Hune gives voters the finger over stem cell research

Livingston County voters got another glimpse at how really out of touch Joe Hune, the Republican Senate candidate for the 22nd District, really is with a front page story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus where he said he wants to ban embryonic stem cell research, which Michigan voters approved in 2008.

This arrogant but not new news comes when the international World Stem Cell Summit is taking place in Detroit through Wednesday that is bringing together scientists, patients, advocates, business people, investors, educators, ethicists, policy makers, government representatives and others to network from more than 30 nations. It also comes at a time when the University of Michigan researchers announced they have created the state’s first human embryonic stem cell line, achieving a long-sought goal that provides the foundation for future efforts to develop innovative disease treatments. That was only possible because of the 2008 voter approved constitutional amendment.

But what is really stunning is that Hune knows better than voters and scientists, and he wants to invalidate an election. The amendment passed in Michigan with 52.6 percent saying yes, but what is even more startling is that in conservative Livingston County, more people supported stem cell research, and it passed with 53.1 percent of the vote.

Hune’s opponent, Green Oak Township resident Chuck Fellows, supports the will of the voters, and he said Hune is just pandering to the rightwing extremists who have taken over the Republican Party. In my opinion, that’s one reason he has been endorsed by teabaggers. In fact, he is a teabgger. Traditionally, candidates veer back to the center after appealing to the base after a primary to win in the general election, but Hune doesn’t have to, he thinks, in a Republican gerrymandered district like the 22nd.

This is where we really see Hune’s arrogance. According to the paper,

“In mid-July, Hune told a standing-room-only audience at the Howell High School Freshman Campus that he doesn't support embryonic stem cell research. He told some 200 people that he didn't agree with Michiganders' vote on the ballot measure during the debate moderated by the Daily Press & Argus.”

The part about his position is true, but there was no standing room only crowd. The fact that Hune gave the voters the finger got lost in his more outrageous comments, like he thinks a black helicopter from the UN is coming for his gun, he didn’t know what he was voting on when he helped approve the film tax credits or that a gay man will steal his wife and break up his marriage

But back to Hune’s arrogance. Hune said “he has no need to pander to voters in the 22nd Senate District.”The funny thing is I've already got those folks in my corner. I don't need to appease anybody," he said.

In other words, go to hell, I don’t have to listen to any voters or constituents.

Vote for somebody in November who cares what people in his district think and respects the voters; Chuck Fellows is that man.

Newspaper endorses conspiracy theorist over businessman

As expected, the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus endorsed former State Rep. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township, for the open 22nd District State Senate seat, but it has to be the most wishy-washy, weak endorsement I hare ever read.

The paper endorsed Hune over the Howell City Councilman and businessman Paul Rogers simply because he vowed to never, ever raise taxes under any circumstances, and the fact that he has apparently matured since he was elected to an open State House seat by two votes in 2002, making him one of the youngest ever to be elected.

“Still, Hune gets our endorsement partly because he has clearly matured since the callow young man who was elected to the state House in 2002 at the age of 21.”

I liked him better when he as “a callow young man.” He was always an extreme conservative, being named among the top 10 most conservative House members consistently by subscription only MIRS and Michigan Votes, but he was at least reasonable. However, since leaving the House in 2008 and beginning his Senate campaign, he has thrown in with the extremist fringe and sometimes racist Republican teabaggers.

The paper had to hold their nose to endorse him, and you had to read seven paragraphs down to find out that that they had endorsed him.

Hune's answer in a debate sponsored by the newspaper earlier this month that the United Nations was coming for his guns caught the paper’s editors so off guard that they saw fit to do a follow up story. Despite that outrageous comment, the paper endorsed a conspiracy theorist over an established businessman.

“Often, Hune's position is simplistic, shrill and even a little conspiratorial, such as his worry that the United Nations is poised to overturn the nation's Second Amendment protection of citizen gun ownership.”

One of Hune’s most ridiculous answers in the debate that the newspaper continues to ignore is his vote on the bipartisan package of bills aimed at attracting the film industry with incentives in March of 2008. Hune said in the debate that he would not vote for the package, but when Hune was asked why he voted for it, he tried to claim he didn’t know or understand the package included a tax rebate.

