Saturday, August 19, 2006

Media takes note of DeVos mudslinging in Honda attack ad
Is this the awakening of that sleeping giant we call the fourth estate? Between Skubick's editorial yesterday and this piece from Kathy Barks Hoffman, there is a glimmer of hope that the press is waking up to the DeVos campaign's fabrications and obfuscations and isn't amused anymore.

Apparently this ad is causing quite a stir.


LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A new ad launched Friday by GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos criticizes Gov. Jennifer Granholm for "being left out of the game" when it came to pursuing a new Honda plant.

Honda Motor Co. announced in late June that it would be building its $550 million assembly plant in Greensburg, Ind. DeVos said then that Granholm should have visited Honda Motor Co. during her trade mission to Japan in May.

"I probably would have found time to visit Honda," he told a group of business leaders in Detroit.

"Probably"? Truth is, DeVos probably could not have met with them. According to the Granholm campaign quoting an AP article- the "company does not look favorably on meetings with Governors in the latter stages of their decision making process". DeVos didn't even know the protocol. Not a good sign.

The Granholm entourage did visit Honda in May.

Although Granholm didn't meet personally with Honda officials on that trade trip, she said she and her aides worked hard to land the Honda project.

"I met with them one year ago, and we also presented them a proposal - my team did - when they were in Japan" in May, she said earlier this summer. She added that 2005 and 2006 trips to Japan resulted in 22 companies promising to bring over 1,000 jobs and $240 million in investment to Michigan.


Hoffman points out that, once again, Dick is using images that are false, just as he did with the Grand Rapids ad (pictures from the 60's/70's) and his very first ad showing empty buildings that weren't really all that empty. Artistic license? Not when it is done repeatedly. At that point, it becomes part of the overall attempt at deception.

The DeVos ad shows footage of a backhoe surrounded by debris as a building is being torn down. But it doesn't disclose that the building is a GM assembly plant in Lansing that included parts more than 100 years old.

GM replaced that plant with a state-of-the-art assembly plant in nearby Delta Township. The plant will make the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave crossover vehicles starting later this year.


The article goes on to say that the claims stated in the ad about the Honda deal are not true.

In the DeVos ad, an announcer says, "The press reports Indiana's governor pursued Honda for a year, while Gov. Granholm was blindsided - only got interested 'at the 11th hour.'"

But Michigan was among five states - Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois - that vied for the plant and its 2,000 jobs after Honda announced in May it would build a plant in the Midwest.

Auto analyst David Cole said only Indiana and Ohio were seriously in contention for the Honda project, which the company said it wanted to put in the upper Midwest. Honda has assembly plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio, and many nearby suppliers.

"I don't think Michigan was ever in the running," said Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.


And once again, DeVos distorts what the press has said- just as he did with his first attack ad on Granholm that both the Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal immediately objected to.

The New York Times article the ad cites said that the governor "was criticized last month when Michigan did not actively compete for a Honda plant that will be built in Indiana," but the article did not level that criticism itself.


No, that criticism came from DeVos and other Republicans, and what he essentially did was put those words into the mouth of the New York Times.

Maybe we will see an editorial from the Times next.

This new ad has given John Truscott a chance to spew some of the standard talking points and toss out a few more misdirections. Can this guy ever answer a straight question?


"Time and time again, there is evidence that we have missed opportunities and our families have had to pay the price," he said in a statement. "Michigan's unemployment rate is at 7 percent. ... Michigan is second in the nation for out-of-state moves. The list goes on and on. Something must change."


"Time and time again"? Does Truscott have proof of that? And, even if he can "name names"- since DeVos is obviously lying about Honda, will he then lie about any of the so-called other "missed opportunities"? As far as the 7 percent rate- that was due to standard auto plant shutdowns that happen every July.

John dodges the obvious question- why is DeVos slinging mud when he just ran two ads saying that he would stay out of the mud? Doesn't that make Dick... oh, what's the word... a hypocrite?


Asked why DeVos decided to go negative after saying in a recent ad that slinging mud doesn't help bring jobs to the state, Truscott said: "The mood of the public is negative. The Michigan economy is negative. A lot of bad stuff is going on out there, and this governor doesn't recognize it."


Maybe John can't hear very well. That wasn't the question, and that certainly wasn't an answer to the question, but it gives them a chance to advance their completely negative view of our state. It's no wonder no one wants to come here with ads like this running all the time. Why does Dick DeVos hate Michigan?

John also fails to mention the mood of the whole country is negative, but again this was only a deflection and an attempt to bounce it all back on Granholm. The fact is that the DeVos campaign is the one being negative, and has been negative about our state from the beginning.

Brewer comes right out and says this ad is a lie.


"DeVos already had the record for the most money spent on a Michigan gubernatorial campaign, but now it looks like he will have the record for the most negative attack ads," said Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer. "The DeVos ad about Honda is an outright lie."

And the Granholm team was ready- and has an amazing page knocking down every point in the ad.

The ad is a lie. Governor Granholm met with Honda and made an effort to get them to come to Michigan. The DeVos campaign has gone negative and is fabricating a story for this attack.


The media is finally noticing the inconsistencies in Dick's rhetoric and advertising. That is crucial- campaigns will say what they say- but when the press calls it out, people will take note.

The question is: How can anyone trust DeVos after all of this?