False and sleazy attack ads against Leyton having an effect

Voters say they hate negative, attack campaign ads, but political pundits and consultants say it works. The pundits must be right because there is no other explanation for Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton trailing in the polls for Michigan Attorney General.

His opponent, Bill Schuette, has run some of the sleaziest ads I have ever seen, but he has finally been shamed into taking one of them off the air by the family of someone he was shamelessly exploiting. But that, in my opinion, is not the sleaziest ad.

The TV ad most people have seen has lead to a profane-filled death threat against Layton, yet it still stays up.

That ad stars Debbie McIntosh, of Grand Blanc, whose son, Adam, 25, was murdered in 2006. She is very angry that the killer did not get more time and that he was the only one charged, even though there’s no evidence that anyone else was involved. Republicans are using the millions of dollars of unregulated corporate cash to run that smear ad exploiting McIntosh holding a photo of her son and calling Leyton a liar.

Even after an anti-Semitic attack by McIntosh on the Flint Journal web site and death threat, the ad is still running.

I’m not sure what crime has to do with the Michigan Attorney General, since the job is largely a civil and administrative posts and acts as the state’s attorney, but the Republicans have been trying with no success to paint Leyton soft on crime. Every ad they have run has had a foul called on it by the nonpartisan Michigan Truth Squad.
In his two terms as Genesee County Prosecuting Attorney, Leyton has prosecuted more than 20,000 criminal cases to Schuette’s zero. The teabggers have driven the Republican Party so far to the right they are in danger of falling off the cliff, but one thing they constantly claim is that they will not support career politicians. Yet almost all of the Republican candidates can qualify for that label.

While Leyton was serving in local government as an elected prosecutor, he also served on the Flint Township Board of Trustees, first as a Trustee and later as the Township Clerk; Schuette was, first, a U.S. Congressman, a member of former Gov. John Engler’s cabinet, then a state Senator and finally an Appellate Court Judge.

This is just more Republicans teabagger hypocrisy.

The ad that was pulled off the air claimed that Leyton was “overly lenient in the plea deal he reached with a drunken driver who led police on a chase that resulted in the death of Flint police officer Owen Fisher,” according to subscription only Gongwer.

“Flint police officer Owen Fisher, murdered while on duty. An open and shut case: not for David Leyton," the ad says. “He plea bargained down to just three years in prison; said it was just and right."

But Gongwer said David and Vida Fisher, the deceased officer's parents, said “the ad is wrong and that Christopher Bentoski would see more than three years in prison for his convictions on assault with intent to do great bodily harm and fleeing police.” The Fishers also criticized Schuette for using the story without consulting with them first and for making an ad that was disrespectful to their family.

"We request that Mr. Schuette remove this ad from the airwaves," David Fisher said. "Our son was a tremendously civil human being and this ad is both uncivil and incorrect. We believe that Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton approached this case with appropriate gravity and treated our family respectfully."

Back to the drawing board, and since Republicans have so much unregulated corporate money to burn, a new ad is already up in its place featuring Republican Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson criticizing Leyton for plea bargains. Patterson is very familiar with plea bargains; like the one he took in 2003 to reckless driving after being pulled over for possible drunk driving.

Republican candidates afraid of voters and refuse to debate

Republican political candidates in Michigan continue to hide and do everything possible to avoid debating their opponents and avoid a side-by-side comparison as they try and run the clock out because they believe they have a large lead, bought with a massive influx of cash from corporations.

For the most part, journalists have let them get away with it, but WDIV-TV4 anchor Devin Scillian called them out Sunday on his weekly political program “Flash Point.” He invited the top of the ticket – Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State – to debate on the show. But as usual, only the Democrats accepted.

Scillian relented and allowed GOP nominee Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder to appear separately on a prime-time Flash Point last week, and WDIV made sure big, mean Lansing Mayor and Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero got no where near the Outsourcer.

But When the Republican AG and SOS candidates declined to appear on the set at the same time with the Democratic nominees, Scillian - to his credit - held his ground, and said whoever shows up will go on the air in the state’s largest media market.

