Classy.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), the top GOPer on the House Intelligence Committee, is using the Christmas Day terror attack on a Detroit-bound airliner to raise money for his MI GOV race.

In a letter to potential donors, Hoekstra uses the incident -- in which a Nigerian man tried to light explosives concealed in his pants in order to bring down the plane -- to bash "weak-kneed liberals" he says threaten national security.

Whether it's playing politics by blocking President Obama's nominees for key security posts in the administration or attempting to fundraise of off an apparent attempted terrorist attack, the GOP is plainly showing the country that it simply is not serious about the issue of national security. While Republicans continue to play for headlines like the one today in Politico -- GOP seizes on terror issue (in other words, dog chases mailman) -- when it comes to actual security rather than scoring political points, the GOP is clearly deficient.

There's more...

I've had a great time following and writing about the Gov. Jennifer Granholm reelection campaign from afar this season, and I'll miss it when it's done. But in the meantime, there's work to be done. If you're a Michigander (or Michiganian) in residency (or allegiance), ask yourself: What are you doing to help get out the vote tomorrow? There's less than 36 hours left to go before polls close, and even less time left to help make a difference.

It's now or never and there are many things you can do to make sure we leave no rock unturned, or in this case, no voter left behind. The Michigan Democratic Party needs your help making phone calls and knocking on doors to remind people to vote and to let them know where to vote. You would be surprised how many people forget it's Election Day. If you aren't inclined to call or canvass for Michigan voters, what about offering up a couple of hours to give rides to polls?

Below, more GOTV ideas, an excerpt from a Granholm mailing, and details on where you can go to help re-elect our movie star guv, J. Grho.

If none of these options float your boat, go to this Granholm for Governor page and send a quick email to 10 of your friends, family, neighbors or coworkers reminding them to vote. When you look back on November 8th, you should unequivocally believe with all your heart that you did everything possible to get out the vote.

I've put some more helpful GOTV info further down in this post, but first -- like perhaps many of you, this morning I got a letter from Gov. Granholm in my email inbox. I quite liked the end of it, so here it is:

I am a Governor who works hard every day, for everyday people. My opponent, time and again, has made decisions to help himself and the fortunate few at Michigan's expense.

In the past four years, I've cut more out of state government than any Governor in state history. I've set in motion the most comprehensive and aggressive jobs plan in the nation. And I've protected and invested in education and health care and public safety for all Michigan citizens. We've made incredible progress, but there is a lot more still to be done.

Tomorrow, Michigan votes. I'm depending on you to help me keep our plan, and our vision of Michigan's future, alive. Forward this email to your friends and family and remind them to vote. Get on the phone and make sure that everyone knows what is at stake. You can make the difference in this election.

Sincerely,

Well said. I said I've had fun watching this race go from looking sort of grim to looking like a key retention. But I'm going to find it more interesting these next four years watching as Gov. Granholm continues to put the state back in the right direction.

In the meantime, I put together a table showing information with phone numbers about all the Democratic Party headquarters around the state (of course, cribbed from the state party website). If you can help, these are the numbers you should call:

(Sorry, I don't know why the code is pushing it so far down the page. You'll just have to scroll...)

  Southwest Detroit

7000 W. Fort St.

Detroit, MI 48209

Phone:   (313) 887-6564 x6525

    Far West Detroit

19307 W. Warren Ave

Detroit, MI 48228

 

 

    Eastside Detroit

15240 E. 7 Mile Rd.

Detroit, MI 48205

Phone:   (313) 371-3104

   

Northwest Detroit

18963 Livernois

Detroit, MI 48221

Phone:   (313) 887-6520

 

 

    Marquette Office

130 W. Washington, Suite U-1

Marquette, MI 49855

Phone:   (906) 226-3160

    Escanaba Office

1320 Ludington St.

Escanaba, MI 49829

Phone: 906-786-0501

 

 

    Muskegon Office

275 W. Sherman Ave.

Muskegon, MI 49444

Phone Number: (231) 739-2809

    Grand Rapids Office

909 Cherry St.

Grand Rapids, MI 49506

Phone: (616) 451-0748

Fax: (616) 451-9607

 

