D-MN) is vacating. I would consider this race a tossup because the state has recently elected a Republican Governor and US Senator. If I had to pick I would say this seat stays in Democrat hands.

Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) is also retiring this year leaving the race wide open. Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele is running for the seat. Depending on who makes it out of the Democrat primary this seat is potentially a toss up.

Rick Santorum (R-PA) is running for reelection in a uphill race. At the end of last year polls had Santorum polling 18 points behind his presumptive Democrat challenger Bob Casey. As early as last week, Santorum was still lagging by 10 points. This race is the National Democrats top priority. Santorum is just barely outpacing his opponent in fundraising also which is unheard of in a race of this nature. The odds are that Santorum will lose his seat.

Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is going to have to fend off a real conservative in the primary. Chafee angered Republicans by not supporting the war and more recently not voting to confirm Alito to the nations high court. Stephen Laffey, his opponent will have to combat a massive war chest that the RNC and the NRSC will be contributing to Chafee. My prediction is that Chafee ends up with a small victory over Laffey and his race will be too close to call in the general election.

Overall the Republicans will probably lose one or two seats in the Senate, but will still hold a majority after election day.

Michigan College Republicans love Tom Tancredo…why don’t the party big shots?

Hoekstra in the Hill News

George Washington University CRs Named the Best in the Land

An email was sent out earlier this week in which Chuck Yob and Holly Hughes endorsed Jane Abraham for MIGOP Co Chair.

The sender of the email was “Republican National Committe.”Which is the same sender name as the actual Republican National Committee.

Some may be fooled by the title of the email, but it is important to note that they are members of the RNC and not THE RNC.

The Executive Board of the National Committee did not vote to endorse. And the email was not sent out by Ken Mehlman or his office.

MIRS News reports that Jane Abraham does not currently live in Michigan. According to some MIGOP by law the person must live in the state to run for a party office.

Carlson didn’t allow the newly chartered club at Ferris to vote at convention, but at the last minute allowed Grand Valley.
What a way to welcome a new club into the Federation…by letting them in, but not allowing them to vote.
Secondly Dan CANNOT take credit for Ferris’ chartering because he has absolutely nothing to do with it. I thought I should get that in the open before he tried to claim credit.

Here is the letter Dan sent to Ferris before convention…

Ferris State Crs,

“I’m really sorry, I’ve been trying to fix thesituation, but my hands are tied- we didn’t get the phone numbers foryour delegates by 8 pm last night, and they won’t be able to vote atconvention. I hope you understand, I’m bound by an explicit boardvote. I hope that you still come down, I really want you guys to stayinvolved with the statewide organization, but I just don’t have theauthority to help with this. When we have a contested election, likewe do this year- at least for the co-chair position, I’m bound by theexecutive board vote. I still hope to see you downthere.”

Truly,
Dan

Dan “Just the tip” Carlson,

Just wanted to congratulate you on behalf of the entire Albion College Republicans. Those who attended the convention seemed incredibly moved by your rousing and detailed platform for the future of our great organization. Your oratory skills shall most certainly go down in history aside those of Kennedy and Lincoln. I really wish I could have been there to see you clean up–unfortunately I was stuck here doing real work as opposed to playing with little kids.

Now I turn my thoughts to consoling Dave in his time of epic defeat. He has been crying for the last 3 hours and begging God for answers. He actually locked himself in the bathroom for about 40 minutes–and we were all really concerned that he might do something stupid. He just kept shouting no money, no new chapters, and NO VICTORY–whatever that means. Compagnoni has been trying to soothe Dave by talking about cars for the last 3 hours to no avail. Once again I reiterate from my last e-mail that Mike is like a small child who wanders into a theatre halfway through a movie and demands to know whats going on–good luck with that.

So, even if you guys are broke and you have no new chapters and you have an outright lack of a vision for the future–I stand firmly behind you–because that is the kind of leadership I look for personally. Albion College longs for ineptitude and incompetence at the highest levels and that is why I have a confession to make: Had Albion College been allowed to vote we would have been solidly behind you. Dave is way too talented as a leader for me to put my support behind him. Electing him would in turn make all of us look so bad by comparison. Now I can rest peacefully at night knowing that I don’t have to worry about being upstaged by anyone in the MFCR or as I have come to call it, The pathetic, impotent Organization for those who fear growing up (or PIOFTWFGU for short).

I hope your future endeavours into the world of CRNC politics works out for the best. Lord knows we’re all pulling for you–as are at least one or two people on the national level. In fact–I have an inside source that says Gourley can’t even sleep at night out of fear that you are coming for him. He has your picture of you on his mirror and uses that image as motivation for his training–much like Sylvester Stallone in the hit film “Rocky IV.”

Once again I wish you–and your coalition of the inept–much luck in the next year leading the MFCR or PIOTWFGU.I’ll miss these little conversations….

Smooches,

The Minj

P.S. I have a link here that was actually created by the Albion CR’s just to explain to you how much you mean to us. Enjoy: http://Dan-JustTheTip-Carlson.youaremyfriend.com/

Bisbee Backs Schwarz Today, former Rep. Clark BISBEE announced that he is endorsing U.S. Rep. Joe SCHWARZ (R-Battle Creek) in his re-election bid. Bisbee, of Jackson, was one of five Republicans who Schwarz defeated in the 2004 GOP 7th Congressional District race. “Joe Schwarz has been a great congressman for Jackson County,” Bisbee said. “Joe recognizes the need for further economic development and he supports programs that will benefit our county. He secured funds to widen I-94 and he successfully fought efforts to shut down Amtrak service to downtown Jackson. It’s all about results, and Joe has them.”

FUCK YOUR UNION JACK, WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!

http://www.uaw.org/solidarity/06/0206/feature02.cfm

It seems like the website (www.smashleftwingscum.com) that became popular in the summer of last year is becoming increasingly radical.

There is a post about President Bush and the State of the Union address which is good, but at the end it resembles something that one would read on the racist website nationalvanguard.com

Here is the link
http://www.smashleftwingscum.com/2006/02/good-bad-and-ugly.html

One thing is for sure…this website will give MIGOP Chairman Saul Anuzis an ulcer before his term is up.

Another thing to note is that the website was revamped recently. One thing that changed was you cannot tell who is posting an article. Since the update the posts have gotten progressively more risky.