Teabagger petition drive doesn’t even net half the required signatures

As predicted, the petition drive by Michigan teabaggers to stop 32 million Americans with no health care insurance from getting it by placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot to exempt Michigan from the historic health insurance reform law failed, but we only found out on Tuesday how miserably it failed.

The teabaggers held a “press conference” yesterday on the Capitol steps, and organizer and Howell School Board member and founder of the anti-gay hate group “LOVE” Wendy Day said the group got only 145,000-170,000 signatures. That’s well short of the more than 381,000 valid signatures required to place it on the ballot in November. That’s less than half the required signatures. That illustrates how really weak the so-called “teabaggers” are, and it’s all just a fringe group screaming hate at the top of their lungs.

But Day’s quote in the Detroit Free Press article is just priceless.

“We didn’t fail. We just didn’t succeed enough.”

This is Day’s second failed petition drive in less than a year, and last year she failed in an attempt to recall three of her four school board colleagues who voted to fire the former district Superintendent.

Day’s spin was a far cry from last March when she launched her doomed campaign at an illegal rally at the Howell Freshman Campus when she said “Go to one tea party; go to two. We can get plenty of signatures. The tea party express is coming through.”

Those of us who live in Howell hope Day’s embarrassing 15 minutes of fame are up, but I doubt that will happen. Even her fellow teabaggers know what a media hound she is.

As I said in the past, the petition drive was just an exercise to build a Republican mailing list of supporters, and some of Day’s fellow teabaggers recognize that. We actually have no idea how many signatures were actually collected because no petitions were actually turned in to the Secretary of State. Fellow “tea party” organizer Joan Fabiano had this to say about it in an email published on a rightwing blog.

“All data collected is the property of Wendy Day, (State Rep.) Tom McMillian (sic) (R-Rochester Hills) and shared with the Republican Party and who knows who else Fair Taxers? No data is shared because the petitions were not turned in and made public.”

McMillin and Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, both said in subscription only Gongwer that they would introduce legislation that would allow Michigan residents to opt out of the federal health care law, as the constitutional amendment on the petitions would have done.

I’m not sure what effect or weight a law will have. Kuipers, who is running for U.S. Congress in the seat vacated by “Twitter” Pete Hoekstra, introduced Senate Joint Resolution K last March to place the same constitutional amendment on the ballot that teabaggers were seeking. It failed to get the necessary two-third vote to pass.

Teabagger petition drive to kill the historic health insurance reform law dies

Lots of noise and fury but little results describes the effort of Michigan teabaggers to stop 32 million Americans with no health care insurance from getting it with a petition drive to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to exempt Michigan from the historic health insurance reform law.

The teabaggers Lansing-based group called “Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom” headed by Howell School Board member and founder of the anti-gay hate group “LOVE” Wendy Day has until Monday – July 5 – to collect 380,126 valid signatures to place it on the November ballot. She admits in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus that the effort “could fall short of the nearly 400,000 required signatures.”

Like I said before, this was little more than an exercise to build a mailing list of Republican supporters for the November election and to bash the President. Day said "hundreds of volunteers have been circulating petitions, and the organization plans a full-court press for signatures statewide this holiday weekend.” Now, Livingston County has a large Republican base, and I have not seen a single petition circulator, other than at the tea party kickoff at the Freshman Campus cafeteria.

Day said she has not given up, but she “wouldn't say how many of the required 380,126 valid signatures have been obtained.”

The deadline for turning in the signatures is 5 p.m. Monday, but Monday is a state holiday. According to subscription only Gongwer that covers the Capitol, “Day said she has made arrangements with state officials to deliver their signatures if the group obtains enough.”

Gongwer said Day spent $30,000 to collect the signatures she has. But, according to Gongwer, “to ensure placement on the ballot, most campaigns would attempt to collect signatures from a minimum of 500,000 people.” That means even if some miracle occurs and she reached the required number of signatures, many will be thrown out and it will fail.

The group has scheduled a rally/press conference for noon on Tuesday on the Capitol steps in Lansing, and according to the Legislative Council that schedules Capitol events, Josiah Kissling, a staffer for state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, reserved the time slot.