Predictably, only AG Democratic nominee David Leyton and Democratic SOS nominee Jocelyn Benson showed up to defend their positions and went on the air, and the Republicans chickened out.

On Sunday’s “Two guys named Joe” podcast, Joe DiSano and Joe Munem summed it up best. They said that if the Republicans refuse to debate then they can’t talk about transparency, they can’t talk about openness and they can’t talk about being accessible to voters. They can talk about those things, but they will be hypocrites.

The rest of the conservative, corporate media has failed to point out this hypocrisy. Let’s hope the voters see the truth.

Sleazy and false attack on Leyton results in death threat

We know Republicans have no shame and that there is nothing the Republicans won’t say or no one they won’t exploit to regain and keep power, and the latest illustration is the shameful attacks on Democratic Attorney General Candidate David Leyton.
They exploited Debbie McIntosh, whose son was murdered, to falsely attack Leyton, the Genesee County Prosecutor. Then McIntosh launched an anti-Semitic tirade against Leyton, who is Jewish, on the Flint Journal’s comments section. After that, you would think the Republicans would pull the TV ad - featuring McIntosh holding a photo of her son and calling Leyton a liar - and apologize to Leyton.

If you thought that then you don’t know Republicans. Instead, they blamed Leyton for the tirade against him. In fact, the reaction of Republicans was downright bizarre.

The Republican AG nominee’s mouthpiece, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party (MRP) Rusty Hills, claimed the McIntosh family was victimized a second time even though it was the Republicans that shamelessly exploited her grief and anger.

“If David Leyton would put as much effort into fighting crime in Flint as he does to attacking the mother of a murdered child, it would be much more productive," Hills said. "As a former member of congress, Bill Schuette has always been a strong supporter of the special relationship between the Unites States of America and the State of Israel."

Unbelievable. I have no idea what Israel had to do with anything.

The current MRP mouthpiece, Jennifer Hoff, who has a history of bizarre comments, did not disappoint.

“It is sad and sleazy, but predictable, that the Leyton campaign continues to attack a victim's mother in this way," Hoff said. “Mr. Leyton should apologize to Mrs. McIntosh for such awful accusations. The Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party is Jewish."

“The Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party is Jewish?” what, exactly, does that mean?

But the story does not end there. Schuette’s dirty campaign tactics using McIntosh have resulted in a very serious death threat against Leyton. According to subscription only MIRS on Tuesday, Leyton received a call from a male-sounding voice on the voice mail at his Genesee County Prosecutor's Office using the number listed in the attack ad.

MIRS reported the man as saying: “Hey, David Leyton, I’m a Michigan resident. I think you’re a piece of (expletive) dirt. I hope you get murdered in a spectacularly horrible way that (expletive) makes your family (expletive) wish people didn’t exist. People like you. Because you’re a piece of (expletive) dirt. And If I ever (expletive) see you driving or walking, maybe I’ll (expletive) swerve your way and maybe I’ll (expletive) run you over. Because you’re a piece of (expletive) dirt. (Expletive).”

MIRS said the police know who the man is, and that he “has a criminal record, and will be handled within the jurisdiction of Oakland County.” The reason foe the threat had to be the attack ad because Leyton is the Prosecutor in Genesee County, not Oakland.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer is calling on Schuette and the Michigan Republican Party to pull the ad featuring McIntosh from the airwaves before tragedy strikes.

“The death threat against David Leyton is the result of the hate-filled campaign that Bill Schuette and the Republicans are running,” Brewer said. “Bill Schuette is running a false attack ad against David Leyton, which he knows to be untrue. It’s outrageous that Bill Schuette and the Republicans would continue running this dangerous ad, considering the woman in the ad, Deb McIntosh, is being motivated by her dislike of the Jewish people, gays and lesbians. Anti-Semitism and homophobia are bad enough — now there are people out there threatening to kill David Leyton, all thanks to Bill Schuette and the Michigan Republican Party.”

