Friends

Republican Kent County Commissioner Art Tanis announced Thursday he will not seek another term. Tanis, from Walker, said he will not seek a fifth term. From the GR Press:

WALKER -- Kent County Commissioner Art Tanis announced Thursday he will not seek another term. Tanis, R-Walker, said he will not seek a fifth term. Tanis, 65, said he wants to spend more time with his family, traveling after his wife retires this year.

Democrats should have a strong candidate for the seat which also includes northern Grand Rapids.

A map of the district (with 2006 data is below):

http://i303.photobucket.com/al...

Get involved: Come out to the rally on March 19th at 4:00 pm on Caulder Plaza.
Get informed on facebook (already 24,000 fans!).
Read yesterday's Press story.

As  you all know, I'm working with David LaGrand, so I'd love to see you head out and march with us in Grand Rapids. But whereever you are, help support your local candidates in their first parade of the year. It's fun and shows the strength of a campaign out of the blocks:

The parade season starts on Saturday, 13 March at 11:00 am. We hope that you will march with the LaGrand Team.  We'll marshal around 10:30 at the corner of Lyon and Ottawa in downtown Grand Rapids near the 5/3 Building and the new courthouse.

This is a fun and easy way to help the campaign. We'll be marching behind the new LaGrand for State Senate banner, passing out candy, waving signs, and generally having a good time.  Bring the entire family!  Your kids will love being in a parade.  Every marcher also gets a cool, free, special limited-edition green LaGrand St. Patrick's Day t-shirt (while supplies last!).  Bundle some warm long-sleeve t-shirts if you can so you can wear the short-sleeve shirt on the outside. Weather should be in the low-50s. You can just show up on Saturday, or better yet, RSVP to Phil at pskaggs@davidlagrand.com or 454-9790 or on facebook.

A Press Release from Dillon:

Kent County Sending $43,000 in Taxpayer Dollars to Wayne County Business
Commissioner Brandon Dillon's Local Vendor Preference Policy would have kept money in Kent County

(Grand Rapids)- At today's Kent County Commission meeting, Commissioner Brandon Dillon (D-Grand Rapids) spoke out against a recent decision by the Kent County Purchasing Department to award 2 contracts for pick up trucks to a Wayne County auto dealership. The two contracts, totaling just under $42,976 were awarded to Red Holman Buick, located in Westland, MI, even though two local dealers (Tony Betten Ford and Fox Ford) submitted bids that came in at a total of $43, 302, a difference of just $226 or less than .005% over the out of county bid.

"This is outrageous ," said Dillon. "What we are doing is using locally generated taxpayer dollars to subsidize economic activity on the other side of the state."

According to information provided last year by the Kent County Purchasing Department, over 60% of county contracts are currently awarded to businesses outside of Kent County . Commissioner Dillon recently introduced a resolution, currently pending before the Finance Committee, to give local vendors a chance to match a low bid when their original bid is withing 5% of that low bid.

"Unfortunately, Kent County businesses and taxpayers are losing out under our current purchasing policy," said Dillon. "The good news is, we have a chance to correct this and keep this money right here at home. Hopefully this recent example will move my proposal along as soon as possible"

Money that stays in our community is re-spent in our community, and so on, and so on. It's basic economic money multiplier. The sales rep at Fox Ford gets a sales commission and buys a bike for his daughter at the new bike store on Division, that business owner takes his family out to dinner at Brann's, the waitress at the resturant pays for cereal for her kids at Meijer (you get the point).  But this won't happen, because of dinosaur-accounting. Instead, that money is over in Detroit.

Brandon's press release for his idea of a Local First Policy in Kent County is on the flip....
Brandon Dillon Renews Call for Local First Policy in Kent County
Commissioner will offer resolution to encourage success of Kent County businesses.

