Matty Moroun spreads cash to GOP allies

Republican billionaire benefactor and Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun was busy distributing campaign cash to those willing to stand up for the billionaires and against 10,000 Michigan job and oppose the much-needed planned Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge over the Detroit River between Canada and Windsor.

In an effort to keep his monopoly on the 81-year old Ambassador Bridge, Moroun has spent lots of money on mostly Republican politicians that has earned him the loyalty like that of State Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt. In a Detroit Free Press article called “Matty Moroun spends big on politicians: Dishes donations amid bridge fight,” it reports “Moroun and his family have doled out more than $110,000 in political contributions to Michigan candidates and committees since the beginning of the year.”

The article shows Morouns spent his money on most -- but not all -- of the gubernatorial candidates from both parties, as well as a lobbyist-run committee in Lansing that in turn contributes to Republican campaigns and causes. That’s one reason why not a single Michigan House Republicans voted yes on legislation clearing the way to build the DRIC bridge and authorize Michigan to enter into a public-private partnership with Canada and a private sector developer/financier to build the DRIC bridge, and why Senate Republicans are trying to kill it in committee.

According the Free Press, “the Morouns gave to all of the Republican gubernatorial candidates except former Gateway computers head Rick Snyder, who supports DRIC as long as Michigan taxpayers aren't on the hook. U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra -- who has since said he favors a public-private partnership to build a new span -- received four $3,400 contributions worth a total of $13,600 on May 5. Attorney General Mike Cox, who has more concerns about DRIC, received the same on June 25.”

But Mike Bouchard appears to be the new Cropsey, and he got the lion’s share of the Moroun cash.

“On top of the $10,200 he received on the last day of 2009, the Bouchard Victory Fund received $13,000 in May. And Capitol Affairs PAC, which is run by former Bouchard staffer and lobbyist Robert Kennedy, has received $35,000 from the Morouns since the middle of May. The PAC has contributed to several funds committed to electing Republicans, as well as giving about $34,000 to Bouchard's gubernatorial run and another $34,000 to a committee called Friends of Mike Bouchard -- which according to the filing is a fund for his re-election in 2012 as Oakland County sheriff.”

Most troubling, at least to me, was that the Morouns also gave “two $3,400 contributions to Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor. His rival, House Speaker Andy Dillon, didn't receive a donation. Dillon supports DRIC; Bernero opposes it.”

“Also of note, two of Lansing's most vocal opponents to DRIC received contributions:” Republican State Reps. David Agema of Grandville received $1,000, and Paul Opsommer of DeWitt got $1,500.

Cox again linked to Manoogian Mansion stripper party

The truth always comes out, and ethically challenged Michigan Republican Gubernatorial candidate “Manoogian” Mike Cox is finding that out.

After months and months of denials about the rumored stripper party at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002 and a murdered dancer at the party, a witness has come forward to place Cox at the party, according to Fox 2 News.

The party has become an urban legend, but there is no doubt Cox gave special treatment to convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Michigan State Police Detectives said in a deposition that as Michigan Attorney General, Cox and the Detroit police may have obstructed an investigation linked to Kilpatrick and the 2003 murder of a Detroit stripper.

He threw those detectives under the bus calling them liars because they did not work in Lansing, but then his campaign ad he has a retired cop say this is just a political ploy to smear Cox. I’m at a loss as to why we should believe that retired officer and not the other two.

No doubt Cox will try to discredit and smear this witness as well
But, here’s Fox2’s report:

LIVONIA, Mich. - It's the story that haunted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration -- the rumored, wild party at the Manoogian Mansion. Now, a witness has come forward with explosive testimony. He says the party did indeed happen and at least one other high ranking official was there.

"He came to us. He contacted us several months ago," said attorney Norman Yatooma. "Each time his story has had the exact same explicit detail. I believe he's telling the truth."

Yatooma says an affidavit represents an enormous break in proving an alleged cover-up. For the first time a witness on the record is saying he was at the rumored but never proven Manoogian Mansion party thrown by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the fall of 2002.

"He witnessed lap dances occurring for both Mike Cox, as well as for Kwame Kilpatrick. He knew Tammy Greene, so he knew that to be Tammy Greene who was providing Kwame Kilpatrick a lap dance," Yatooma said. "He says that Carlita came in, assaulted Tammy Greene. I think the word he used was that she punched her and that they collapsed on a coffee table, broke the table and that Carlita used a leg of that table to beat Tammy Greene with."

Yatooma calls this a motive for a murder cover-up by the ex-mayor since dancer Tamera Greene was shot to death in April of 2003.

Cox has a history of problems with honesty, and he also has a history of only coming clean when busted. In 2005 he called a press conference to tell the state that he cheated on his wife. But it was a preemptive move because he falsely accused high profile Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, and he believed Fieger would rat him out. He also has a long history with the jailed former Mayor.

Millions already spent on TV ads in gubernatorial campaign is chump change compared to Amway guy cash

Despite seemingly incessant political TV ads from Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidates attacking each other, television advertising is lagging far behind the pace of Michigan’s last two gubernatorial campaigns, according to Rich Robinson of the non-profit Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

In fact, five candidates and one nonprofit organization have spent $3.3 million so far, with Republicans “Manoogian” Mike Cox and Rick Snyder accounting for 79 percent of that total. Snyder’s television advertising started three months before any other candidates this year but his spending has slowed dramatically over the last month, as has his support. Since Memorial Day, Cox has outspent Snyder, $634,726 to $161,030, although Snyder has spent more overall, $1,4 million to $1,1 million.

