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Secretary of State 
Wed Feb 21, 2007 at 18:27:47 PM EST
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Yeah, I'll look for the horse's head in my bed tonight, but whatever. Note that the title isn't "Stop Mark Brewer from being re-elected MDP chair!"; who would run against him anyway? Has anyone, ever?
(He seems to think so, maybe, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten his mailer recently, the one where the Governor calls him a "pit bull"...)
...Like Chairman Mao, Chairman Mark has had his successes (but with less bloodshed); one of them is "beloved Gov" J. Grho®, and we also note that the Michigan House was recaptured. Good! So there may be no desperate need to find a replacement for the Brewmeister.
Still, some things to chew on:
1. The China Syndrome I'm not saying that teh Mark went overboard on China-bashing or anything, but one just has to be careful. Michigan may does not have as huge an Asian population as, say, some West Coast states. Still, if one continues in giving an impression that Those People Over There Across the Blue Pacific are the EVUL ENEMY OF MICHIGAN®, there could be backlash in various ways.
Of course, the Vincent Chin case was a low point in Michigan race relations, see, e.g., the Wikipedia on that 1982 murder of a Chinese man in Detroit by angry auto workers who thought Chin was Japanese (not that that'd have been an excuse...). One doesn't want to revisit that type of incident, or even to scare off or needlessly annoy the various Asians here, including those at universities, who could help make Michigan's cities cool as per the Governor's "Cool Cities" initiative. As in, help make the cities cool, instead of leaving for other states.
So, no nuclear confrontations with Asians or others needed. Word to the wise. ...Obama is popular because he can get attention without the "pit bull" thing, and maybe that's a good example to follow in many instances.
2. Down with DLC Certain posters on this wonderful site have wondered if Chairman B is too down with the DLC and its rather corporate brand of politics. I'm not sure of that, especially since Brewer seems to be pro-union. However, it still pays to seem innovative rather than a creature of habit or stagnation. What's up with the webmaster situation at the MDP, for example? That "electronics" thing is hopefully not too new-fangled for some folks to deal with.
...Meta-comment: Michigan needs to retool and rebuild itself; despite some successes (and many of these are due, bluntly, to the charisma problems of Dickie DeVos vs. the stunning performances of Jennifer G), the MDP might have to do some of that revamping, too. If more had been done, maybe we'd have recaptured the Mich Senate, actually...
3. Ticket Selection By the way, I see that the Secretary of State and Attorney General candidates are still selected at the party convention (last I checked), not through an election as in other states.
Is that a good idea? ...Do Dems hold the Sec. of State and AG positions currently? Hmmmm. (Not that I have anything against the sort of "labor unity ticket" that suggested Amos Williams and Carmella Sabaugh--I voted for both of them--, but a competitive primary might have produced even more competitive candidates, at least hypothetically.)
Maybe there's something to that "democratic inclusion of all Democratic voters" after all. It might even let us WIN MORE ELECTIONS, which presumably people care about. . .
Would Brewer favor this sort of move towards more democracy, e.g., giving the registered Democrat voting public more of a voice about their candidates? Or not? That's it for now; I could say much more, but don't want this to go too long. --Ash Wednesday, regardless of your faith or lack of it, is not the worst time for reflection. What kind of leadership do we want for this party? What kinds of ideals do we want carried out? Where should we be going?
Enjoy your evening, and hope to see you all in Detroit at this weekend's MDP convention!
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Thu Jan 18, 2007 at 13:06:44 PM EST
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Is there some way that we can search for and put forward a favorite candidate for Secretary of State? I know this position is finalized on the ticket at the convention.
Today's Gowger report talks about a Republican slugfest for the gubernatorial race in 2010, including Terry Land, Mike Cox, perhaps even Dick DeVos running again.
It also talks about Ruth Johnson running for SOS. We need to start floating our Democratic candidate names early, instead of waiting till the gubernatorial candidate picture is more clear.
The SOS is an extremely important position. I didn't know this, that whatever party controls the SOS, also gets their party's candidates listed first for every position on the ballot, which is worth 2% of the votes. When you consider how close recent elections have been, 2% is extremely important.
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Mon Nov 06, 2006 at 02:41:16 AM EST
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There's not a whole lot that we hear about when it comes to the Secretary State. What do they do, how do they do it, and more importantly why is the SOS a partisan position?
All very good and very real questions that many of us have wondered for most of our lives.
