As Election Day gets closer volunteers get going

MADISON TOWNSHIP -- With just two weeks until election day, its nitty-gritty time, and I experienced some of that while knocking doors for the Mark Schauer for Congress campaign in his opponent’s home county of Lenawee County on Sunday.

The Michigan Senate minority Leader is leading extremist Republican Tim Walberg in the polls in the spread out 7th U.S. congressional District, but the going is beginning to get tough. Most elections are won in the trenches, on the phones and on the doorsteps of voters. This late in the game, volunteers are going back to doors that have already been knocked on and the people were undecided or were not home. That made it less pleasant for me than in other trips in Adrian and Tecumseh, but worth every minute to elect a person like Mark Schauer.

Generally, people are not rude when you are at their front door, but I had three or four people tell me they were not interested. That was also worth it because it just means we will not contact them for get out the vote. Getting down to the nitty-gritty also makes it tough on the legs, and I got my daily dose of exercise. Houses are now further part, and because I walked in a township that is more rural, there are no sidewalks with large setbacks. That gives you a long walk up a long driveway.

I also saw the orange Walberg yard signs for the first time. There weren’t nearly as many as there were Schauer signs, especially when you consider this is Walberg’s backyard.

There was some positive press for Schauer here in Livingston County. The Daily Press & Argus finally caught on to Schafer’s ties to Livingston County. I know they have known about that for some time. Plus, a press release earlier this month announced Howell’s last two Republican state Representatives were endorsing the 1980 Howell High School graduate. I guess they were waiting to use the information until they could find a positive story for their favorite son Mike Rogers, who represents the 8th Congressional District.

The paper did a cutesy story about how both Rogers and Schauer were on the same football team at Howell.

The Schauer campaign is gearing up for the all important get out the vote activities beginning November 1, and they are looking for volunteers to knock on doors, phone bank, be a poll watcher, be a driver or runner or host volunteers. For those who want to volunteer in the eastern part of the 7th District can call (517) 417-6275. For those in the western part call (517) 316-7887

Hamburg Township candidate debate features some interesting races

Just 15 days before an historic election, the Pinckney, Hamburg, Lakeland and Hell Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a Candidate Debate at 6 p.m. Monday at the Hamburg Township Hall, 10405 Merrill Road.

The ambitious debate will feature all party candidates, or their representatives, from the U.S. Senate down to township candidates and District Court Judicial candidates. The debate will be moderated by local realtor Rick Beaudin, and the debate will be divided in half hour blocks by races all the way until 10:30 p.m. It will also be broadcast live over Channel 18, Hamburg Township Television. It will be re-broadcasts over Channel 18 periodically beginning October 27 and running November 3. DVD copies can be purchased at the township hall for $15 after completing a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request.

The debate will feature candidates or surrogates for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House races. It will also feature the race for the state House in the open 47th District; the County Commission seat for the 8th District featureing Democrat Dave Buckland and Republican Dennis Dolan; the 53rd District Judicial race featuring Judge Theresa Brennan and Jay Drick; and Hamburg and Putnam Township Boards.

One of the more interesting races is the race for the Hamburg Township Clerk. That seat features Democrat Debby Buckland and Republican Matt Skiba. Skiba unseated long-time Clerk Joanna Hardesty in the August GOP primary in a contentious race. Hardesty is running as a write in campaign, and she will be part of the debate.

Hardesty claims Skiba ran a "false and malicious" campaign designed to mislead voters. There is a massive effort underway from her volunteers, and they have raised a decent amount of money. I have never heard of a write in candidate winning a race, especially after losing to the same person when both of their names were on the ballot. The best thing that could happen for the township would be if Hardesty and Skiba split the vote and Buckland wins the office. They could use some diversity on the board. I have seen Buckland's ability up close, and she is more than qualified to do a good job.

In other debates, the Livingston County Press and Argus is sponsoring a candidate’s debate at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Brighton Center for the Performing Arts at Brighton High School, 7878 Brighton Rd.

Shortsighted Township Board refuses to pitch in fair share for mass transit rail line project

The Hamburg Township Board followed the shortsighted example of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners and turned down a request to kick in $1,0000 last week for an environmental review of the proposed site of a train depot for the Washtenaw Livingston Line (WALLY) commuter rail line from Howell to Brighton.

The all-Republican Board of Commissioners voted last month not to contribute any funds, and to also not be a part of the coalition that wants to form a taxing authority. The all-GOP Township Board was asked to pitch in a mere $1,000 for the station proposed for the Featherly Road extension east of Hamburg Road, and the reaming $6,488 would be picked up by the other entities in the project. The answer was apparently, thanks but no thanks to the $6,488.

