County GOP continues to make a sham of nonpartisan races

Genoa Township businessman John Conely and the Livingston County Republican Party are at it again, and they are determined to stomp out Democrats, even in a nonpartisan race.

In a story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, a story on Conely’s latest exploits fails to mention his past activities. According to the article, six months before the next school board election in November, Conely is on his favorite kick and posting signs around Brighton. This latest sign calls for residents to elect "competent" members to the Brighton Public School Board who can "balance a checkbook and spend taxpayers' money wisely."

There are two seats up for election on the school board. Republican Bill Anderson is not running for re-election, but incumbent Joe Carney plans to run for another four year term. Carney is the former chair of the Livingston County Democratic Party, so Conely’s campaign is targeting just Carney.

Gee, no surprise there.

Back in February 2007, the county GOP was not content with controlling the entire county Board of Commissioners, the state Senate seat, the two state House seats and all but a few Township board positions, so they went after the nonpartisan school board elections.

In the spring of 2006 the county GOP started endorsing candidates, and Miles Vieau a former Brighton School Board member, a member of the GOP executive committee and an associate of Conely‘s, took the next step and began recruiting and training Republicans to run for school board. He also offered GOP volunteers to work on their campaigns.

Fast forward to the fall of 2008, and the Livingston County Republican Party and Conely ran an illegal campaign to try and stop a combined building millage and technology/bus bond that would equal about 1 mill.

Conely again used signs as one weapon, Bulldog orange signs that said, "Vote no on the Brighton School millage."

The millage failed, and it was revealed just two days after the election that a group calling itself "Parents Union Local No. 1" was pushing to reopen the teacher contract that was just approved in April 2008.

The so-called leader of that group was none other than Conely, and the rest of the group consisted of members of the county GOP executive committee; attorney and former University of Michigan GOP regent Neal Nielsen, county assistant prosecuting attorney Bill McCririe and Vieau.

The deadline for filing for school board seats is Aug. 11, and it remains to be seen if Conely will run for the board or if he is just clearing the way for other Republicans.

The bottom line is we need independents, progressives and liberals to run for school board to combat this naked GOP power grab. Nominating petitions and affidavits for anyone 18 or older wishing to run for a four-year term are available at their county clerk’s office, municipal clerk’s office or school board office.

Republicans incognito try to influence millage election

Something is fishy in Brighton, and if that's the case it's a pretty good bet that the Livingston County Republican Party is behind it.

In Tuesday's General Election, the Brighton Area School district was seeking a $15 million bond for buses and technology, and a separate capital projects sinking fund that was defeated. With the bond funds, the school planned to purchase 1,600 new computers and 46 new school buses. While this is not entirely a new millage, it would have replaced an old one with a slightly higher millage. If approved, it would have cost the owner of a $200,000 house in affluent Brighton $100 a year or about 28 cents a day.

That still would have left homeowners with the lowest school millage in Livingston County. Without those needed improvements, it will become more difficult to compete for school-of-choice students, causing the district to lose even more funding.

While watching a Youtube video of Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis make a stop in Brighton just a few days before the election for his highly successful "Fight to the Finish Tour," I was surprised to notice among the candidate yard signs stacked up was a stack of yard signs urging people to vote no on the millage. I had no idea why a political party would advocate against a local millage issue.

Raising further suspicions was a story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus two days after the election on a group calling itself "Parents Union Local No. 1" pushing to reopen the teacher contract that was just approved in April and put their health benefits out to bid. The name is an apparent attack on teacher's unions.

The so-called leader of this group is businessman John Conely, owner of Conely Auto Sales in Genoa Township. But his associates really raised my eyebrows, and their ties to the local Republican Party are strong. The rest of the group consist of Genoa Township attorney Neal Nielsen, county assistant prosecuting attorney Bill McCririe and former Brighton School Board Treasurer Miles Vieau.

Nielsen is a former Republican Regent for the University of Michigan, and an ardent Mike Rogers supporter. You may recall he caused a major controversy when he refused to take down a Rogers for Congress sign on property he donated to Genoa Township for a fire station in violation of campaign law.

McCririe and Vieau are both members of the Livingston County Republican Party Executive Committee. Vieau decided not to run for reelecting to the school board last year. Instead, he began recruiting Republicans to run for the nonpartisan school board seats in an underhanded attempted to do away with the nonpartisan designation.

Republicans are not content to control the majority of partisan seats in the county, and now they are apparently trying to make nonpartisan races a sham.

The Brighton teachers had been working without a contract since August 2007, and after some often bitter negotiations and with the assistance of a state mediator, the school board approved the three-year contract by a vote of 4-2. It included moderate annual raises from 1.13 percent to 2.26 percent and teachers must pay more toward their health care benefits.

According to the P & A, the anti-school group has previously called on school board members Joe Carney, Beth Minert and Joyce Powers to resign from the board. The three all voted for the teachers' contract. You have to wonder if it has anything to do with their ties to the Democratic Party. Carney is the former chair of the county party.

