The story of the Michigan Republican State Convention was the story of missed chances for the tea party and conservative elements of the party to put in place leadership for their future. When the time came for the over 4000 delegates (2K of which were voting delegates) that assembled at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan on Saturday to decide who they wanted to be the party's nominees for Attorney General and Secretary of State, it was as if the tea party element wasn't even there.
While many, myself included, thought that the tea party groups and anti-establishment crowd would be a big voting presence, when it really came down to it, they voted like many in the establishment, and picked their candidates not on principles such as limited government, federalism, and core principles, but rather the assembled delegates voted based on local loyalty, patronage, recognition, and successful attack ads.
For those of you who weren't there, let me try to paint a picture for you of the days events. The line to get in to the Breslin took several hours, and after it grew too long, security broke down and they just started letting everyone in. The steps to get up and down the seats were narrow and steep, and all the old-timers there had a lot of trouble with that. The speakers all pointed straight, which meant those to the right and left of the stage had trouble hearing. Those in wheelchairs were seated on the floor, but voting took place above. I didn't see anyone signing for the hearing-impaired. The big-screen behind the speakers had poor visuals, the sound was poorly done, and the order of events was chaotic. Rick Snyder, who is at the top of our ticket, spoke somewhere in the middle instead of at the customary end of convention, and then at the end of the convention they just dropped a bunch of balloons, almost as an afterthought. Ron Weisner has a lot to learn from this event I hope that he puts on a much better one next time.
The delegates sat through speech after speech, and then every candidate was nominated (with a 5 minute speech) and then seconded (with a 5 minute speech). Early on there was a real moment of excitement- after several dignitaries nominated state Rep. Brian Calley for Lieutenant Governor, who was Snyder's choice, a member of the Tea Party of West Michigan nominated Fruitport businessman Bill Cooper to challenge him. Since there were no ballots present, the chair called for a voice vote (which sounded pretty close), called Calley the winner, and then after more yelling called for a hand vote (even though at this point they were just letting anyone in the building). Things looked like they were going to get ugly until Brian Calley went in front of the crowd and in a very well done speech nobly withdrew his name for consideration.
The next major race was for Secretary of State for Michigan. After the first ballot Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson received 625 votes, state Sen. Cameron Brown received 454, Calhoun County Clerk Anne Norlander had 412 votes; Rep. Paul Scott of Grand Blanc had 335 votes, and Sen. Michelle McManus of Lake Leelenau had 237 votes. The delegates then through a second ballot with only the top two vote getters on it, Johnson and Brown, and on the second ballot Ruth Johnson won the nomination over Brown by 1,089 votes to his 974. I thought those two were the weakest out of the 5, but apparently delegate voters didn't see it that way. Even so, Johnson will be a fine SoS and will do a lot of good things. But the real surprise to me was the failure of Scott to gain any traction and win the nomination- out of all the candidates, he made the most direct pitch to first-timers and to the tea party crowd, crafting a message designed to echo their beliefs and send a message to the establishment. And he soundly lost.
The race that bummed me out the most was the race for Republican nominee for Michigan Attorney General. This race was between former Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Bill Schuette and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop. Bishop has done a lot great things for our state over the last 6 years, and after voters re-elected Granholm and gave her a House majority, Bishop held together a thing Senate majority and fought Granholm tooth and nail. A lot of voters blamed him for some of the budgets passed and some of the taxes we've had levied on us, but he fought these as hard as he could and that was unfair. The vote was a close one, but Schuette edged Bishop 1,092 votes to 971. Schuette appeared to have most of the party leadership backing him, and there was some speculation that alternates to the convention were raised to delegate voting status by party leadership based on their support for Schuette in pre-convention online polling. I really hope that wasn't the case, because the margin was very thin and Bishop is a great guy, but I saw at least 10 alternates elevated who were wearing Schuette stickers, so who knows. It could have been my my endorsement yesterday, which appears to be the kiss of death around here (Governor, SoS, and AG).
Another important race that delegates voted on where the race for the Supreme Court in Michigan, which was won by Bob Young and Mary Beth Kelly. There were no real moderates or establishment picks in this race- the conservative Justices all lined up behind these two and that was an impressive sight, so establishment and Tea Party aligned with these picks and everyone won.
Leaving the Convention, one couldn't help but feel like an opportunity was missed- our state had a chance to have dynamic and solid conservative leaders for the future stocked in the AG and SoS spots, but instead it is my hypothesis that after Snyder wins and then wins again, the race for Governor will be wide open in 8 years instead of being contested by solid, experienced executive officers.
(Source data for vote counts was provided by the Detroit News)
UPDATE: RightMichigan has a very good account of what went down at the Convention. In particular, I direct you to the following paragraph to chew on:
I learned in a later private conversation that Rick Snyder, the gubernatorial nominee (and the Strategic National candidate in the gubernatorial primary) had been working behind the scenes - in direct opposition to the party officials and other sundry staffers - to advance my motion. No dice, apparently; it seems that the Yob Machine was already at risk of losing one contested ballot (which I'll talk about in another essay), and they didn't want to take a chance at being embarrassed twice in the same convention.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar