Election in Cohoctah Township today

From WHMI:

Voters in Cohoctah Township are casting ballots today in a special election on a rezoning request. Resident Vern Brockway wants his property in the Oak Grove area rezoned from residential to commercial in order to put up a gas station and brick convenience store. That request was approved by the township and county, but a group of residents led a petition drive to place the issue on the ballot citing traffic and environmental issues. Brockway has denied either of those would be problems and has indicated that the group may be using the referendum to keep out competitors. Officials say there are about 2,300 registered voters in Cohoctah that could potentially cast their ballot on the issue with around a 50 percent voter turnout anticipated. Polls will be open until eight tonight.

More bad news from Michigan

Michigan's economy is still in a recession. I expect this number to rise with the Ford Wixom closing and its ripple effects.
From the AP

Michigan foreclosures double in two years, now 2 1/2 times U.S. rate
2/27/2006, 5:14 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — The number of homes undergoing foreclosure in Michigan doubled from February 2004 to February 2006 to a rate that is 2 1/2 times the nation's, according to a group that monitors foreclosures.

Michigan had 8,240 homes in active foreclosure on Monday out of 96,019 nationwide, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based Web site http://www.foreclosure.com says. In February 2004, the state had 4,085 foreclosures in progress.

Michigan's active foreclosures are 8.6 percent of the U.S. total, while the state's population of 10.1 million is only 3.4 percent of the nation's 296.4 million.

(snip)

Another Reason for Photo ID

This is from State Party chair Saul Anuzis' blog. I agree with it 100%

Another Reason for Photo ID
Unbelievable...dead people voting in Michigan...it's clear we've got a problem, we have the technology, we have the resources...now we just need the will to do what is necessary to insure fair and honest elections...and we could make the process faster.

We have had various versions of what is referred to as "photo id" tossed back and forth in Michigan over the years. For nearly a decade we have had a law in Michigan requiring voters to show a state-issued photo ID. Problem is, that law was "set aside" by a highly suspect and partisan ruling from a Democrat attorney general back in 1997. Using drivers licenses or state issued id's as voter cards makes perfect sense, and disenfranchises no one. It's the best and easiest way to insure "real, live people" vote. The only ones with reason to complain are the ones who have something to hide.

After the last Detroit's Mayors election, former Mayor Dennis Archer and candidate Freeman Hendrix joined the call for photo id's to help with the system. A national commission headed by former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James Baker III have called for nationwide adoption of use of photo ID.

The overwhelming majority of folks have a drivers license, seniors get "free" state paid for id's, others could for about $5.00 cost get a state id....and the state could provide them at no cost to the citizens. This would insure no one is "disenfranchised" in anyway. There are federal funds that might even be available to help implement such a system.

As an added benefit, SOS Terri Lynn Land has suggested legislation to enact "electronic poll books" which would speed up the process at the polls. Some variation of photo id's with electronic strips on the back could be used right now...i.e. our drivers license.

Please read this front page Detroit News article:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/METRO/60226030

Is anyone surprised that dead people are voting in Detroit? Me neither.

Another 8th District Challenger - Eric Crosley

From the Argus

House race gets crowded
By Dan Meisler
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

The cast of characters seeking to represent Livingston County and the rest of Michigan's 8th District in Congress is getting larger, and more interesting.
Already in the race are a three-term, rising-star Republican incumbent; a church business manager and GOP primary challenger who argues the incumbent is too moderate; and a Republican-turned-Democrat former CIA officer.


Now joining the field is a transsexual, left-wing, college professor poet.

Democrat Eric Crosley of Lansing, a part-time professor at Jackson Community College's Adrian campus, plans to challenge fellow Democrat James Marcinkowski, the ex-CIA officer, in the August primary

With Crosley's candidacy, the democrats now have a primary of their own. Primaries sometimes hurt, but sometimes help candidates as well, depending if they are positive and issues based (as the US Senate primary is so far), or negative personal attacks.

I don't think either Crosley or Marcinkowski are strong candidates against Mike Rogers. From what I've seen, Jim Marcinkowski is nothing more than a better funded Frank McAlpine in personality (and that takes work). That's not mentioning the overcoaching he has on issues - as shown when he laid an egg in his interview with the Booman tribune blog.

