Michigan Chamber State House Endorsements

The Chamber endorsements for State House open and challenged seats are out

Reading between the lines here. The Michigan Chamber is besides being very connected, is also pragmatic. They've gotten involved in some real long shot - on paper - districts this year. Hopefully, that means that we're going to pick up a few seats we're not supposed to win.  The 15th, 26th, 64th, and 75th come to mind.

OPEN SEATS – 25
District	Candidate	Home
15th	Suzanne Sareini	Dearborn
20th	Kurt Heise	Plymouth
26th	Ken Rosen	Royal Oak
33rd	Pete Vitale	Clinton Township
46th	Brad Jacobsen	Oxford
52nd	Mark Ouimet	Ann Arbor
55th	Mary Kay Thayer	Lambertville
57th	Jim Van Doren	Tipton
61st	Margaret O'Brien	Portage
65th	Mike Shirkey	Clark Lake
73rd	Peter MacGregor	Rockford
75th	Bing Goei	Grand Rapids
79th	Al Pscholka	Stevensville
80th	Aric Nesbitt	Lawton
81st	Jud Gilbert	Lansing
83rd	Paul Muxlow	Brown City
87th	Michael Callton	Nashville
89th	Amanda Price	Holland
91st	Holly Hughes	Montague
97th	Joel Johnson	Clare
99th	Christine Alwood	Mt. Pleasant
100th	Marc Libants	Newaygo
105th	Greg MacMaster	Kewadin
106th	Peter Pettalia	Presque Isle
107th	Frank Foster	Pellston
CHALLENGER RACES - 3
District	Candidate	Home
56th	Dale Zorn	Ida
64th	Jane Grover	Jackson
101st	Ray Franz	Onekama

Endorsement Watch

I've been keeping an eye on the major endorsements by influential organizations. Farm Bureau, Life issues, 2nd Amendment, fiscal conservative, and business organizations are the ones I'm watching, more that endorsements from politicians.

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce made its endorsements for the State Senate. Close to home, Joe Hune is the big winner.

OPEN SEATS - 17
District Candidate Home
-------- --------- ----
12th Jim Marleau Lake Orion
15th Mike Kowall White Lake
16th Bruce Caswell Hillsdale
20th Tonya Schuitmaker Portage
21st John Proos St. Joseph
22nd Joe Hune Hamburg
24th Rick Jones Grand Ledge
25th Phil Pavlov St. Clair
26th Dave Robertson Grand Blanc
29th Dave Hildenbrand Grand Rapids
30th Arlan Meekhof West Olive
33rd Brian Calley Portland
34th Goeff Hansen Hart
35th Darwin Booher Evart
36th John Moolenaar Midland
37th Howard Walker Traverse City
38th Tom Casperson Escanaba


CHALLENGER RACES - 1
District Candidate Home
-------- --------- ----
6th John Pastor Livonia

In other news, while it isn't an endorsement, Bill Rogers, my state rep, earned a Protector of Prosperity award from Americans for Prosperity-Michigan.
The ratings can be found there.

SAFR-PAC releases primary election endorsements and ratings

Taking off my partisan hat. Full Disclosure, I am the "Republican" representative on SAFR-PAC. We have Democrat and Independents as well on our PAC.

The Shooters Alliance for Firearms Rights PAC, the premier state level 2nd Amendment Organization, has released their ratings.

The PAC was bi-partisan and had a mix of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We do not ask the party affiliation of any candidate who sends in a survey, and the only time it becomes an issue is in some primary races where a Republican and Democrat both warrant an endorsement. We do not "dual-endorse" outside of the primary elections where there are two races for the nominee. The 7th District race and the 33rd state house races are an example. In the 7th, Tim Walberg (R) and Sharon Renier (D) were both endorsed in the primary (over Mark Schauer). In the 33rd, both Kim Meltzer (R) and Scott Mazey (D) have excellent records on this issue. Melzer as a rep, and Mazey as an activist.

Surveys, statements, and records are have distinct grades of acceptable, unacceptable, and mixed, as they were graded in 04 and 06. It is possible (rare) to get a unacceptable survey and acceptable record and vice versa. As in years past, it is very difficult to get an endorsement and records, statements, and surveys both carry a lot of weight in that decision. No survey means no endorsement, so some good incumbents were not endorsed for that reason.

The grades for 06 can be found here

Latest on Howell Campaign Finance Violations, Argus endorses in Brighton

First, Dan Meisler of the Argus wrote a story on the illegal MEA mailing. I mentioned the details here titled "Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law" The Argus article is here - From the Argus

A mailing sent out by the Howell Education Association teachers' union in support of two candidates for the Howell Public Schools Board of Education is in violation of campaign finance law because it doesn't identify who paid for it.
The postcards read, in part, "Howell teachers support Edwin J. Literski and Dan Fondriest for Howell school board," and are printed on paper the same shade of light green as the T-shirts union members have been wearing to school board meetings to protest the lack of a contract.