He has to be the only person in the State of Michigan that didn’t know the package include allowing production companies a 40 percent rebate on the Michigan Business Tax (MBT). He either cannot read a newspaper, didn’t watch TV news, didn’t read an analysis the bill from the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency, didn’t watch the committee hearings like I did, was asleep in the Republican caucus, was playing a video game on the House floor when the debate was going on or had an incompetent staff.

We want to send a guy back to Lansing who does not even know what he’s voting on?

We need to send someone like Green Oak Township Democrat Chuck Fellows to Lansing. He is a planning commissioner, and as such, he knows how to do his homework and knows what he’s voting on. He has the experience, knowledge and common sense to get things done.

Big Surprise: Hune endorsed by teabaggers

Local tea baggers endorsing Joe Hune for the 22nd State Senate District is as much a surprise as cold temperatures in Michigan in December.

Apparently, Hune’s answer in a debate last week that UN black helicopters are coming for his handgun was just crazy enough to earn the endorsement of the Hartland area tea baggers called “RetakeOurGov.” The fact is they just wasn’t to take it back from Democrats.

Teabagger organizer Wes Niagara - whose 15 minutes should have been up a long time ago - told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus that he decided to back Hune after last week’s candidate forum.

“After watching the debate, it was clear to me that Joe has the traditional mainstream values and the fiscal values which are sought after by the ‘tea party’ movement,” Nakagiri said.

Hune has turned into an extremist since he started hanging with teabaggers, so the endorsement had to come before the debate. Hune’s comment about the UN even led to a follow up story, but what should have rated a follow up was Hune’s lame answer on the movie film credits where he claimed he didn’t know the package included a tax rebate, even though just about everyone in the state knew.

For comedy relief, we have Nakagiri’s last quote:

“Not only does Joe Hune share the values of conservatives and disaffected Democrats, he demonstrated the passion and backbone to stand up for what he believes,” he said.

No Democrat I have ever met shares those extremist views, and only the fringe of the Republican Party holds those views.

It seems ironic that the tea baggers are endorsing at all. On “Off the Record,” Gene Clem, the founder of the Southwest Michigan Tea Party Patriots and one of the original members of the Michigan Tea Party Alliance, appeared on this week’s show and said tea baggers don’t endorse candidates.

Regardless, they only candidates they will endorse will be extremist Republicans.

Don’t forget to vote for Chuck Fellows, the Democratic candidate for the seat, on Tuesday.

Teabagger Senate candidate still clinging to myth that black helicopters are coming for his gun

Republican State Senate candidate Joe Hune’s offhand remarks about the United Nations and the 2nd Amendment in a debate last week surprised and caught so many people off guard that the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus decided to do a follow up story on that remark.

Hune and his GOP opponent for the open 22nd District seat, Howell City Councilman Paul Rogers, squared off in a debate last week sponsored by the paper. Hune was asked a follow up question as to why he thought the 2nd Amendment is more important than the 1st Amendment, and did he believe the 2nd Amendment was under attack and by whom. Hune’s reply flabbergasted the paper’s news editor and publisher.

“We have consistently heard, time and time again, that there are folks who are absolutely concerned about the United Nations nuke treaty - I believe exactly what it is - trying to essentially give some of our rights away to the UN, which is exactly the wrong place to go,” Hune said.

Hune’s belief that black helicopters are coming for his handgun is a long held anti-government, Michigan Militia belief, and Hune’s embrace of the racist and anti-government teabagger movement is showing.

That would be bad enough, but it appears that those extremist views are beginning to be held by the majority of the Republican Party that has steady moved to the right; so much so that it has fallen off the cliff and driven all moderates out of the party.

What Hune is misrepresenting and lying about is the UN Small Arms Treaty. What it basically does is combat the illicit global trade of small arms. In fact, the treaty would not hinder the right to produce, export or import arms, and it is aimed at ensuring common international import and export standards to prevent illegal trafficking. It also includes not only the illegal trade in guns but the sale of fighter planes, unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles and light weapons.