Partners in the project include the City of Howell, the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce, Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.

Before any of the $500,000 in federal funds for station design and improvements can be spent, environmental clearance is required. It would consist of, according to an October 8 memo from Hamburg Township Supervisor Cindy pine, a review of historical documents and a limited field survey or dig to rule out any archeological remains.

A move to establish a mass transit hub in Howell and Livingston County has been ongoing since the mid 1990's, but there was hope this latest effort would succeed because of the strong commitment of the coalition members, high gas prices and the backups experienced along U.S. 23, the north/south highway to Ann Arbor where many Livingston County residents work.

Plans for a rail line between Ann Arbor and Detroit are steaming along, and the Ann Arbor to Detroit Regional Rail Project could see its first train hit the rails in just over a year. The effort in Livingston County remains derailed by shortsighted government officials, and a link all the way to Detroit remains a dream. With these two boards we see the danger of having just one party on the board for so long, and another voice would be a breath of fresh air.

GOP and their allies are pulling out all the stops to bust unions

With Senator Barack Obama taking a wider leader after last night's debate and poll results showing that the Democrats will maintain control of the U.S. House and Senate Democrats poised to pick up a veto proof 60-seat majority in the Senate, Republicans and their allies are panicking and doing their best to fool people over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

The Grand Oil Party and their bankrupt cronies are using the false mantra "Protect the workers' right to a secret ballot" to pull the wool over people's eyes. Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis uses that line in his daily dose of propaganda that he posts on his "blog." No wonder he does not allow comments on that thing he calls a blog.

The U.S. House passed the EFCA with a clear majority vote of 228-183 in March of 2007, but the minority Senate Republicans blocked a vote in the Senate.

Under current U.S. law, if more than 50 percent of employees certify their desire for representation, then a union can choose to form using card check procedures by signing a card and the employer would have to recognize the bargaining unit. However, the employer does not have to recognize the card check petition of the majority and can veto the majority and require a secret-ballot vote overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and it does every single time. Under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, an employer could only challenge a card check petition if fraud or illegal coercion was alleged.

Once the workers indicate they want a union, the employer calls for an election, and then the intimidation, threats of closure, threats of firing and actual firing begin. Many companies have special teams or flying squads that come in and work to defeat the vote. That includes actually firing organizers, forcing employees to go to mandatory meetings where the union is bashed and threats are made to actual physical violence. They also offer token raises and befits that can easily be rescinded after the union threat has passed.

Union organizers are left to try and reach employers with flyers as they zoom out of the parking lot while the employer has unfettered access.

A union is the most democratic institution in the workplace where the leaders and the contract are voted on. What the GOP and its lackeys want to do is to keep the playing field title to their advantage, and the Employee Free Choice Act works to level it.

In addition to the MIGOP propaganda, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been flooding the airwaves with ads that parrot the GOP mantra in an attempt to stifle union organizing efforts. The Chamber has long been leading the cause of union busting, and this is just one more link in the chain. It's funny that GOP VP nominee Sarah "Spiro" Palin is trotting out her husband's union membership at rallies, but she is leading the charge to bust unions. She knows that the majority of Americans know unions helped create the middle class and raised the standard of living for all.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has gone so far as telling its employees not to vote for Democrats in the 2008 election, especially Obama. The giant, anti-union and anti-worker retailer uses its regular meetings with employees to drive that message home. Wal-Mart is one company notorious for flying squads that come in at the slightest whiff of workers organizing.

The EFCA also addresses companies simply refusing to bargain in good faith and dragging their feet until workers must come back to work or take what ever is offered or starve. If the company and union are not able to reach agreement within 90 days, either party may ask the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to step in. If after 30 days of mediation the FMCS cannot resolve the dispute, it gets referred to an arbitrator whose ruling is binding for two years.

The EFCA also protects those workers who were targeted by anti-union employers who fire them for union activities. There are currently no consequences for a company who illegally fires an employee who supports the union. The new law will require the NLRB to take legal action to immediately reinstate workers fired for union activity. Companies that punish or fire employees for lawful union activity would have to pay triple damages.

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.

Quote of the Week: McCain pals around with terrorists

This installment of Quote of the Week is dedicated to Grampy McSame and his fading memory.

He apparently forgot that he actually "pals around with terrorists" not just serve on a board with a person where he has no control of. I am referring, of course, to McSame's friendship with convicted Watergate burglar and domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy. The convicted terrorist has even gone as far as hosting a fundraiser for McSame in his home.

