CARLSON KERFUFFLE
Not much has been heard from Bloomfield Hills Republican Kevin Rinke since he came in a distant second to Tudor Dixon in the 2020 party gubernatorial primary election. But his name popped up in early September as the co-chair of an event to celebrate first responders, the fourth annual American Safety First event which was sponsored by the conservative Brighter Michigan PAC. The event drew media attention because of former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, now hosting his own show on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), who was booked as the key speaker at the event which was originally scheduled to be at Freedom Hill, owned by business mogul Tom Celani of Bloomfield Hills. Conflicting reports have it that event promoter Live Nation or Celani decided at the last moment that the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill had changed its policy and did not want to host a political event. Last minute efforts allowed the event to be held at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, at which 2,000 tickets were reportedly sold, besting last year’s total ticket sales of 400.