But that’s chump change compared to what the Amway guy – AKA Republican Dick DeVos – spent in 2006 trying to by the governorship. At the end of June in 2006, DeVos had already spent $7 million despite the fact he did not have a primary opponent. The Michigan Democratic Party had spent $2.3 million for gubernatorial television advertising over the same period. The two parties spent nearly $13 million by the time of the primary election in 2006.

Among the other Republican candidates, Mike Bouchard has spent $98,000, including $48,000 in the last month. All of Bouchard’s spending has been on cable. ”Twitter” Pete Hoekstra’s television spending has been limited to $5,470, all on one Sunday in May.

The remaining advertiser on the Republican side is a group known as “Americans for Job Security.” AJS has spent $273,000, all in the Grand Rapids market, for ads attacking Hoekstra. The ads appear to be synchronized with the Cox campaign.

Local television stations pulled the AJA ads after Hoekstra's lawyers complained the ads were false and misleading. The Cox campaign has denied any connection, but with Cox’s troubles with the truth it’s pretty clear he is behind them.

On the Democratic side, Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, D-Redford, has spent $335,380. Dillon has spent $282,880 on broadcast outlets in Detroit. The remainder of his spending has been on cable. Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero have not purchased television advertising.

The candidates have not filed a complete campaign finance report since year-end 2009. Their next reports are due on July 23.

The Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that conducts research and public education on money in Michigan politics.

Senate Republicans would rather bash the President than stop the Asian Carp

LANSING – The massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reaffirmed a few things about Republicans: that it will criticize President Obama just for waking up in the morning, and they hate government and say the private sector can do everything better until the private sector causes a disaster and they call for government help.

A pair of resolutions introduced and approved in the Senate on Thursday reinforced those two principals. They attacked the President and tried to blame him for the BP oil spill.

On Wednesday researchers confirmed that at least one Asian carp had been discovered in Lake Calumet, above the locks at the Chicago River, and that led Republicans to introduce and approve Senate Resolution 166 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 47 on Thursday.

Senate Democrats objected to the partisan language in the resolution that said,

“A resolution to call the Obama Administration to task for its failed leadership on preventing Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes and call again for immediate actions to prevent further carp movement into the Great Lakes.”

Last February, the Senate unanimously passed two similar resolutions that urged the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take immediate actions to prevent the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes and to develop long-term strategies to address this problem. But this time the Republicans thought it more important to take shots at the President than address the problem.

Last winter the federal government launched a new $78.5 million plan to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. However, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm deemed the proposed measures insufficient, and she directed Republican Attorney General "Manoogian" Mike Cox to seek a legal solution. He filed a motion to the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order to close the locks connecting the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal to Lake Michigan. However, the conservative court rejected the motion. I guess we need a better AG if he can’t even win in a friendly court.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming, introduced an amendment to strike out the partisan language, but the Republicans would have not of that, and it failed along party lines. Prusi said the President was taking the recommendation of the Army Corps of Engineers, and the resolutions should single out them and not the president. At the very least there is no reason to make it a partisan attack.

“They have been the ones who have been delaying and studying and perhaps giving the President some bad advice on how to resolve this issue,” he said. “But I don’t think that it will serve us well if we just point the finger at the President, making this into a partisan issue.”

It makes no sense to ask some to do something, and then attack them at the same time. The resolution also attacks the President for the BP oil spill, despite the fact that the oil-friendly Bush Administration stripped out regulations and allowed BP the permit to drill when they did not have adequate safety measures in place or a real plan to address an oil leak.

“Whereas, The Obama Administration already has one ecological disaster on its watch. The administration should not allow another disaster with longer-term consequences and within its power to prevent from coming to fruition.”

Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, noted the irony of the Republicans scramming for government help now.

“I would like to welcome my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to the belief that the government needs to be strong and vigorous in its mission to protect the people from harm and to help us address harms in the environment that we cannot address on an individual basis,” she said. “I think it is wonderful that we have bipartisan agreement on that issue today. I hope that we remember it when we have other environmental issues come up in the near future.”

Brater also said she hopes the Republicans sudden concern for the environment continues. She said Republicans can’t continue to call for smaller government, refuse to pay the true costs of environmental protection to keep invasive species out of our ecosystem and prevent other harms to the environment, refuse to regulate industries that cause environmental harm and then blame the person who happens to be in the White House when a disaster that has been brewing for decades finally comes to a head.

She called on the Republicans to start moving bills in the Legislature to protect Michigan from ecological disaster that they have been blocking.

“Sitting in the natural resources committee right now are bills to prevent mercury from circulating in our bloodstream; bills to prevent bottles which contain petroleum plastics from being wasted and instead have a deposit and to be recycled; and bills to protect our water and air,” Brater said. “Most interestingly, a bill that would prevent the spread of invasive species in our ecosystem, introduced by the good Senator from the 32nd District (Prusi), is languishing in that committee.”

In the end, the majority of Democrats, unlike Republicans, put partnership aside, and the resolutions passed by a vote of 31-3.

“We should work with the federal government to provide the resources to prevent more of these invasive species from entering our ecosystem at our ports and through our ships that are circulating, and many other ways that we should be working together to prevent Asian carp and other invasive species from destroying our ecosystem,” Brater said.

Next AG and SOS chosen at convention

DETROIT -- Anyone who thinks organized labor no longer has any political clout should have been at the first ever Michigan Democratic Party Endorsement Convention in Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit on Saturday.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton edged out attorney and Wayne State University Trustee Richard Bernstein fro the party endorsement for Michigan Attorney General by a vote of 1634-1481 with help from the UAW. The vote went down to the wire, and Leyton did not win until the roll call of the 15 Congressional districts was complete.

“I am humbled, and I can tell you we are going to take this campaign all over Michigan,” Leyton said. “We are going to stand up for the Michigan working man.”