Former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, who with Bob Woodward broke the Watergate story that revealed the corruptness of the Nixon White House, wrote in his syndicated column recently that when respected University of Illinois at Chicago Professor Bill Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, Liddy was making plans to firebomb a Washington think tank, assassinate a prominent journalist, undertake the Watergate burglary, break into the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist and kidnap anti-war protesters at the 1972 Republican convention.

"Well, you know, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of your family. I'm proud to know your son, Tom, who's a great and wonderful guy. And it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon. And congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," Republican Presidential candidate Grampy McSame to convicted Watergate burglar and domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy when he appeared on Liddy's radio show in May, 2007.

Political pundit predicts huge seat advantage for House Democrats next month

Michigan House Democrats will build on their 58-52 seat lead next month, according to Bill Ballanger in the latest edition of Inside Michigan Politics.

Ballanger is the editor and publisher of IMP, and the former state lawmaker and respected political pundit is going even farther on predictions he made in January and June that the Democrats will retain control of the House by an astounding margin of 70-40. Ballanger said according to a quartet of micro polls commissioned by East Lansing based Practical Political Consulting, the decision by Grampy McSame to abandon Michigan will have a negative effect on some vulnerable Democratic seats.

The Republicans went from controlling the House for more than a decade and wining one of the largest majorities in many years in 2002 to suffering the worst back-to-back election cycles since the early 1940s that culminated with the loss of the House in November 2006.

The McSame pullout is also having some positive results in the race for the U.S. House. The non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report upgraded the race between Democrat Gary Peters and Joe Knollenberg to "Tossup/Tilt Democratic." The race had previously been rated “Lean Republican.” A separate poll conducted by Grove-Insight for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) shows Peters ahead of Knollenberg 46-37 percent.

The race between Democrat Mark Schauer and extremist Tim Walberg is a toss up, and a recent poll by Myers Research & Strategic Services shows the Senate Minority Leader is leading Walberg by ten points, 46 to 36 percent.

Same old smear, different format

One good thing – or bad depending on your point of view – of being a former journalist is I get lots of emails that I would not normally get. I always wanted as much information from as many sources as possible because you never know if something will trigger a story. Sometimes I get the ugly, false and outright racist emails that are floating around smearing Sen. Barack Obama. This one is typical. Although this is a new smear, it plays on the same old prejudices that are now being whipped up by opponents of Sen. Obama.

Can you pick witch(sic) name doesn't belong ?


1.. George Washington, 1789-1797
2.. John Adams, 1797-1801
3.. Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
4.. James Madison, 1809-1817
5.. James Monroe, 1817-1825
6.. John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
7.. Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
8.. Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
9.. William Henry Harrison, 1841
10.. John Tyler, 1841-1845
11.. James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
12.. Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
13.. Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
14.. Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
15.. James Buchanan, 1857-1861
16.. Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
17.. Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
18.. Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-1877
19.. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
20.. James Abram Garfield, 1881
21.. Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
22.. Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
23.. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
24.. Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897
25.. William McKinley, 1897-1901
26.. Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
27.. William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
28.. Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
29.. Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
30.. Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
31.. Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
32.. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
33.. Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
34.. Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
35.. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
36.. Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
37.. Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
38.. Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
39.. James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
40.. Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
41.. George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
42.. William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
43.. George Walker Bush, 2001-
44.. Barack Hussein Obama, Jr

And he says he is not a Muslim????? Please think about America: "IN GOD WE TRUST'S! Future.........or it will be, America: "IN ALLAH WE TRUST" Will his oath be taken on a Bible? or on the Koran? Will he say, One Nation Under GOD? or will he say, One Nation Under Allah?

America was created by our forefathers UNDER GOD! NOT ALLAH!

The answer is clear to me: Number 43 does not belong. There's no sense in defending Sen. Obama against the charges of being a Muslim because it does not, or should not matter. However, it seems ironic that he was hammered because of the views of his Christian minister, but in the same breath he's now called a Muslim.

I'm far from a religious expert, but the notion pushed by the rightwing that the U.S. was founded by Christians as a Christian nation does not ring true. I seem to recall early settlers fled here for religious freedom, and that includes freedom from religion. I have also read that the early presidents and founders were generally Deists or Unitarians, believing in some form of impersonal Providence but rejecting the exact teachings of the Christian church. I have also read that no where in the U.S. Constitution - other than the 1st Amendment that bars establishing a state religion - Christianity, God or Jesus are not mentioned anywhere.

PS. The national motto is "In God we Trust."