 

    Traverse City Office

Grand Traverse County Democratic Party

955 E. Eighth St.

Traverse City, MI

Phone:   (231) 946-5555

    Flint Office

877 E. Fifth Ave.

Flint, MI 48503

Phone Number: (810) 233-0575

 

 

    Saginaw Office

126 N. Franklin

Saginaw 48607

Phone Number: (800) 220-1034

    Kalamazoo Office

3254 Westnedge Ave

Kalamazoo, MI 49003

Phone: (269) 342-4217

Fax: (269) 342-4757

 

 

    Battle Creek

91 W. Michigan Ave

Battle Creek, MI 49015

Phone Number: (269) 962-0447

    Jackson Office

218 S. Mechanic St.

Jackson, MI 49201

Phone Number: (517) 783-6980

 

 

    Lansing Office

1703 E. Michigan Ave.

Lansing, MI 48912

Phone: (517) 482-7250

    Royal Oak Office

515 S. Lafayette

Royal Oak, MI 48067

Phone: (248) 584-0510

Fax: (248) 584-1020

 

 

    Waterford Office

4520 Dixie Hwy

Waterford, MI  48329

Phone: (248) 674-7516

    Pontiac Office

41 Glenwood

Pontiac, MI 48342

Phone: (248) 636-3978

              (248) 636-3979;

 

 

    Livonia Office

13740 Merriman

Livonia, MI 48150

Phone Number: (734) 367-0490



    Mt. Clemens Office

230 North Ave

Mt. Clemens, MI 48043

Phone: (586) 463-3990

Fax: (586) 463-8330

 

 

    Warren Office

8322 E. 12 Mile Road

Warren, MI 48093

Phone: (586) 558-9560

    Ferndale Office

23257 Woodward Ave

Ferndale, MI 48220

Phone Number: (248) 691-8530



 

 

    Southfield Office

18296 10 Mile Road

Southfield, MI 48075

Phone: (248) 905-5028



    St. Clair Shores Office

23550 Harper Ave

St. Clair Shores, MI 48080

Phone Number: (586) 777-3905



 

 

    Ann Arbor Office

210 South 4th

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Phone: (734) 622-8190

Fax: (734) 622-8195

    Taylor Office

20155 Goddard

Taylor, MI

Phone Number: (734) 287-4574



 

 

    Ypsilanti Office

1486 Washtenaw Ave.

Ypsilanti, MI

Phone: (734) 482-6460

    Monroe Office

14930 LaPlaisance Ste. 105, Harwood Plaza

Monroe, MI 48161

Phone Number: (734) 244-7069



 

And before I forget, way to go Lions! Maybe the Tigers didn't quite pull it out. But beating Vick's Falcons yesterday afternoon should be an omen good enough.

Go Granholm!

(Cross-posted at Daily Kos)

There's more...

Election approaches, and just because I've already pled GOTV! doesn't mean I won't stop crying: GOTV! It's two weeks now to E-Day, and as I've promised, I'll keep up with diaries to do my small part to keep an important race on everyone's mind: Gov. Jen Granholm's reelection.

• In an era where a woman's right to choose is under greater attack than any point since Roe v. Wade, it's more than a little disturbing to think that someone who said this could occupy the governor's mansion:

  "You're not going to find a more pro-life governor in Michigan's history than me."

  Even though to DeVos it would be more like the governor's shack.

• If you haven't been reading LiberalLucy's reasons to "Just Say NO to Dick and YES to Jen," here are #14, #15 and #16. From the last, did you know:

  Dick DeVos is the only candidate for Governor in modern Michigan history not to disclose his tax returns to the public. He refuses to provide detailed information on his financial holdings or any potential conflicts of interests. "I will be disclosing to the people of Michigan that which I think is appropriate to understand as they look to make a decision about their next Governor."

  What ever could be in there? Maybe a few shares in Blackwater, his brother-in-law's secretive paramilitary corporation?



• You know all about DeVos and dominionism, right? This is probably the scariest of all, via Rolling Stone:

  Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto. They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody. Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until Jesus comes back.