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 at 13:47:03 PM EDT
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Tim Skubick's Secretary of State debate between Carmella Sabaugh (D) and
incumbent Terri Lynn Land (R) is now online - and will air beginning
tonight. You can see it here.
I thought Sabaugh did a commendable job - especially considering
(I believe) it was her first statewide TV debate. I'm going to vote
for Carmella, I donated to her, and I want her to win but...I must
concede that Land won this debate (please, no rotten tomatoes).
For a number of the issues - no reason absentee voting and keeping the
Board of State Canvassers intact, to name two - Land distanced herself
from Republicans and took on the Democratic position. To this, Sabaugh
rightly pointed out Land's inability to convince her allies controlling
the Legislature to get it done. Land also called for the adoption of
"real-time" campaign finance disclosure. Sabaugh said she would oppose
this - which kind of surprised me.
The devil is in the details, but as a general rule, anything that
advances the cause of greater and more timely online disclosure will
get my support. I'm with Land on this one - in concept - but Sabaugh's
earlier statement about Land's inability to get traction on any of
these proposals in a Legislature that is friendly to her casts a bit of
a shadow. Perhaps if Land survives, the Democratic majorities in the
House and Senate will be a bit more willing to work on these issues with her. :)
One item that didn't come up in the questions is the issue of the SOS
taking steps to remove people from the voter rolls without having legal
authority to do so. This is the issue that concerns me most, and why I
think we need a new SOS. I would have coached Sabaugh to sneak it in
somewhere. But that's just me.
Again, I do think Sabaugh did very well for a first TV debate. However,
Land has a few appearances under her belt now, she's articulate, and
she has an incumbent's knowledge of the issues (which tend to be more
intricate in an SOS debate). Land was ready and didn't make any real errors. She did well for herself -
and I would guess would score an advantage with Skubick's mom and all
of the 12 other people who end up seeing the debate.
Speaking of Skubick, he's caught his share of flak (some from me) for
his handling of Guv's debate #1 and comments about the following
debates. I have to say, though, I think he did a fine and even-handed
job at moderating the SOS debate. Others may disagree. I think he did
well.
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Fri Oct 20, 2006 at 13:16:21 PM EDT
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Off the Record - Election Edition #2007-16.
airs Oct. 20, 2006
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http://tinyurl.com/y...
A special edition with the two major party candidates running for Secretary of State: incumbent Terri Lynn Land (R) and challenger Carmella Sabaugh (D).
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Sat Oct 14, 2006 at 20:56:08 PM EDT
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On Wednesday, Carmella Sabaugh announced Michigan's first online absent ballot tracking system to let voters make sure their ballots arrive at their local clerk's office in time to be counted. The system is especially helpful for our troops who are fighting for Democracy to know that their own votes will count. See the sytsem at http://www.macombcou.... The article below appeared on the front page of today's Macomb Daily.
MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE BLOCKS MACOMB CLERK'S BALLOT PROGRAM
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006, page 1A
By Chad Selweski, Macomb Daily Staff Writer
An online program launched by Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh, allowing absentee voters to ensure their ballot was properly processed, was quickly halted on Friday by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, Sabaugh’s opponent in the November election.
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Sun Sep 24, 2006 at 08:58:35 AM EDT
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Democratic Secretary of State candidate Carmella Sabaugh recently took action to provide senior citizens with equal access to an absentee ballot application. She will mail AV application forms to all seniors 60 and over in Macomb County who otherwise would not receive one. Over 49,000 Macomb County seniors would have been excluded. But some things were left out of the press coverage...
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Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 21:09:00 PM EDT
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...and you should too, via SOS Project (click here). Did you know that in addition to being Michigan's chief elections officer, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land was co-chair of George Bush's 2004 Michigan campaign? Remember Florida in 2000? I do. That's why even a cheapskate like me is getting out his credit card. On top of that, we have one heck of a candidate in Carmella Sabaugh (more about her and the Michigan SOS race here)
Unfortunately, because our SOS nomination occured so much later than other states, Carmella hasn't been able to reap the online support some of the other SOS candidates have at SOS Project. Let's bring her up to speed.
BTW - remember to add $.37 to your contribution to show that you're a Michlib reader. Regrettably, I remembered that I could do this immediately after clicking the "submit" button. Oh well.
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Wed Sep 13, 2006 at 21:29:33 PM EDT
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Democratic secretary of state candidate Carmella Sabaugh's web site is http://www.sabaughfo.... We welcome your comments and suggestions.
