Tim Walberg is currently in his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Michigan's Seventh District, which includes Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, Jackson and Lenawee counties and parts of Calhoun and Washtenaw counties.
Congressman Walberg serves on the House Agriculture, Education and Labor and House Republican Policy Committees.
Born in Chicago, Rep. Walberg grew up on the city's south side and attended Western Illinois University, Moody Bible Institute, Taylor University in Fort Wayne, IN (formerly Fort Wayne Bible College) and Wheaton College Graduate School, earning his B.S. and M.A. degrees.
Previously Congressman Walberg served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1983 to 1999, gaining a reputation as a principled voice for less government spending, lower taxes and fewer regulations, as well as a compassionate voice for the culture of life and traditional values.
During Rep. Walberg's 16 years in the state legislature, he never voted for a tax increase and successfully fought to reduce income taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes and death taxes. He also compiled a 100% pro-life voting record and earned a lifetime A+ rating from the NRA.
Prior to his time in the Michigan House, Rep. Walberg served as a pastor for almost 10 years. Following his 16 years in the Michigan House, he served as president of the Warren Reuther Center for Education and Community Impact where his duties included creating local community betterment programs in the 7th District. Rep. Walberg also worked as a division manager for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, before retiring in January 2006.
Tim and his wife Sue have been married for 32 years. They live in Tipton, Michigan, where they raised their three now-adult children Matthew, Heidi and Caleb. (Walberg House website)
Map of Michigan's Seventh Congressional District from Wikipedia. Incumbent Mark Schauer is fending off a challenge from former Representative Tim Walberg.
U.S. Representative Mark Schauer will be debating challenger Tim Walberg four times this month.
On October 6th, the Adrian Daily Telegram reported that the times and locations for two of the four upcoming debates between incumbent Mark Schauer and challenger Tim Walberg have been set.
The first debate will take place on Wednesday, October 13th, from 7 P.M to 8 P.M. at the Charlotte Performing Arts Center. WLNS (Channel 6 in Lansing) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) are co-sponsoring the debate. The public is invited to attend. The Performing Arts Center's address is 378 State Street in Charlotte.
WLNS will be broadcasting the debate live, so residents of Washtenaw County whose cable systems carry WLNS Channel 6 will be able to watch the debate. Those who do not have cable but do have broadband can follow the debate on WLNS's website as the station will stream it live.
The second debate will be held the next morning at 8:30 A.M. on October 14th at the Lexington Lansing Hotel on 925 South Creyts Road, Lansing. The Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the candidate forum. Anyone wishing to attend the forum should call (517) 487-6340.
More at the link, including information on the other two debates and how Walberg picked a fight with debate sponsor AARP before he accepted their invitation. Smooth move, Ex-Lax, especially in a district with a lot of retirees (I should know, I used to live there) and a year in which Social Security and Medicare are such big issues.
WILX reports on how Social Security and Medicare have become major issues in the race between Mark Schauer and Tim Walberg.
UPDATE: The Walberg campaign was quick to dub Rooney a "carpetbagger" for only recenty moving to the district. "We do not need a lawyer from Wayne County when we have Tim Walberg," Walberg supporter Mark Behnke, the mayor of Battle Creek, said in a statement released by the campaign.
The only way you could improve this is if Sharon Renier joined the fray.
Update! ... Well, my stars and garters, that joke did have a very familiar feel to it. Clucketh the Munith Turkey Lady from the archives.
"I'm officially a Republican," (Sharon Renier) said, adding that she will "absolutely" take on Tim Walberg in the Republican primary for U.S. House District 7 in 2010.
"I am no longer a Democrat," Renier said. "They don't even know when they've got a good candidate."
When it comes to protecting the American middle-class and rejuvenating the domestic auto industry, talk is cheap. In Washington these days, it seems like everyone has an opinion about how the auto companies got into this mess.
While I certainly didn't run for Congress to defend the mistakes of the past, what's most important to me is protecting the working families in my district who rely on the auto industry to pay the bills and put food on the table.
For those who don't know, the 7th congressional district is home to the GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, located just off I-69 in Eaton County. This world-class facility is where the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and Saturn Outlook are built.
While the news of GM's bankruptcy filing one week ago today was certainly a tough blow for the state of Michigan, the Delta Township plant will actually be increasing production later this year as the Chevy Traverse is added to the plant's lineup. This is a move I personally advocated for to Fritz Henderson on his first day as CEO of GM.
