It's the home stretch for primaries

After a long and busy couple of weeks, it's time to update this blog.

There's a bunch of races going on, many of which aren't receiving the hype. Downticket

Over in the 93rd District, there's a contested primary with four people. I know two of them. Tom Leonard and Mike Trebesh. Trebesh doesn't impress me at all. That goes back from his time on 8th district committee and how he handled the treasury turnover. When your term is up on a committee and you're replaced, be a professional about it and act like a man. I've been on both ends of that in 06 and 08. When I was on the same end Trebesh was because people were concerned about my time commitments (in retrospect understandably so), I turned over the stuff properly, shook hands, and made sure it was a smooth transition. In the other case, I'll just say there's no way I'd ever vote for Trebesh for any office in a primary election. It's nothing to do with conservatism, but temper issues.

Tom Leonard on the other hand is a great guy who I worked with on the 8th District Committee. He's a true conservative, but more importantly, is a true conservative who gets things done and isn't offensive to independents. He won't sell out, nor will he be out-organized and caught looking in that increasingly difficult district. Leonard will win in November if he's the nominee. When Clinton County lead its comeback, Tom Leonard was chair. He'd have my vote if I lived there, easily.

Over in the 30th district covering part of Sterling Heights and Shelby Township, Michael Shallal is making another run for office. I knew Michael from the campaign trail in 2010. He's principled, conservative, and a good guy with high character. He'd have my vote.

Over in the 65th District, Mike Shirkey's primary challenger supported Obama in 2008. Dan Fulara needs to be stomped in the primary for being a RINO supporting the far left and incompetent Peter Principle in Chief, and then claiming to be a Republican.

If I was in the 11th Congressional district, I'd be rewarding the person who actually got out and did the proper work to get on the ballot. Kerry Bentivolio. Some friends of mine aren't going to like hearing this, but the fact that the incumbent is no longer on the ballot doesn't mean that you go out and try and get a somewhat do-over. Back who you want in the primary, but don't try and create a coronation from the party, especially in a near-suicide mission. What are you going to do when Bentivolio more than likely wins the primary? Just as establishment likes to tell the Tea Parties and Paulites to take one for the team when their people lose, it's time for the establishment to take one for the team here if Bentivolio wins.

Locally:

I grew up and first registered to vote in Genoa Township before later moving to Howell and later Green Oak where I currently live. My parents are still there and I still have a lot of close ties there to the point where if I ran for office countywide, it would likely be my best area. After some of the current gamesmanship by the incumbents there, including land use tricks, a wannabe new fake downtown plan at Dorr Road and Grand River, and a wannabe building department, it's time to send the incumbents home. They got too full of themselves. Genoa Township is what it is. It's not going to be the City of "West Brighton" or "East Howell." It shouldn't become that. In fact with Latson Road's development, you don't even need a new fake wannabe downtown at Dorr/Hughes Road. Interestingly, that spot they want for their faux downtown plans is owned by Laurex - aka Todd Smith, trustee on the board.

Kevin Spicher for Supervisor, Linda Rowell, Keli Woodall, and Bill Taylor for trustees. For the forth spot, I'd even vote for Dewey Thomas although I have some concerns there. There's too many yesman on the current board.

I still haven't decided in Green Oak. I'm probably voting for Kilpatrick and Edry, but I have to look into a few things. For County Commission, Jack's got my vote.

In Hamburg, Mike Zeglevski's running again for trustee. The Argus hates him, but I've always worked well with him on county matters. He's get my support if I was about two miles west.

For County Clerk - Margaret Dunleavy gets my vote again. I've dealt with the clerk's office there more times than I can count. They do good work.

For Treasurer - Brian Wutz. Much of the work is tax law related, and Wutz's background is the right fit for the position.

For Sheriff - Bob Bezotte, or to really get down to it, Mike Murphy.

Some of the other decisions I have made (and some I haven't) , but will be keeping quiet.

State House Redistricting - District 93 (HD-93)

State House - District 93
Current Rep - Paul Opsommer (R - DeWitt) - Termed Out

Candidates:
GOP - Tom Leonard (R-Lansing),
Dem - Paul Silva (D-St Johns)

Update - 5-27-2012 - This is a four way primary here. I'm familiar with two of the individuals running, and Tom Leonard has my support. I met Tom right after I left MSU and worked well with him during our time on the 8th District committee. While I'm fairly sure most of the republican candidates are conservative, Tom also understands the nuts and bolts of politics and will make sure those conservative ideas get implemented.

Update 8-30-2012 - Big win for Tom Leonard in a tough primary.

