Tagged: republican

Value for Michigan, a political action committee that supports Governor Snyder's proposed budget, has released a video with kids asking their parents and grandparents to support "Governor Rick."

In the short 30 second ad, the children say:

• "Please be responsible with our future."
• "Don't pass the buck."
• "Don't leave it on us"
• "This is our one chance"
• "So there will be jobs"
• "Help Governor Rick change Michigan"
  

Michigan Republican Congressman Fred Upton of St. Joseph will head the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the next legislative session. The GOP won control of the House of Representatives in the November election.

The House Republican Steering Committee made the announcement yesterday.

As The Detroit Free Press explains, the committee, "oversees energy policy, automobile regulations, health care, food safety and more."

In a statement released yesterday, Upton said:

I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor, Whip McCarthy and the entire Republican Conference as we repeal Obamacare, fight rampant job-killing regulations, cut spending, and help put folks back to work. 

Upton has served on the committee since 1991.

Censure from Michigan's Supreme Court

This week, for the first time in state history, the Michigan Supreme Court publicly rebuked a former justice for violating court confidentiality. Former Justice Elizabeth Weaver was rebuked by the court for secretly taping deliberations and later making them public. Lessenberry says Weaver had been feuding for years with her fellow justices until she resigned this past summer after making a deal with Governor Granholm.

Kathy Barks Hoffman, of the Associated Press, has a great piece in the South Bend Tribune that takes a look at what went wrong for Democrats in the state before Election Day.  She writes:

Michigan Democrats started 2010 with their main candidate for governor withdrawing from the race, donors feeling the pinch of the poor economy and the drag of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's unpopularity hanging around their necks.

On November 2nd, Republicans won the Governor's office and the races for Attorney General and Secretary of State.  The GOP also widened their majority in the state Senate and won control of the state House of Representatives from the Democrats.

Hoffman notes that Democratic voters did not turn out to the polls like they did in the 2006 gubernatorial election.  She sites data from political strategist Ed Sarpolus that shows 300,000 fewer Democrats voted compared to four years ago.

Hoffman cites other reasons for the Democrat's loses:

• Independent voters swung toward the GOP
• Democrats didn't know very much about their candidates
• Democratic candidate for governor Virg Bernro couldn't match Republican candidate (and now governor-elect) Rick Snyder's fundraising
  

by Niala Boodhoo of Changing Gears

This week's election brought a new sheen of red to the Great Lakes states: with the Republican party seizing control of governorships and state houses across the region. In many cases, it was the first time the Republican Party has taken control since 2003. So what does this political reinvention mean for the region?

The economy was a familiar theme on election night. It was invoked to cheering crowds by each of the incoming governors of Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Republican governor-elect John Kasich of Ohio:

We're getting word this morning that Governor-elect Rick Snyder will meet with Govenror Granholm this morning in Detroit.  The Associated Press reports:

Snyder is expected to announce details of his transition team during an 11 a.m. news conference at the Book Cadillac hotel, then spend the rest of the day meeting with advisers and staff.

Snyder faces a projected $1.4 billion dollar deficit when he takes office on January 1st, and a state jobless rate of 13%.