Not only is Dick DeVos running for Michigan's top seat, it appears he is using his vast resources to try to take out Jim Doyle in Wisconsin, too, apparently using some of the same tactics he is using against Granholm.
If you recall, Dick sent threatening letters to Michigan TV stations after the MDP aired it's first ad on DeVos.
What comes around, goes around....
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An ad attacking Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle is being taken off the air after an attorney for the governor's chief of staff wrote a letter to television stations saying it was full of lies.
A spokesman for the group that paid for the ad, Michigan-based All Children Matter, said the ad is being replaced with another one and not being pulled in response to the letter from Lester Pines, a Madison lawyer hired by Doyle chief of staff Susan Goodwin.
All Children Matter was formed by Dick and Betsy DeVos to push private school vouchers. Betsy is the group's chairwoman.
George Mitchell of Milwaukee, who represents All Children Matter in Wisconsin, said the ad could be put back in rotation at a later date.
Pines said it was curious that the group was replacing the ad 72 hours after he sent his letter to the stations in Milwaukee and Green Bay complaining that the ad contains "false and defamatory statements about Susan Goodwin."
In the meantime, however, All Children Matter submitted a new ad that began running Tuesday, Carmichael said. That spot shows people on the street telling Doyle that they believe his administration is corrupt and can't be trusted. Goodwin is not mentioned.
Are they disappointed too? I bet they are. This sounds like the same attack ad DeVos used against Granholm awhile back.
Problem is, the ad has nothing to do with school vouchers and everything to do with Wisconsin's race for governor. Doyle is running for re-election against Republican Mark Green.
Dick and Betsy want to stretch the empire past Michigan. Wouldn't it be nice to have a governor in Wisconsin who owes them some favors?
But the group's ad has nothing to do with that subject. Mitchell said it pays for ads relevant to current events in various states and the biggest issue in Wisconsin now is what he called an "ethical cloud over the Doyle administration."
Doyle's campaign spokesman Anson Kaye issued a statement Tuesday saying the ad Pines objected to was a blatant attempt to smear the governor and his top staff.
Basically they are trying to tie Goodwin to another staffer who was found guilty of steering state contracts and then tie that all back to Jim Doyle. For the breakdown of the deception that DeVos tried to paint, go read the whole story.
Further proof that DeVos has aspirations that go well beyond Michigan. His money, and the influence it brings, reaches far across this country into other states and right up to Washington DC.
The Detroit Metro Times has an article today that outlines the vast DeVos right-wing connections. Well worth a read.