Old District (93rd)
Paul Opsommer - 22,287
Travis Lacelle - 9,476

The old district covered most of Clinton County and all of Gratiot County. Now it covers all of Clinton County and most of Gratiot County. This district got a bit tougher for us in 2012. Ten years ago, Clinton County was a base county for the GOP. That is no longer really the case. That came to a head when Obama won Clinton County after being a consistent 55-60% county. The problem for us is why Clinton County flipped. The reason is largely Bath Township. Bath Township went from being a swing area (Bush won in 2000 and lost in 2004 - one of the rare areas that happened) to basically being part of East Lansing. Take a drive north on Chandler Rd (Abbott) and you'll miss where East Lansing ends and Bath begins. East Lansing's also annexing some land Clinton County that was part of DeWitt and Bath Twps.

The new district picks up eastern Clinton County from the 85th district. Bath Township, along with Ovid and Victor Townships. It drops Seville Twp, St Louis, Alma, Pine River Twp, Bethany Twp, and Emerson Twp to the 70th District.

Keep an eye on this district. Opsommer was a very good candidate for the area and a good rep. He even won his portion of East Lansing in 2010. The only areas Opsommer ever lost was East Lansing in 08, and Alma (now in 70th), Hamilton Twp, Newark Twp, St Louis (now in 70th), Sumner Twp, Duplain Twp, and East Lansing in the open seat of 2006. He won easily in 06, but did struggle in Gratiot County.

The good news is that we a very good candidate for the open seat. Tom Leonard. I've worked with Tom on the 8th District committee. He's good people and a good candidate. He understands both the base areas of the county and the Lansing area, and should do better than most republicans in the MSU area of the district. Unlike Opsommer, he has less of a flank to be worried about in Gratiot County simply because Alma and St Louis are in another district (although Opsommer didn't have Bath and had less of East Lansing). He should keep this district ours for another six years. I'll call this lean republican, but if there's a year to be worried, it's this year with Obama's popularity with the college crowd and the straight ticket votes from that.

