Friday, April 18, 2008

7th District Democratic Convention April 18



Tomorrow, April 19th, Democrats across the state are going to be meeting to elect delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Those delegates, elected by congressional district, may or may not be seated in Denver, because Michigan broke the rules. But that's an entirely different issue.

So why am I writing about it here? Is it because Fitzy is a candidate for Uncommitted delegate and is trolling for votes? Well, yes and no. I am a candidate for one of the Uncommitted delegate spots, but the change in date to April 19th has made it impossible for me to attend the district convention (originally, it was scheduled for March 29). So I've given up on actually getting elected. (Mind you, if I were elected, I'd be thrilled to go to Denver.)

But there's something much more important than electing delegates to the DNC. This is going to be a gathering of some of the most dedicated Democratic activists in the district. What better time to talk about ways to defeat Tim Walberg? This is a phenomenal opportunity to collaborate and discuss and plan. And, sadly, I'm going to be missing it.

But I'd love to hear some first-hand accounts. If you're going, take advantage of it! Connect with Democratic leaders and build a winning campaign! And, please, report back to me. I want to hear about it. I really, really wish I could be there.

Sound like something worth doing? If you're a registered Democrat and eligible to participate in the 7th District convention (see the Delegate Selection Plan), consider attending tomorrow at:

UAW Region 1-C Hall
1002 E. South Street
Jackson, MI

Go, support the party, and help build the effort to vote Tim Walberg out of office.



...

Oh, and that other thing, about electing delegates to the Democratic National Convention? Sure, that's important too. The 7th District gets five delegates, three of whom will be for Senator Hillary Clinton and two for Uncommitted.

Below is the list of Uncommitted delegate candidates for the 7th District, via Michigan Liberal. I am somewhere on that list, though I'm not wild about broadcasting my actual name for all to see. If you're interested in voting for me at the district convention, contact me personally if you really want to know my name. If you figure it out (not really that hard to do) or guess correctly and leave it in the comments, however, I'm afraid I'll have to delete that comment. Like I said, I don't want my name out there for everyone to see. There are lots of people on the internet, and not all are friendly.

ABBEY, BRENDA 07 F
BASIR, AMINAH 07 F
BOBILLO, MARTA 07 F
BOLGOS, MARJORIE 07 F
BREHLER, JOSEPH 07 M
BRENNAN, FRANCES 07 F
COOPER, CYRUS 07 M
DE CONINCK, BRIAN 07 M
DEVINE, JACK 07 M
DILSAVER, DOROTHY 07 F
EAGLE, MARK 07 M
HARRINGTON, REBA 07 F
KENNEDY- WINDSOR, JEAN 07 F
LASKOWSKY, AMBER 07 F
LUKELA, JENNIFER 07 F
MC NAMARA, ALYSSA 07 F
MUSKO, ELSA 07 F
SIBLEY, FRANCES 07 F
SMIGIELSKI, LEONARD 07 M
STRACK, FREDRICK 07 M
TENNIS, JACQUELYN 07 F
WALTER, SANDRA 07 F

A few interesting names I noticed on first glance. Fred Strack was the second-place finisher in the 2006 Democratic primary for the 7th District. Frances Sibley is the head of the Lenawee County Democratic Party, and Leonard Smigielski is the head of the Jackson County Democratic Party and is the 7th District chair. I recognize a couple of other names, too, but can't quite place them right now.

Also via Michigan Liberal, here's the Clinton delegate candidate list for the 7th District:
ANDERSON, THOMAS                07 M
ATHANS, THOMAS 07 M
BOWMAN, JOAN 07 F
BROWN, R. KENT 07 M
BYRD, JONATHAN 07 M
BYRNES, PAMELA 07 F
CAUGHEY, ERICAH 07 F
DILLINGER, ZACHARY 07 M
DIPONIO, ROSEMARY 07 F
FELD, EDWARD 07 M
FIX, RAYMOND 07 M
FREEMAN, GLENN 07 M
GRANNING, NEIL 07 M
HARRIS, ROGER 07 M
INGELS, MICHAEL 07 M
MUNN, MARTIN 07 M
NACHT, DAVID 07 M
PATRICK, KEVIN 07 M
RATTI, JOSEPH 07 M
SANDERS, ROSETTA 07 F
SHAVER, ANDREW 07 M
TENNIS, DARRELL 07 M
TIMEUS-MC ELROY, MELANIE 7 F
TODD, CHARLES 07 M
WHITLEY, MICHAEL 07 M
WIMPLE, RONALD 07 M
From the Michigan Liberal diary, some of these names have been rejected by the Clinton campaign, but it's unclear which. Either way, a few names jump out again. Pam Byrnes is a state representative, David Nacht is a former congressional candidate, and Rosemary DiPonio is the head of the Eaton County Democrats.