Day will acknowledge defeat on Tuesday, but she was also quoted as saying she has “several backup plans are in place if the effort fails to get the issue on the November ballot, including asking current candidates for state Legislature to sign pledges supporting placing a health-care opt-out proposal on a 2012 ballot.” She doesn’t elaborate on any of the other “back up plans.”

Livingston County residents are familiar with Day’s back up plans when the “LOVE” group’s attempt to censor books failed, and when it became clear it would fail they hinted for months at a “plan B” that tuned out to be nothing.

Teabaggers led by school board member kickoff petition drive, again

Teabaggers led by Howell School Board member Wendy Day are launching a petition drive to stop 32 million Americans with no health care insurance from getting it and violating Howell Public School policy in the process.

Subscription only MIRS is reporting Day and a ballot committee called “Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom” is planning a petition drive kickoff for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Howell Freshman Campus cafeteria to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to exempt Michigan from the historic health insurance reform law signed into law by President Obama last week.

This is the same amendment the Senate Republicans tried to pass on March 16, but it fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority it needed to get on the ballot. It’s also the same petition drive extreme rightwing Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, launched on March 22 outside William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Apparently, teabaggers like kickoffs.

Like McMillin, Day has not had much success in petition drives. Day took the unusual step of launching a recall attempt against three of the four Howell Public School Board members who voted to fire the Superintendent. That attempt against her fellow board members failed miserably.

It’s ironic that the petition drive is taking place at the Freshman Campus, 1400 W. Grand River Ave. It also houses both the district’s administrative offices and board office. District policy bars facilities and equipment from being used for political campaigns. That was illustrated in April 2007 when the district canceled a forum for school board candidates, and cited the district policy that states, “District facilities and equipment shall not be used or made available for political campaigns.”

That was simply a nonpartisan forum so voters could hear from candidates, and this petition drive is extremely partisan.

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. The Michigan State Board of Canvassers must first approve the ballot language before any signatures are collected. 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. Any signatures collected before the board of canvassers are invalid, and that, to my knowledge has not happened.

However, the ballot committee, “Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom,” was filed with the Michigan Secretary of State on March 22, and Day is listed as the treasurer.

MIRS reported “Day said the Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom is in the process of rallying liberty groups across the state to pass around petitions for this effort.”

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.

Get to the Peters townhall before the ‘tea baggers’ and ‘birthers’

There can be no doubt that the extremist rightwing Washington, D.C. lobbying groups behind the fake, Astroturf and misnamed “tea parties” are the same people scripting the disrupting of the townhall meetings of Democratic Congressman.

Republicans are promoting a pair of townhall meetings in Oakland County this week; one they plan to disrupt and one they don’t. The first one is actually tonight, Monday Aug. 31. The “health care townhall” is set for 7-9 p.m. at the Mott High School Performing Arts Center, 1151 Scott Lake Rd. in Waterford 48328 hosted by Freshman State Rep. Gail Haines, R-Waterford. Yes, you heard right; a state Representative.

Apparently, the meeting is for residents of Waterford, Lake Angelus and West Bloomfield Township, and photo ID is required. Can you imagine if a Democrat asked for an ID the fake outrage we would hear from the right? The ad also says, “Please no fliers, handouts or political signs on the school’s premises.”

Now, if they said none of those things that we saw at Democratic townhalls were not allowed inside I could understand, but they are not even allowed outside? Come on.

The first question I would like to ask Rep. Haines is what the heck is a state lawmaker doing hosting a townhall meeting about federal legislation? I know the answer, but I would like to hear her answer. The reason is that Republicans see defeating the President on health care reform is a way to get power back on both the state and federal level.

These farces are apparently taking place in Oakland County, and they bring in speakers who are against health care reform. Extreme right-wingers Reps. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, and Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy, recently held one of these farces, and Knollenberg said if there were seats left after all the residents of his district were seated others could attend. He reneged on that promise.

The other townhall meeting is actually being hosted by a U.S. Congressman: U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township. The townhall is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sep. 1 at West Bloomfield High School, 4925 Orchard Lake Rd. in West Bloomfield, 48323.

You need to get there at least a half hour early because the tea baggers have been pushing this hard, and you can bet they will disrupt it so they can get on the local news and on Faux “news.”

GOP House front runner cancels debate at the last minute

Apparently Bill Rogers, GOP candidate for the 66th District Michigan House seat, can't find 30 minutes in his busy schedule for the voters.

