Film incentive backers held an impromptu rally in GR on Tuesday, the timing and message aimed at critic Rick Snyder who was in town for a campaign appearance. Grand Rapids City Commissioner James White, Hopwood DePree of TicTock Studios, local business owners, and people now working in films sang the industry's praises and told the crowd of around 120 to call lawmakers and voice support for the credits. Should we count this as Rick's first protest?How goes the war? Nine shopping days left until the shouting stops...
7.28 million voters are now registered in Michigan - 95.5% of the voting population. That's up from 7.18 million in '06. The SOS wants to remind you to bring your ID, and we certainly do too. You never know when one of those Republican lawyers will hassle you...
... because Richard DeVos is putting up some bucks to make sure they do just that. Daddy Amway recently contributed $150,000 to the Republican National Lawyers Association, currently conducting what it calls an "unprecedented" series of election law training seminars for the midterms. These are the guys that target "districts and areas where voter fraud is a concern" (read: minority) and had their fingers in the ACORN and New Black Panthers nonsense as well.
Tim Walberg commits one of the most egregious examples of Photoshop image manipulation in this year's election, removing four people out of a photo to portray Schauer and Pelosi standing together. Gotta see it to believe it. Stalin would be so proud - but do the people in the 7th want a representative who would flat-out lie to constituents like that? Hope not.
A sleeper upset may be brewing in the 3rd CD race between Justin Amash and Pat Miles. The latest EPIC poll confirms that Amash is losing Republicans while Miles is retaining Democrats, Amash having higher unfavorables and running below 50% at this point. Miles released a 2nd list of Republican endorsements this week - and put 'em in a commercial as well. Sure would be fun to shock all the prognosticators on this one.
Peter Luke seems to think that we are heading for solid Republican control of government in Michigan, and I can't say I disagree with his assessment of Democratic strategy this year. I'm not going to get into that now; let's just say that after the election, some decisions need to be made about party direction and cohesion - and my guess is it won't be pretty.
Along that line, the Freep endorses Rick Snyder this morning. They think he will be able to be "independent" from his party's extremist goals. Stop laughing. It's not funny. But hey, I hope they are right. I hope he is able to stand up to all the craziness we are already starting to see, actions like Republicans passing more restrictions on reproductive rights and suggestions that the poor need to be legislated when it comes to spending money. And if the Republicans are a problem? Rick says he will hold town halls to bring "voter pressure" on legislators. Seems to me that has already been tried before...
An agreement has been reached setting up an environmental trust fund for cleaning up the "Old GM" sites; this largest-in-history fund of $773 million will be divided up between 14 states, with Michigan getting $159 million to scrub 57 sites. Nine sites in Flint and four in Ypsilanti will receive over half of the funds - $35.7 for Willow Run alone. Check the list for a site near you - but don't get the mops out just yet. This still has to clear bankruptcy court in NY, expected early next year.
Speakers at the Engineering Society of Detroit’s 2011 Economic Forecast for Design and Construction have a generally positive outlook on Michigan's recovery: "If there is a silver lining to the collapse of the auto industry . . . it has exposed that we do have other things here". Renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, the film industry (again!), bioscience, IT work, health care and education, all cited as ways we are diversifying and growing right now. And with the auto industry expected to keep adding jobs as car sales increase, the more the merrier. Good thing we had leadership that put us on this path, right?
One last political note: Thanks go to Bill Clinton for coming to the state to help with GOTV efforts today. Not one, not two, but three appearances will be held, starting at noon in Detroit with Bernero, followed by a 2PM in Ann Arbor with Dingell, and finishing up at 6PM in Battle Creek with Schauer. I'll be at the Battle Creek show, looking forward to seeing the President again. Gotta hand it to the Clintons - they are tireless troopers.
Have a great day!