Somehow, I doubt that will happen.

UPDATE: When you hear the actual audio of the threat, it’s even worse. The Two Guys Named Joe played it on their Oct. 21 podcast, and it’s disgusting. Like they say, clear the kids from the room before you play it.

Republicans use discredited smear add to slime AG candidate David Leyton

You have to wonder if there is anything Republicans won’t say or anyone Republicans won’t exploit to regain and keep power.

That person is Debbie McIntosh, of Grand Blanc, whose son, Adam, 25. was murdered in 2006. She is very angry that the killer did not get more time and that he was the only one charged, even though there’s no evidence that anyone else was involved. Republicans are using the millions of dollars of unregulated corporate cash to run a TV smear ad agaisnt Democratic Attorney General Candidate David Leyton featuring McIntosh holding a photo of her son and calling Leyton a liar. The last line of the ad says it all.

“How do you get over the death of your son.”

Exactly. You don’t, and the Republicans exploited her anger to falsely smear Leyton. In his two terms as Genesee County Prosecuting Attorney that has prosecuted more than 10,000 criminal cases this is the best smear they could come up. One out of more than 10,000. That’s like saying every single person will agree with every call an umpire makes over the course of a 162-game season.

Republicans exploited the grief and anger of the mother of a murdered son. They had to do that because the Republican candidate has not prosecuted a single criminal case; not a single one.

How angry is Mrs. McIntosh? Well, a racist comment on the Flint Journal gives you an idea where she comments as “ADAMSMOM.”

“…how dare the FLINT URINAL not show me the respect to get my side of the story, instead of ONE SIDE,,,oh A JEWISH OWNED PAPER,,,,and lEYTON IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION,,,,FLINT JOURNAL…”

It just makes you wonder if there is anything Leyton or anyone else can do that will allow her to let go of her anger. What it does is give the Republicans some mud, and they will not hesitate for a second to spread it far and wide.

According to the Flint Journal, “Prosecutors convicted Horatio Brown of manslaughter and he is now serving up to 22 years in prison, but McIntosh said the family only agreed to the plea deal if Leyton would charge two other individuals who were involved.”

The problem is there has to be evidence to charge someone, let alone convict them, and there simply is no evidence to even charge anyone else.

Capt. T.P. Johnson of the Flint Police, who oversaw the homicide unit at the time of the McIntosh killing, said the case was investigated thoroughly. In fact, he went even farther in a press release.

“The claims made in the Michigan Republican Party’s advertisement are simply untrue,” Johnson said. “We thoroughly investigated the homicide, leaving no stone left unturned. The killer confessed to the crime and he has been sentenced.

“We were so concerned about the case that we asked the State Police to review it,” he said. “They are in agreement with us that nothing more can be done.”

My bet is that the truth and a little anti-Semitism will not deter the Michigan Republican Party from a good smear.

Check out the Great Debates for the rare opportunity to see Republicans debate

In my opinion, there is perhaps no better way for voters to get the true measure of a political candidate and see if their views and positions can stand up to scrutiny than a political debate, so that’s’ why I’m happy to see that the Center for Michigan and Detroit Public TV are again teaming up to televise debates between state House and Senate candidates.

The Great Debates are 30-minute debates scheduled between August and October. All debates will be taped in studio without a studio audience, and they will be moderated by professional journalists. Public television stations throughout Michigan will broadcast the Great Debates, and they will also be available online and at MiVote.org.

It’s very telling that Republicans are afraid to debate, and that’s because they know their positions can’t stand up to any kind of scrutiny. It starts at the top of the ticket where Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder only agreed to a single debate with Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero after constant public pressure to do so.

Secretary of State Candidate Jocelyn Benson has challenged her opponent to debate - who has ran for just about every political office in the state and therefore an experienced debated - but her opponent continues to duck and stall. The only statewide candidates to debate were the Attorney General candidates, and Democratic Attorney General nominee David Leyton had to fend off constant personal attacks from his opponent on a debate on WKAR’s “Off the Record” show.