HEA President Doug Norton said it was just an oversight, and shouldn't reflect on the candidates.

"It was an oversight we regret," he said. "We also are confident all recipients understood it was from the Howell teachers and that it was paid for with our PAC dollars."
Norton said the approximately $2,000 spent on the 9,000 postcards was funneled through the Michigan Education Association's political action committee.

"It was supposed to have a 'Paid for by the MEA PAC' on there, but it didn't. The error was ours. It had nothing to do with the candidates we recommend," Norton said.

Neither Literski nor Fondriest said they paid for or reviewed the mailings.
(snip)

I believe that that Literski and Fondriest did not pay for or review the mailing. Fondriest kept this below $1000. Literski has not, but his campaign finance report looked legit to me. Literski is also running with Pratt as a team and not with Fondriest.

However, I don't buy it on the oversight. Besides the lack of a "paid for by MEA", there's no return address either, as their was in last year's mailing. I think Doug Norton is taking one for his team, but it's the MEA who fouled up this and their PAC. The HEA is an affiliate, but MEA is footing the bill. If I had to put money on this, MEA fouled up on purpose so they would not have to put the fact that they are in EAST LANSING, and not Howell. If they forgot only the "paid for by MEA" and had their return address, I'd write it off as a mistake. If they only forgot the return address and listed the "paid for by MEA part", I would have written it off as a mistake. But both of them, and by one of the Michigan's most effective PAC's? I doubt it. The MEA isn't exactly a politican rookie here. It looks better for East Lansing's MEA if Norton takes the heat, since he's from Howell and it can look like a local mistake, and not from non-county residents.

Also, The Argus endores Greg Rassel and Beth Minert for Brighton Schools. Rassel also has the endorsement from Concerned Taxpayers Group's PAC. The endorsement roundup for Brighton is now this:

Brighton Schools
Concerned Taxpayers Group - Irene Besancon and Greg Rassel.
Right to Life - Irene Besancon and Jared Geist
MEA - None listed. There are rumors, but until then that's just it. Rumors.
Argus - Greg Rassel and Beth Minert

LOVE Group stays out

From the Argus

The Livingston Organization for Values in Education’s political action committee has decided not to endorse any candidate in the campaign for the Howell Public Schools Board of Education.

Vicki Fyke, founding member and spokeswoman for LOVE, said Monday that the group decided not to endorse any of the candidates because “we don’t know any of them.”

Interesting timing. Vicki was at the debate last night, and this release of "no endorsement" is out the day after all the candidates distanced themselves from LOVE. Maybe they did not care for what was said at the debate.

I've also heard rumors of new write in candidates as well, but apparently that was either not the case, or abandoned due to an unlikely chance to win.

Hopefully, whoever wins, the controversies will end with an acceptable solution.

School Board Endorsement Roundup - So far

The School Board Elections in Livingston County based districts are on May 8. The Concerned Taxpayers Group of Livingston County was the first organization to endorse candidates and lead the way. Right to Life and the MEA have now endorsed as well. The endorsements by the PACs are as follows.

Brighton Schools
Concerned Taxpayers Group - Irene Besancon and Greg Rassel.
Right to Life - Irene Besancon and Jared Geist
MEA - None listed. There are rumors, but until then that's just it. Rumors.
Argus has not endorsed yet.

Howell Schools
Concerned Taxpayers Group - Bill Harvey and Doug Moore
Right to Life - Bill Harvey and Doug Moore
MEA - Ed Literski and Dan Fondriest
LOVE Group - I haven't heard anything about endorsements yet. I've heard a zillion rumors including future write in candidates, but that's just it. Rumors.
Argus has not endorsed yet

Pinckney Schools
Concerned Taxpayers Group - Jason Reifschneider
Right to Life - Jason Reifschneider
MEA - none listed
Argus has not endorsed yet.

Hartland and Fowlerville - no endorsements listed so far.

A few interesting developments. The major one is the MEA "splitting teams" in Howell. Ed Literski is running as a team with Jeannine Pratt who is an incumbent. However, Pratt didn't get an endorsement by them. Fondreist and Literski (non-incumbent) did. Howell Super Chuck Breiner is being triple flanked right now. The fiscal conservatives are not supportive of him. The social conservatives can not stand him. The teachers union is not happy with him either. The latest fiasco with the debate also throws some fuel on the fire. Breiner losing support from the left and the right.

I'm surprised the MEA did not endorse, at least publicly, in Brighton and Pinckney. Pinckney especially since they have historicaly been strong there.

There are two upcoming debates.
Debate for Howell is on Monday at the Howell Rec Center at 7PM. There is limited seating there.
Debate for Brighton is on Thursday at Green Oak Township hall at 7:30PM