Regardless of your presidential candidate preference, if you're planning on attending tomorrow, I'd encourage you to help lay the foundation for our campaign against Tim Walberg.

Comments:
Fitzy, I wanted to attend as well, and would have on the 29th, but had commitments I coudn't break, when they moved the date. Also, Kent Brown is Pam Byrnes husband ond the owner of All-Tech Business Products.
 
I was able to attend, and Mark Schauer spoke for about 10-15 minutes. I did not see Sharon Renier.

I think Leonard Smigielski missed an opportunity to get people enthused to defeat Walberg. He basically just introduced important people in attendance.

I don't know who the delegates for Hillary Clinton are. The Uncommitted delegates are Democratic county chairs Fran Sibly and Leonard Smigielski.
 
Fitzy, if you were chosen as an uncommitted delegate would you have been able to vote for Russ Feingold at the convention? That would have been cool.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't help you with that, being from Missouri and everything, but I think its really great that you became a candidate for delegate.

Keep up the good work here, and keep going Forward.
 
I am pissed. I just got an update from "Conservative" Congressman Tim Walberg's office. Here is the quote that got me going:

"We absolutely must bring down the price at the pump, and politicians must take practical steps to reduce gas prices."

Many of the people who read and post on this site are liberals. I cannot find much to agree with you on those topics, but one thing I do agree on is that Tim Walberg has got to go. He is an insult to conservative causes. He is a liar and a double-talking politician. I'd rather have Democrat Mark Schauer be my lying Congressman than that creep Walberg.

What part of being conservative does Walberg fail to grasp? Gas is a commodity. The free market sets the price. Leave it alone. Quit meddling in it and quit pandering to the masses demanding that Congress act on gas prices.

Walberg campaigned on a conservative platform. Less government. But, here he is proposing incentives and new laws which will further muddy the waters of free and open commmerce. His campaign was a sham and so is he.
 
He's worried about gas prices, but taxes on that gas help pay for the roads we drive on.

While I don't like paying these high prices, I understand the free market. We're still paying a whole lot less then those in Europe!

Arn't our current Pres and VP big oilmen? What have they done to help, other than shut down refineries and make us more depending on the Arabs? I might respect Wally if he stood up to the administration and demanded they actually did something!

BTW, I've yet to hear anything from him about widening I-94. It has apparently fallen off, or never was on, his radar. I'm willing to guess the latter.

Think about that next time you are behind two trucks which take three miles to pass each other at 62 mph.
 
I just had a thought.

A few weeks ago, Walberg talked about stricter enforcement of trade rules. Now he is talking about subsidizing alternative energy and oil exploration. He has also been a huge fan of some of those crazy pork projects in the Farm Bill.

Here is my theory. The Club for Growth is NOT going to bankroll him this election. Either they are going to get ticked off that he has strayed from the Club line of thought and dump him or, my guess, they already told him they were not coming to the rescue again and he is "adopting" more reasonable positions. And by "adopting," I mean that he fibbed earlier to get that Club for Growth money and he really is just a sleazy politician who will do and say anything to get money and votes. Now that he needs actual Michigan voters to fund his election, he takes some positions which run contrary to Wall Street's needs and more in line with his district's.

Ahhh... The evolution of a slimeball Congressman...

Anyone have any thoughts?
 
The Club for Growth's latest vote alert, quote:

"NO" on Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act (H.R. 5613)

The Club for Growth urges Members of the House to vote "NO" on the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act (H.R. 5613), which is expected to be voted on today under suspension. This key vote will be scored on the Club for Growth's 2008 Congressional Scorecard.

The bill would prevent the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing rules that would cut down on fraud and abuse, and would also close loopholes used by the states to inappropriately extract more matching dollars from the federal government.

Over the long run, this bill would cost billions of dollars and would unwind a lot of the cost savings made in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006. We also object to this bill being considered under suspension of the rules. Instead, this bill deserves extensive debate and should be amendable. The White House has threatened a veto on this bill, stating that preventing the regulations from being implemented would cost too much and would threaten the fiscal integrity of Medicaid.
--end quote

How did Tim Walberg vote? He voted to pass the bill in defiance of the Club for Growth. He is NOT getting their money and he is not voting with them. They cannot honestly raise money for him now that he is abandoning their causes.

Schauer's campaign should publicly applaud Walberg for abandoning his Club for Growth backers and their extreme conservative agenda. That would dry up Walberg's high-rollers and his nation-wide network of fiscally conservative backers. They would see that his 2006 campaign was a sham and a lie and the enthusiaism for their "conservative" would dry up. Maybe then they would go back to electing idiots in their own districts instead of ours.
 
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