Today Congressman Mark Schauer (D-MI) helped a local contractor weatherize a home in Jackson. Earlier this week, President Obama and the U.S. Department of Energy that Michigan will receive more than $325 million for weatherization funding and energy efficiency grants as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Schauer comments on how the program will help create jobs, make homes more energy efficient and help our environment in the following video:
For more information about how weatherization funding from the Recovery Act will benefit Michigan, click here.
From 7:00pm to 9:00pm, I'm going to be away from a computer-- and, in fact, away from any televisions, radios, or other devices which report election results. During arguably the most exciting portion of the night, when Virginia may be called for Obama, or when the returns start coming in for the Georgia Senate race, or when our own district begins reporting, I won't be able to be a part of it.
For a political junkie like me, that's like missing the World Series, the Rose Bowl (Go 'Cats!I believe in you!), and the World Cup all at once, which, by the way, are also on Christmas. Tomorrow could be a really amazing day, and I’m disappointed that I’ll be missing a big part of it.
But when I do get to a computer, I’ll be looking for a few things. I don’t claim to have a secret formula or know which tiny town will be the bellwether, and I’m definitely not a Grebner-like expert. But I can tell you what I think a Schauer victory might look like, and where I’ll be looking for it.
Schauer said there wasn't the justification for war. Walberg said Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.Even though the U.S. didn't find them but said there is evidence they were moved.
Emphasis mine. Tim Walberg now joins any number of people who, in three days, will head off to local abandoned houses or local cemeteries with beer and marrywanna in hand, only to emerge when they run out and get cold, and swear that the bootprint in the mud/dust and that is an exact match for their own is evidence that some "really creepy shit" had happened.
Saddam wanted to recreate Iraq’s WMD capability—which was essentially destroyed in 1991—after sanctions were removed and Iraq’s economy stabilized, but probably with a different mix of capabilities to that which previously existed. Saddam aspired to develop a nuclear capability—in an incremental fashion, irrespective of international pressure and the resulting economic risks—but he intended to focus on ballistic missile and tactical chemical warfare (CW) capabilities.
...more...
• The former Regime had no formal written strategy or plan for the revival of WMD after sanctions. Neither was there an identifiable group of WMD policy makers or planners separate from Saddam. Instead, his lieutenants understood WMD revival was his goal from their long association with Saddam and his infrequent, but firm, verbal comments and directions to them.
Just the kind of carefully constructred organization you'd want if you planned to secret massive stockpiles of unconventional and potentially volatile weapons out of one country and into another.
I realize all of this has been debunked and debunked over the years. I realize that only a few hangers still insist that prior to our invasion that Saddam sailed armadas of secret death ships stuffed to the gills with illegal arms, buried air flotillas of balsa-wood gliders hung with cannisters of nerve gas labeled "Destination: DesMoines," and flew pallet upon pallet of mustard gas reconstituted in Saddam's mobile bio- and chem-weapon factories that doubled as hot dog carts out in Russian army helicopters. I just didn't realize that the 7th District had elected one of these very special people to Congress.
You can tell we're two weeks outside a major election ... my Inboxes are filling up, by the hour, with stuff that's going on. So, let's break it down to highlights...
CD07 -- According to a press release from the Schauer campaign, the Democrat raised $226,000 in the first two weeks of October, compared to $157,000 raised by Tim Walberg. The Schauer campaign reports having $735,000 on hand entering the last two weeks of the campaign, while the Walberg campaign either has $691,000 on hand if you believe a Schauer campaign press release or $412,000 if you believe Deb Price of The Detroit News.
*--Responding to threats by the Walberg campaign over an ad that it is running in the 7th District, Health Care for America Now has responded by pouring more money into the district in adverstising. Walberg threatened to sue HCAN over this ad, and in response the group purchased more air time. Also, the group purchased space in the weekly newspaper The Tecumseh Herald for this full-page ad.
CD09 -- In a new internal poll, commissioned by the DCCC, Grove Insight found that Gary Peters had opened up a double digit lead over Joe Knollenberg. According to a press release, when 400 residents of the 9th District were polled, 46 of them said they plan to vote for Gary Peters. Thirty six percent said they would back Joe Knollenberg. Jack Kevorkian received 2 percent of the vote.
The GOP expects that it could lose up to 34 seats, U.S. News and World Report is reporting. More than that, they've apparently consigned Tim Walberg's reign of terror to the trash heap of history.