( Grand Rapids )- Kent County Commissioner Brandon Dillon will introduce a resolution to give businesses located and paying taxes in Kent County a preference of 5% in the bidding for county contracts. Last year, Democratic Commissioners Keith Courtade, Pete Hickey and Robert Synk asked for a subcommittee to study the issue but were denied by the Board Chairman Roger Morgan (R-Rockford). Dillon hopes that new Board leadership, along with the increased urgency of keeping and creating jobs in Kent County will get this issue on the agenda immediately.

"It's time we stopped paying lip service to the idea of keeping jobs in Kent County ," said Dillon. "Allowing local businesses the opportunity to procure county contracts when the price differential between them and other vendors is small will keep dollars in our local economy, help create jobs and encourage other businesses to relocate to Kent County ."

According to information provided by the Purchasing Department and former Chair Morgan, over 60% of county contracts are currently awarded to businesses outside of Kent County . Commissioner Dillon is concerned about the outsourcing of county tax dollars, but also sees an opportunity to reinvest in our workforce and our small businesses.

"With the county spending of millions of dollars on outside contracts each year,  insuring that even a fraction of these contracts are awarded to local businesses would have beneficial effect on local businesses and job creation," said Dillon. "I think this is an issue that should generate bi-partisan agreement and I am hopeful the business community will get on board and help me get this moving as soon as possible."

Save the Date: Roy Schmidt's famous Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser is Friday, 7 May. See y'all there.  More information.

All West Michigan Democrats should plan to attend and vote at the Michigan Democratic Party's Endorsement Convention on April 17 at Cobo in Detroit. This is a historic convention where, for the first time, we'll endorse our candidates for Attorney General and Secretary of State.  The Party and the candidates need to know that West Michigan will make its voice heard and is a force within the movement. So, start organizing those carpools and get to Detroit in just 5 weeks!

To be able to cast your vote to endorse your favorite candidates, you need to be a locally elected precinct delegate or a member of the Michigan Democratic Party. Visit here to sign up or renew your MDP membership today! The deadline is Friday, 19 March 2010!  

Thank you to everyone who has responded to our call, asking for your help to determine what the Coalition for Progress and the legislature can do to move Michigan forward in 2010. Your responses, whether via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter have been extremely helpful.

While CFP is committed to protecting the Stem Cell ballot language and fighting for “Hire Michigan First” we want to give everyone a little more time to respond.

We want to hear from you!

For now, here are a few of the great responses that have come to us so far:

“I am a firm believer in a woman's right to choose...keep up the good fight” - Chris    

“Let's fulfill our promise for being a state with great educational institutions pre-K to Universities with great infrastructure for producing new work opportunities: life sciences, green industry, advanced technologies.” - Jayne

“The number one priority for me is Tax Reform. Reform our state's tax code to shift the tax burden off business and put the burden on personal income and services.”- Rich

We’re going to take the top 6 issues that you have suggested, and create a poll to further determine what you think are the areas of greatest need in our state. Check back here for updates, and thank you in advance for all the great responses.

At last night's meeting, the KCDP unanimously voted to endorse Jocelyn Benson to be the party's nominee for Secretary of State. The endorsement means that the County Party is encouraging all MDP members who attend the Endorsement Convention on 17 April to vote for Benson.

From the Benson campaign:

Breaking news out of Kent County tonight as the Kent County Democratic Party has just endorsed our campaign for Secretary of State! We are incredibly grateful for the support of all Kent County Dems!

The Kent County Democratic Party is one of the three largest County Parties in the state and it joins its friends in Oakland in being out front for Benson.

I'm voting for Jocelyn and encourage my brothers and sisters in other West Michigan County Parties to join us in supporting Benson for SoS.

The Detroit papers are reporting that Bart Stupak will have a primary challenger.  The move is both understandable, but also points to a potential fracturing in west Michigan politics.  Connie Saltonstall is a former county commissioner, who ran against Kevin Elsenheimer (MI 105) in 2008.  