The vote is not binding or official until the summer state convention on Aug. 28, but the losing AG and Secretary of State candidates agreed to withdraw from the race if they do not win in order to take back the seats that have traditionally belonged to Democrats.

More than 189,000 Democrats were credentialed to cast votes on Saturday. Although Bernstein had some labor support, Leyton had much more. Immediately after the vote, Bernstein took the stage to endorse Leyton and introduced him as the next Michigan Attorney General.

“I want to say what a privilege it has been to compete with Richard Bernstein,” Leyton said. “He has been a class act all the way.”

Leyton said he wants to return the AG Consumer Protection Division to the stature it once had under former Eternal General Frank Kelley. Leyton is also a former member of the AFL-CIO.

“I will work to my last breath to see that Michigan will never be a right to work state; never,” he said.

Leyton said the first thing he will do once he is sworn into office is to drop the blatant political lawsuit that challenges the constitutionally of the health care insurance reform bill filed by current AG Republican Gubernatorial Candidate ‘Manoogian’ Mike Cox.
The race for Secretary of State was not even close, and Wayne State University law professor Jocelyn Benson won in a landslide 2,964 to 151. She has been campaigning for more than a year, and the Republicans are so scared of her that they have tried to smear her with lies.

“What a journey it has been, and it has just begun,” she said. “The General Election starts tomorrow.”

None of the Republican candidate’s credentials come close to Benson’s. She graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College. She subsequently earned her Masters in Sociology as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, and she received her J.D from Harvard Law School, where she was a general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Benson also worked as the Voting Rights Policy Coordinator for the Harvard Civil Rights Project, worked as a summer associate for voting rights and election law for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and she was an investigative journalist for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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.”

After intensive search ‘Manoogian’ Mike finds a lawyer to support his grandstand lawsuit

Michigan Attorney General and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate ‘Manoogian’ Mike Cox’s grandstand play to gain the votes of the extremists that control the Republican Party with his lawsuit challenging the constitutionally of the health care insurance reform bill signed into law by the President is going no where.

Multiple provisions of the Constitution permit Congress to enact this reform legislation, including the Commerce Clause, and legal experts, including conservative scholars, are therefore uniformly saying that any lawsuit to stop it will undoubtedly fail. But Cox and the 12 Republican AG’s scoured the country to find a legal scholar to back up their shaky position. After searching high and low, they found one: Randy Barnett of Georgetown University.

He has been making the rounds of media outlets all over the country trying to make the case for Cox and company. The problem is Barnett is a rightwing tool, and not one media outlet even talks about his affiliations. Jared Goldberg at A Jared Manifesto lays it out.

“He's an attorney In short, Barnett is a libertarian loon. When he was at Boston University's law school, he served as an adviser to the Federalist Society, a right wing law school organization "dedicated to reforming the current legal order" in a right wing image.
Currently, he serves as a fellow at the Cato Institute and the Goldwater Institute. In 2009, he proposed a "Bill of Federalism", a set of ten amendments to the Constitution which, in effect, would codify libertarian and conservative beliefs.”

One constant refrain we are hearing from the right on health insurance reform is that citizens have never had to purchase something as a condition of citizenship or that the government required you to buy something. If you ignore the fact that you can be ticketed by the police for not having auto insurance, there’s something called the Militia Act of 1792.

The act says:
“That every citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder.”

Clearly, the government required you to purchase something with the phrase “That every citizen,” but where was the hue and cry and “tea parties?”

People pushing for unrestricted access to guns use the act to justify their position. But the citizen-militia was replaced by the Militia Act of 1903, which established the National Guard as the chief body of organized military reserves in the United States.

Cox is called out on his attempt to gain political points

Michigan Attorney General and Republican Gubernatorial Candidate ‘Manoogian’ Mike Cox is being called out by the Governor on his blatant political move to join the lawsuit with 12 other Republican AG’s to challenge the constitutionally of the health care insurance reform bill signed into law by the President on Tuesday.

I’m not an attorney, but the Michigan Constitution does not say much abut the AG’s duties, other than its part of the executive branch of government. And, as such, the AG represents the governor and the people.

He’s certainly not speaking for the governor who supports the law, and he’s certainly not acting fro the citizens of Michigan who overwhelmingly voted for the President who was clear about his plan to reform the broken health care insurance system.

The Governor – a former AG - sent Cox a letter that specifically directs him to "intervene in the Florida litigation on behalf of the governor, the state of Michigan, and the Michigan Department of Community Health to uphold the recently enacted federal health care legislation and to protect and preserve the important protections afforded to our state and its citizens by the new law."

The letter went on further to say, "Your statutory authority does not, however, override the superior constitutional authority vested in the governor to determine the position to be taken by the executive branch of state government and certainly does not authorize you, as attorney general, to unilaterally, and without consultation, to determine and declare the policy position of the state of Michigan.”

The simple fact is the move was just to curry favor with the extreme teaqbaggers who control the Republican Party as Cox tries to win the primary election for Governor and has to play to the extreme base to get elected. The law is clearly constitutional.

Multiple provisions of the Constitution permit Congress to enact this reform legislation. As long ago as 1944, the Supreme Court held that the business of insurance fell within Congress’ regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause, as well as Congress’ authority to tax and spend for the general welfare. Nothing since undercuts the authority of Congress to legislate in this area. No provision of the Bill of Rights, or text found elsewhere in the Constitution, acts to prohibit Congress from enacting the healthcare reform legislation.

