You can’t battle for the Michigan State House District 75 without confronting Right to Life. The sizeable Dutch, Catholic, and Black communities make this issue. It’s just that Republican candidate Dan Tietema stepped up rather early in a recent postcard:
What many of you don’t know is that Dean almost lost (the [...]
Archive for July, 2008
Making the most of Right to Life
Posted in Elections, tagged Dan Tietema, MI-75, Right to Life, Robert Dean on July 30, 2008 | 1 Comment »
So Ken, why not tell us what you really feel?
Posted in Elections, tagged Ken Yonker, MI 72 on July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It was a genuine Michael Kinsley moment, when the politician makes a gaffe of accidentally telling the truth.
In the 2008 Election Guide, published by the Grand Rapids Press, Ken Yonker, one of the candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives (SH-72) was asked about utilities:
The state’s largest utilities want a guaranteed customer base before they [...]
Running on Empty
Posted in Elections, tagged Dan Tietema, GR Press, MI-75, T J Carnegie on July 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Well, there’s a reason we haven’t seen a lot of T J Carnegie, an early favorite of the Grand Rapids Press: he’s running on empty. The financial statement released this morning reveal a campaign that has raised $10,025 (with another fundraiser past the filing date). The books also show expenses of $9999.89, with [...]
Hail Mary
Posted in Elections, tagged Dan Tietema, Grand Rapids, MI-75, Robert Dean, T J Carnegie on July 28, 2008 | 2 Comments »
One of the odder things underway in the current election season is the absence of the Dutch Reformed in the contest for Michigan State House District 75.
For more than a generation this seat has not only been the possession of Republicans, but of a succession of members of the Christian Reformed church: Peter Kok, Paul [...]
Rumble on the Southbelt (3) — the Petri Dish
Posted in Elections, tagged Justin Amash, Ken Yonker, Kent County, Kentwood, Mark Brewer, MI 72, Obama, Republican Party, Steil on July 26, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Republican primary battle in State House District 72 (S. Kent County) pits three distinctive styles of conservatism against one another. In the August 5 primary we can begin to see the relative strength of each flavor of the party. Let’s take a look at them.
On one hand there is the conventional institutional Republicanism [...]
Rumble on the Southbelt (2) — Meet the Contenders
Posted in Elections, tagged Justin Amash, Ken Yonker, Libertarian, MI 72, Republican Party, South Christian, Steil on July 25, 2008 | 5 Comments »
In an overwhelmingly Republican district such as the Michigan State House 72nd, the primary race is the deciding factor. In its mix of old suburban/urban, money, new suburban and agriculture (see earlier post), the district serves up as a Petri dish for current and future Republican politics.
The current battle three very different leading [...]
Michigan Primary Redux
Posted in Elections, tagged Democratic Party, Granholm, Republican Party, RMGN on July 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
(update: There was an embarassing numbers mistake below. What I read as $17 million for Justice Corrigan, was 17,000. Oh what a difference those extra 000s make. My apologies. The numbers (and their impact) have been corrected)
The Reform Michigan Government Now proposal increasingly ought to come with a warning: be careful what [...]
Good Thing He’s Not in Human Relations
Posted in Republican Folly, tagged Fred Johnson, Hoekstra, Republican Party on July 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Twice in a week, who can believe it? Pete Hoekstra (CD 2) puts his foot in mouth again, insisting on the right of God-fearin’ Americans to launch insults. Even if it is counter-productive to the War on Terror.
The Bush administration advises officials to avoid the use of certain words when describing terrorism, saying [...]
A Return to the Old Days
Posted in Democratic Party, tagged Kent County, RMGN, Teamsters, UAW on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The news that the Reform Michigan Government Now! is the “brain” child of union and Democratic Party, sadly, is not surprising. It brings back an older form of Michigan Democratic politics, and a rift we have worked to heal in Kent Count
And what a rift it was.
In 1984, when I came to the Party, [...]
Cool City? Tell that to Gaines
Posted in Communty, tagged Gaines, Grand Rapids, Michigan Future on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sunday, Phil at West Michigan Rising wondered why all the smart kids were leaving Michigan. Picking up on a report from Michigan Future, Inc. reported in the Grand Rapids Press, he noted several factors that make a city “cool”, a place where young folks like to settle:
Mass transit and other alternatives to [...]
