Recommendation on the GOP Candidate for Secretary of State

One of the hotly contested races this year at the Michigan Republican State Convention (held in Lansing on Saturday, August 28) will be the race for the Republican nominee for Secretary of State. In my opinion, there has been little objective analysis so far on the candidates, as I don't consider the liberals working at the major newspapers or the hired hands working for the candidates to be objective opinions, so I am going to once again jump into the void and provide some analysis of the candidates. To prove my objectivity, I will volunteer that when I began writing this blog post I still had not decided who I would recommend, although in doing research for it and looking over my notes from the many debates and functions that I have attended, I feel that I can offer some guidance on who delegates should vote for.

Voters will be able to vote for a Michigan Secretary of State election of 2010 on November 2, 2010.  Candidates for Secretary of State are nominated by political parties at their state conventions. The office of Secretary of State is an open seat because Michigan state term limit laws prevent current Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land from running for a third term, in spite of the fact that she has been doing an amazing job with that office and proved that someday she is going to be an important leader for our state.

Unlike in years past when the Secretary of State race really didn't matter that much, this year it does. The main reason for this is because of billionaire George Sorus and his attempt to corrupt our democracy by corrupting the very nature of elections in our county. As I wrote earlier in Soros Creates Project to Install Secretaries of State Across the Nation in Attempt to Control Vote Counting Forever:

George Soros has created a "527" group called the Secretary of State Project, which can accept unlimited undisclosed money, and will use that money to run attack ads and hit pieces on Republican and moderate Democrats in an attempt to install left-wing Democrats as secretaries of state across the nation. Once Soros has put in place left-wing Democrats as secretaries of state all across the nation, they will be the ones counting the votes, deciding who is a registered voter and who isn't, and supervising the election process.

Joseph Stalin once remarked, "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." George Soros is setting it up so that across the nation, left-wing Democrats will decide everything for our nation.

SoS Project is also endorsing Jocelyn Benson, candidate for secretary of state in Michigan, whom it lauds as an "[e]lection law scholar and community organizer." Benson is a candidate ACORN would love.

Now that you understand why important it is to win the Secretary of State position this year, let's immediately narrow down our list of possible candidates. Of course I hope that no one in their right mind considers voting for Democrat Jocelyn Benson- she is a left-wing liberal professor and lawyer who wants to let illegal aliens and Democrats from out of state vote, doesn't really like the 'one-person, one-vote' rule, wants to put an electronic chip in your license card so that she can track you at all times, wants to have Democrats count the votes and certify the votes in any election, and thinks that ACORN should run the entire Secretary of State office.

Also we probably can eliminate Green Party nominee John Anthony La Pietra, who is an attorney and likely a watermelon, Libertarian Scotty Boman, who is a community college instructor and will only suck votes away from real conservative candidates, and Tea Party candidate Kyle Franklin, who likely lives in California and is a registered Democrat who got on the ballot through forged signatures (see my post Fake Tea Party Group Exposed as Democrat Plot!).

So, let's now take a look at the possible Republican candidates for Secretary of State. There is State Senator Cameron Brown, Calhoun County Clerk Anne Norlander, State Representative Paul Scott, Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson, and State Senator Michelle McManus.

According to recent polling data the race is still wide open, although for the record McManus and Brown are in the lead. The numbers are Michelle McManus (R) 9.4%, Cameron Brown (R) 7.6%. Paul Scott (R) 5.2%, Ruth Johnson (R) 4.4%, Anne Norlander (R) 2.2%, and Undecided 71.2% (source: Glengariff Group Inc.).

As far as campaign finances go, Brown raised $228,000 (including $160,000 he gave his campaign), Norlander raised $224,000 (including $174,000 she loaned her campaign), McManus raised $197,000, Johnson has raised $174,000 (including $51,000 she gave herself), and Scott has raised $103,000 (includes $36,000 he gave his campaign) (source: The Detroit News), so it appears that McManus and Johnson are the big fundraisers.

Cameron Brown has a Master's Degree in Public Administration, served as St. Joseph county commissioner from 1988-98 and Mchigan State Senator from 2003 to present, and also is the former vice president of marketing for Freeman Manufacturing Co. He is a rather bland and boring speaker, does not get the crowd fired up, doesn't strike me as particularly conservative, has no experience as an elections official, and I haven't seen him at too many Tea Party events. He would be a solid and steady SoS, but doesn't strike me as the best candidate for the job.

