Fireworks will follow appointment of new Circuit Court Judge

There will be a new Livingston County Circuit Court Judge in April when Judge Stanley J. Latreille retires after 26-years on the bench. But the real excitement will come over finding his replacement.

In predominantly Republican Livingston County, nonpartisan races are sometimes the most exciting, and voters must judge the candidate on their merits instead of them just having an R after their name. But that has not stopped the county GOP in its quest to do away with non-partisan elections.

The Governor fills judicial vacancies, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm will appoint a candidate to fill Latreille's seat after a candidate review period. The replacement judge will serve until the next election in 2010, and then they will have to run to fill the remainder of Latreille's term that runs through 2012.

We saw how the GOP tried to smear Livingston County District Judge Theresa Brennan as a whacked out troop-hating, pro-abortion liberal after the Governor appointed her to fill the vacant district judge seat. She has had to run for the seat twice after getting the appointment, and she won handily, defeating Jay Drick, a member of the county GOP's executive committee. Brennan has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Latreille's seat.

According to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, Brighton Attorney Mike Hatty has applied for the vacancy. I got to know Hatty when I was a reporter. He is the attorney for rural Deerfield Township, and I did a feature story on him. He is a stand up guy, and he would make an excellent judge.

Latreille will be missed. I met him at a fundraiser, and I covered a few court proceedings he presided over. What I really liked about him is he was once a reporter for the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, and he is an author. He wrote the crime novel "Perjury," and it's a very good read.

GOP talking points focusing on Bush tax cuts expiration

We can expect to see more of the kind of letters and misinformation like the one that appeared in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus today from Jay Drick, a member of the Livingston County Republican Party's executive committee and a former Republican District Court Judge candidate, as Bush’s tax cuts for the rich are set to expire.

This propaganda piece from Drick throws figures around like 100 million Americans will pay an extra $1,716 a year in taxes a year if they expire, and, of course, there is not one reference or attribution as to where these figures came from. However, a good guess would be the state or national Republic parties

He also used the Bush catch phrase the “death tax” in place of the more accurate estate tax. This is a tax that not one single family in Livingston County will be effected by. It will affect families and people like Paris Hilton and Dick “The Amway Guy” Devos, and God knows those people need all the financial breaks they can get. In fact, more than 99 percent of estates pay no estate tax at all. A better name for the tax is the inheritance tax, and an even better name is the "Paris Hilton tax cut.”

These taxes will only affect the richest 1 percent of the taxpayers at a time when the gap between the rich and the non-rich is growing and the middle class is under assault and disappearing. According to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, making the tax cuts permanent would increase the national budget deficit and thereby add to the national debt.

“The interest payments needed to service this higher level of debt would amount to about $500 billion over the next ten years. Thus, the total cost of making these tax cuts permanent, including the related interest costs, would be $3.5 trillion over the ten-year period Once the tax cuts are fully in effect, their annual cost (not including debt service) will amount to about $400 billion per year. In 2006 terms, that amount is more than 7 times what the federal government spent last year on K-12 and vocational education and almost 10 times what it spent on hospital and medical care for veterans. In today’s terms, that amount also exceeds the combined 2006 budgets of the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Veterans’ Affairs, State, and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Watch for these GOP talking point inspired letters in your local newspaper today.

Livingston County GOP violates campaign finance law while SOS Land turns a blind eye

The Livingston County Republican Party is in violation of Michigan Campaign Finance Law by failing to turn in its required Pre-General Election Campaign Finance Report before the Oct. 27 deadline. To date, it has not filed the report at all.

This clear violation comes to light just days after state Rep. LaMar Lemmons III (D-Detroit) was found guilty of failing to file campaign-finance statements on time by a jury and ordered to pay $1,095 in fines and fees. Another Democrat, Rep. Alexander Lipsey, is facing similar charges. Lemmons was charged with failing to file four required statements, including the very same one the county Republican Party failed to file, the pre-general election statement. Lemmons is the first known lawmaker convicted of not turning in his campaign finance reports into the Secretary of State through a computer program. This only could have happened under Republican Terry Land.

The Republican Secretary of State and Attorney General chose to prosecute the two Detroit Democrats, yet they let the county GOP walk free.

This is a clear case of selective prosecution.

The real interesting thing is if you look at the report they actually got in on time: the post-general election report on Dec. 7. You will recall how the county GOP tried to make a mockery of the nonpartisan judicial races this past election with their disgusting questionnaire to take the unprecedented step of endorsing in those nonpartisan races.

The questionnaire that was circulated and then pulled when the local newspaper blew the whistle about its contents had the candidates list how much money they contributed to Republican candidates. Apparently, there was a method to their sleaziness because every judicial candidate contributed to the Livingston County GOP in an attempt to apparently buy that endorsement.