Leyton is the Genesee County Prosecutor, and he has tried hundreds of criminal cases with a more than 90 percent convention rate. His opponents exploited two families who had loved ones murdered in an attempt to smear Leyton. This from a man who has never stepped foot into a criminal courtroom.

People grieving are usually angry, and want to blame someone for the senseless murder of their loved ones getting a lesser sentence or an imagined possible accomplice getting away. Unfortunately, a Prosecutor has to go on the evidence the police give them.

In most cases we get bluster from a Republican challenging their opponent to a debate, and once it is accepted they do everything in their power to get out of it. We saw this when the Chief Outsourcer challenged his opponent to a series of debates, and as soon as Mayor Bernero accepted the CEO tried to weasel out. Other Republicans are taking up that tactic.

For an example, we have the case of Rob Steele, the teabagger Republican Congressional candidate for the 15th District, who is set to be the latest person to be defeated by the dean of the U.S. House, Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn.

After whining that Dingell will not debate him, it turns out its Steele who is afraid to debate and is ducking. Dingell sent a letter to Steele right after he won the August primary election congratulating him and asking for debates, but all Steele did was lie and cry that Dingell was avoiding him. After a month of blustering from Steele, Dingell finally sent a letter earlier this month asking that Steele commit to as many debates as possible, and Dingell says he looks forward to appearing at voters forums put on by various groups like the AARP and others. Dingell has already accepted an invitation from Monroe Community College to debate.

No word from the usually loud and obnoxious Steele crowd.

The Chief Outsourcer continues to chicken out on debates

Somebody is going to have to follow Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder around to his staged townhall meetings with friendly audiences in a chicken suit shame him into a debate with Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Virg Bernero.

It has been more than a month since Bernero issued a challenge to debate, and Synder has come up with excuse after excuse to not do it. Snyder has a history of being afraid to debate. He even ducked the debates with the Republican nominees. The last and only debate he took part in was a debate sponsored by the Michigan GOP on April 21 at Michigan State University broadcast by Lansing TV station WLNS. He did so badly in the debate that he went back to his staged townhall meetings.

He did a friendly interview yesterday on classic rock station WHMI in Howell with the “morning crew,” and his new excuse for ducking the debates is that Bernero wants too many debates. Bernero formally issued a challenge last month to hold eight debates before the November 2 election, but the Lansing Mayor has accepted three. But Snyder lied to the hosts and said eight is too many.

Fine, then do the three that Bernero has already agreed to. The simple truth is the only way Snyder will debate is if the media and the public pressure him to do so.

Snyder has paid millions to cultivate this image as a successful businessman and job creator, and this is simply not true. Snyder spent $7.6 million on 30-second TV spots to win his party's gubernatorial primary, $6.1 million of which came from his own deep pockets. A real debate in front of a neutral audience will tarnish that expensive, bought and paid for image and revel him to be the empty suit he really is.

He also claims to be a job creator, but that is a lie, unless you count jobs created in China. He shipped 20,000 American jobs to China and other parts of Asia when he was head of Gateway. A report earlier this month by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) shows that the more CEOs cut jobs, the more money they made, and Snyder earned millions doing so. He cashed in on 355,000 stock options worth $23.7 million at a time that executives at the company admitted they misrepresented the company’s financial outlook. He took that money to buy the governorship of Michigan.

Republicans seem to be taking the example of the chief outsourcer at the top of the ticket and ducking debates.

Democratic Secretary of State nominee and Wayne State University law Professor Jocelyn Benson challenged her opponent to three debates last month, and, like the empty suit at the top of the ticket, the Republican has been silent. That’s a little strange, considering the Republican is a “career politician” teabggers claim they hate, and Benson has never ran for elective office before.

The only people who have agreed to debate are the Attorney General candidates. Democratic nominee and Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton will take part in a debate moderated by Off the Record host Tim Skubick that will air on Sept. 24. The taping will take place this weekend at the studios of PBS station WKAR TV in East Lansing.

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.