  Cue the music from "Psycho." These people are psychos. DeVos himself has also funded the ultra-secretive, ultra-right wing dominionist-dominated group the Council For National Policy.



• Another big deal in Michigan I haven't much addressed is the MCRI. What DeVos won't say is that he has been a major donor to the so-called Center for Individual Rightrs, which filed the original lawsuits against the University of Michigan seeking to cut off affirmative action:

  And when liberal activists challenged the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative in Court, CIR defended the initiative and successfully fought to keep it on the ballot. That group received $35,000 from DeVos' foundation in 2001.



• And though this diary is about the election, let us not forget the Tigers World Series run - an amazing achievement so far by a team that Dick DeVos has only displayed a glancing awareness of. He knows he should be seen at these populist events, but if anything is clear about Dick DeVos, we know that he's no "regular guy" who watches sports on weekends. With that in mind, props to displacedyankeedemocrat, who identifies the Tigers as (D-MI) while the Cards are (R-MO). It's a natural fit. And DYD adds:

  I'll be rooting for the Tigers. Don't get me wrong, St. Louis is a very nice place, and I love their toasted ravoli. But Detroit has my heart in this one.

A good thing to keep in mind. Remember, if you want to help with canvassing, call your local Democratic HQs And go Granholm!

There's more...

(Cross-posted in slightly different form at Daily Kos)

If you haven't been following the MI Gov race the past few days, Dick DeVos (R-Amway) is trying to distance himself from a company he owns. Why? Bad, bad, bad stuff.

In the debate this week, he claimed he was just an investor controlling 1% of the company. But as I noted at Daily Kos yesterday, that just isn't credible. The company's own bylaws surrender virtually all control to DeVos. And yet he took steps to insulate himself from the company. Maybe he didn't know about the abuse? Maybe he didn't want to know. And he sure didn't want anybody else to. But it turns out there is a potential campaign finance scandal hidden in plain sight.

DemWave at Michigan Liberal calls attention to the fact that not only is DeVos friendlier with the Alterra crowd than he wants us to think, the former chair of Alterra is the current president of the DeVos family's RDV Corporation -- his name is Jerry Tubergen -- has donated the maximum amount allowed to DeVos's campaign. Which is fine, he can do that.

But curiously, when he hit HIS max, he didn't stop. He got his "homemaker" wife and three "student" daughters to max out as well. And they all listed as their address... RDV Corporation's address. Yet Jerry Tubergen listed his HOME address. Does anybody really believe that these "students" donated their own money? Does it even seem likely they SAW the checks that went out under their own names? As DemWave asks: "How many students do you know with $3,400.00 in their pocket who would willingly choose to spend it on some 50 year-old Republican running for governor?"

The donations are available on the SoS page. Here I've put them all together in one place:

This is HIGHLY suspicious. IANAL and neither is DemWave it seems, but Michigan campaign finance law does address what it sure looks like is happening here:

169.231 Contributions or expenditures controlled by another person; bundled contribution.

Sec. 31.

(1) A contribution that is controlled by, or made at the direction of, another person, including a parent organization, subsidiary, division, committee, department, branch, or local unit of a person, shall be reported by the person making the contribution and shall be regarded for purposes of contribution limits as a contribution attributable to both persons.

(2) A bundled contribution or a contribution that is delivered as part of a bundled contribution shall be regarded for purposes of contribution limits as both a contribution attributable to the bundling committee that delivered the contribution and a contribution attributable to the individual making the contribution.

I am not sure what constitutes proof here. It certainly has the appearance of impropriety, though. This is a question reporters at Michigan newspapers should be asking the DeVos campaign. Will they?

Beats me. I've sent e-mails out to several of them, and if you've got a moment, please do the same.

