Archive for August, 2008
Michigan GOP: Obama = Granholm
By Andy Kroll, written on Aug. 29, 2008
As election season nears a fever pitch in Michigan in the coming months, look for the state’s Republican Party to connect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm in much the same way as the McCain campaign likened Obama’s celebrity to that of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan GOP, recently posted on his popular blog, “That’s Saul, folks!” that “Michigan voters know firsthand what happens when you elect inexperienced, smooth-talking politicians with rock-star appeal: Absolutely nothing.”
He continued:
For six years we’ve been listening to Governor Jennifer Granholm give good speeches and watching her pose for well-scripted photo ops, but Michigan voters have gotten nothing for their efforts. In Granholm’s six years in office, Michigan has the single-worse unemployment rate in the nation, one in every 20 homes is in foreclosure, and not one of the five new major automotive assembly plants being built in the United States are located in the birthplace of the world’s auto industry.
Governor Granholm, without exception, is the worse Democrat governor in recent memory, and that Democrats would trot her out for national television interviews shows how unprepared they are to accept the mantle of leadership and move our country forward.
If you like what Jennifer Granholm has done for Michigan, you’ll love what Barack Obama will do to America!
It’s not a surprising move; in fact, what’s surprising is that the Obama-Granholm connection hasn’t been made more often so far.
With Michigan certain to be a hotly contested state between now and Election Day (especially now that McCain didn’t pick Michigan-friendly Mitt Romney as his VP), these kinds of connections and more will be rife throughout the state coming from both parties.
Hieftje and friends sweep Ann Arbor primary
By thesara, written on Aug. 6, 2008
Along with scoring 70 percent of the vote in yesterday’s Democratic primaries, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje saw four city council seats filled to his liking.
Sandi Smith, who opposed write-in candidate Patricia Lesko, is in Hieftje’s corner. Her website displays this glowing endorsement from Hieftje:
“I’ve known Sandi for many years. She has great experience. She will be a tireless advocate for the First Ward.”
Smith’s ward covers West Quad, Towers Plaza, the Law Quad, Martha Cook, Betsey Barbour, Helen Newberry, University Towers and Bursley.
In Ward 2, former Michigan senator Tony Derezinski, also endorsed by Hieftje, beat Ann Arbor resident Stewart Nelson for the region that includes many privately managed student homes and all of the dorms on the Hill.
During his campaign, Nelson was vocal in his opposition to the current council climate, calling the budgetary process “horrible” and comparing the retrieval of public information to “pulling teeth.”
Christopher Taylor, a 2006 Democratic party precinct delegate, will be the new representative for Ward 3, which covers East Quad and the neighborhoods between Washtenaw and Packard.
Stephen Kunselman, the Ward 3 incumbent and a critic of Hieftje, expressed regret and pessimism to the Ann Arbor News concerning future transparency on Council.
Kunselman, who attributed his loss to a $10,000 lag in campaign funds, said he expects the new Council to make many of its decisions behind closed doors.
Ward 4 incumbent Marggie Teall was unopposed and will rejoin Marcia Higgins in overseeing the region including neighborhoods around the Athletic campus, Elbel Field and West of Packard.
Ann Arbor attorney Carsten Hohnke won over Ward 5 with a platform including support for the hotly debated, $47-million police-courts facility and another endorsement from Hieftje.
Vivienne Armentrout, Hohnke’s opponent, spoke out against Council business “being conducted in secret” and the plans for the police-courts facility, which are, in her words, “a disaster.”
The Main street area and the Northwestern corner of the city are covered by Ward 5.
During a primary celebration in Ann Arbor last night, Hohnke recognized the similarities of the winners’ platforms and predicted that the new Council will be progressive.
Unless Libertarian mayoral candidate and LSA junior Eric Plourde manages to break the current mayor’s stride in the November elections, things are looking up for Hieftje.
Presidential hopefuls zero in on Michigan
By thesara, written on Aug. 3, 2008
Polling experts and representatives from Michigan Republican parties have declared state voters a “critical” constituency to McCain and Obama’s presidential campaigns, the Lansing State Journal reported.
While Democrats have taken Michigan every year since 1988, McCain Michigan spokeswoman Leah Yoon claimed that Michigan is within “striking distance” of her candidate, and one recent poll backs her claim, albeit weakly.
A Public Policy Polling of North Carolina survey of 883 likely Michigan voters found that Obama leads McCain in Michigan 46-43, much narrower than his 48-39 lead from a month earlier.
The poll has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points, and some experts say that surveys taken late in the presidential race are too jumpy to be reliable.
Either way, the candidates will tour Michigan this week to win your hearts. Obama visits Lansing on Monday, and McCain will visit Macomb County on Tuesday.
EMU tuition increase bigger than University’s
By Charles Gregg-Geist, written on Aug. 1, 2008
Students at the University were upset when the University Board of Regents announced that next year’s tuition will be 5.6% higher. So you can imagine what Eastern Michigan University students are thinking after seeing a 7.7% increase in their tuition and fees.
The Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents approved the new rate Wednesday, along with a more than 5% increase in dining and housing costs. It also approved a 10.3% financial aid increase.
The hike translates to $579 a year more for in-state undergraduate students at Eastern, for a total of $8,069. The increase is less than in-state lower-level students in the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts will shoulder (an extra $590), meaning Eastern will remain about $3,000 a year cheaper than the University. Tuition for freshmen and sophomores in LSA will be $11,037 next year.
The increase was approved at a special meeting of EMU’s Regents with no discussion, the Ann Arbor News reported.