Rep Retires the Rhino … for Now
There’s no greater insult for a member of the GOP than to be slammed as a RINO (Republican in Name Only).
Rep. Chris Ward (R-Brighton) got slapped with the label for voting for the income tax hike last year and was promptly stripped of his leadership post. But Ward proved unrepentant, giving a rhinoceros model to Rep. Lorence Wenke (R-Richland), whose pro-gay rights views also haven’t endeared him to many on the right.
The rhino was a defiant fixture on his desk for weeks, with Wenke naming him “Reagan.” The three-term rep even circulated a parable of the rhino, in order to garner support for his bill requiring public employees to pay 25 percent of their health care costs, to demonstrate how the Republican Party had lost its way since Ronald Reagan. (Only seven signed on).
“I don’t think I’m a RINO,” Wenke says. “I think many of my fellow Republicans are RINOs, but they don’t admit to it. They don’t vote like real Republicans.”
Reagan has since been retired to Wenke’s desk drawer because “things kind of wear out their significance after awhile.”
But he adds, “It might come out again at the right time and place.”
Michigan’s Capitol: Your Ad Here
It’s a case of dueling ads outside the dome over the red-hot energy issue.
Those mammoth mobile billboards usually reserved for special events and sales seem to have found a home in state politics. “Don’t turn back the
clock on electric choice” with an illustrative mod metal clock, and “Power up for Michigan jobs! Vote yes for comprehensive energy reform” with a super-charged green Michigan map, have taken up regular spots outside the legislators' domain during the months-long debate.Drive by the Capitol and you can’t miss ’em. And that’s the point, of course. They’re the newest frontier in the exposure war for interest groups in town.
Michigan’s economy is still in the dumps, but Okemos-based Skyline Outdoor Advertising is booming. Its mobile billboards have been a fixture downtown since the fall, starting with “Save Michigan’s Elderly” protesting potential health care cuts in the state budget. “People are obviously coming in and out of the Capitol all the time,” says Skyline sales associate Michelle Poe. “This reaches their core audience.”
The Customer Choice Coalition, which sponsors the energy choice billboard (the other is by the Michigan Jobs and Energy Coalition), has seen an uptick in web traffic since the eye-catching ads debuted in January. Spokeswoman Stephanie Rockafellow says a new design is in the works, as the energy battle carries on.
Some might grumble these behemoths are eyesores blocking the Capitol’s beauty. But these silent lobbyists appear there to stay.
Brooks Makes Bentley
an Offer It Can’t RefuseL. Brooks Patterson is in fine company with Austin Blair, Soapy Williams and Zachariah Chandler, having donated in January his papers to the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library. The papers, dating back to 1975, cover Patterson’s days as Oakland County Prosecutor and his current role as Oakland County Executive.
Bentley Acquisition Archivist Les Coombs says the library prefers to start collections while public figures are still in office, before important materials are thrown away. “It’s common for people to still be living and active in their career or ready to retire,” says Coombs, quickly adding, “I don’t think he’s getting ready to retire.”
Indeed, Patterson, 69, a University of Detroit grad, is gunning for his fourth term in November as Oakland County chieftain. The collection, which is available for public use, includes the salty Republican’s speeches, op-eds, press releases, material for roasts and videotapes.
No word if any tapes are of him supposedly playing the part of Gov. Jennifer Granholm (quite convincingly) to coach failed GOP hopeful Dick DeVos for the 2006 debates.
Lawyers Nix Election Talk on State Grounds
Rep. Andy Coulouris (D-Saginaw) is up for re-election this fall, but the first-term pol wasn’t hustling for votes from the Wolverine Caucus on March 18.
Nonetheless, his talk, “Online Campaigning: Reaching Voters in Today’s Elections,” raised a red flag with House of Representatives legal
counsel, since it was scheduled at the Farnum (Senate Office) Building. Evidently, thou shalt not speaketh of elections on state grounds, especially in a facility filled with elected officials.Coulouris, 29, told them he was simply going to speak about sites like MySpace and Facebook as effective campaign tools, but was still told it was “inappropriate.”
“We took a better-safe than-sorry approach,” says Coulouris, who holds two University of Michigan degrees, “and held a Q & A instead.” Though a lively discussion ensued, many attendees were left scratching their heads about the legal objection, as UM Professor Mike Traugott frequently speaks to the caucus of UM faithful about elections and polling.
But fear not. The original topic has been rescheduled off-site from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 10 at the newly renovated Christman Building farther north on Capitol Avenue. One bonus for the delay: Coulouris will be joined by Rep. Rebekah Warren, an Ann Arbor Democrat.
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