Jul 27, 2009

Bitter, party of one


With 28 of the current 37 Michigan State Senators being term-limited in 2010, speculation is high on who will run.

Many people are looking at the 44 State Representatives who were term-limited last January for possible bids, and according to subscription only MIRS, two-thirds of those may run for the Senate. It’s critical that Democrats take control of the Senate because good legislation passed by the House since 2006 has died in the Senate, and the Legislature will redraw the district boundaries in 2011.

The Republicans gerrymandered the district to benefit themselves so badly that more people voted for Democratic Senate candidates in 2006, but the Republicans maintained a 21-17 edge in seats.

MIRS outlined what the 44 former State Representatives are doing and what their future plans are. The response of Livingston County’s two former state Reps are interesting.

Chris Ward, R-Brighton, was a Republican marked for greater things, and he served one of his three terms as the House Majority Floor Leader. His tenure was not a good one, and he cast one intelligent vote that basically ruined his career. He voted with the Democrats in 2007 to raise the state income tax to avoid a brief government. Many people were trying to scrub up his image for another run while ignoring things like having the worst voting record in the House in his last two terms missing more votes than anyone.

Ward, who once served as Brighton Township Clerk, is currently the deputy clerk/register of deeds for Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson, a former state Representative who served a term with Ward and was the failed Republican Lt. Governor candidate with Dick Devos in 2006. As for Ward’s plan to run for the Senate, he said he has "no plans to ever to run for Senate or anything else ever again for that matter."

Sounds a mite bitter.

Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township, is “doing consulting work” and he announced back in February that he is a candidate for the Senate seat in the 22nd District that will be vacated by term-limited Valde Garcia.

The most interesting response came from former Rep. Glenn Steil, R-Grand Rapids. He is “the director of performance improvement for Result Global, a reinvention company in Grand Rapids.” “Asked if he was planning on running for any higher office, Steil asked the reporter for $100 before he granted an interview, reiterating several times that he was serious.”

8 comments:

Dan said...

Bitter? It sounds like you are still bitter that Chris won in 2006. I'm not shocked in the least after all the personal and negative attacks from you towards him in that campaign and the little to nothing you posted about your candidate.

I can hear the hissing all the way from Green Oak. RAOW!

Communications guru said...

Bitter? It sounds like you are still bitter that Chris won in 2006. I'm not shocked in the least after all the personal and negative attacks from you towards him in that campaign and the little to nothing you posted about your candidate.

Of course not. I didn’t expect a Democrat to win in Livingston County in 2006 against a Republican incumbent, even though Mike was the best candidate.

The people of the 66th District should be bitter that they elected someone who could only be bothered to show up for work on the rare occasion and did little more than collect a paycheck. What’s funny is a Republican bitching about alleged negative attacks. There were no personal attacks, and everything was factual and none of it was personal.

There was plenty of material posted about Mike, and you know it.

You “can hear the hissing all the way from Green Oak. RAOW!?” you’ll have to explain that one to me; I’m not as witty as you are. Then you can go back on your hiatus.

I notice you can’t dispute anything I wrote, as usual.

Unknown said...

Joe Hune is "doing consulting work." That is, of course, code for "unemployed."

Hune is a nice, dumb kid who was woefully unprepared to be a state rep, and he'll be even worse as a state senator. I'm praying the Republicans will find someone decent to run against him.

Communications guru said...

I Don’t know about consulting being code for unemployed and I don’t think he is dumb by any measure, however, he wasn’t s stellar state Rep and was unprepared.

Not Anonymous said...

I think that "RAOW" is the noise a pussy makes when the pussy has a deeper voice. I guess that would mean that RepMich is calling guru a pussy.

Did you ever have a cold sore inside your mouth or in the corner of your mouth? You know that you shouldn't, but you just can't resist putting your tongue on it every once in a while. Coming back to read your drivel is alot like that. You know there's nothing intelligent, let alone reasonable, that's going to be said by guru, but like that cold sore, you just have to come back once in awhile and see what he's whining about now.

Communications guru said...

No problem, I have been called a lot worse stuff by anonymous cowards like you. At least Dan has the courage to stand by what he writes.

Thinks for the compliment anyway; coming from someone like you it means a lot. No, I have never had a cold sore. Perhaps you should get that checked by a doctor.

The funny part of your ridiculous rant is that you can’t debunk a single word I have written.

Dan said...

No, I wasn't calling Kevin a pussy. I generally save that for Washington leadership....

I thought it was a real catty remark he made about Chris, one would expect before a catfight. Thus, RAOW!

Communications guru said...

What “catty remark” was that? Everything I wrote was factual.

He was a Republican marked for greater things, and he did serve one of his three terms as the House Majority Floor Leader. His tenure was not a good one. In a career that basically only destroyed any chance at bi-partisanship he cast one vote that did not benefit a developer or a special interest and it allegedly ruined his career. I don’t believe his career is ruined, but I guess he does.
It is true many people were trying to scrub up his image for another run, like Rich Perlberg. He did miss more votes than any House member.

His direct quote sounds a tad bitter to me. He could say he has no immediate plans to run, but saying he has "no plans to ever to run for Senate or anything else ever again for that matter” sounds bitter to me.