The document provided to Whispers is no gag: It comes from one of the key House GOP vote counters. The source called it a "death list." The tally shows several different ratings of 66 House Republicans in difficult races or open seats held by retiring Republicans. "Rating 1" finds 10 Republicans "likely gone." Those districts are New York 13, Alaska, Arizona 1, Virginia 11, New York 25, Illinois 11, Florida 24, Michigan 7, Nevada 3, and North Carolina 8. Under "Rating 2," nine Republican seats are listed as "leaning Democratic.
Emphasis mine. Those are the seats the party expects to lose on the leading edge of a tidal wave that could sweep the GOP out of a majority in the House "for decades."
Club for Growth, which is again helping to bankroll Tim Walberg's campaign, leapt its way into another race yesterday by endorsing ratshit crazy Congresscritter from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann.
Michele Bachmann (MN-06): Though only a freshman in Congress, Rep. Bachmann has emerged as a strong proponent of free-market, limited-government policies. She has quickly become a leading opponent of pork-barrel spending, refusing to accept earmarks, and a supporter of expanding America’s domestic drilling.
Sounds familiar, don't it. Almost like, as if it were, highly complementary of ... how about a leap here.
Tim Walberg (MI-07) Michele Bachmann (MN-06): Though only a freshman in Congress, Rep. Walberg Bachmann has emerged as a strong proponent of free-market, limited-government policies. He She has quickly become a leading opponent of pork-barrel spending, refusing to accept earmarks, and a supporter of expanding America’s domestic drilling.
Why are we talking about Michele Bachmann? Because Club for Growth's endorsement of her came after she went stark raving mad on Hardball, calling Barack Obama "unAmerican" and suggesting that the media investigate the "anti-American" attitudes of certain members of Congress.
Everyone else has fled from Bachmann like rats from a ship that is burning, sinking and crewed entirely by cats since, with the RNCC pulling its advertising, her opponent raising wheelbarrows full of money, and every political handicapper immediately shifting the race from a safe GOP to tossup.Not Club for Growth, which on the 15th of this month laid down an additional $226,000 for an ad buy on Walberg's behalf. They looked at the race, and the most recent developments, and said, "You know, we need to spend a lot of money of this person's behalf."
I've listened to dozens of interviews Jack Lessenberry has conducted with people from across the political spectrum. Whatever he writes elsewhere, he's always a respectful interviewer, asks questions and just lets the person answer without trying to shout them down or trip them up in order to publicly embarrass them (he's not like Frank Beckmann, who actually used clearly edited clips to make the governor look bad on taxes last year). So, I can discern no explanation for this...
We had hoped to speak with both candidates however, Congressman Knollenberg declined to be interviewed for this program.
Peters gets time to talk about something he talks about and understands well, which is a forward-thinking energy policy.
Update! ... Oh, Knollenberg isn't the only person who turned down an invite by Lessenberry. Last week, Tim Walberg did, too.
We're all human, I get that. God knows I've put up my fair share of typos in blog posts and emails, but then again, I don't have a fully funded campaign staff supporting me.
Congressman Tim Walberg does.
So one would expect that I's would be dotted, T's crossed, and for the love of all that's holy - the man's name would be spelled correctly.
Call it Political Darwinism, call it Fate, or just call it stupidity.
But if a fundraising plea to help Timmeh out can't even spell the man's last name right, does he really deserve your money, much less relection?
I'm gonna go with - NO.
And in case you think I'm just being funny, keep in mind this is the stuff that the opposition would kill for, because you just can't make this kind of stuff up. Seriously.
On the other hand, I hear that Mark Schauer's a fine speller with excellent grammar and personally knowing and respecting the man, I'd recommend that you donate to him today.
For Club for Growth-backed candidates across the country, this is sounding like a familiar story.
The group scored one of its biggest victories in 2006 when it bounced moderate Republican Joe Schwarz in a GOP primary and elected Tim Walberg the representative in a conservative-minded southern Michigan district. But now Walberg is running behind Democratic state Sen. Mark Schauer — with Schauer using Walberg’s ties to the Club for Growth as a central message in his own campaign.
The story is about how Club for Growth's campaign to place more ideologically pure (i.e. people who'd eat their own feet before they'd support raising any tax anywhere for any reason) could very well result in more Democrats in Congress. One of those races featured...
Is Tim Walberg taking a page from The Maverick's campaign playbook? When you can't beat 'em on the issues, smear by association.
Rep. Tim Walberg is trying to link his Democratic congressional challenger to filmmaker Michael Moore.
