Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette ruled yesterday that the 15 January Primary Act is unconstitutional since it gave the Democratic and Republican parties exclusive access to lists of who voted in their party's primary even though it was a state-run, public event.
But, it's not over, the forces of Hillary and Coronation and their Republican allies in the State Senate are still going to push for a new state-primary bill that returns us to 15 January and doesn't even get the MDP the voter rolls it wanted:
Debbie Dingell, a Democratic power broker who helped lead the push for a Jan. 15
primary [and is the biggest Hillary Clinton supporter in the state], said late Wednesday she was cautiously optimistic it could be salvaged and that extraordinary efforts to do so would be undertaken.
No matter what happened in an Ingham County Circuit
Court, the decision for a 15 January "Primary" and a 9 February Caucus will still be made tonight at 7:00 pm during the
Michigan Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting in Lansing.
Let's face it, this farce should be stopped by Democrats, not by journalist
and a list broker in court.
And make no mistake about it the Hillary-backers that have hijacked the attempt
to move up still want to trade your right to vote so that Hillary can make some
national news with a "win in a Michigan primary" after a loss in
Iowa. That's all this is about, them sacrificing Michigan Democrats for a
news story for Hillary Clinton.
The Michigan Democratic Party Executive Board is meeting TONIGHT
Wednesday, 7 November at 7:00 p.m to discuss and possibly vote on the 15
January primary opt-out (going back to a DNC-sanctioned primary where Edwards
will happily campaign in Michigan and be on the ballot).
If you want to be heard, you must call now. The receptionist at the MDP is
taking a tally.
The Michigan Democratic Party is staring the abyss of a farce of a primary in the face. However, we can still prevent a one-candidate/no delegates beauty contest and instead have a DNC-sanctioned party-caucus in which all candidates will participate and campaign in Michigan.
Tuesday (the deadline day to do so), Joe Biden, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson took their names off the ballot for the proposed 15 January presidential primary in Michigan (Dennis Kucinich also attempted to remove his name from the ballot but failed to follow state procedures by forgetting to have his signature notarized, so he will unwillingly remain on the ballot). Three of the leading four candidate have done this because the DNC considers the 15 January Michigan Primary bill against Party rules and invalid.
Now, under the current scenario, the MDP is left with a beauty contest with just one of the leading four candidates that will not choose any delegates. And even those remaining candidates have pledged not to campaign in our state. Heck, no one can even stare a write-in campaign, since write-in votes probably won't be counted. We therefore have a farce of a primary.
But we can start a movement to have a real caucus with all the candidates. Encourage Mark Brewer to save the MDP and honor Michigan Democrats by moving our caucus back to 9 February. The MDP can be reached by telephone at 517-371-5410 or at http://www.democracyinaction. You can find your County Party website to find out when the next meeting is or how to contact the County Chair here.
The person that said Supreme Court business was boring has obviously never heard of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice 'Conservative' Cliff Taylor
Mark Brewer, Michigan Democratic Party Chair, announced that the MDP purchased the taxpayer-funded car used by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor at a public auction on Saturday. The car, a 2005 Ford Five Hundred, had just over 52,000 miles on it, compared to Brewer's MDP Ford Taurus with nearly 250,000 miles.
If you recall, Conservative Cliff was recently quoted in the Detroit Free Press bragging about his flagrant use of the vehicle operated on your dime -
Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor said he uses his car, a 2005 Ford 500, for work, commuting, law school visits, ceremonial functions, and occasional trips to the grocery and for dinners out. While his vacations don't typically involve a state car, he said, using one "would be perfectly permissible."
"That is the reigning interpretation. I've never heard anyone challenge it."
Why? Just because Saul likes to tool around in his Cadillac Escalade (License Plate: MI GOP) and Amway Guy enjoys his Navigator (often without his seat belt), and they never say anything? Apparently money speaks louder than the voice of justice for Tilted Taylor.
Calling Taylor the "most prominent defender of use of this perk", Brewer said the MDP would use the car to fight against the abuses that Taylor stood for.
But don't fool yourself into thinking this is a partisan issue. Check out what our good friends over at the MSM have been saying about Taylor the Terrible, and the best one by far comes from The Freep's editorial on 1/7/07 - Odor in the Court.
Also from the Freep, Brian Dickerson (4/25/07) had this to say about Taylor -
Have Taylor and his fellow justices been too busy reversing industry unfriendly jury verdicts to notice that none of them has made a car payment since gas was $1.25 a gallon?
Brewer stated that the car will be used for MDP business and even though it's not a taxpayer-funded car, he won't be using it for dinners out and grocery getting. He's got his personal vehicle for that.
Today I submitted my question to the CNN/Youtube Democratic Presidential debate:
Sen. Carl Levin, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Sen. Stabenow along with all of the Democratic Members of the Michigan Congressional Delegation have joined together in calling on the Democratic presidential candidates to take a stand on the American Manufacturing Initiative (AMI). Show your support for Sen. Levin, Gov. Granholm and Sen. Stabenow by joining them in signing the open letter.