And legal commentators, including conservative scholars, are therefore uniformly saying that any lawsuit to stop it will undoubtedly fail. And in any event, the legislation only "compels" coverage in the sense that it places a tax on non-insured individuals. Is the federal government "compelling" me to buy a house, since as a renter I don't get the mortgage tax breaks? Is it "preventing" me from buying alcohol because it has a tax on alcohol? The conservatives are asking the judiciary to interfere in the political process, which they constantly claim to be against.

Republicans get even more desperate in their attempt to deny people health care

Apparently, Republicans in Michigan are not happy that 32 million Americans with no health care insurance will now have it, health insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny people coverage because of preexisting condition, the federal budget deficit will be cut by $138 billion over the next decade, seniors on Medicare will pay less for their prescription drugs and young adults will be able to remain on their families' insurance plans until age 26, and they are launching a petition drive to kill the historic health insurance reform bill passed on Sunday.

The Detroit News is reporting that rightwing and teabagger state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, is helping launch a petition drive to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot designed to exempt Michigan from the historic health insurance reform law. McMillin did not have much luck with the last petition drive he was involved with the failed recall attempt in 2007, and this one will fail, too.

This is the same political stunt the Senate Republicans tried week that failed to get enough votes.

McMillin announced the petition drive outside William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak today. Ironically, hospital officials made it a point to say they do not support the petition effort and support health insurance reform. Constitutional Amendments require 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.

I watched the publicity stunt on WDIV TV news, and they were already collecting signatures. Those signatures do not count. The Michigan State Board of Canvassers must first approve the ballot language before any signatures are approved. Once language is approved, the required signatures must be collected in six months and there can be no more than 90 days between the first and last signature.

Even if they collect enough signatures and it won at the ballot box, it’s unconstitutional. It violates Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, known as the supremacy clause.

In a move that is even more pure, election politics and pandering to the fringe teabaggers that have become the Republican Party, Michigan Republican Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate “Manoogian” Mike Cox plans to file a legal challenge to the health insurance reform law’s constitutionality, contending that it violates the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

To help fight off this misinformation campaign, make a contribution to Progress Michigan. They have identified a donor who will put up a dollar to match every dollar you give up to $10,000 to help in the fight to protect the health care reform we all fought so hard to achieve.

Cloud still hangs over ‘Manoogian’ Mike Cox

The trouble continues for the ethically challenged Michigan Republican Gubernatorial candidate “Manoogian” Mike Cox.

Subscription only MIRS is reporting that former Detroit area trash king Anthony Soave’s personal PAC has contributed more than $42,000 to Cox since 2005.

Soave has a shady past; “including unproven allegations that he had links to organized crime. Soave's City Management was once the largest trash hauling and landfill company in Michigan. In 1998, he sold it to Waste Management for a reported $750 million. Soave is now CEO of Soave Enterprises, one of the nation's largest private holding companies with annual revenues of $1.6 billion a year. The company has real estate holdings, scrap yards, recycling facilities, landfills, beer distributorships, car dealerships, construction companies and taxi fleets.”

According to an article published by the Traverse City Record Eagle on Oct. 15, 2006, “Soave had been investigated by the FBI, Michigan State Police, and New Jersey State Police. He has been indicted just once, in 1971, on federal gambling conspiracy charges, along with several known gamblers and bookies. The case was later dismissed after a judge tossed out wiretap evidence. Past allegations that Soave made loans to members of Detroit organized crime families and in 1999, described the loans to The Detroit News as money he'd given to his old neighborhood when they were down on their luck.”

But Soave has close ties to disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, as does Cox who obstructed an investigation linked to Kilpatrick and the never-proven 2002 Manoogian Mansion stripper party and murder of dancer Tamara Greene.

Detroit area TV stations have reported that Soave flew Kilpatrick around in his company jets - including a trip to Tallahassee and back after Kilpatrick's text message scandal broke. Along with the flights, Detroit area TV station WXYZ speculated that Soave or entities connected with him paid for Kilpatrick's publicized 2007 family vacation at the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Naples, Florida, including a nearly $10,000 hotel bill.

Despite his best attempts at killing the case, the Greene case continues to haunt Cox.

MIRS is also reporting that on Monday the Capitol was abuzz with the news that “a former assistant to Cox was deposed in the Tamara Greene civil case. Three Detroit-area TV stations reported that Brooke Jordan, whose maiden name was Brooke Liszak when she worked as an assistant AG in the special litigation division of Cox's office from 2004 to 2006, was disposed by the plaintiffs' attorney in the civil case. MIRS reported that Liszak married one of Cox's former drivers and the couple moved to Arizona so he could pursue a career in law enforcement.”

Just another example of the conservative media bias

I have come to expect biased and misinformed editorials from the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus lately, and they did not disappoint today with one called ”Democrats must deliver some viable candidates for gov.”

This just continues the rightward veer of the paper's management and editorial board. The editorial could just as easily be called”Republicans must deliver some viable candidates for gov.”

The fact is that with the entry of Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero into the race yesterday, we have an immediate front-runner. If you don’t believe that, you just need to take a look at how quick the GOP attacks came after he announced. The editorial, of course, downplays his candidacy, saying, “…but he's at best a long shot. Virtually no one outside Lansing knows who he is. And not all of the Lansing folks think kindly of him, since they believe he promised not to seek another office when he ran for mayor last year.”

That’s just wishful thinking on the newspaper’s part. He served in the Michigan State Senate and State House from 2001 – 2006, and Bernero also served four terms on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners. You don’t get elected to the Senate without some people knowing who you are. He is the only candidate on both sides of the aisle who has had to balance a municipal budget on what Lansing sent him, and he knows the process in the Legislature.

Bernero has leveraged over $500 million dollars in new job-creating investments in Lansing, and he helped launch the area's first regional public-private economic development initiative. The city also has some major building and redevelopment projects underway.