District Court candidate Jay Drick, a member of the party’s executive committee who lost in a landslide, was the apparent winner by forking over $2,475. It kind of paid off too. The county party only made one contribution during the entire reporting period. Guess to who.

If you guessed the Committee to Elect Jay Drick then you are a winner, but the citizens of Livingston County are the real losers.

Local GOP convention chooses leaders in secret smoke-filled back room behind barred doors

According to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, “Allan Filip was chosen as the new leader of the Livingston County Republican Party Thursday at its convention at the historic Livingston County Courthouse in Howell.”

The real telling important and telling detail was this from the article, “The news media were not allowed into the meeting.” Have you ever heard of any party convention where the local newspapers were barred from a convention, be it county or state convention? Me either. So much for openness and transparency for the local Republican Party. I wonder what they have to hide?

I really don’t know much about Allan Filip. The only thing I could find, if its the same Allan Filip, is he ran for Washtenaw County Commissioner from Ypsilanti in 2002, but he got only 29 percent of the vote.

The other officers elected were Russell Spencer as recording secretary; Allan Herdman as treasurer; Rick Pine, husband of Cindy Pine, as database secretary; and Jay Drick as treasurer of the Lincoln Club, which puts on the party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner.
Other members of the executive committee — which also includes 18 county- and state-level Republican elected officials — elected Thursday were Vicki Fyke, Bruce Hundley, Anne Belser, Debi Drick, Cindy Pine, Bill McCririe, Miles Vieau, Bill Vailliencourt, Teri Olsen, Sue Dolato, Cindy Denby and Lana Theis.

For the most part, these are quality people that I know, but there are a few I’m not so sure about. The sad part is blogger and wing nut Dan Wholihan AKA “republican michigander, is no longer on the executive committee. We could use more people with his mindset on the committee.

It’s funny, back when the local GOP put out the disgusting judicial questionnaire last summer when it took the unusual step of endorsing in a nonpartisan race, Filip and former chair Cindy Pine told candidates not to answer the biased questionnaire, but Wholihan took the opposite position, saying they choose to not answer it “at their own peril.”

Now he apparently supports him; saying, “He's not an extremist, nor a liberal (how can a republican ever hope to be a liberal?). He's a mainstream conservative and oftentimes filled the role being a consensus builder while he was vice-chair. That's what we need in a chair.” The Democrats will miss people of his ilk.

Leadership of political parties in Livingston County will change with resignations

I was surprised and disappointed to find out Joe Carney will be stepping down as chair of the Livingston County Democrat Party. I have known Joe since I moved back to Livingston County for good in 2000, and I consider him a friend.
He has served the party well for 13 years, and anyone can see how the party has grown under his leadership. We have our own HQ and the number of volunteers is growing and continues to grow. I, and, the party, will miss Joe, and I hope he stays around to help us out. I know Kathy will still be around as the chair of the 8th Congressional District.
Even though there are big shoes to fill, finding a quality replacement should not be that difficult because there are so many qualified people out there. Just to throw out a few names I know personally who will do a great job include Irene Cahill, Donna Anderson, Bob Alexander, Mary Andersson, Debby Buckland, Anne King-Hudson, one of the McGivney brothers, Jim Swonk or Jan Vogel. Those are just names off the top of my head.
A new chair will be chosen at the party’s annual holiday party Sunday at the party HQ.

On the Republican side, party chair Cindy Pine also stepped down after four years. I personally know Cindy, and I have a lot of respect for her. The names of the possible replacements the Daily Press & Argus is throwing around is rather scary. The extremist wing of the party that was responsible for the shameful judiciary questionnaire put out last summer could seize control of the party. Bill Rogers, the chair of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, hit the nail on the head when he said the episode may have been a case of extremists taking over the party's agenda. "Extremism doesn't do you any good," he said.
I know Bill personally and respect him, and he’s a class guy. He would be an excellent chair if the county and the party's charters allow it. His leadership would benefit the entire county. But an endorsement by a Democrat will do him no good. From a political standpoint I would prefer to see some of the other candidates mentioned get the job.
Wendy Day, a member of the Howell School Board and a member of the so-called LOVE hate group, was one person mentioned.
For a good laugh check out this paragraph from the article by Dan Meisler: “When asked about the direction of the party, Day said it should keep sight of the "family values" that define Republicans, as well as the limited government and low taxes championed by President Ronald Reagan.” Family values? Is she for real?
Also mentioned was Jay Drick, a member of the GOP exertive committee and a candidate for Livingston County District Judge earlier this month. It was Drick who helped create the much talked about split in the party when the party took the unusual step of endorsing in a nonpartisan race. His campaign lit also put out some false charges about his opponent, Judge Theresa Brennan.
A new chair will most likely be chosen at the party’s convention on Thursday.