	McCain	Obama	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Clinton County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Bath Twp	2303	3236	5539	-933	41.58%	58.42%	-16.84%
Bengal Twp	384	264	648	120	59.26%	40.74%	18.52%
Bingham Twp	805	654	1459	151	55.17%	44.83%	10.35%
Dallas Twp	870	349	1219	521	71.37%	28.63%	42.74%
DeWitt	1300	1379	2679	-79	48.53%	51.47%	-2.95%
DeWitt Twp	3604	4025	7629	-421	47.24%	52.76%	-5.52%
Duplain Twp	523	643	1166	-120	44.85%	55.15%	-10.29%
Eagle Twp	837	787	1624	50	51.54%	48.46%	3.08%
East Lansing	272	626	898	-354	30.29%	69.71%	-39.42%
Essex Twp	515	447	962	68	53.53%	46.47%	7.07%
Grand Ledge			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Greenbrush Twp	621	601	1222	20	50.82%	49.18%	1.64%
Lebanon twp	186	111	297	75	62.63%	37.37%	25.25%
Olive Twp	792	654	1446	138	54.77%	45.23%	9.54%
Ovid Twp	832	928	1760	-96	47.27%	52.73%	-5.45%
Riley Twp	613	560	1173	53	52.26%	47.74%	4.52%
St Johns	1748	1963	3711	-215	47.10%	52.90%	-5.79%
Victor Twp	984	1034	2018	-50	48.76%	51.24%	-2.48%
Watertown Twp	1554	1391	2945	163	52.77%	47.23%	5.53%
Westphalia Twp	983	353	1336	630	73.58%	26.42%	47.16%
Gratiot County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Arcada Twp	428	432	860	-4	49.77%	50.23%	-0.47%
Elba Twp	311	332	643	-21	48.37%	51.63%	-3.27%
Fulton Twp	652	589	1241	63	52.54%	47.46%	5.08%
Hamilton Twp	114	87	201	27	56.72%	43.28%	13.43%
Ithaca	586	793	1379	-207	42.49%	57.51%	-15.01%
Lafayette Twp	183	130	313	53	58.47%	41.53%	16.93%
New Haven Twp	231	219	450	12	51.33%	48.67%	2.67%
Newark Twp	202	224	426	-22	47.42%	52.58%	-5.16%
North Shade Twp	177	106	283	71	62.54%	37.46%	25.09%
North Star Twp	220	237	457	-17	48.14%	51.86%	-3.72%
Sumner Twp	368	463	831	-95	44.28%	55.72%	-11.43%
Washington Twp	278	170	448	108	62.05%	37.95%	24.11%
Wheeler Twp	645	596	1241	49	51.97%	48.03%	3.95%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	24121	24383	48504	-262	49.73%	50.27%	-0.54%
	Bush	Kerry	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Clinton County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Bath Twp	2338	2341	4679	-3	49.97%	50.03%	-0.06%
Bengal Twp	472	202	674	270	70.03%	29.97%	40.06%
Bingham Twp	928	498	1426	430	65.08%	34.92%	30.15%
Dallas Twp	979	256	1235	723	79.27%	20.73%	58.54%
DeWitt	1521	1073	2594	448	58.64%	41.36%	17.27%
DeWitt Twp	4065	3273	7338	792	55.40%	44.60%	10.79%
Duplain Twp	629	548	1177	81	53.44%	46.56%	6.88%
Eagle Twp	910	552	1462	358	62.24%	37.76%	24.49%
East Lansing	136	265	401	-129	33.92%	66.08%	-32.17%
Essex Twp	574	380	954	194	60.17%	39.83%	20.34%
Grand Ledge			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Greenbrush Twp	720	445	1165	275	61.80%	38.20%	23.61%
Lebanon twp	216	92	308	124	70.13%	29.87%	40.26%
Olive Twp	875	584	1459	291	59.97%	40.03%	19.95%
Ovid Twp	967	696	1663	271	58.15%	41.85%	16.30%
Riley Twp	737	421	1158	316	63.64%	36.36%	27.29%
St Johns	2206	1589	3795	617	58.13%	41.87%	16.26%
Victor Twp	1141	867	2008	274	56.82%	43.18%	13.65%
Watertown Twp	1568	1143	2711	425	57.84%	42.16%	15.68%
Westphalia Twp	1007	288	1295	719	77.76%	22.24%	55.52%
Gratiot County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Arcada Twp	499	370	869	129	57.42%	42.58%	14.84%
Elba Twp	383	297	680	86	56.32%	43.68%	12.65%
Fulton Twp	724	488	1212	236	59.74%	40.26%	19.47%
Hamilton Twp	133	71	204	62	65.20%	34.80%	30.39%
Ithaca	785	636	1421	149	55.24%	44.76%	10.49%
Lafayette Twp	195	113	308	82	63.31%	36.69%	26.62%
New Haven Twp	275	166	441	109	62.36%	37.64%	24.72%
Newark Twp	246	185	431	61	57.08%	42.92%	14.15%
North Shade Twp	190	76	266	114	71.43%	28.57%	42.86%
North Star Twp	282	208	490	74	57.55%	42.45%	15.10%
Sumner Twp	433	353	786	80	55.09%	44.91%	10.18%
Washington Twp	280	157	437	123	64.07%	35.93%	28.15%
Wheeler Twp	777	491	1268	286	61.28%	38.72%	22.56%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	27191	19124	46315	8067	58.71%	41.29%	17.42%
Last St House	GOP	DEM	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Clinton County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Bath Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Bengal Twp	397	101	498	296	79.72%	20.28%	59.44%
Bingham Twp	823	267	1090	556	75.50%	24.50%	51.01%
Dallas Twp	746	126	872	620	85.55%	14.45%	71.10%
DeWitt	1323	553	1876	770	70.52%	29.48%	41.04%
DeWitt Twp	3536	1696	5232	1840	67.58%	32.42%	35.17%
Duplain Twp	475	261	736	214	64.54%	35.46%	29.08%
Eagle Twp	780	386	1166	394	66.90%	33.10%	33.79%
East Lansing	221	195	416	26	53.13%	46.88%	6.25%
Essex Twp	478	157	635	321	75.28%	24.72%	50.55%
Grand Ledge			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Greenbrush Twp	618	249	867	369	71.28%	28.72%	42.56%
Lebanon twp	175	43	218	132	80.28%	19.72%	60.55%
Olive Twp	733	349	1082	384	67.74%	32.26%	35.49%
Ovid Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Riley Twp	602	258	860	344	70.00%	30.00%	40.00%
St Johns	1702	778	2480	924	68.63%	31.37%	37.26%
Victor Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Watertown Twp	1442	657	2099	785	68.70%	31.30%	37.40%
Westphalia Twp	826	144	970	682	85.15%	14.85%	70.31%
Gratiot County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Arcada Twp	401	164	565	237	70.97%	29.03%	41.95%
Elba Twp	263	139	402	124	65.42%	34.58%	30.85%
Fulton Twp	600	253	853	347	70.34%	29.66%	40.68%
Hamilton Twp	96	44	140	52	68.57%	31.43%	37.14%
Ithaca	594	275	869	319	68.35%	31.65%	36.71%
Lafayette Twp	148	40	188	108	78.72%	21.28%	57.45%
New Haven Twp	188	82	270	106	69.63%	30.37%	39.26%
Newark Twp	182	81	263	101	69.20%	30.80%	38.40%
North Shade Twp	148	43	191	105	77.49%	22.51%	54.97%
North Star Twp	214	92	306	122	69.93%	30.07%	39.87%
Sumner Twp	324	145	469	179	69.08%	30.92%	38.17%
Washington Twp	243	64	307	179	79.15%	20.85%	58.31%
Wheeler Twp	586	217	803	369	72.98%	27.02%	45.95%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	18864	7859	26723	11005	70.59%	29.41%	41.18%