If you think people don’t know who he is, I suggest the paper look up the youtube videos where Bernero appeared on every single major national news show to talk about the plight of the Big 3. He has as much name recognition as every single Republican candidate, with the possible exception of Manoogian Mike Cox, and that’s not really a good thing for Cox.

The editorial also says “Another state senator, Hansen Clarke from Detroit, jumped in after Cherry withdrew, but it's difficult to see Clarke putting together the machinery needed to mount a serious statewide campaign.”

They need to pay more attention to what’s going on in Lansing because he dropped put of the race almost a month ago.
The editorial also said “State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith from nearby Salem Township long ago announced her candidacy and even proposed a far-reaching tax reform plan to balance the budget. But few, including her own party, give her the time of day.”

Where are they getting this crap? She is the chair of the Appropriations sub-committee that sets the budgets for the Department of Corrections; which, unfortunately, is one of the state’s biggest budgets. That certainly qualifies as giving her the time of day.”

A love of the law and public service leads Whitmer to run for AG

LANSING – State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, has stood up for consumers and the vulnerable in the Senate, and now she wants to use the power of the law to stand up for those taken advantage of as she stumps for the nomination for Michigan Attorney General.

She is making the rounds of the grassroots party organization because the nomination is made at the Democratic Party convention, and she spoke at the quarterly meeting of the 8th Congressional Democratic District Committee earlier this week. The AG office has been in Democratic hands from 1961 until 2002, and over the years it has built up perhaps the best consumer protection record in the country. But that changed with the election of Republican Mike Cox.

Whitmer - who considers former AG Frank Kelley who held the post for 37 years a mentor and friend- wants to change that.

“After seven years of Mike Cox, we need to take it back and we need change,” she said. “The Attorney General is the people’s lawyer, and that’s how I see it.”

Cox has gutted consumer protection, and he has also quietly eliminated the hate crimes division.

The state’s economy has taken a beating as the auto industry almost went into bankruptcy, and Whitmer said she wants to take on the greedy special interest that try to profit off the economic crisis.

“People need to feel inspired and hopeful, and as we go into 2010, we need to focus on the future,” she said. “The challenges our state has faced have been big, and that’s an understatement; we need leaders that are independent and not controlled by special interests.”

Whitmer has been in the Legislature for the past 10 years, and she is a leading advocate for empowering consumers. She most recently fought to enact legislation cracking down on massive predatory mortgage lending scams, and is now working to outlaw those who want to exploit victims of foreclosure through fraudulent “rescue” services.

She has also fought to ensure citizens; are safe, and for that effort she was recognized in 2003 as the “Legislator of the Year” by the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.

She has introduced legislation that would end immunity for drug companies if their drugs kill or maim the people who take them, and it would repel the current ban enacted in 1996 designed to shield huge pharmaceutical companies from any responsibility. Michigan is the only state in the nation with that kind of drug shield law.

“We don’t have the right to sue like people in the 49 states,” Whitmer said. “We have Bill Schulte (One of the GOP candidates for AG) to thank for that.”

Whitmer earned her law degree from Michigan State University, and she worked in private practice until she joined Dickinson Wright, one of Michigan’s oldest and most respected law firms, as a corporate litigator. She specialized in regulatory and administrative law, arguing in both Circuit Court and before the Michigan Public Service Commission.

She has always had a love fort he law and public service because of her parents. Her father is an attorney and her mother was an assistant Attorney General for many years.

Whitmer said it was a case she worked on at Dickinson Wright that made her realize she was doing the wrong thing with her law degree, and it led her to give up the large paycheck she was earning for public service. She said an elderly couple was fighting a $40 overcharge they received on a utility bill; only she was working for the utility company.

“I realized as I was writing a brief; I went to law school to help people out, not to squash them,” she said.

Whitmer has been traveling around the state seeking grassroots support. In fact, she will be at the Livingston County Democratic Party’s holiday party this Saturday Dec. 5 at 4 p.m.

Her campaign is gaining steam, and she expects a new web site to go up soon and to open a campaign office. She has also hired Mark Burton as her campaign manger. He was the successful campaign director for the Michigan Stem Cell Ballot Question Committee last year, and he has worked on many other successful campaigns.

To volunteer for the campaign call (517) 372-5454 or email info@GretchenWhitmer.com.

Another ethically challenged GOP Gubernatorial candidate

The Citizen’s watchdog group Progress Michigan sent a letter last week to the U.S. Attorney for eastern Michigan calling for the U.S. Justice Department to conduct an independent investigation of allegations that Attorney General Mike Cox and the Detroit police may have obstructed an investigation linked to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the 2003 murder of a Detroit stripper.

“It’s time to clear the air and have, at last, an outside, uncompromised investigation into the events leading up to and surrounding the death of Tamara Greene,” said David Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan, in a press release. “These longstanding allegations are more than just “gum on the shoe” of Mike Cox, they’re a black eye on a state that can ill afford it.”

The Michigan State Police detectives involved in the investigation said in a deposition last month in the wrongful death civil lawsuit that they believed the DPD was destroying evidence in the case. But one investigator’s testimony also said because of actions by Cox, they were powerless to stop them. They also claimed Cox met with Kilpatrick privately off the record, and that he refused to allow the detective to interview the mayor’s wife.

Cox, a Republican candidate for Michigan governor, has told every news outlet he can that the long rumored party at the Detroit Manoogian Mansion never happened and the detectives are lying. However, he has never gone on record. That will change Dec. 11 when Cox will give a deposition in the federal lawsuit against the City of Detroit brought by Greene’s family.