Rogers and Donna Anderson, his Democratic challenger for the open seat that covers Livingston County, were set to tape a 30-minute televised debate sponsored by the Center for Michigan and Detroit Public TV. In what is being called the Great Debates, 30-minute, fixed-format debates are being taped at DPTV’s Detroit studios with a panel of journalists consisting off Nolan Finley of The Detroit News, and Ron Dzwonkowski and Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press. The plan is for all of the 110 contested races to be televised.

Last week saw three debates televised on Sunday afternoon and on the two sponsor's web sites, and four more are set this week. They are Livingston County's open 47th District featuring GOP candidate Cindy Denby and Democrat Scott Lucas, Oakland County's 37th District featuring GOP candidate Paul Welday and Democrat Vicki Barnett, Oakland County's 45th District featuring ultraconservative right-winger Tom McMillan and Democrat Randy Young and Washtenaw County's 54th District featuring perennial GOP candidate Tom Banks and Incumbent Alma Wheeler Smith.

Those debates can already be viewed online, and they will air from 3-5 p.m. Sunday on Detroit PBS.

Rogers and Anderson's debate was also supposed to air this Sunday, but Rogers apparently canceled at the last minute, according to the local newspaper. Anderson is accusing Rogers of ignoring voters and coasting on the fact that Livingston County is predominantly Republican and on his family name; he is the older brother of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers and his mother was the director of the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce for many years. According to the article, Dave Manney, director of program development with Detroit Public Television, is still hopeful the debate can be rescheduled.

Michigan House Democrats fight back against recalls with web sites

Michigan Democrats established a pair of web sites to fight back against the recalls they say are nothing but political witch-hunts launched for political reasons with the aid of out-of-state special interest groups and money.

The Michigan House Democrats launched a pair of webs sites called “Stop the Recall" and “Decline to Sign.”

The Michigan Taxpayer Alliance, led by Republican Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, and an Oakland County group calling itself "Stop Hurting Michigan's Kids," led by conservative activitist Tom McMillin, has launched separate recall attempts against primarily Democratic lawmakers who voted to increase the state income tax and implement a sales tax on certain services that helped balance the budget and do away with a $1.8 billon budget deficit.

The conventional wisdom is that once the required signatures are collected and the yes or no question on whether the lawmaker should stay or go is on the ballot the fight is lost because the only people who turn out for this kind of election with a low voter turnout are the ones who launched the recall. Democrats want to contest the process through all the required steps in contrast to the last tine a state Legislator was recalled in 1983 when two Democratic state Senators were recalled for voting for a tax increase that gave Republicans control of the Senate enjoy to this day. Democrats say the recall is just an attempt by Republicans to regain control of the House they lost last November.

The process has not gone well for the two groups, and so far only two of the nine lawmakers targeted for recall have had the recall language approved; Reps. Robert Dean, D-Grand Rapids, and Marie Donigan, D-Royal Oak. Those rejected of because of unclear language intended for the recall petitions include Sen. Jerry Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores; Rep. Mary Valentine, D-Muskegon; House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford; Rep. Marc Corriveau, D-Northville; Rep. Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms; Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren,and Rep. Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch.

More recall clarity hearings scheduled

Rep. Joel Shelrtown, D-West Branch, is the latest state lawmaker to face a clarity hearing in the statewide move to recall legislators who voted to increase the state income tax and place a sales tax on some services that helped balance the state budget and erase a $1.8 billon budget deficit.

The hearing will be held before the Ogemaw County Board of Elections at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Ogemaw County Building and Courthouse, 806 W. Houghton Ave. in West Branch. The purpose of the hearing is ensure the language on the petitions is clear enough so that voters can understand the reason for the recall.

If the language is approved, the recall committee has 180 days to begin collecting the signatures of registered voters that must be equal to 25 percent of all the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in the 103rd District. Once the first signature is collected, the petitioners have 90 days to collect the proper amount of signatures to go to the next step in the process, so the time lag between the first and last signature must not be more than 90 days.

The petitioners will need to collect the required 9,473 signatures of registered voters from the far-flung 103rd District that includes four counties - Iosco, Missaukee, Ogemaw and Roscommon. – to place the question on the ballot.