...on Facebook! Thanks to the advice of many people from the Michlib community, I have joined Facebook. We have also created a Michigan Democratic Party Facebook group. By joining Facebook, the Michigan Democratic Party is continuing our outreach efforts to Democrats across the state.
Our discussion of the 2008 elections continues today with our focus shifting to the reelection of U.S. Senator Carl Levin, to our challenge of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor, and our efforts to keep the majority in the State House. Watch my video below and tell me what you think:
National GOP leaders such as Karl Rove recognize that Michigan Congressmen Joe Knollenberg and Tim Walberg are vulnerable.
Watch my latest Youtube video about these races:
With ex-Rep. Leon Drolet threatening recall campaigns against legislators who vote for fiscal sanity (e.g. new revenues), MDP chair Mark Brewer is letting it be known that there will be consequences for such an action. This from last Thursday's (subscription-only) MIRS Newsletter:
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark BREWER said if Drolet, the Republicans or anyone else tries to recall any Democratic member, the party will go after a Republican member one for one if not two for one.
Whether the issue is Canadian trash, drug immunity or something else, Brewer said Republicans, possibly even Republican leadership, would be targeted.
"We have plenty of issues over which you can get people to sign a recall petition for a Republican," Brewer said. "I'm not going to start anything, but if Republicans in this state want to go this route, we're going to defend our members vigorously and we'll go after them.
"I'm willing to pay for signatures," he added. "That's not a bluff." (emphasis added)
2 for 1!!! Damn straight, Mark! As I said back in February (not that I'm tooting my own horn or anything), they need to know that this isn't 1983. They need to know that targeting Dems with recalls will be - at best - a mutual assured destruction situation for them, and at worst a complete disaster that costs them the Senate.
Meanwhile...two great articles from Booth in the past 48 hours:
Please visit http://www.michigand... and watch my first podcast. In the video, I answer questions submitted by party members and Progressive activists. Tell me what you think...
Who the hell writes this shit? Here's a quick behind the scenes timeline. First Mark Brewer finds out the AG is doing something that doesn't look very good, then he writes a press release about it and sends it around the state. The editors at the Free Press get a call from Brewer, who is pissed about the iPod story that hit democrats, so they give in to him and run a similar story against republicans. They assign it to a reporter, who calls Brewer for comment, then calls the AG office for comment and ba-da-bing! Another shitty story is born.
The freep story starts out well, with a fact; the AG office is doing something stupid. But two facts in a row is way too much to handle:
But it's Democrats who are exercised over Attorney General Mike Cox's plans for a gym, noting that the state faces a $686-million budget shortfall and that Cox plans to let go of 21 full-time secretarial and clerical workers, effective April 20.
After digging through their heavy dose of snark, one wonders: are the democrats the ones that are really pissed off? Because I suspect the people that are really pissed off are the secretarial and clerical workers that are getting canned. In reality (which this journalist, since being assigned a shitty story, choose to ignore), the people that are pissed are the ones getting fired. Did the article ask any of them if their anger was "pumped up"? Nope.
Here's the kicker though:
Brewer, clearly relishing his scoop, lambasted Cox for planning to spend "tens of thousands of dollars to build a personal gym on the floor near" Cox's office.
Wow. I used to run a campus political party, and we'd always be giving stuff to the campus paper to run. It turns out they had more journalistic instinct than the morons over at the free press have. Sometimes they would run a story, but only after looking into the matter themselves and, believe it or not, writing a story about what happened, not about how angry some party boss was.
Here's my own "scoop" for the free press: private citizens have tips, journalists have scoops. When a citizen has a tip, a good thing to do would be to do a bit of research on that tip and write a story, that way you can get a scoop and then maybe people would buy your paper. When journalists write stories about citizens getting "scoops", it makes me not want to buy your paper.
If the editors decided that the AG buying a gym was a story, they should have had a writer research it a bit and write a story on it. When you just take a press release and rehash it, you're a fool. And the more snarkery in your story, the more foolish you look. If you start writing stories, I might start buying your paper.
Happy Tuesday! It may be too cold and foggy to want to trudge to work, but darn it, reading your daily Coffee Talk will keep you nice and toasty warm. Grab your mug, here we go!
On the Wiley Congresscritters
Walberg Watch:Jack Lessenberry on Mark Schauer- Fitzy's digging Jack Lessenberry's interview and essay on Senate Democratic Leader Mark Schauer. After reading/listening myself, I can't blame him.
LSJ Capitol Journal Blog: Questions for the Congressman - LSJ Reporter Derek Wallbank is taking your questions while he follows Wacky Walberg around today. Poor guy, tell me he at least gets hazard pay for that?
From the Tubes of the Blogs
Random Ramblings of a Somewhat Common Man: iPods & Schools - InterrupT's got one more opinion to offer about the idea that everyone loves to hate right now, the catch is, it's not quite what you might think it is.
Mike Ramsey's "Web-log": Curiouser and Curiouser - Mike does a little more investigative reporting into the Young Americans for Freedom whack-jobs in training giving conservatives everywhere a very black eye.