However, that deposition will be sealed. Cox made the grandstand ploy of asking the judge that his deposition be made in public and his deposition unsealed. But he, as an attorney, knew the answer before he asked, or he would not have asked.

“The common-sense solution here is to have an outside organization take charge of the investigation,” . Holtz said. “With corruption being one of the Justice Department’s top investigative priorities, it seems U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg is the right man for the job.”

Cox has a history of problems with honesty, and he also has a history of only coming clean when busted. In 2005 he called a press conference to tell the state that he cheated on his wife. But it was a preemptive move because he falsely accused high profile Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, and he believed Fieger would rat him out.

In 2007 Cox tried to build a personal gym in his office at taxpayer expense, but he had to back off only when he got caught.

Progress Michigan’s mission is to provide a strong credible voice that holds public officials and government accountable, assists in the promotion of progressive ideas and uses state-of-the-art web based new media to creatively build grassroots support for progressive ideas.

Real protector of traditional marriage wants to bar divorce

California’s Proposition 8 - misnamed the California Marriage Protection Act - took rights away from committed gay couples that the rest of us enjoy by putting discrimination into the state Constitution with this line, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

I’m at a loss as to how gays marrying is a threat to my marriage or anyone else’s marriage, or how denying a group of people a basic right “protects’ an institution with a 50 percent failure rate.

It’s funny when you look at the marriage tracks record of some of the conservative Republicans pushing so-called “traditional marriage” like Newt Gingrich with his three marriages and infidelity, or Michigan attorney General Mike Cox and his stellar record. Even Livingston County’s Legislative delegation has a less than stellar marriage record, and these people are telling us about protecting marriage?

The height of hypocrisy was Senators Larry Craig and David Vitter co-sponsoring the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution, known as the so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment” last year that denies gay couples the right that every other American enjoys, the right to marry.

The best way to protect marriage is to stop divorce, and that has led John Marcotte to take California Prop 8 a step further. He has filed a ballot initiative called "The California Marriage Protection Act." The initiative bars divorce, saying, “No party to any marriage shall be restored to the state of an unmarried person during the lifetime of the other party unless the marriage is void or voidable, as set forth in Part 2 of Division 6 of the Family.”

Now, that will protect marriage, so Republicans should be lining up to support it. In fact, Marcotte said he’s confident Proposition 8 supporters will rally behind the California Marriage Protection Act. He has established a web site with the slogan, “Till death do us part. You’re not dead yet.”

This should take off when the people who bankrolled Prop 8 start anteing up; that is if they really want to protect traditional marriage.

Cox continues to campaign for governor on the tax-payers dime

Michigan Attorney Mike Cox is continuing his gubernatorial campaign on the tax-payers dime with press conference across the state today to voice his opposition for a pair of House Bills aimed at reforming health coverage in the state.

This comes on the heels on news reported by subscription only MIRS and Gongwer that the House has reached a compromise on the legislation dealing with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan and the individual health insurance market. Months of work, compromise and committee hearings have gone into House Bills 5851 and 5853 known collectively as the Individual Market Reform package.

The bills, which are backed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, would change and update the rules for individual health insurance coverage as more and more employers choose to end coverage for employees to cut costs. The individual health care market was once just a very small piece of the health insurance business, but it is growing larger fast as employers eliminate care.

Proponents of the bills say that, if passed, they would prevent insurance carriers from increasing rates for people who get sick during their coverage period, establish uniform criteria for all insurers and create a fair and competitive playing field for all consumers and insurers. Opponents say the bills would eliminate competition, increase costs and reduce access to health care.

Cox, who officially announced he was running for governor on Nov. 6, has been a vocal opponent of the package. Cox has been stealthily used the AG's office to campaign for governor shortly after he was re-elected in 2006, using public service announcements with well known spots figures, holding press conferences across the state like he plans today to address issues he has no business being involved in and doing what ever he can to get his name in front of voters.

The compromise was apparently worked out with just the House Democrats and Republicans, and it has not been run past Senate Republicans, who control that body. The package has a long history in the Legislature.

It was approved early in the House with bipartisan support on Oct. 24, 2007 and sent to the Senate where the Health Policy Committee held numerous hearings and introduced substitutes to the bills. The PR machine on both sides of the issue took off, flooding legislative offices with letters and emails.

Despite all of the committee hearings on the bills in the Senate, the Senate Republicans sprang their substitutes out of committee on the Senate floor without allowing Democrats even time to read the complex substitutes. The bills passed along party lines on May 1, 2008 and were then sent to the House for concurrence. The House, however, overwhelmingly rejected the Senate version by a vote of 79-26. A conference committee was named on Sept. 3 to iron out the differences between the two versions.

The compromise was worked out among the three members of the House part of the conference committee, but the three members from the Senate apparently have not seen the compromise. The House and Senate are on a two week break, and are not set to return until Dec. 6.

Any bills not sent to the governor for signature by the end of the Lame Duck session on Dec. 26 die and must be reintroduced in the new session that begins on Jan. 3.

See Dick not run, not, not, not

The 2010 Michigan Governor's race will have two new names after Republican loser in 2006 Dick DeVos announced in an email that will not run.

"I have concluded that my ability to impact the future of Michigan will be more significant at this time from outside government, instead of inside." He said in his email.

His billons of inherited dollars ensured the nomination was his if he wanted it. That cleared the way for speculation on who will run from the GOP side. Attorney General Mike Cox is the only one who officially has formed a committee to run. His ties to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Cox's admitted infidelity make him suspect.

Other possible candidates mentioned include U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Howell, and Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell, and Sen. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

The biggest drawback to DeVos dropping out is we will not be able to see that cool cartoon called "See Dick Run."

