Ex-House candidate thrashes GOP leadership

by: Eric B.

Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 08:54:06 AM EST

Update! ... Thanks to a reader, I corrected Dan Tollis' first name (I did note that I was writing this right in a rush before leaving for a meeting). Anyway, this also clears up something that is updated at the bottom.

Got an e-mail last night from an anonymous source.  Took me some time until I could verify that I have enough confidence that it's probably real to post it.  It's sent by a GOP candidate for the state House named Bob Dan Tollis (he got creamed by Fred Miller in the 31st District, 26,404-12,277).

Two days ago, like many other Republicans around the state, I lost my election for State Representative in the thirty-first house district. Over the past two elections cycles I have personally invested over a hundred thousand dollars in my campaign, while the Michigan Republican Party has contributed nothing. The Michigan Republican Party, in conjunction with the Sterling Corporation, has transformed our party from a formidable political machine which dominated state politics to a helpless organization that continues to lose elections at all levels of government.
 
As a businessman-turned-political-candidate, my past business experience has taught me that leadership always starts at the top. I believe the Michigan Republican Party is desperate for solid leadership. Our current Michigan Republican Party heads have continuously exploited their positions of power to bolster their own business interests; and that is no longer tolerable. It is important to emphasize that Saul's executive director, Jeff Timmer, served as a VP for the Sterling Corporation. In the 2006 and 2008 elections, Anuzis and Timmer funneled millions of dollars to the Sterling Corporation.  With Anuzis, Timmer, and Sterling at the helm, we've been creamed at the top of the ticket, as well as losing the majority in the Michigan House of Representatives, two Congressmen, The Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Republican majorities on several County Board of Commissioners, and several seats on the statewide education boards.

The Sterling Corporation, in fact, appears to have the names of one of its own being tossed about to take over the state party. At least, that was according to a robo-call received by my man Chetly.

more...

One of his commenters provides the full list...

1. Suzane Miller Allen, Traverse City, Sterling Corporation, wife of Jason

The list over on Outside Lansing also names Tollis, but misspells his name and includes a question mark suggesting that the person responsible doesn't know who Tollis is (I don't know who he is; then again, I'm not receiving robo-calls from the Republican Party).  I don't know if that's a name recognition problem on Tollis' behalf, or if the person who left the comment doesn't know much about Michigan Republican politics, or if he's even maybe someone pulling a dirty trick (trying to give the impression that he's unknown).

He closes out with these three e-mails:

Corruption and infighting has withered the Michigan Republican Party into an ineffective organization, and because of this, I am announcing my candidacy for Michigan Republican Party Chairman.  I believe that we need transparency in our State Party, along with our government.  I am sick and tired of closed-door finance meetings and dictatorial decisions about what candidates are privy to our money.  It is time to restore the Michigan Republican Party back to the political powerhouse it once was. We can't afford any more losses!  We must start winning again!

As the race for the State Party Chairmanship heats up, I urge you to beware of candidates who are running simply to further the political aspirations of others.  Michigan Republicans need an independent State Party Chair, unconnected with any future gubernatorial candidates or either side of the interparty political fight.
 
I ask for your support to become your next state party chairman. I will be working hard to contact GOP and grassroots leaders throughout the next few weeks to discuss my candidacy. 

I thought it might get heated, but I assumed that the innerparty power play would chiefly involve two factions hashing out their differences, and not some third front opened offering an alternative.  Apparently, the GOP must be a bigger tent than I'd thought.

The name Bob Dan Tollis was familiar to me, however, and not because I followed the 31st's race closely.  After McCain pulled out of Michigan a month ago, he helped to make public the story of the infighting that commenced then, too.  I was reading a story last night that identified Tollis as the source of the e-mails to reporters, too, but I've since lost the link in my efforts to verify that the above e-mail might have come from Tollis himself (reading what I've laid down here, it seems very plausible that it's genuine).

Anyway, there's probably more that I'm missing, but I'm about to be late for a meeting at work.  I'll update, if necessary, upon my return.

Update! ... Indeed, as promised with the corrected first name, the Google search for Dan Tollis and Zatkoff turned up the article in which Tollis was identified as a source of the internal squabbling that started just after John McCain announced his departure from the state.  Here's the story.

Greenlee said that when he and the other volunteers were more than halfway done loading the boxes, he received a call from the Michigan Republican Party executive director, Jeff Timmer, informing him that the Michigan GOP did not authorize picking up the campaign materials.

“(Timmer) then noted that it did not matter what the McCain campaign said, as these were property of the Michigan GOP and they would distribute them when they were ready,” Greenlee said. “He said if I took even one brochure he would call the police, have me arrested, and that I would be prosecuted.”

Nowling said the state GOP had plans to distribute the leftover literature in the final 72-hour push before Election Day.

After the incident, Dan Tollis, a GOP candidate for state House, forwarded a message from Zatkoff to the state GOP and numerous media outlets to draw attention to the matter.

In short, one of the state GOP officials who has ties to Sterling Corp., which currently employs someone who is thought to be a candidate to replace Saul (I've seen no one who even suggests that Saul will be around much longer), was accused of threatening legal action against someone who wanted to distribute literature.  One of the other people interested in being state party chairman got the e-mails that laid this all out and distributed them freely to media outlets and blogs around the state.