March - 2021

MOVIN’ ON UP

Rochester Hills Clerk Tina Barton, who ran unsuccessfully the last two cycles for Oakland County Clerk, is shucking her partisan cloak and going national. As of March 29, Barton will be the Senior Program Advisor to the Executive Director for the Election Assistance Commission, an independent U.S. government agency created by the Help America Vote Act in 2002 with a mission to improve voter experience and support election administrators. “I’ll be working on the needs of elect

MOVIN’ ON UP

DANGER ZONE

The January 6 uprising was definitely not a one-off for several Michigan politicians, as well as a jurist who made a few rulings that displeased the malcontents. Attorney general Dana Nessel has charged two men – one from Michigan, the other from Georgia – for targeting Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D-Rochester, Rochester Hills, northern Oakland, parts of Livingston and Ingham counties), and Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens

DANGER ZONE

GOP ALTERNATIVE

Say you’ve been a Republican all your life, but even though the Grand Ol’ Party continues to trend to the right of center, it just isn’t far right enough for you. There may be some place new for you to hang your hat. Brian VanDussen of Zeeland, who was a Republican delegate and devotee, said he is now sick of the Republican Party, so he’s going to start his own – to be called the Patriot Party in Michigan. “Keeping American Great” is a goal for VanDussen and his new party. T

GOV. EPSTEIN?

As Michigan Republicans search for a candidate willing to take on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2022, one may have arisen. We’re hearing that oil heiress Lena Epstein of Bloomfield Township, who ran for the then-open 11th Congressional seat against Democrat Haley Stevens in 2018, and lost, is exploring a gubernatorial run. Epstein, runs Vesco Oil with her mother, Marjory Winkleman Epstein and sister, CEO Lilly Epstein Stotland. She recently lost her father, Donald. A domain site

GOV. EPSTEIN?

NO GO

Someone who won’t be giving Lena Epstein a run for her considerable dollars in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary is Northville’s Ronna (don’t call me Romney) McDaniel, who definitively ruled out a run for the seat her grandfather, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, held. McDaniel told Michael Patrick Shiels, radio personality and host of Michigan’s Big Show, on March 10, that “I just signed on to be Republican National Committee chair for another two years, so I’m no

NO GO

NEMESIS STILL

When Republican Peter Lucido left the Michigan Senate on a disgraced note, some thought he might actually fade a bit from the headlines as he focused on his newly-won role as Macomb County Prosecutor, but no such luck. For those who don’t remember, Lucido during his last year in office lost a committee chairmanship and was ordered to undergo what we would assume is sensitivity training after sexual harassment complaints were filed by three women, including Birmingham’s state

NEMESIS STILL

STAYING ON TOP

Despite her (largely Republican) detractors, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer continues to enjoy significant statewide popularity, according to recent polls, although the long winter and the public’s confinement is showing. A recent (March) EPIC-MRA poll shows Whitmer’s positive job approval has slipped, but remains in positive territory, with 52 percent of those responding giving her a positive job approval rating, and 47 percent a negative job approval rating. As for their favorable

REDISTRICTING ARTISTS

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission has settled (8-5 vote) on a firm to help draw new state and congressional districts – Election Data Services, led by Kimball Brace, who some are calling the Picasso of redistricting efforts because of the convoluted district maps created at the behest of his partisan clients. The Virginia-based firm, the president of which admits has a slight Democratic leaning, will be assembling a Michigan team that includes the pre

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