Cox used AG's office for partisan attack

If you want to see a double standard at work, just take a look at Republican Attorney General Mike Cox.

He announced yesterday in media all across the state that he is charging Antonio Johnson, a former employee of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), with six felony forgery charges for allegedly submitting false voter registration forms to the city of Jackson. Cox claims that Johnson, 23 of Hamtramck, filled out, signed and submitted to the Jackson city clerk six voter applications using two Jackson residents' names without their permission between May 20 and June 2. If convicted, Johnson faces up to 14 years in prison for each of the six counts.

The question is why hasn't Cox brought charges against Leon Drolet - the former Republican state Representative, current Macomb County Commissioner and executive director of the so-called Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA) - for his illegal activities in the misguided recall attempts against primarily Democratic lawmakers who voted to increase taxes to avoid a government shutdown and eliminate a $1.8 million budget deficit in October.

Drolet used - or at least those he was responsible for used - fraud and forgery – going so far as to copy names from phone books – to launch a successful recall against Speaker of the House Andy Dillon. The Department of State turned all evidence of forgery and fraud over to Cox and the Wayne County prosecutor’s office, yet we have not heard a thing from him.

This is part of the Grand Oil Party's war on ACORN, and this is happening for two reasons. They hate ACORN for daring to help make it easier for people to exercise their Constitutional right to vote, and the party that has made voter suppression an art form is setting up ACORN as a scapegoat for when they lose the White House next month by claiming the election was stolen.

As I have said before, ACORN hires people to collect voter registrations and pays them for each one. The crime of the people collecting registrations is padding their pay check, and they should be fired or charged with a misdemeanor, not imprisoned. The unofficial blog of the GOP is even going as far as claming Johnson is a convicted felon on parole. I'm not a 100 percent sure that is correct because there are a few Antonio Johnson's out there, but the one pictured from the MDOC offender tracker web site did some three years for addiction. It seems the idiot who runs that blog wants offenders thrown into prison forever with no chance of rehabilitation or a job when they get out.

That seems surprising when you consider how the GOP makes heroes of convicted felons, like Oliver North, convicted terrorist G. Gordon Liddy and Rush Limbaugh.

The GOP is even trying to tie Sen. Barack Obama to ACORN as they vilify the organization. This is an organization that has worked to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income people since 1970, and it's being unjustly smeared in the name of politics. It’s funny that Grampy McSame was the keynote speaker at an ACORN-sponsored Immigration Rally in Miami in 2006 where he praised ACORN, and now he is smearing them. Is there anything he will not do to get elected?

What we have seen against ACORN is the unprecedented politicization of the U.S. Justice Department and the attorney firings, and now the Michigan AG's office is being turned into a partisan attack mechanism.

Hathaway set to unseat the leader of the Republican majority of activist judges known as the ‘Gang of Four’

LANSING -- Democrats at the Michigan Democratic State Convention Saturday demonstrated democracy in action when they chose Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Diane Marie Hathaway as their Supreme Court nominee in a close floor vote.

Hathaway just edged out fellow Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Debra Thomas by some 200 votes, and she earned the right to run against incumbent Cliff Taylor. He leads the Republican majority of activist judges known as the “Gang of Four.” Groups like the Michigan Justice Caucus have made it a major goal to unseat Taylor

“It’s time to make a change on the Supreme Court,” said Sen. Buzz Thomas, the co-chair of the convention. “The future of our children and a free society depends on it.”

Despite the close defeat and the effort Thomas put into the race already, she was quick to endorse Hathaway.

“We both believe in fairness and justice,” she told the convention delegates. “Cliff Taylor has to go.”

Under Taylor’s leadership, the court has gutted consumer protection laws, watered down environmental protection laws and weakened individual rights. The doors of justice have been slammed shut in the face of ordinary citizens and swung wide open for insurance companies and corporations. No individual has won a case against an insurance company in more than a decade.

In May the University of Chicago Law School released a study that rated the Michigan Supreme Court dead last in effectiveness under Taylor’s leadership. The study cited a lack of judicial independence as the report’s most glaring finding, and it said the Court seems to be especially supportive of businesses.

Michigan Lawyers Weekly began an online poll shortly after Hathaway announced her intention to run, and lawyers of all stripes chose Hathaway overwhelmingly 91 to 9 percent.

“He is against everything Michigan stands for, except insurance companies,” Hathaway said. “If you see justice in the name, he really belongs in the hall of shame.”

It’s difficult to unseat an incumbent justice, and it has been estimated the Justice title can be worth up to a 30 percent edge in the vote. Taylor has been on the state Supreme Court since 1997, but he was appointed by Gov. John Engler to fill a vacant seat. He used that title to be elected in 1998.

Hathaway pointed out one of Taylor’s many conflicts of interest. His wife, Lucille Taylor, was Engler's legal counsel. She still does work for Republican Attorney General Mike Cox.

“Cliff Taylor is a walking conflict of interest, and he has got to go,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway grew up in Detroit as the daughter of a 30-year Detroit police officer. She was a Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor for six years, and she has been a circuit court judge since 1993.

Supreme Court races are on the nonpartisan part of the ballot, and many people do not continue on to that part of the ballot., In fact, it’s estimated there is a 37 percent drop off on that part of the ballot.

“You have not voted all the way, until you have voted Hathaway,” she said.

It's alive! Michigan health-care reform package is resuscitated

After months of negotiations and hearings, a package of bills aimed at reforming health coverage in the state may be pushed through the Michigan Senate within days.

The Senate Health Policy Committee, chaired by Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, a medical doctor, has been holding hearings on House Bills 5282-5285, known collectively as the Individual Market Reform package. The committee received the bills from the House last fall. Versions of the complex and controversial package are to be considered in the next week or two.