The fact is this has nothing to do with the sale or manufacture of guns in the U.S., and no President can ever ban handguns in the U.S. through the signing of an international treaty.

Chuck Fellows, the Democratic candidate for the 22nd District that includes Livingston County, Shiawassee County and a southern part of Ingham County, injected some sanity in the follow up, saying Hune is making "fear-mongering" remarks.

Fellows told the paper that he fully supports gun-ownership rights under the Second Amendment, but the proposed UN treaty has absolutely nothing to do with handguns in the U.S. Not only that, a draft treaty isn't expected to be written before 2012, and all international treaties require the approval of two-thirds of the U.S. Senate before they are considered ratified and in effect. Michigan is just coming out of the Bush recession - the worst since the Great Depression - and needs jobs right now, not false fear-mongering.

"He's bringing forth issues that really have nothing to do with the state of Michigan,” Fellows told the paper. “The state of Michigan has one major problem, and that's jobs.

Even after having a few days to think about it, Hune is sticking to that lie. He claims this is a big issue with people in the district. That may be the case with a few fringe teabaggers, but not the majority of voters. I know you have to tack right to win a primary election and play to the base, especially in predominately county like Livingston, but Hune has gone off the cliff.

Celebrate Filing Day with the Liv. Co Democrats

For political geeks like me, tomorrow. May 11, is akin to a national holiday. Tuesday is filing day, the day candidate for the August 3 primary and November 2 General election must officially file to run for elective office.

Every single state office is up for election this year, from the Governor on down, including the Secretary of State, Attorney General and the state Senate and House, as well as local offices that are on two years cycles, like the Livingston County Board of Commissioners.To mark that event, the Livingston County Democratic Party is celebrating Filing Day at 6:30 p.m. with pizza. The HQ is located at 10321 E. Grand River, Suite 600, Brighton.

You can come out and meet the full slate of Democratic candidates, as well as hear from former East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh, who is presently running for the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, to discuss campaigning and local and state issues.

In predominately Livingston County, the Democratic Party has set some realistic goals,and they have been meeting since March on ways to be successful in areas where Republicans hold a majority.
The plans is to field a candidate in every race, and to focus its resources on one or two races that are winnable on the nine-member Livingston County Board of Commissioners. The board has been all Republican since 1996, but the Democrats have a plan to change that. So far, it has a candidate in all the districts but one; the 4th District that includes the Townships of Handy, Iosco and Unadilla, the Village of Fowlerville and parts of the township of Howell and Marion. That’s a little disturbing because the last Democrat on the board came from Unadilla.

Here is the excellent field of candidates:
District 1 Pam Green
District 2 Thomn Bell
District 3 Dane Morris
District 4 TBA
District 5 Dave Berry
District 6 Keith Tianen
District 7 Kelly Raskauskas
District 8 Amir Baghdadchi
District 9 Barry McBride

In the state Legislature, Hamburg Township resident Garry Post is running for the 47 District seat that includes the townships of Cohoctah, Conway, Deerfield, Hamburg, Handy, Hartland, Howell, Iosco, Putnam, Tyrone, and Unadilla, most of the city of Howell, and that portion of Marion Township included within the city limits of Howell.

Post has actual business experience as the owner and operator of a manufacturing business, as well as managing real estate. Post is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Detroit College of Law and the Duke University Fuqua School of Business’ “mini-MBA” program. Post practiced law in Michigan and co-founded a law firm from 1980-1988 before moving to North Carolina to pursue a career in manufacturing. He rose to become President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Athol Manufacturing Corporation. Athol supplied vinyl coated fabrics for cars, truck and buses including major mid-level automotive companies.

After the sale of Athol in early 2000, Post began pursuing a career in real estate and rental property management. In his present position, Post manages rental properties near the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor with a focus on student housing.

In the State Senate, Green Oak Township resident Chuck Fellows is running for the 22nd District seat held by term limited Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Marion Township. Fellows is a member of the Green Oak Township planning commissioner, a teacher and a member of the Michigan Department of Community Health Board.

The deadline to withdraw from the race is 4 p.m Friday, May 14. Other important dates are July 6, the last day to register for the August primary, and the last day to register for the General Election is Oct. 4.