Walberg, a Republican, released a new ad Thursday that argues the liberal documentary maker is supporting state Senate Democratic Leader Mark Schauer. Schauer is trying to unseat Walberg in a south-central Michigan congressional district.
Personally, I think it's a point of pride that Michigan not only can claim Michael Moore as a native son, but that he hasn't abandoned the state after attaining celebrity and in fact has established a pretty decent film festival in Traverse City. Then again, I'm not a minister in Tipton who's idea of deep political thought is riding through the district on a motorcycle to send a message to the American people that if they, too, had a mid-life crisis they could save a few pennies on the price of gas.
An awfully curious headline, if I do say so myself. It's the kind of thing that's maybe lifted right from a press release. But, it isn't. In fact, it's a headline lifted right from a story in the Battle Creek Enquirer in which Walberg responds to ads being run against him in the 7th District. Here is Tim Walberg, clearing the record:
Walberg said he doesn't support privatizing Social Security, but instead insulating it from use for anything other than Social Security benefits and Medicare.
Insulating it ... from use for anything ... other than ... Social Security benefits ... and Medicare? How's he plan to do that? Let's take a trip in the Wayback Machine to the year two-thousand-and-six (aught-six, to those nostalgic for the the early 20th century). Tim Walberg on the issues.
Social Security Reform Tim supports President Bush’s efforts to expand our ownership society by allowing younger workers to voluntarily invest a portion of their payroll taxes and allowing the money to be secured in personal investment accounts.
Uh-huh, so Tim Walberg supports efforts to expand our ownership society by allowing younger workers to take a portion of their payroll taxes, otherwise no doubt earmarked for Social Security, and secured ... in personal ... investment accounts. I wonder if that's why Ontheissues.org has Walberg listed as "strongly favors privatizing social security?"
Anyway, consider the record cleared. Tim Walberg doesn't support privatized Social Security, only workers using their payroll taxes to create their own investment funds.
Mark Schauer and Tim Walberg get into a testy debate over breakfast, and all the AP reporter can manage to come up with are ... six paragraphs?
The two clashed on taxes and other issues. The forum was hosted by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce.
That is some intense writing, d00d. We get to-the-second breaking coverage of Paris Hilton's jail sentence for repeatedly breaking the law, we know what toppings were on the burger David Hasselhoff ate while being filmed a rambling drunk, and two candidates in a closely-watched district have an impromptu debate over bagels, and this is the most detailed the guy on hand to cover the story gets? And, yes, I've tried looking up some of the key phrases to see if there are any write-thrus ... none, so far.
(West-siiiide in the house! - promoted by PerfectStormer)
This is Chris, from the Michigan Federation of College Democrats reporting live from the MFCD Make It Happen Bus. Thanks to a newly purchased verizon internet card, look out for live updates throught the course of the week. Friday, the Make It Happen tour, which is graciously sponsored by Lt. Governor John Cherry kicked off forcefully. With a stop at Monroe CCC and then a huge kickoff event with the UofM Dems Friday, MFCD continued to crawl over to the sunny 7th CD.
The last time the Schauer and Walberg campaigns released the results of internal polling, Schauer's was pretty close to what EPIC/MRA found, while Walberg's polling data practically had Schauer conceding the race. The other day, another Schauer internal poll showed the Democrat ahead, and by more than the margin of error. Just yesterday, stories started popping up with results of another Walberg internal poll ... predictably, Walberg had a double-digit lead.
Walberg's polling firm is the same one he used last time, when his lead was 16-points instead of just 10. Now his lead, according to the same firm has shrunk to 10, which is still a heap greater than what EPIC/MRA had last time around. That makes it a great deal more likely that rather than providing a real sense of where the race stands, that the Walberg campaign would be using its internal polling data as propaganda.
There isn't anything especially wrong with that, of course, and any fault here lies with the paper that published a story that passed along this kind of information uncritically to readers. Rather than repackaging a pro-Walberg press release, the paper could have done a quick Google search and provided some idea if the information coming from the Walberg camp was at all consistent with what neutral, objective observers were saying. That kind of context might even be helpful to the paper's readers, who maybe today are wondering who is most likely to tell them what they need to hear rather than what the campaign thinks they ought to hear to satisfy the campaign's own best interests.
Over the weekend we started airing our second ad of the campaign season, and in case you hadn't seen it yet, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to check it out:
When it comes to protecting the American middle-class and rejuvenating the domestic auto industry, talk is cheap. In Washington these days, it seems like everyone has an opinion about how the auto companies got into this mess.
Somewhere deep in the middle of Chris Gautz's 