The bills, whch are backed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, would change and update the rules for individual health insurance coverage as more and more employers choose to end coverage for employees to cut costs. The individual health care market was once just a very small piece of the health insurance business, but it is growing larger fast as employers eliminate care.

Proponents of the bills say that, if passed,they would prevent insurance carriers from increasing rates for people who get sick during their coverage period, establish uniform criteria for all insurers and create a fair and competitive playing field for all consumers and insurers. Opponents say the bills would eliminate competition, increase costs and reduce access to health care.

Blue Cross is tax-exempt in Michigan, and in exchange they are the insurer of last resort, meaning they cannot turn anyone down for health coverage. They also administer Medicare and MI Child in the state.

The four-bill package was introduced last October, passed quickly by the House on Oct. 24 and sent to the Senate. The bills had bipartisan support in the House, with two of the four bills in the package sponsored by Republicans, and it was thought they would be signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm before Christmas. But opponents of the bills slowed the Senate process to a crawl.

Some strange political bedfellows have joined forces to oppose the bills, including the United Auto Workers, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican, and the Gray Panthers of Metro Detroit.

Legislative offices of both parties have received numerous letters, emails and phone calls for and against the bills. Many letters of support have come from Blues employees, while opposition has come from employees of other insurance providers in the state. A group calling itself the Coalition For a Fair and Competitive Insurance Market formed in opposition to the bills. The coalition consists of other insurers in the state, including AAA of Michigan, Auto-Owners and Citizens Insurance.

On Thursday.the coalition launched a web site called "Stop the Bluesopoly." In the press release announcing the new site, the coalition said it is particularly concerned about HB 5284 and 5285 because they do not deal with individual health insurance. The coalition says that the bills will enable the Blues to spend subscriber dollars to expand their monopoly rather than reduce subscriber rates.

“These two bills open the door for Blue Cross Blue Shield to use the tax-free billions it has accumulated to purchase any business, such as a hospital, casino, flower shop or restaurant,” said Kurt Gallinger, vice president and counsel for Amerisure Companies and a member of the coalition. “Allowing the Blues to enter other markets and use their tax-exempt status to unfairly compete could drive out other competition and extend its monopoly into any business.”

McCain campaigning hard for Michigan Presidential Primary

Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will maintain a solid presence in Michigan leading up to the Jan. 15 Michigan Presidential Primary.

Cindy Pine, the Hamburg Township Supervisor and the former chair of the Livingston County Republican Party, said McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” will land at 2 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Crystal Gardens Banquet Center, 5768 E. Grand River Ave., in Livingston County’s Genoa Township for a town hall meeting that’s free and open to the public.

McCain is coming off of a respectable fourth place finish in the Iowa caucuses with 13 percent of the vote, and many pundits are calling it a victory for McCain. McCain spent very little time or money in Iowa, instead focusing on the New Hampshire primary set for Tuesday. The surprise win by Mike Huckabee over Mitt Romney- the son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney - in the Iowa caucuses may be a good thing for McCain, who decided several months ago to stake his entire campaign on New Hampshire, where he is ahead of Romney in the polls.

It was not too long ago that McCain was falling like a rock in the polls, and supporters were jumping off the Straight Talk Express like rats from a sinking ship. We have seen that scenarios play out right here in Michigan, which may make McCain’s Michigan visits interesting.

Here in Livingston County, Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, was named as one of four state representatives from Michigan to serve as legislative co-chairs of the McCain campaign way back in September of 2006, and Ward was also named co-chair of the Straight Talk America Michigan Legislative Advisory Team. But Ward announced in June of last year he was backing off of his previous endorsement of McCain for the Republican Presidential nomination and switching his allegiance to former actor and lobbyist Fred Thompson; before Thompson was even running.

In September Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced he was resigning his post as Michigan chairman of McCain's presidential campaign.

McCain has had past success in Michigan, winning the 2000 Michigan Presidential Primary over then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, despite an almost guarantee of a Bush victory and endorsement by former Michigan Gov. John Engler. McCain just recently picked up a Michigan victory of sorts, receiving the endorsement of one of Michigan’s largest daily newspapers, the Detroit News.

But there is also some opposition to McCain in Michigan. The Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom is planning to demonstrate against McCain's immigration policies when he appears for a town hall meeting at 4 p.m. Jan. 13 at the MSU Kellogg Center, 55 South Harrison Rd. in East Lansing. The MSU YAF has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Other Michigan appearances by McCain include: a Grand Rapids rally and town hall meeting at 10:15 Jan. 9 a.m. at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Northern Jet Management, 5500 44th Street SE.

A Macomb town hall meeting 10:45 a.m. Jan. 12 at the Andiamo Celebrity Showroom, 7096 Fourteen Mile Rd. in Wayne.

An Oakland town hall meeting 3:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Clawson High School Trojan Hall, 101 John M Ave.

A Battle Creek town hall meeting 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Burnham-Brook Center, 200 West Michigan Ave.

A Kalamazoo town hall meeting, 9:45 a.m. Jan. 14 at Kalamazoo Christian High School, 2121 Stadium Dr.

A Holland town hall meeting 12:15 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Hope College DeWitt Theater, 141 Columbia Ave.

A Spring Lake get out the vote rally and town hall meeting, 4 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Nichols Company, 1391 Judson Rd. in Spring Lake.

A Kent County get out the vote rally, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Kent County Republican headquarters, 264 Leonard St. NW in Grand Rapids.

A Traverse City get out the vote rally 8n a.m. Jan. 15 at Northwestern Michigan College Hagerty Place, 715 East Front St.