Detroit News
David J. Butler, Editor & Publisher:dave.butler@detnews.com
Susan Burzynski, Managing Editor: sue.burzynski@detnews.com
Don Nauss, Deputy Managing Editor/ News: don.nauss@detnews.com

Grand Rapids Press:
Mike Lloyd        Editor    mlloyd@grpress.com     (616) 222-5506
Joe Crawford      Editorial Page Editor      jcrawford@grpress.com              (616) 222-5483
John Barnes      Metro Editor      jbarnes@grpress.com    (616) 222-5457
Jeff Cranson      Deputy Metro Editor       jcranson@grpress.com   (616) 222-5476

Detroit Free Press
City/Metro desk: dfpcity@freepress.com 313-222-6600; fax: 313-222-5981
Lansing bureau: cchristoff@freepress.com 313-222-6609

More than a few make email forms available, or go to generic drop boxes. You can find them here:

WOOD-TV

WDIV-TV

WJBK-TV

WLNS-TV

MLive

Meanwhile, there's more from DemWave already. Stay tuned.

There's more...

[Cross-posted from Daily Kos.]

SteveinMI and kidfury already covered the announcement by Dick DeVos (R-Scamway) yesterday [at dKos], but the story continues. Below the jump, I've got astounding world-is-flat A=B doublespeak insanity from the Scamway king himself, plus a round-up of Michigan GOP events this weekend. If you're in the area, why not go ask him to clarify his bullshit position? On camera.

Now, as of last night or this morning, the DeVos campaign is sending around a "correction" to the "inaccurate" AP story. It goes like this:

"I've always believed that our children should be provided with more knowledge, not less.  Lots of intelligent people can disagree about the origins of life.  In the end, I believe in our system of local control.  Local school boards should have the opportunity to offer evolution and intelligent design in their curriculums."

And that "inaccurate" AP story? It says:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos says he thinks Michigan's science curriculum should include a discussion about intelligent design. ... "I would like to see the ideas of intelligent design that many scientists are now suggesting is a very viable alternative theory," DeVos told The Associated Press this week during an interview on education. "That theory and others that would be considered credible would expose our students to more ideas, not less."

In other words, how dare you quote me accurately!  

Also: Credible? ID? How about this: would this make the state's schools more credible? At a time when education has never been more important, when Michigan is fighting to remain competitive in the global economy, he finds it important to point out that he thinks schools should be able to ignore the science he doesn't like. Despicable.

Coming the same day as news about a 3.3 million year old skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis, over 100K years older than the famous "Lucy" skeleton, it just looks all the more foolish.

And it reminds me of the big Rolling Stone article this week on the "dominionists" among whom DeVos counts himself. They're the theocrats DarkSyde and Mark Crispin Miller and others have argued represent the truly frightening theocratic vanguard of the religious right. Falwell is a piker. DeVos is the real deal -- this should be a Christian nation governed by Christian laws, dammit, he says. And you don't have to be an atheist to find that vision of America disturbing.

Anyway, the good news is DeVos will be out in public around the state this weekend, as will Mike Bouchard, Saul Anuzis and the rest of the rogue's gallery. If you're in proximity, you might think about walking up and asking them what they think. If you've got a camera handy, you might think about posting the results on YouTube. This could be an awesome chance to do for the MI Gov and MI Sen races what the innovators in Connecticut did during the CT Dem primary - and what made George Allen synonymous with a small South Asian monkey." 

Here are the events I'm aware of, copied from the Michigan GOP emails I'm sure glad I signed up for. But I'm sure there's more:

• Also, you are invited to join Dick DeVos, Mike Bouchard, Congressman Mike Rogers, Saul Anuzis, Betsy DeVos, State Rep. Candidate John Knowles, and Lt. Govenor Candidate Ruth Johnson to a tailgating event hosted by the Michigan Republicans at the MSU vs. Notre Dame game this Saturday in East Lansing. ... Our spot is in the T-lot directly in front of the stadium. Look for the gigantic "DeVos for Governor" sign.




• WHAT:  You're invited to join
  
  Fall Campaign Kickoff Party!
  
  2:30 PM - 5:30 PM
  
  10701 W. McNichols Rd
  
  Detroit, MI 48221
  
  Come and Have fun, food & drinks with the
  
  Team for Change and meet DeVos for
  
  Governor Campaign Manager:

And if you do manage to get there with your camera and put it on YouTube, please post a diary here about it.

There's more...