July - 2020

UH-OH

Federal and state campaign finance laws are extremely specific, mandatory in their requirements and very well spelled out for candidates to follow. Yet two candidates running in Bloomfield Township for clerk – Republicans Tom Smyly and Dave Thomas – have apparently run afoul of the campaign finance laws, with complaints filed with the Michigan Secretary of State’s office on June 23 by political consultant Joe DiSano, among other complainants. Chief among the campaign finance

UH-OH

QUESTIONABLE RETURN

BOW DOWN TO WHO?

BOGGED DOWN

It’s possible John James (R-Farmington Hills) was just trying to make a little noise when he put his foot in his mouth on Flashpoint, to break out from the downward spiral that being associated with President Trump has left him in as Trump’s nosediving numbers are helping tank Senatorial candidates around the country. A New York Times/Siena poll in late June painted a grim reaper-like picture for Republicans down ballot in Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina, with registered

GRASS NOT GROWING

SAY WHAT?

Mike Detmer, a Republican primary candidate in the 8th District with hopes of facing Elissa Slotkin (D-Rochester, Rochester Hills) in November, has a bit of a habit of espousing what some would call White Nationalist sentiments. At a recent rally at the Michigan Capital that promoted “well-regulated militias” (are there any other kind?), Detmer, of Howell, proclaimed, “This whole race nonsense is fake.” Countering the current Black Lives Matter watchword, Detmer said, “Here’s

PINOCCHIO CHECK

Another of Slotkin’s potential Republican challengers, Paul Junge, of Brighton, appears to have a little problem with fact-checking. Junge apparently is a fan of fracking, and took on presumed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s position on banning fracking, and the impact it could have on Michigan’s economy. According to the Detroit Free Press, “The Junge campaign said that a ban on fracking would eliminate 516,000 Michigan jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show

WRONG CENTURY

A political postcard making its way around Macomb County, paid for by Solidarity Michigan, a civil rights, social action and advocacy organization, has the provocative headline, “No Negros Need Apply…(Macomb County) Democratic Party Boss Ed Bruly Has Shut the Door on Macomb County’s Black Community.” According to sources and news reports, Bruly has run the Macomb County Democratic Party with an iron fist, “along with a racist, shadow party called the Phil Hart Democratic Club

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

ELECTION DOUBLETALK

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