Crosley's biggest weakness is that he's a transsexual. Is the 8th district going to vote for one? I doubt it.

Livingston News - Election in Cohoctah Tuesday, New School opens

Two local stories from Livingston County. First is a referendum on a gas station/convienence store in rural Cohoctah Township. The other is a new St Pat's school opening in Brighton.

Rezoning protest spurs election

Voters on Tuesday will decide fate of proposed gas station-store in rural Cohoctah Township.

Jon Zemke / Special to The Detroit News

COHOCTAH TOWNSHIP -- Building a combination gas station and convenience store in one of Livingston's most rural townships has touched off yet another clash over development in the county.

It has gotten to the point that a special election will be held Tuesday to decide the issue. The township clerk is preparing for a turnout that could reach as high as 50 percent of the township's 2,230 registered voters.

"I don't know if it's going to be high or low," Cohoctah Township Clerk Karen Thurner said. "I know both sides of the issue are putting out signs. One side even sent out postcards." Thurner estimates the cost of the election at about $2,000.

Vern Brockway, the developer who wants to build the gas station and store, sent out about 1,000 postcards promoting why he should be allowed to build on the site. He lives on the 60 acres surrounding the six-acre parcel in question on Oak Grove Road near the Oak Grove millpond.
(snip)

I don't know all the specifics on this issue and haven't followed this since I'm not a Cohoctah resident. The other story is from Brighton. St Pat's School is doubling its enrollment with their new building over where the old GM building is behind Meijer's.

Brighton school gets new home

$10M North Campus, expansion of St. Patrick's Catholic elementary, is to open in September.

John M. Galloway / Special to The Detroit News

BRIGHTON -- After a year and a half of struggling with city officials and the Fire Department to grant approvals to build a new facility, St. Patrick's Catholic Elementary School officials have started construction on their $10 million North Campus school.

The relocated and expanded complex is being built on a 13.4-acre site in a former General Motors Corp. building at 1001 Orndorf Drive, behind the Meijer store.

School officials are promising the doors will open for first- through eighth-grade students in September.

"We have overcome all our hurdles," said Ron Garrison, development director at St. Patrick's. "We are starting to call families off the wait list, and after that, we will start open registration."

Mary Bourke of Hamburg Township has two sons who attend the Catholic school and a third enrolling in the fall. She is excited about her kids attending the new and larger facility.

"When classes change, it's crowded," Bourke said. "I have been up there with my 4-year-old, and I have gotten carried away with the crowd."

The move from the St. Patrick's School on Rickett Road will allow class enrollment to increase from 274 to 480 students. There are about 140 students on the wait list.

(snip)

Even Tim Skubick admits media biasness

From the Lansing State Journal.

Tim Skubick: Guv's mouth gets her in bind
Child protection claim puts Granholm in backpedal mode

By Tim Skubick
For the Lansing State Journal

Talk about your double standard.

If former Gov. John Engler had misled the media on a story, he would have been convicted on the spot.

When that misdeed came from the current governor, she got a "Get Out of Jail" card.

I'm shocked....

Fact: A 7-year-old boy's body was recently found near Lansing.

Fact: Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Human Services Department had investigated parental abuse charges prior to the boy's killing.

Fact: That department is understaffed with Child Protective Service caseworkers.

Fact: The governor has "repeatedly" sought to beef up the ranks of those employees.

Facts Nos. 1-3 are accurate. But fact No. 4, uttered by Granholm, turned out to be dead wrong.

(snip)

While she never said it, the implication was obvious: The Republican-controlled Legislature never coughed up the bucks, so new caseworkers were never hired.

It was a nifty move, which shifted any responsibility in the Holland case away from her and onto the backs of GOP legislators who write the budget.

The Associated Press published the interview and soon the GOP chair of the House Appropriations committee called the executive office. Rep. Scott Hummel, R-DeWitt, was direct: The governor had never "repeatedly" asked for anything.

Turns out Hummel was right, and so was the Republican leader in the Senate.

"The governor never asked for additional funding ..." and "to use the horrible tragedy of Ricky Holland's death to score some kind of leverage in budget negotiations is in poor taste and unacceptable," said Sen. Ken Sikkema, calling Granholm on her claim.