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Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 12:15:35 PM EDT
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We talked a lot about ActBlue at a state level at the caucus (I'm working to clarify what I've been told about the state house and senate candidates). But while we were talking, someone has set up a means to donate to Carmella Sabaugh via ActBlue, the Secretary of State Project.
Here's a link to the SOS Project blog.
And here's a link to a MyDD post explaining the project.
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Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 10:35:04 AM EDT
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As a strong Amos Williams supporter, I have to applaud the grace with which Bowen immediately backed Amos yesterday.
But it appears that Waters--who just a week ago accused Kwame of secretly supporting Mike Cox--won't publicly back the ticket. She is cited in the Free Press as saying,
Waters wasn't quite as confident, predicting that Gov. Jennifer Granholm would receive universal support from the party faithful, "but members will pick and choose the rest of the ticket."
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Tue Aug 22, 2006 at 14:47:58 PM EDT
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I like what I'm hearing about Carmella Sabaugh. Sabaugh, in case you hadn't heard, is the odds-on favorite to be our candidate for Secretary of State this year. Last I heard, Rep. Mary Waters (D-Detroit) is still in the race, but her press conference last week calling into question the Mayor of Detroit's partisan allegiances would seem to suggest she's at the end of her rope as a candidate. It's also been suggested that outgoing Rep. Rich Brown (D-Bessemer) is available. But as far as I can tell, nearly all of the attention seems centered on Sabaugh.
Anyway, like I said - I like what I've seen & heard about Sabaugh so far. And I like what
I've heard from folks who have dealt with her office professionally.
Politically, Macomb County is, of course, important - and as clerk of one of the state's largest counties, she brings some real credentials to the table. Her clerk's office website needs work - however her list of bullet points is rather impressive. Here's a few:
- Placed Macomb County among the most accountable in Michigan by putting county and local candidates’ campaign finance reports on the Internet free of charge.
The system has improved compliance with campaign finance rules because
candidates know their reports are easily viewable by the public. It’s
amazing how much more legible the reports are and how much more quickly
candidates file them when they know people are watching. The system
lets people, “Follow the money.†(emphasis added)
- Successfully implemented a new voting system that electronically tabulates election results. See "Voting system deemed a success."
- Sabaugh supports legislation such as straight-party voting, no reason absentee voting and making Election Day a federal holiday.
Now for the real question...can she beat Terri Land?
I think she can. As with everything this year, money will be the big issue. On the other hand, we're fortunate (in highly relative terms) in that we have a current SOS who apparently has longstanding ties to the DeVos family (see this AP article with Betsy singing Terri's praises and waxing poetic on their 1976 campaign experiences together). If this connection can be more publicly established, it seems to me there's a chance we could defeat two birds with one stone. And if anyone ever decides to make any hay (nudge, nudge) over the fact that Land is trying to kick people off the voter rolls without having the authority to do so, that might clinch it.
Not making any predictions about how likely any of this is. To know that, I need some idea of what kind of resources Sabaugh will have. But if she gets them, I think this is do-able. Sure would be nice to have someone trustworthy running elections in Michigan.
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Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 02:33:36 AM EDT
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As time goes by, I'm more and more convinced that the whole "Kwame backs Devos" thing is just plain silly. It mostly seems like a last ditch effort by State Rep. Mary Waters to shore up her campaign for secretary of state. The last ditch seems a bit to late though, as Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh has finally thrown her hat into the race.
Waters backed Hendrix and there wasn't any way that Kilpatrick was going to let her take the nomination. Carmella's enterance is good for party unity and for Macomb county...
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Thu Aug 17, 2006 at 15:02:32 PM EDT
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The DFP's Zach Gorchow reports:
State Rep. Mary Waters, a Detroit Democrat who wants her party’s nomination for secretary of state, accused Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Thursday of trying to undermine her candidacy in an effort to strengthen the Republican Party’s chances of winning statewide offices in the November general election.
Waters pointed to the contest for the Democratic nomination for attorney general to get the right to take on incumbent Republican Mike Cox.
In that race, former Grand Rapids district judge Scott Bowen and attorney Amos Williams are vying for the Democratic nomination. Waters said Kilpatrick wants Williams to be the candidate in that race because he would present the weaker challenge to Cox, with whom she said Kilpatrick has a strong relationship.
If Williams is the Democratic candidate for attorney general — the nominations are decided at the party’s upcoming convention — then Waters said she probably would not get the secretary of state nomination because the party’s tradition is to have only one of the party’s four statewide nominations be an African-American.