Not a cent from the recently rejected millage would have been used for teacher salaries, benefits or even to operate the schools. But the group admitted they bought and paid for the yard signs discovered stacked in the GOP "Victory Center" opposing the recent school bond and sinking fund millage

Now, I seem to recall that any group spending money to influence the outcome of an election must be registered as a Political Action Committee. I checked the Michigan Secretary of State's web site, and I could find no listing for "Parents Union Local No. 1" or anything to do with Brighton Schools.

LIVCO Dems celebrate annual dinner with awards

Some 100 party faithful turned out Saturday evening at the Livingston County Democratic Party’s 24th annual Edwin B. Winans Dinner at the Hamburg VFW Post to celebrate the past year that saw Democrats take control of the U.S. House and Senate, the Michigan House and retain the governorship.

As part of that annual celebration the party also hands out awards. It was a noteworthy dinner because for the first time in 13 years the event saw a new chair serving as the MC. Matt Evans replaced long-time chair Joe Carney in December, and Carney was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedicated stewardship of the growing party. Evans said the goal of the party in the next election is to elect a Democrat to the county Board of Commissioners for the first time since 1996 and take five township board seats, and he said that will be possible with the groundwork laid by Carney.

“It’s usually me who is doing the surprising, but the tables have been turned on me,” Carney said. “You are in good hands.”

The John D. Donohue Citizenship Award went to Matthew Gabriel, the webmaster for the party’s website. The award is named after the last Democrat to serve on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, who passed away while in office in 1996. He served on the board from 1987 until his untimely death.

Mary LePiors was the winner of The Herb and Ruth Munzel Distinguished Service Award for her years of volunteer service with various organizations.

“If you looked up the word saint in the dictionary you would find her picture,” Evans said.

The award was previously called the Distinguished Service Award since 1987, but it was renamed in 2005 to honor the many years of civic involvement and service to local and statewide organizations by the Munzels.

With a new chair came a couple of new awards. The first is the Chairman’s Special Recognition Award, and the first winner of that award was Delphine Palkowski, a member of the executive committee.

Our Unsung Heroes Award went to seven people to honor the hard, grunt work they do for the party with little or no recognition.

“These are the people that do the work of stuffing envelopes, phone banking and any other task we ask of them,” Evans said. “These are unsung heroes, but they are now sung.”

Those being recognized were Judy Volk, Jan Vogel, Nancy Sauvage, Annette Taylor, Ed Palkowski, Chuck Fellows and Jerry Goode.

Leadership of political parties in Livingston County will change with resignations

I was surprised and disappointed to find out Joe Carney will be stepping down as chair of the Livingston County Democrat Party. I have known Joe since I moved back to Livingston County for good in 2000, and I consider him a friend.
He has served the party well for 13 years, and anyone can see how the party has grown under his leadership. We have our own HQ and the number of volunteers is growing and continues to grow. I, and, the party, will miss Joe, and I hope he stays around to help us out. I know Kathy will still be around as the chair of the 8th Congressional District.
Even though there are big shoes to fill, finding a quality replacement should not be that difficult because there are so many qualified people out there. Just to throw out a few names I know personally who will do a great job include Irene Cahill, Donna Anderson, Bob Alexander, Mary Andersson, Debby Buckland, Anne King-Hudson, one of the McGivney brothers, Jim Swonk or Jan Vogel. Those are just names off the top of my head.
A new chair will be chosen at the party’s annual holiday party Sunday at the party HQ.

On the Republican side, party chair Cindy Pine also stepped down after four years. I personally know Cindy, and I have a lot of respect for her. The names of the possible replacements the Daily Press & Argus is throwing around is rather scary. The extremist wing of the party that was responsible for the shameful judiciary questionnaire put out last summer could seize control of the party. Bill Rogers, the chair of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, hit the nail on the head when he said the episode may have been a case of extremists taking over the party's agenda. "Extremism doesn't do you any good," he said.
I know Bill personally and respect him, and he’s a class guy. He would be an excellent chair if the county and the party's charters allow it. His leadership would benefit the entire county. But an endorsement by a Democrat will do him no good. From a political standpoint I would prefer to see some of the other candidates mentioned get the job.
Wendy Day, a member of the Howell School Board and a member of the so-called LOVE hate group, was one person mentioned.
For a good laugh check out this paragraph from the article by Dan Meisler: “When asked about the direction of the party, Day said it should keep sight of the "family values" that define Republicans, as well as the limited government and low taxes championed by President Ronald Reagan.” Family values? Is she for real?
Also mentioned was Jay Drick, a member of the GOP exertive committee and a candidate for Livingston County District Judge earlier this month. It was Drick who helped create the much talked about split in the party when the party took the unusual step of endorsing in a nonpartisan race. His campaign lit also put out some false charges about his opponent, Judge Theresa Brennan.
A new chair will most likely be chosen at the party’s convention on Thursday.