Adding salt to the wound, Sikkema also reported the GOP, without the governor's request, had added 14 workers two years earlier.

So, here you have the governor saying one thing that was wrong, totally unaware more workers had been hired. One could conclude somebody in the front office didn't know what was going on.

To their credit, the governor's folks issued a three-paragraph statement conceding "the administration has not asked for additional resources for Child Protective Services in the past."

The AP ran that story, too.

Amazingly, the concession hasn't made most of the media coverage. Go figure.

Now I don't pin most of the blame on this on Granholm other than a case of the buck stopping at the top. That wasn't the point of this. The problem is the almost blatent partisan media biasness against Republicans and for Democrats which is so pervasive in this country.

Tim Skubick is right here in the fact that Engler would have been roasted. If there's a standard for one, there should be one for all of them, even media darlings like Granholm.

ALL COUNTIES FINISHED!!!!

After months of work, I just finished Wayne County and I am now finished with all of the counties.

The last ones added are:
Tuscola County in the Northwesten part of the thumb.
Van Buren County in Southwestern Michigan, most known for its vineyards
Washtenaw County - Ann Arbor
Wayne County - The most democrat county in the state by far.
Wexford County - Northern Michigan

NO RECOUNT - Vince Green to take on Gretchen Whitmer

In breaking news first seen at the Republican Michigander - John Findlay decides not to seek a recount. By one vote, Vince Green is the nominee against Gretchen Whitmer for the 23rd state senate district in Ingham County. My source for this is John Findlay and Vince Green themselves. They announced this at a Republican event in Lansing about 90 minutes ago.

Good luck to Vince Green. It's an uphill fight, but anything can happen in a special election. So if you are a Republican in Ingham County, please vote on March 14.

Whitmer, Green to battle for Senate seat

The special election results are in.

Whitmer, Green to battle for Senate seat
GOP candidate prevails with one-vote lead

By Chris Andrews
Lansing State Journal


State Rep. Gretchen Whitmer sprinted past her Democratic rivals Tuesday in a special state Senate primary, while attorney Vincent Green appeared to eke out a one-vote win on the Republican side.

The results are unofficial. If Green's victory over John Findlay of Alaiedon Township holds up, he and Whitmer will square off in a special general election on March 14.

Green (depending on recount) has a tough go since Whitmer is a Blue Cross heir and has gazillions. Still, in a special election anything can happen. Good luck to Green.

TODAY'S SPECIAL ELECTION - Ingham County

From the Lansing State Journal

TODAY'S SPECIAL ELECTION

Voters throughout most of Ingham County have a chance today to narrow the field for the 23rd District state Senate seat recently vacated by Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero.

Today's vote

• Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• The 23rd Senate District includes all of Ingham County except Mason, Leslie, and the townships of Vevay, Leslie, Bunker Hill and Stockbridge.

• District voters can vote in one primary, but not both.

• The special general election is March 14.

Democratic candidates

• Anthony J. Benavides of Dansville

• Melissa Sue Robinson of Lansing

• Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing

Republican candidates

• John Findlay of Alaiedon Township

• Vincent Green of Okemos

Campaign finance violations in Brownstown Township

I'd vote against the recall based on this alone if I lived there. The Detroit News reports:

Who is paying for recall election?

Brownstown Twp. group won't disclose contributors to campaign to remove two officials from office.

Dorothy Bourdet / The Detroit News

BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP -- If voters want to know who's spending money to recall Treasurer Diane Philpot and Trustee Ed Neal, they may have to wait until after they've cast their vote.

Brownstown Families for Common Sense has spent at least $43,000 on its campaign and, although the organization is required by law to report who contributed money before the Feb. 28 election, organizers say they won't.

"The people who are contributing to us, they don't want any kind of backlash until this vote is over. Afterwards, yeah, it's all going to come out," said Bill Kaiser, organizer of the recall group. "We've made a conscious decision just to pay the fine that we're probably going to get levied against us."

When the group filed with the county in August to become a political action committee, it signed a reporting waiver pledging it would not spend or collect more than $1,000. If it did, it was required to file those contributions and expenditures with the county. The group faces a maximum $1,000 penalty for late filing.