-snip-
Waters also said a Kilpatrick appointee — she refused to name which one — told her the mayor would be supporting the Republican ticket in November.
A spokesman for Kilpatrick was not immediately available for comment.
Sure Waters is hardly an objective source here, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me one bit.
As far as I'm concerned, if Kwame wants to go join the party of George Bush, Mike Cox and Amway Guy, good riddance. Remember, he only barely won re-election - and the performance of his "machine" candidates in last week's primary was downright abysmal. If this break is going to come, let it come SOONER rather than later - and let's be proactive on it, rather than playing a stupid game of "catch-up." Anyway, it's not like Kwame is the only guy we can work with in Detroit. Far better to work with people we know we can count on.
Does this mean I think Williams should be thrown under a bus? No, not necessarily - though for me sticking it to Kilpatrick would be one of the best reasons I've seen so far to support Bowen. Mainly I just believe the Mayor of Detroit's opinion should in no way be factored into the equation. I simply have no faith at all that he is making his decisions in the best interests of the Democratic Party in Michigan. Remember, this is a guy who only two months ago headlined a fundraiser for the Oakland County Republican Party.
There. I said it. Now feast away.
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Mon Aug 14, 2006 at 12:01:19 PM EDT
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UPDATE by Matt: Just for spits and giggles, here's an old AP article from WAY back in 2002, where Terri (the former Kent County Clerk) and Betsy DeVos talk about working on the Gerald Ford campaign together in 1976. Guess they go back awhile.
NOTE: Make sure you see Grebner's
latest comments down at the bottom.
Remember a few weeks ago when my ex-boss and political list kingpin Mark Grebner (D) called attention
to the massive statewide mailing Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's (R)
office sent out to all registered voters. Remember when he suggested it could be
part of an effort by Land to "clean up" the state voter file?
Well, take a look at this letter to a Michigan voter just obtained by Michiganliberal.com (click on image for .tif version):
Here's what it says:
State of Michigan
Department of State
Lansing
Residency Confirmation Request for Voter Registration Purposes
The voter registration you currently hold in the city or township
listed above may be cancelled as we have been advised that you no
longer reside at the address recorded on your voter registration.
If you have permanently moved to an address outside of this
jurisdiction, please return the detachable reply form to confirm
your address as soon as possible. A pre-addressed postage paid return
envelope is enclosed for your convenience. Please note that in order to
vote, you must register with the clerk of the jurisdiction where you
now reside. (See below for information on how and where a personb may
register to vote or update his or her voter registration due to an
address or name change.)
If you have not permanently moved to an address outside this
jurisdiction, please return the detachable reply form in the
enclosed envelope to correct our information no later than the 30th day
before the next election. If the reply form is not returned by the 30th
day before the next election, you will be required to 1) vote in your
former precinct of residence and 2) submit an address correction before
voting. If the reply form is not returned, and you do not vote or
update your address by the federal November 2008 election, your voter
registration will be cancelled.
(More below the fold...)
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Fri Jul 14, 2006 at 14:18:53 PM EDT
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Mark Grebner gives us some VERY interesting tidbits in his latest comment attached to yesterday's post on Terri Land's statewide mailing. They deserve to be up top:
I just got off the phone with (state elections director) Chris Thomas, who made it clear that he wanted to answer EVERY question fully and completely. Yes, they DO read Matt's blog. And here - in brief - are the answers, some of them surprising.
First, "one" of the main purposes of the mailing was to troll for data. Chris - toeing the company line - insisted that "the educational component was important too" but pretty quickly cut to the chase.
Second, they intend to completely ignore the role set out for local Clerks in Michigan law, and just run the program themselves. This is mainly a reaction to the lack of cooperation they've gotten from local Clerks. Chris's claim was that Federal law supersedes the provisions of State law. I don't believe that (we're both attorneys) but since the Republicans control the courts, I suppose their version might prove triumphant, if the question is ever litigated.
Third, all the data from the returns is public, although Chris seemed taken aback by my desire for my employees to actually handle the hundreds of thousands of cards that will come back. He had thought I'd be happy with a CD at the end of the process.
Fourth, they're going to ignore the postal "endorsements" on each returned piece of the reason for the return. They'll treat all returned pieces identically. This strikes me as illegal, since they plan to act under MCL 168.509AA which requires "reliable information" that the person has moved out of the municipality. As I've explained to Chris, I think they should break out certain returned cards for separate treatment, which he doesn't currently plan to do.