Michelle McManus has a BA from CMU, is the former director of Gov. John Engler's northern office., was a State Representative from 1997-2002, and a State Senator from 2003-present. She has been involved with the Tea Party movement from the very start and strikes me as being a good conservative option for SoS, but she has no experience as an election official and doesn't excite the crowd. She would also be a good SoS, and I can see why she leads in both polls and fundraising, but I still feel there is a better candidate out there.

Ruth Johnson has a Master's Degree, was on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners from 1989-1998, was a State Representatives from 1999-2002, and since 2003 has served as the Oakland County Clerk. She's an able and nice clerk, but I think she like Mike Bouchard in that she is a state-wide election loser- I am bothered by her inability to run away with her last several Clerk elections here in Oakland County, and she was the lieutenant governor running mate for Dick DeVos in 2006 when he was hammered by an unpopular and inept Granholm. Also, she seems to be approaching the SoS position more as a legislator and less as an administrator. She's a good clerk and her experience running elections and ballots is a good plus, and she is raising a lot of money, and everyone in Oakland County is a homer for her, but I think that there are several candidates for SoS who bring a little more to the table.

Anne Norlander has a BA in Education from MSU, is a former kindergarten teacher, served as Calhoun county commissioner from 1984-1988, and has served as Calhoun County clerk from 1989 to present. Out of all the candidates running for Secretary of State, she has the most experience, and every time that I've seen her talk or debate, that experience has showed- she knows what the SoS office does better than any candidates, she knows the rules and regulations better than the other candidates, she knows exactly what's going on in other states and what the controversies are around the nation with regards to voting and elections, and clearly would run the SoS's office with command and ability. In any other year, I think she would be the best choice of candidates, as I feel the Secretary of State's office should be as un-political as possible and run by the best possible executive administrator, which I feel Norlander is. But I'm bothered by her lack of fundraising, her lack of support at events that I've gone to, and her poor polling numbers. I'd like to recommend her, but this election I'm going a different direction.

Paul Scott has a MA in public policy (from Harvard, and I'm not sure if that is a plus or a minus) and a law degree (from UofM, and again I'm not sure if that is a plus or minus), worked as the former deputy director, Gallup Organization's World Poll Division, and now is in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2009 to present. He lacks experience as an administrator and executive in elections and voting and he at times demonstrated a lack of knowledge about what the Secretary of State's office could do. But experience and knowledge can come quickly. Scott hasn't been active in the Tea Party movement that I know of, but in debates and speeches he expressed solid conservative values and struk me as the most game-changing possibility for the Tea Party/Conservative/Libertarian element of the GOP. He is a great speaker and debater and has charisma. Some people are going to hold his age against him- he is only 29 and is rather young, but contrary to what some of the old-timers in the GOP think, talent should be rewarded over 'paying your dues'. Scott is going to be controversial, he is going to upset a lot of people, and when the Democrats turn the SoS election ugly he likely is going to have some things that he said that rubbed people the wrong way, but I'm feeling a little reckless and annoyed with the traditional establishment in the GOP and don't want Brooks picking Johnson for me or other old-timers telling me to go with Brown, so I'm going to be recommending that you vote for Paul Scott.

A Conservative Teacher recommends that you vote for Paul Scott as the GOP nominee for Secretary of State. Let's roll the dice on this wild card and buck the traditional GOP establishment by going with a young and energetic conservative who could be the next great Secretary of State for Michigan.

(source information on degrees and experience came from the AP)

UPDATE: After another week of research and discussion, I'd like to add a few more things. First, a considerable amount of the 'vote for Ruth Johnson' stuff is coming from people who Ruth knows and has worked for- it's homer-type stuff. Second, most of the criticism leveled at Paul Scott continues to be of the 'he's too young' variety, and I consider that to be bogus criticism. Third, Anne Norlander seems to be switching her focus from winning the campaign to running up support for her doing other things in her political future. Fourth, Cameron Brown continues to exist. And last, Michelle McManus has impressed me more and more whenever I have met her.

So, that being said, I recommend that if you are feeling a little crazy and want to shake things up, go with Paul Scott. If you want a more solid and sensible pick, go with Michelle McManus. See you at the convention!