As she expressed her reasons to the Free Press

"I believe that he has a right to his personal, religious views, but to deprive his constituents of needed health care reform because of those views is reprehensible"

We have largely found a way to keep both wings -- the pro-choice and the pro-life -- talking with one another here in Kent County.  The longer Health Care Reform founders, the more the impasse is seen as turning on that of abortion (an objection many observers find unfounded), the greater the risk to this alliance and to our ability to hold the gains we have made.  

It will take a great deal of wisdom and common sense for the party to maintain its unity in the light of these outside challenges. We have strong advocates on both sides of the abortion issue.  And with the upcoming election we will need everyone working together.  

No, but it looks like Bing does.

The last thing this country needs is more Bushenomics. We're still trying to recover from the Bush Recession. You just don't solve a problem by doing the same thing twice.
(Press Photo/Rex Larsen) from Grand Rapids Press story.

Happy International Women's Day to my wife, daughters, mother, and all the women in my life! You are all awesome.

Organizing for America Strategy Session on the 2010 Elections

Time: Saturday, March 13 from 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Host: Jennifer Warner
Contact Phone: 269.270.9466
Location: Eberhard Center, Rm 215 AB
301 West Fulton
Grand Rapids, MI 49504  

Join Organizing for America for our 2010 Strategy Briefing in your area. The Strategy Briefings are a chance to talk with OFA staff and other volunteers in your area about our legislative and electoral plan for 2010. As an organization, we have come a long way in the past year. We have lessons to learn from the budget pledge drive, health insurance reform and the Massachusetts Senate Race. Now is the time to bring those lessons together and look forward to 2010. There are countless opportunities to create change in the coming year and we have an important role to play in making that happen. As a team, we will talk about how to be involved in creating change in our country, both legislatively and electorally. We will talk through national strategy and discuss together what that means for our local community.

Looks like at least 100 people will be attending. I encourage them all to find a Democrat and march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade starting at Ottawa and Lyon at 10:45 am before heading over.

Looks like the GOP in the 6th Congressional District want some of the fun that is happening in the 3rd Congressional District in Grand Rapids:

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

KALAMAZOO - Jack Hoogendyk, a conservative Republican activist and former state representative from Texas Township, is testing the political waters for a potential August primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.mlive.com/news/kala...

It would be lovely to see another bitter GOP primary, but it would be even more enjoyable to see a strong Democratic candidate emerge for 2010. The 6th is even less of a GOP seat than the 3rd, so there is an opportunity for a strong candidate.

It has been just about one year since Secretary of State candidate Jocelyn Benson visited Kalamazoo College, her first stop in Kalamazoo on her indefatigable campaign for the Democratic nomination. I was there, and wrote about it for West Michigan Rising, one of many articles lost when our files disappeared in a server migration. As I recall, we had three students, her aide, 20th Senate candidate Mark Totten, and myself in the audience. Despite the small audience, she gave an animated and impassioned talk on her vision for voter protection, increasing citizen particiaption in elections, and every other aspect of the Michigan Dept. of State.

Today, having covered nearly every Michigan county over the past year, having spoken to the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party last August, and to hundreds of groups large and small across the state, she returned to Kalamazoo to a forum hosted by ObamaZoo, the continuing local expression of the grassroots Obama campaign.
She has refined her stump speech since the first time I heard it, but retains the urgency and passion for clean elections and for service to the citizens of Michigan that I remember. Nearly every Michigan Democrat has had the chance to hear her already, but if you have not, and can't make it to the Kent County Democratic Party meeting this coming Wednesday, then check out my You Tube video above. Jocelyn's background, life experiences (including working for the Southern Poverty Law Center), and values make her the best qualified candidate for this position that we have had for a very long time.

Her current list of endorsements includes 18 County Democratic Parties, John Conyers, eight State Senators, 19 State Representatives, and many, many other elected officials and party leaders across the state.

Her opponent for the nomination, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, has a campaign that could best be described as 'missing in action'. Nevertheless, Jocelyn is taking the quest for the nomination very seriously, and in addition to her treks across the state, is organizing supporters to get to the MDP endorsing convention on April 17. To participate in the endorsing convention, you must be a party member by March 18. If you are not a party member, join today!

Scheduled for the next Kent County Democratic Party Meeting, 10 March, 7:00 pm at the  Teamsters at 3315 Eastern.

* Secretary of State Candidate Jocelyn Benson
* Attorney General Candidate Richard Bernstein

and our friend Mark Brewer, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Should be an informative meeting.

New research shows there is a link between being politically active and personal happiness.

Brain food: does activism make you happy?, by Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian, 2 March 2010.

... the study flies in the face of the popular wisdom that happiness resides in creature comforts and relative affluence. Perhaps activism gives people a sense of purpose, or of agency or just a chance to hang out with other people. Most likely it does all of the above.

So, get your butt out there and work to make the world and your neighborhood a better place. And smile why you do it.  The first thing you can do is join the Michigan Democratic Party so  you can vote for our next Secretary of State and Attorney General at the 17 April Endorsement Convention and sign up to run as a precinct delegate so you can play a role in your County Democratic Party when new executive committees are elected in December. You can find out how to do both in Scotty's great resource diary.

Races are getting more and more clear as we enter March.

On the Democratic side for Governor, Dan Kildee has decided not to run asserting that it would cause a split in in both labor and progressive organizations between himself and Virg Bernero.  Not wanting to see that, Kildee has stepped aside.  All due respect to Alma Wheeler Smith, I don't expect this field to change, we now have a Bernero v Dillon primary.

Former State Representative Jerry Kooiman also bowed out of a race for Congress in the 3rd district and endorsed Steve Heacock.  Clearly, Kooiman didn't want to leave his high-paying and probably very fulfilling job with the new MSU medical school. And, the East/Business Establishment (minus the DeVos clan) are trying to rally around Heacock to prevent the Amash Catastrophe.  So, I think we've got our field in the 3rd: Justin Amash, Bill Hardiman and Steve Heacock. The only other person who could still get in is Terri Lynn Land, who I think will eventually get in near the deadline after a Bouchard drop-out.

Bing Goei has announced he's running for the 75th State House District (eastern Grand Rapids).

I'll let my readers comment on the photo images Goei's campaign got out.

And so, the Civil War within the Kent County Republican Party expands. It's a battle royal between the Establishment and Teapublicans.
Interesting that no Teapublican has entered the 29th State Senate race.

In another ill-kept secret, Steven Heacock entered the race for the Third Congressional Seat.  In an era of petulant Republicanism (see Mike Bishop, Jim Bunning), Heacock comes across as something of an adult.  Whatever else he is, Heacock is definitely a downtown man -- or perhaps we should say a Pill Hill Man.  Oh, let's just say it: he's Establishment.  

This candidacy naturally stands in contrast to Justin Amash's Tea Partying. But it also exposes the weakness of the Cultural Warriors to the west.  The Grandville crowd are now stuck with the lackluster campaign of Bill Hardiman.  

Money, not babies looks to be the dominant issue for the GOP. And that paradoxically opens up another avenue for an enterprising Dem candidates: let's talk about family values.  The good news is that we have Democrats able to step up and position themselves as champions of real family values. This is definite good news for Bob Synk, Jim Talen, David LaGrand, and perhaps even the eventual Democratic candidate for the Third Congressional.

Revised offshore wind farm proposal goes to Oceana, Mason county boards, by Dave Alexander, Muskegon Chronicle, 3 March.

They've moved all the turbines to 4 miles offshore (the original proposal had some as close as two-miles). An improvement, though I'd still like to see them go out to at least 6-8 miles offshore. Let's get this right the first time. The big lake is transcendent since you can't see the other side. It tells us something about hte human condidtion. It's spritually meaningful, we shouldn't ruin that.