Three days of August. Part I
I have found that if I am serious about politics, there is always something to do and at times hard choices have to be made as to which events to go to and which ones not. These three days of August are THE prime example.
Thursday started out with the 115th regular meeting of our Carmen Group. Along with the regular group Pat and Frank Uriarte were there and later Goeff Hansen dropped by.
After that I checked on my garden plot at Love Community Garden and picked some cherry tomatoes to munch on. Caught up on precinct happenings from Morning Bear, and kept up my search for a home to buy in the precinct. Thursday was a nice peaceful day without a conflict on the schedule.
Friday was when the hard choices had to be made.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been helping out the Goeff Hansen campaign for the 34th state senate seat for around 20 months. I also have been in the Tea Party movement since its inception, recently serving as the Chair of the Muskegon Tea Party.
Conflict #1. Goeff Hansen had one of his major fundraisers; a “Corn Boil” up in Hart starting at 6pm. At the same time there was a caucus for the Tea Party Precinct Delegates in Lansing that night, the night before the State Republican convention. I had been active in promoting Precinct Delegates since before the Tea Party started and as I was a PD I felt my loyalty must be for the Caucus, and the upcoming convention.
Fred Bertsch picked me up around 6pm and off we went to Holt just outside of Lansing. As we pulled up I was happy to see the busses from the “Spending Revolt Tour” run by Americans for Prosperity. I was also glad that Scott Hagerstrom was there. We had become friends on the trip to the Defending the American Dream Summit in DC last year. I signed my name on the bus.
As we came up to the entrance of the building there was a gauntlet formed by candidates and their staffers which we had to run to gain entrance. Everyone was reaching to shake hands and trying to slap campaign stickers on you, it was kind of strange.
Once inside we signed up and old friend Rod Merrill was at our sign in spot. Then we were able to mingle, take pictures and talk with old friends. For those of you in doubt, The Tea Party has grown and kept together to the point that all the candidates were enticed to show up. Rick Synder didn’t show, but as far as I could see all the other ones were there. At the last minute Calley, Rick Synder’s pick for Lt. Governor showed up. This event became the pre convention “ticket to get” in Lansing.
There were over 700 people there all the seats were filled and the walls were covered with the standing room only. The organization of the event however was pretty poor at least in execution; however everyone seemed to put up with it. The sheer numbers that showed up caused some of the problems. That problem of overcrowding as you will see in Part II of this blog foreshadowed the same problems the next day at the State Republican Convention. The Republicans have been around for over 100 years and the Tea Party for 2. They did good.
There was a straw poll taken and that is where the disorganization reared its head highest. Of the 700 there were over 200 voting Precinct Delegates to the State convention. Those were the ones who were allowed to vote in the straw poll. In the straw poll for AG the Tea Party picked Mike Bishop in a tight vote over Bill Shutie . For Secretary of State Ruth Johnson was the overwhelming vote over the 2nd and 3rd place finishers Anne Norlander and Cameron Brown.
Of all the candidates present, Secretary of State candidate Ruth Johnson was the darling of the Tea Party and as you will see at the Convention this translated into a hard fought victory for her. Bob Young the incumbent Supreme Court Judge was not present but he also was the darling of the Tea Party Movement. He has appeared at many Tea Party meetings and his “Rule of Law Court” platform based on the Constitution found loud and overwhelming support within the Tea Party as well as the Republican Party.
The candidate who wasn't a candidate yet, who is also a favorite of the Conservatives and who the following day will take another step along his path in a Reaganesq moment at the State Republican Convention.
Bill Cooper
The pictures I took are with a new SLR camera and I am still learning to use it.
The voting was long and the whole thing took a lot longer than the planners and I thought. Fred dropped me off around 1:30 and I didn’t get to bed until after 2am. I set my alarm for 4am so Fred could pick me up again this time at the Kmart parking lot at 5am. Pat and Frank Uriarte were going with us to the State Convention also.
Hope you enjoy the pics. I’ll be posting Part II which will be about the convention. Lots of insights into the Cooper affair and all else and lots of pics.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
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