$1000 is a good fine for small PAC's, but $43,000 is not a small PAC, especially on the township level. To compare, out taxpayers group raised $1700 in the millage election including in-kinds. Unlike the group in Brownstown, we reported ours before the election.

They should get fined for 1/2 of what they raised. That'll hurt more than the $1000 fine which they probably budgeted for.

Primary election tomorrow (February 21) in most of Ingham County

From the AP

"""""Five face off in race for Ingham County Senate seat
2/20/2006, 4:56 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Five major-party candidates vying for an opening in the Michigan Senate will be narrowed to two.

Three Democrats and two Republicans are running in a special primary election Tuesday for the 23rd Senate District in Ingham County. The seat opened when Sen. Virg Bernero, a Democrat, became the mayor of Lansing in January.

The Democrats are state Rep. Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing, Lansing businesswoman Melissa Sue Robinson and Anthony Benavides of Dansville, the nephew of former Lansing mayor Tony Benavides.

The Republican candidates are Okemos attorney Vincent Green and John Findlay of
Mason, a former worker with the state Department of Human Services.

(SNIP)

The odds on favorite are a Green vs Whitmer race. That said, anything can happen in a special election. From what I've heard Vince Green has the GOP side wrapped up.

Robinson is the weakest candidate, so I recommend a Robinson vote in the primary if you are a republican. Green would probably defeat Robinson.

The general election is March 14th.

Added Sanilac, Schoolcraft, and Shiawassee Counties

I added three more counties to the profile list. Sanilac County from the thumb, Schoolcraft County in the UP, and Shiawassee County, our neighbor to the Northwest.

Handy Township (Fowlerville Area) - 3rd precinct moved

From the Detroit News

Handy Township

3rd Precinct voters are relocated

Voters in the township's 3rd Precinct will now cast their ballots at the Fowlerville United Brethren in Christ Church, 9300 W. Grand River Ave., beginning with the school board election in May. Clerk Laura Eisele said the new electronic voting machines require the tabulators to be separated by at least 10 feet, but the Fowlerville Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6464 hall, where all three of the township's voting precincts were located, did not offer enough separation. Precincts 1 and 2 will remain at the VFW hall

Organized labor's leadership spends more on democrats instead of representing working families

Redstate's Mark Kilmer has a great thread on Redstate, that I highly recommend. I can't say I'm not surprised, especially with the three BS attack ads on my answering maching from their goon squads.

Early reports show the AFL-CIO spent $49 million (27 percent of its total annual budget) on political and lobbying activities but only $30 million (or 16.5 percent) to represent its members. That gap contributed to the breakaway from the AFL-CIO of the Teamsters, the Service Employees and other unions.

Parker High School opening in jeopardy, say school officials

The Ann Arbor News today has a story on Parker High School's possible non-opening.

Howell Public Schools officials said this week the opening of Parker High School in 2007 is in jeopardy, and school board members hinted at a class-action lawsuit if the state does not properly fund public schools.

"Right now, it would be our recommendation to not open the school,'' said Superintendent Chuck Breiner.

"The bottom line is we can't open that school unless we have the money,'' said school board Treasurer Mike Hall. "But opening that building is the least of our problems - it's keeping it operating.''

(snip)

I have not been impressed with the fiscal management that goes on at Howell schools. I'm even less impressed with "passing of the buck" to the state that goes on by elected officials. We all knew that the state has had budget problems for the past five years, and will continue to have budget problems for the forseeable future.

The school board members like Mike Hall are elected officials. Their job is to run the schools properly. Mike Hall is the treasurer and is also a businessman. He should understand the need for fiscal restraint when it is necessary. Giving Chuck Breiner and the administrators big raises before asking for a headlee overide and a millage is not smart fiscal policy, especially with Parker High on the horizon. Parker High was approved in 2003, so there has been 4 years to plan for this.

Board Secretary Jeannine Pratt suggested Monday the district consider forming a coalition of school districts to tackle the state funding problem. "Maybe we should consider a class-action lawsuit to sue the state,'' she said.

Hall said he thought Howell should "take the lead'' on such an action and suggested the district could seek a legal "white knight'' to help fund such a case.

