October - 2018

PIG, MEET MUD

The whiff of desperation is rising off of 40th District (Birmingham, Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills) state House Republican candidate David Wolkinson, who has been slinging mud at his opponent, Democrat Mari Manoogian – stooping so low as to assert in a TV ad and in Facebook postings that Manoogian is an anti-Semite who supports Hamas and opposes Israel – all factually false – because she is part of a nationwide group of progressive Democratic candidates, some of whom, such as

PIG, MEET MUD

OUT OF OFFICE REPLY

Just days after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) was in town for a private fundraiser for Republican Congressman Mike Bishop (Rochester, Rochester Hills, Livingston County, Lansing area), came word that the Congressional Leadership Fund, a PAC with ties to Ryan and which had reserved $2.1 million in television air time to defend and support Bishop in his fight against Democratic challenger Elissa Slotkin in the 8th District, was withdrawing financial support. For the thi

OUT OF OFFICE REPLY

HEAR NO EVIL

Libertarian candidate for Michigan’s 8th Congressional seat, Brian Ellison, doesn’t hide his contempt for law enforcement – considering he live-streamed his own August arrest in Royal Oak, where he clashed with police during the department’s anniversary celebration, then used the booking photo as his Facebook profile. But Ellison has been tight lipped in recent videos about his October 11 domestic violence arrest in Madison Heights, where he allegedly scratched his wife’s fac

CLEANING UP CRUMBS

In the race of the Millennial women, Democrat Haley Stevens appears to be solidifying her lock on the 11th District (Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester Hills, Pontiac, Commerce Township, western Oakland County and western Wayne County) versus Republican Lena Epstein. Epstein issued a Republican party poll on October 16, claiming she was now making gains on Stevens. However, numerous unbiased polls, from the New York Times Upshot/Siena College Poll, had Stevens at 45 perc

CLEANING UP CRUMBS

ARE YOU FLIPPIN’ KIDDING

It’s no joke that Oakland County has become the place to watch this November as long-held Republican Senate districts across the state could witness upsets. Analysis by Michigan Information and Research Service (MIRS) done after the primary led them to release a list of the state’s “10 Senate Districts Most Likely to Flip” in the general election. Those include current Sen. Mike Kowall’s 15th Senate District, where Republican House Rep. Jim Runestad, a strong Tea Party conse

PRESIDENTIAL TURNOUT

Local clerks are reporting monumental requests for absentee ballots for the November 6 election, with higher-than-normal returns of those ballots. Three weeks out, Novi was up to 7,500 requests for absentee ballots, versus 5,000 in a typical midterm year; Farmington Hills already had almost 11,000 in requests; and Rochester Hills had surpassed 11,000, with almost 37 percent returned. “We’re blowing away our presidential absentee returns,” Rochester Hills Clerk Tina Barton rep

LOWERING THE BAR

Misdemeanor crimes aren’t a disqualifier for Oakland County Circuit Court candidates, particularly when they’re running unopposed. That should come as some relief to candidate Julie McDonald of Bloomfield Township, who is running for a new court seat and was arrested on the morning of Saturday, September 8, for alleged drunk driving on Woodward in Royal Oak. McDonald, who was stopped about 10:45 a.m. for speeding in her 2015 Chevy Tahoe, told officers she had about four drink

LOWERING THE BAR

CLERKING IT

With Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli’s retirement in 2020 pretty much a foregone conclusion, township insiders and those looking for a job are circling the wagons. Word is that former 40th District Republican candidate Malissa Bossardet, who lost in the August primary to David Wolkinson, is interested in the position. She has been asking some other local municipal clerks how she should prepare for that role. But rumor is she doesn’t care for Roncelli, after Roncelli ba

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