michigan republican party

Trump to speak at Oakland County fundraiser

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:32:48 +0000

“The Donald” is coming to Oakland County.

The real estate mogul and television star is scheduled to speak today at the Lincoln Day Dinner at the Suburban Collection Showcase convention center in Novi.

Lincoln Day is an annual fundraising event for state and county Republican Party organizations. Tickets to the meal start at $750.

Who will the Republicans put up for U.S. Senate?

Stateside Staff — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:11:23 +0000

Who might be the Republicans' best hope of winning Michigan's Senate seat?

Republican strategist Dennis Lennox joined us today.

We asked him why a Republican hasn't jumped into the race yet and who their ideal candidate might be.

Listen to the full interview above.

Michigan restriction on presidential candidates OK

The Associated Press — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:23:06 +0000

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A federal appeals court has no problem with a Michigan law that bars a presidential candidate from running in the general election after losing in the primary for another political party.

The lawsuit was filed by the Libertarian Party after the secretary of state kept Gary Johnson off the ballot last fall. He'd lost earlier in 2012 as a candidate in Michigan's Republican Party primary.

A three-judge panel at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said Wednesday that Michigan's law is constitutional.

The ruling affirms an earlier decision by Detroit federal Judge Paul Borman.

The latest on Snyder and the Republican party

Stateside Staff — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:00:31 +0000

Let's talk relationships - political relationships.

Governor Snyder wants $1.2 billion a year for rebuilding of Michigan roads. He has also proposed increased gas taxes and vehicle registration fees, which haven't gone over well with state Republicans.

He's also said he wants to expand Medicaid using money from the federal government under provisions in the Affordable Care Act, which hasn't been warmly received by Republicans either.

So where does this rift leave the Republican party, and what does it say about Governor Snyder and his leadership style?

Schostak re-elected as chairman of Michigan GOP

The Associated Press — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:22:42 +0000

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Republicans are sticking with their party leader as the GOP tries to keep complete control of state government in 2014.

Bobby Schostak was narrowly re-elected chairman Saturday at Republicans' state convention in Lansing. He fended off a challenge from tea party enthusiast Todd Courser.

Schostak supporters credit him for helping the GOP maintain control of the state House and Supreme Court in 2012 despite President Barack Obama's and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow's easy wins in Michigan. Schostak detractors say Republicans had a lousy year.

Michigan House Republicans release their 2013-2014 plan

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:44:48 +0000

Earlier today, Michigan House Republicans announced their plan for the 2013-2014 legislative session.

They call their plan, "Brighter Days Ahead: 2013-14 House Republican Action Plan for Hard-Working Michigan Taxpayers.

Speaker of the House John Bolger (R-Marshall) said this in their press release this morning:

"We are once again presenting the people we serve with a detailed, common-sense approach to resolving challenges that Michigan's hard-working men and women are facing,"

House Republicans say they plan on tackling the following issues:

States could make sweeping changes to Electoral College

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:27:15 +0000

In his commentary this morning, Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry pointed to what he is calling a Republican plan to rig presidential election results.

Currently, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in that state.

The final push to election day in Michigan

The Associated Press — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:59:00 +0000

DETROIT (AP) - Michigan Democrats and Republicans are doing everything they can to make sure as many of their fellow state residents as possible show up at the polls.

GOP spokeswoman Kelsey Knight says campaign staffers and volunteers are knocking on 200,000 doors and making 500,000 calls in this final week alone to encourage voters to show up. And to vote Republican, of course.

Democrats are doing the same, but they didn't provide specific numbers.

It's not clear what voter turnout will be like in the state, though.

Kent County GOP rallies around Hoekstra, Amash, and R-turned-D Roy Schmidt

Lindsey Smith — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 03:34:14 +0000

Now that the primary is over, Kent County Republicans are working to get more people to rally behind their nominees.

Even Democrat-turned-Republican State Representative Roy Schmidt Schmidt was among the GOP nominees at a unity rally in Grand Rapids Wednesday night.

He narrowly defeated a write-in candidate who decided to challenge Schmidt in the wake of a criminal investigation into Schmidt's party switch. No charges were brought in the case. However, the Secretary of State's office is still investigating allegations Schmidt violated campaign finance laws.

Commentary: Perpetrating a fraud

Jack Lessenberry — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:26:30 +0000

Jase Bolger, the Speaker of Michigan’s House of Representatives, secretly conspired with State Representative Roy Schmidt of Grand Rapids to perpetrate a fraud on the people.

They did that by trying to rig an election.

Rep. Roy Schmidt, GOP leader, apologize for recruiting fake Democrat in party switch

Lindsey Smith — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 23:10:10 +0000

The Kent County Prosecutor says a state representative who switched political parties minutes before an election filing deadline may have committed election fraud. But the review concludes Democrat-turned-Republican Roy Schmidt did not do anything criminal.

You can view the full report here.

The prosecutor’s investigation shows Roy Schmidt (R-Grand Rapids) worked with House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) to switch parties and run as a Republican.

Commentary: Republican Arrogance of Power

Jack Lessenberry — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:35:37 +0000

For the last fifteen months, Republicans have controlled everything in sight in Lansing -- the House, the Senate, the governor’s office and the Supreme Court.

A conversation with David Hecker, Pres. of AFT in Michigan

Jennifer White and Mercedes Mejia — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:51:31 +0000

The Republican-led legislature approved a measure that would prohibit schools from automatically deducting union dues from the paychecks of school employees last week.

Those in support of the measure say it puts more money in the pockets of employees who can then choose to write a check to their union. Opponents say it’s another attempt at union busting.

David Hecker, President of the American Federation of Teachers in Michigan spoke with Michigan Radio's Jennifer White.

One week after the MI primary, Santorum continues to dispute results

Rick Pluta and Zoe Clark — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:48:31 +0000

Though the state's primary was almost a week ago, the Rick Santorum campaign is continuing to dispute the primary's results. The campaign has taken their fight over the way the Michigan Republican Party apportioned two of the state's at-large delegates to the Republican National Committee.

The campaign is also organizing a rally to be held later today in front of the Michigan Republican headquarters in Lansing. Santorum supporters will call on Michigan GOP leaders to reconsider their decision to award both the party’s statewide delegates to Mitt Romney.

They say party leaders changed the rules to avoid awarding one apiece to Romney and Santorum, who ran a close second in last week’s Michigan primary and won half of the state’s congressional districts.

Last week, after the committee voted in favor of giving the two at-large delegates to Romney, Mike Cox, the state's former Attorney General - and Romney supporter - called the decision, "kind of like third world voting."

A state Republican spokesman says that decision is now in the hands of the national GOP and calls the rally a needless distraction from the focus on helping Republicans win in November.

We took a closer look at the controversy over so-called "dele-gate" on Friday. You can take a listen at the link above.

Santorum campaign requests investigation of Michigan GOP

Rick Pluta — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:25:24 +0000

Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign has formally asked the Republican National Committee to investigate the actions of Michigan GOP leaders following Tuesday’s presidential primary.

The Santorum campaign delivered a letter to the Republican National Committee requesting the inquiry.

Santorum says it appears supporters of Mitt Romney engineered a rule-change after Tuesday’s vote to ensure Romney got more delegates than he deserved following a very-thin victory in the overall Republican primary vote.

The letter offers a list of six questions that were raised concerning how the Michigan Republicans decided to award 16 delegates to Romney and 14 to Santorum.

The letter says the issue is not who should get a delegate, but the openness and transparency of the process.

Michigan Republican leaders say the rules were not changed after the fact, but the party did a poor job of explaining its plan on how delegates would be allocated.