Democratic Edge: Spring Break...The Red State Tour - Just when you thought Spring Break was only for sightseeing, Jeff does a little political scooping out with some of our neighbors from the South.
Reading for Leading: Lessons in Leadership and Global Warming - First Gentleman Dan Mulhern offers an insightful look into the leaders, especially Al Gore, behind environmental awareness and change and praises (yes, you read that right) the media. When he puts it that way, the man's got a point.
From the MSM
The AP: Cuts threaten welfare goals - With all the families on welfare, the Governor's Jobs, Education and Training Program (JET) is looking to get them back to work and off the dole, but only if the Republican cuts don't cut it. So let me see if I get this straight - off welfare and back to work, the state not only saves money, it actually brings in revenue, right? Wow, what a concept. So what's so hard for the GOP to get?
Freep: Gym pumps up anger of Dems - Some more outstanding Republican fiscal sense from our very own Attorney General, Mike Cox. He let go of 21 office employees, so now he thinks he can buy elliptical trainers, dumbbells, and treadmills. Right. Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer slams the plan to the floor and all Cox's spokesman can come back with is this beauty.
Besides, Hills said, a gym is urgently needed: "Folks in state prison are lifting weights right now, as we speak."
Let's remember this when Cox decides to run for his next position.
Oy vey, my blood pressure is climbing, so this is where I stop. What's got you hopped up? Feel free to promote your favorite diary or article below. See you again on Thursday!
For those of us who voted in the 2004 Michigan Democratic Party Presidential Caucus, it was an exciting time. For the first time we could vote on the internet for our favored candidate and for me, it made the election process all the more interesting and interactive.
As much as the netroots community likes to complain about the prehistoric nature of the MDP, you just might be surprised to learn that Michigan was the very first state to do this internet voting. Even more impressive, we're the only state (at this point) that's going to do it again in 2008.
Here's a question - how many of you had dial-up service in 2004 versus your broadband connection today? Probably a lot of you. Despite that, a whopping 28% of the 160,000 Caucus voters in voted online. When you consider how Internet has been growing in leaps and bounds, imagine how that number will skyrocket.
As it stands now, the MDP already proposed several changes to the Delegate Selection Plan, all designed to make it a little easier for all of us to better participate. After looking it over, here's some points of particular interest:
Internet voting will be open for 7 days, as opposed to 30 days in '04
Voters will be able to vote in any voting location within their county. Go where it's closest.
You can take your utility bill, drivers license, or your MI Identification card as proof of identification. I think this is a great idea, it makes it more accessible to everyone, since we don't all have a Drivers License.
Choice of voting by mail, internet or in person.
Of course, if this is something we want to be available again next year, we need to let the MDP know. Right now, they are taking public comment on the Caucus Draft Selection Plan. Between now and April 28th, you can view the Plan online and then email the MDP with your comments.
While you're checking out the plan, you can also learn a little more about being a delegate, how delegates are selected, how the Convention process works, and the burning question - what's the date of the Caucus (Feb. 9th, 2008 as it stands now, but of course, that could change...)
Either way, it's your state, and your voice - make it heard!
(Cross-posted from Arblogger...you've heard some of these things already, but not all.....)
Blogger "Liberal Lucy" at mike during MDP Bloggers' Caucus, Laura Packard in background
The Mich Democratic Party convention on Saturday the 24th at Cobo in Detroit was something of a fun time, especially if you enjoy hours on end of speeches... The Bloggers' Caucus seemed successful, with various visiting grandees including Senator Stabenow, Mich. House Speaker Dillon, etc. We got a much bigger room than during the August convention, so we must be doing something right.
"House Dean" Congressman Dingell with Governor Granholm; blogster/author Marcy Wheeler in lower left-hand corner
For some of us there were two lunches available, the one from the Governor available in the Riverside Ballroom, and for 15th District folx, the one from Congressman Dingell. (See photo above) It doesn't hurt to be Dean of the U.S. House, I guess. No one starved, let's put it that way.
You can't see details of the Gov from far away, but you probably recognize the flag
Glowing like she's radioactive. Or is it just my cell phone camera.
...Now you can call her "J. Glow" if you like
There wasn't much great controversy at the convention; a looming floor fight over "net neutrality" was averted, at least for now. What was worth noting, though, was the way, during the main meeting of the convention (dodging the Clark and "Draft Gore" fans and flyers as we went to our seats in our respective districts), which Jennifer Granholm was able to "work" the crowd.
Without mentioning all the details, I'll say that she waved her arms, she slipped into a drawl at times, and her voice built up to this sort of (Martin Luther) Kingian crescendo as she forcefully emphasized how important it was that we move Michigan forward, as per her economic and other plans. The crowd got to its feet clapping, so what JG did must have worked. ...Quite the performer--in a good way!
(Also worth noting was Senator Carl Levin's comedic recognition that Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears should be the real news priority these days. At least I think he meant it as a joke...)
And after all that, I was lucky enough to attend a birthday party for Ann Arbor blogger Laura Fisher, whose blog a later date is well worth checking out. (Have a look at her art gallery too.) What a day/night!