That's no plan. That's a Hail Mary pass and a whine. Do I think the state funding needs to be equalized (without tax increases or defecit spending) - absolutely. There's no argument here, but a lawsuit is going to cost money, time, and effort - and probably will fail. The law is the law, and Proposal A was voted in by a wide margain into our state constitution.

The school board members need to stop blindly following administrators (The superintendent, an employee, runs the meeting - not the board) and blaming others. They need to start doing what's best for their schools. That's their jobs. That's what they were elected by the people of their districts to do. The state is important, but the buck stops with the board members themselves.

This May we have an election for school board members. Mike Hall and Sue Swartz are not running for re-election giving us two open seats. Howell's race is competitive with five people running for two positions. The five individuals running in Howell are John Arthur, Wendy Day, Jim Pratt, Phil Westmoreland, and Valerie Webster. As a member of the Concerned Taxpayers Group of Livingston County, we are going to prepare a list of questions for all the candidates before making any decisions on endorsements. As I'm posting this from a Concerned Taxpayers Group perspective, I am taking my partisan hat off for this. Both Republican and Democrat school members deserve blame for the fiscal mismanagement, and both deserve a chance to be heard in the interview process for support.

We will follow the school board races of Livingston County based districts closely and update the voters as things develop.

Chris Ward introduces bill on school funding

From the AP:

GOP lawmaker introduces measures to close gap in school funding
2/15/2006, 7:21 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker is proposing legislation that would close the funding gap among Michigan's school districts.

State Rep. Chris Ward of Brighton said two bills — one a constitutional amendment — would require the state to reduce the state funding gap between the highest- and lowest-funded schools to within 10 percent.

The current state portion of the annual per-pupil grant for K-12 public schools ranges from $8,175 to $6,875, a 19 percent gap. Districts that had spent even more prior to the school funding and property tax reforms of 1994 continue to do so with local funds, with some districts at $12,330 per-pupil, Ward said

(Snip)

In other news, State RepMary Waters runs for Secretary of State

Jim Marcinkowski posts at liberal site, chokes like the Detroit Lions

I read left-wing websites from time to time, and found this over at the Booman Tribune, which is similar to the Daily Kos website. Meet Jim Marcinkowski. Marcinkowski's answers are under the screen name Sea Eagle. I see no straight answers given, only political doublespeak. Now if he's giving doublespeak to people that should be his BASE, what does that say about him? Is he that worried about guys like me ripping apart his answers? He's dodged questions on abortion. He's gives slight generalizations on health care and trade and bashes "Wall Street" with no specifics. He also has a "blog bodyguard" on the site demeaning those who gave tough questions.

Now "Boston Joe" and I probably don't agree on much issueswise. That said, I respect him for his principles. Meet my choice explains his problems with Jim Marcinkowski. It's the same reason you will not see me voting for John McCain.

As for Marcinkowski, he's nothing more than an opprotunist. He has a vendetta against Bush, and ran for office twice before. He's trying to capitalize on the Bush hate from the left to get him into office. That's not good enough. First of all, he's running against Mike Rogers. Second of all, he's not giving anyone a reason why the people should vote FOR him. Third, his most recent campaign event was in Ann Arbor - outside of the district.

If this is a omen of things to come, then Mike Rogers won't have much to worry about. Even I could defeat this guy.

Construction Trades Scholarship Applicants Sought

I got this in the mail from a friend, Jay Drick. He asked me to post this on the site.

"Construction Trades Scholarship Applicants Sought"

Howell

For the ninth straight year, the J. Ralph Drick Scholarship Trust seeks applicants for two scholarships to a Livingston County area boy and/or girl to be trained in the construction trades such as carpentry, masonry, plumbing, electrical, etc. The two scholarships are in honor of J. Ralph Drick, who taught High School mathematics in East Aurora, New York for over 45 years. Applications shall be obtained during business hours (Monday through Friday) at the Law Office of Jay R Drick, 528 West Grand River, Howell, Michigan, 48843, or by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope. Prior winners can re-apply for subsequent years.

The application by the candidate must be re-delivered to Jay R Drick, 528 West Grand River, Howell, Michigan 48843, by 12:00 noon, April 14, 2006.

Added St Clair and St Joseph Counies

St Clair and St Joseph Counties are now added to the list.