HC petition drive is just building a Republican mailing list

There is no doubt that the petition drive to stop 32 million Americans with no health care insurance from getting it and placeing a constitutional amendment on the ballot to exempt Michigan from the historic health insurance reform law is a Republican effort to stop the President from getting a victory, and Howell School board member and head teabagger Wendy Day provided more evidence of that with an email to supporters.

Republican politicians from Mike Rogers and “Mad Thad” McCotter to Michigan Attorney General and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate ‘Manoogian’ Mike Cox and Senate candidate Joe Hune have been appearing at teabag events courting the fringe that controls the Republican Party.

Because the petition language was not approved by the Michigan State Board of Canvassers before signatures were collected, this is clearly not a serious petition drive. To place the constitutional amendment before voters in November, they must collect the valid signatures of registered voters equal to 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for governor in the last election, and that comes out to the signatures of 380,126 registered voters just to place it on the ballot.

Political pundits like Joe DiSano and Joe Munem said because the language has not been approved, the petition drive is little more than an exercise to build a mailing list of Republican supporters for the upcoming election. Day’s email confirms that.

“The Republican Party has pledged to help us by working to collect 100,000 signatures,” Day wrote in an email. “The GOP Fix-it Centers are willing to serve as drop off locations as well as places to pick up petitions.”

Republicans open another fly by night office in Livingston County

The Livingston County Republicans opened another temporary campaign office, but like the other previous offices under various names, this one will be soon be gone, too.

The name they are using this time is, of course, an oxymoron: “The Livingston Fix Michigan office.” The best way to fix Michigan is for Democrats to have control of both houses of the Legislature. This latest fly by night office is located in a strip mall anchored by a furniture store in Gemoa Township.

The last office was called a “Victory Center,” located in Brighton I believe - and it fled town shortly after President Obama’s historic victory.

This short-lived effort is one of 10 such “Fix Michigan offices” in the state, and they, like this one, is paid for by the Michigan Republican Party. According to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, “the office will serve both as campaign headquarters for the county and will house state Republican Party offices, as well as serve as a community center of sorts.” The director goes to say, “so far, the Howell-area office plans to offer yoga classes, scrapbooking sessions, a book club and computer training lessons for senior citizens.’

A community center? Please. This from the article: “The Fix Michigan office will likely close shortly after the 2010 election.” In other words, the “community center” will flee after the election.

In sharp contrast, the Livingston County Democratic Party has had a permanent office for some three years. The LCDP and the Blue Tiger Democrats have used the office to hold blood drives, fundraisers for community groups like LACASA and holding luncheons to honor veterans. Plus, the office is paid for entirely by the local party.

The Republicans are the majority party in Livingston County that holds the Congressional seat, the state Senate seat, the two state House seats, all the nine Board of Commissioner seats and control of all 16 of the township boards in the county, yet they have a fly by night office paid for by the state party and give very little back to the community, if anything.

The Livingston Fix Michigan office? The Livingston fly by night office would be a better name.