The Michigan Taxpayer Alliance, led by Republican Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, has not had much success in getting approval of the recall language, and so far only the language approved is for the recall of Rep. Robert Dean, D-Grand Rapids.

Rep. Marie Donigan, D-Royal Oak, also has a clarity hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 16 in the courtroom of Judge Barry Grant at the Oakland County Circuit Court, 1200 Telegraph Rd. in Pontiac. This recall is being led by an Oakland County PAC calling itself "Stop Hurting Michigan's Kids."

Recall petitions rejected because of language include those of Sen. Jerry Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores; Rep. Mary Valentine, D-Muskegon; House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford; Rep. Marc Corriveau, D-Northville; Rep. Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms; and Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren.

Threatened recall campaign begins with Oakland County area Representatives

Apparently, the threatened recall effort for some of the lawmakers voting to increase Michigan’s income tax Sunday night has begun.

An Oakland County group calling itself “Stop Hurting Michigan's Kids” announced Monday it’s starting recalls against six state Representatives who represent parts of Oakland County, including one Republican, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press. Those targeted are Reps. Paul Condino, D-Southfield, Marie Donigan, D-Royal Oak, Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale, Tim Melton, D-Ponitiac, Aldo Vagnozzi, D-Farmington Hills and Chris Ward, R-Brighton.

The group filed with the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office as a Political Action Committee (PAC) on Sept. 13 by Rochester Hills resident Tom McMillin. He is a conservative Republican; a former field director for the Michigan Christian Coalition, a former Oakland County Commissioner; former Mayor of Auburn Hills; chairman of the Oakland Citizens to Protect Marriage, that helped pass of Proposal 2, which amended the state constitution to ban gay marriage and a Republican candidate for State Board of Education in 2006. A PAC allows them to solicit and spend money to influence an election.

The group may have a tough time recalling the Representatives who are term limited and cannot run again next November because the complex, time-consuming recall process.

Those Representatives term limited and in their last year in the House include Condino, the Chair of the important Judiciary Committee; Meisner, the Chair of the Commerce Committee; Ward, the Minority Floor Leader and Vagnozzi. Donigan is in her second term, and Melton, the Chair of the Education Committee, is in his first term.

Kelly Chesney, the Director of Communications for the Michigan Secretary of State, said section 168.951 of Michigan Election Law says that a recall petition cannot be filed against an elected official during the last six months of the officer's term of office. For those four term-limited Representatives, their term expires on Dec. 31 of next year, but the election is just 13 months away.

“You first have to determine how much time is left in the term,” she said. “They cannot be within six months of their term expiring.”

The recall group then has to come up with the reason for a recall, and it must meet certain criteria. The reason for a recall must be clear enough so that voters can understand the reason for the recall. Once the reason and recall language is submitted to the local county board of electors or election commission, they will determine if the language is clear and concise. In Ward’s case, where the majority of the 66th District he represents is in Livingston County and only a small piece is in Oakland County’s Milford Township, the Livingston County Elections Commission will hold the clarity hearing because that is the county Ward resides in. A public clarity hearing is held 10-20 days after the commission receives the petition where the person being recalled is allowed to address the clarity of the recall language.

Once the language is approved, the language is good for 180 days, but the actual petition drive for signatures must be within 90 days. In other words, there must be 90 days between the first and last signature.

The petition circulator must collect only those signatures of voters registered in the House District of the lawmaker being recalled, and the person collecting the signatures must also be a registered voter in that district. The petitions must contain the signatures equal to at least 25 percent for all the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in the district of the lawmaker being recalled.

Once enough signatures are collected, the petitions are sent to the Secretary of State, which has seven days to begin to verify that the petitions are in the proper form and the signatures are from registered voters in the district. The target of the recall then has the right to challenge the signatures. Within 35 days after petitions are filed with the SOS, the office must make a determination if the petition is sufficient or deficient, and if it’s sufficient it then notifies the county clerk that the a recall election is to be held on the next regular election date that is not less than 95 days after the date the petition is filed.

If the recall is successful, the seat is immediately vacant, and a special election to fill the vacancy shall be held on the next regular election date. The governor may appoint someone to fill the seat until the election is held and the successor sworn in.

It is not clear if this recall attempt is associated with Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, the head of The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA), who has been threatening recalls of anyone who votes for the revenue, increases. McMillin did not return phone calls.