For example, if a postcard is marked "mail cannot be delivered due to unleashed dog" - which is a real endorsement - I don't see how you infer that somebody has moved away.
Finally, and most interestingly, they've given up taking any action before November's election. Total surrender. They'll send out a forwardable letter asking people to respond, but regardless of what they get back, they will leave people on the rolls for this November. I'm certain that wasn't the original plan, but as Emily Latella would say, "Never mind."
Huh. Apparently the Secretary of State has decided to just ignore Michigan law. Perhaps this is our version of George Bush's "unitary executive" theory? Gee, maybe the Governor could start doing that too! Just send the Legislature home. We don't need them anymore. Could be fun, yes?
Seriously, thanks again, Mark, for the update. We'll look forward to sifting through all of those cards.
BTW, I wonder how the local clerks will feel when they learn their authority is about to be taken away through administrative diktat.
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Thu Jul 13, 2006 at 12:58:39 PM EDT
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Did you get a postcard this week from the state Bureau of Elections? I did. (two actually - one addressed to me and one addressed to some guy who apparently used to live here) Here's what it looks like:
I threw the card addressed to me away and stuck the other one on the side of the mailbox and didn't give it any more thought - until this morning, when I got this in my inbox from my ex-boss Mark Grebner:
Matt -
Have you just received a postcard (see above) from Terry, babbling about her new website, Michigan.gov/vote? No actual content to the card, and no plausible reason for mailing it, unless she's trying to invoke MCL 168.509, which involves "reliable information" that a voter has moved, which requires the entire process be completed at least 90 days before the November election, or by August 10.
If you get one, notice the barcode above the address. It's not a postal code, but your QVF ID#, apparently printed to make it easy to process the postcards returned by the USPS. Also notice the "Return Service Requested" endorsement, which means that none of them will be forwarded - they're automatically returned to the Secretary of State, with whatever information the Post Office has.
I don't know the scope of the mailing yet, but everybody I've asked in the Lansing area has reported receiving it. There's no legal authority for sending them out, and lots of legal hoops to jump through before anybody could be removed from the voter rolls, but it looks exactly like some GOP-inspired scheme. Absolutely no mention of the postcard mailing on the SOS website, and no mention in any newspaper, as far as I can see. And I'm sure it's not in her budget. If it's statewide to the entire QVF - which is possible, but unknown - the cost would have been very close to $2 million, with likely followup costs running at least another $1 million.
Just figured I should tip you off, so you could start poking around for info.
-mg
So the Bureau of Elections (run by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land [R]) sent these things out to everybody less than four months before the election with no realistic hope of deleting people whose cards are returned within the next month or so (as the law prescribes). They have no realistic chance of doing this because in order to knock someone off the Qualified Voter File, you're required to deal with the local clerks and they have to do a bunch of stuff (jump through hoops, as Mark says).
So how is this a "GOP-inspired scheme"? Well, apparently all of these cards that are returned to the Elections Bureau are public record. That means the Republicans (or anybody) could get them - through FOIA or otherwise - for very little cost and use them to clean up their list. And if nobody on our side had noticed what was going on, they would have been able to get a an exclusive and newly-cleaned list, courtesy of the taxpayers.
If this is the case, sorry, Amway brigade, the jig is now up.
As they say on Fox News and all of those other hairdo channels, this is a "developing story." There are probably other permutations here that haven't been exposed yet. If you know of one, please leave it in the comments. When Mark wakes up, perhaps he'll have some things to add/correct.
Stay tuned...
UPDATE by Matt:
In the comments, Grebner notes that the mailing does indeed appear to be statewide and...
...it seems possible that the real motive may have been to provide a list of voters to challenge if they show up at the polls, which will give the Republicans something to do on election day.
For extra credit, please write an essay explaining how an unnecessary mailing at public expense is related to the Republican mantras of fighting waste and minimizing government.
Any takers? Still would really like to know where the money came from to fund this weird excursion.
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Tue Feb 28, 2006 at 07:20:07 AM EST
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An addendum to yesterday's post on Michigan's "dead vote." This morning, the DN has a follow-up. Here's the lead:
The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed Monday it is monitoring Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's office after determining that Michigan has more people registered to vote statewide than people of voting age.
But Land's top election official, Chris Thomas, said he met with a Justice Department official in early February and was told the federal government was "satisfied" with Michigan's response to concerns raised last year.
Props in order for the MDP press office!
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