Guest post from Honest Errors

A special thanks to a wonderful friend and a talented writer, Rich from the political/lit blog based right here in the Mid-Michigan area, Honest Errors.

How I Became Involved in Michigan Politics

My wife, son, and I moved here to Mid-Michigan at the end of July last year, 2006. Among the many great things we discovered about the area, we stumbled upon the wonderful Everybody Reads bookstore. On our first visit we went up to the counter to buy the books we had chosen. We noticed they had Impeach Bush yard signs available for a donation to the store. Being election season, we bought one and put it in our front yard.

Mind you, lest you think we were intentionally trying to provoke our neighbors, we had been living in the house well over a month before we put the Impeach Bush sign in our front yard. In that time, only one family in our immediate vicinity introduced themselves to us. (Welcome to suburban living.) So we thought who's going to care what sign we put out front? We don't know any of them or what they think. Besides, we were not the only people in Okemos with this sentiment; several other homes in the town displayed similar signs in their yards.

One week later the sign was missing. My wife and I thought, this is new. We'd never had this problem in Los Angeles or in Chicago. Especially the latter, where if you're a business owner and have a sign in your window for the "wrong" candidate, don't be surprised if you get a visit from a city inspector...

Anyway, I went back to Everybody Reads and bought another sign, telling the clerk that our other sign had been stolen. He said the Impeach Bush signs were rather popular that way. I put the new sign up in our yard.

Less than a week later, that sign was stolen. It was also at this time my wife and I noticed that signs bearing similar sentiments were defaced with spray paint. Okemos (like the rest of the country) was definitely a place with strong feelings both for and against Bush. But we also couldn't help but notice that signs for candidates, like Granholm, Devos, Rogers, were always untouched.

So, stubborn ass that I am, I went back to Everybody Reads and bought two signs. I figured I would save myself a trip when the third sign was eventually stolen.

I should note that I have never thought that a Bush Impeachment was a realistic expectation to have. Just? Yes. Likely to happen? Never. Why do I think so? Go read this book.

Not even three days later the third sign was stolen from our front yard overnight and replaced with a yard ornament featuring a cow with wings. Whoever was stealing our signs had a sense of humor.

At this point I was pissed. I had fantasies of jamming the fourth sign full of razor blades or attaching the metal frame to some wire and attach that to an outlet. The latter would reveal who the thief was when we saw his body splayed out on our lawn.

Instead, I decided that when I went out in the morning to get the paper, I would put the sign in the ground and in the evening I would take the sign up and put it in our garage. I repeated this for a number of weeks. At the same time, I decided that I had to take more direct action towards bringing about the change in government that I wanted. Michigan has a lot of problems, solvable ones. I also believe in put up or shut up. You have to act, not just complain.

I looked up who my Representative to Congress was and found out it was Mike Rogers, a Republican. This was new to me. I had never lived in a Republican-represented congressional district before.

(Wait, there was that one term that Republican Mike Flanagan served in Illinois' 5th district, but that was because Democrat Rostenkowski had been taken down for corruption. Flanagan was voted out the next term in favor of Democrat Rod Blagojevich, who is now Governor of Illinois. His House seat is now filled by Rahm Emmanuel.)

What to do about this? Sign up for the Marcinkowski campaign! Which is what I did and met some great people in both the campaign itself and the Democratic party. I took down the Impeach Bush sign and put up a Marcinkowski sign. No one stole the Marcinkowski sign. Unfortunately, Rogers won another term.

The day after the election, I took down the Marcinkowski sign and put up the Impeach Bush sign, just for the day to gloat a little at the Democrats take-back of the House.

A few weeks later I started blogging. I was inspired by the litblogs and political blogs I had read (and continue to read). I believe artists are no different than other citizens, and should be engaged with the world around them, including the political forces that shape so much of our daily lives: from the placement of roads, the quality of our schools, to the critical services provided by firemen and police officers, to the rights we constantly have to fight for in order to keep them. Through blogging I have become much more (happily) involved in progressive politics in Michigan, my new adopted home.

To the person(s) who repeatedly stole our Impeach Bush sign: It was extremely stupid and short-sighted of you. If you had just left us that first sign, I never would have continued giving money to support the cause of Impeaching President Bush, thereby strengthening that cause. And I probably never would have volunteered for the Marcinkowski campaign, which got me involved in the local Democratic party, too, which got me fired up to start a blog, which I continue to write to this day.

Bloggers - A Campaign's Best Friend

Statement: Bloggers are a force to be reckoned with.

It's true. Some people don't quite realize it, but the NetRoots Movement is on, and wow, what an impact we had on the '06 Elections.

For some of us, like me, blogging's become an outlet where we can combine our passions, writing and political activism.

When I write and post, I have no idea who reads this and what, if anything, they take away from it.

It is my hope that people who aren't as into state and local politics as I am find this blog to be somewhere where they can stay informed on the important stuff without having to read everything everywhere (and trust me, there's tons!). I think that's happened because every once in a while some of you are kind enough to comment or email me about something that you loved or something that just really stirred you up. That's good. That means I'm being effective.

Nonetheless, I've been saying all along that we can't rest on our laurels, just because we won. Democrats saw the political climate change in our favor, but I'm hoping we won't just stop with a win. If anything, this victory means pat ourselves on the back and then get going on the '08 elections. Let's focus on what we did do right, and what we didn't.

Here's what was disappointing/tragic in Michigan -

8th Congressional District - Mike Rogers has never been a friend of our district, and Jim Marcinkowski was the best candidate that's been run against him yet. He should have won. He needed to win. How do we kick Mike out in '08?

Proposition 2 - No way did we need to follow in the disgraceful footsteps of California in eliminating Affirmative Action. Talk about digging our own graves. We're too smart for that, and while everyone agrees Affirmative Action isn't the answer to our inequity, its a step in the right direction to achieving equity.

Secretary of State - I know, I know. How many of you really care about who's running the DMV, right? That's exactly what I thought till I read up on what it is the SOS really does and what they have control over, say, voting machines? Terry Lynn Land has done a poor job protecting us against ballot fraud, and Carmella Saubaugh has definitely been an innovator for the people down in Macomb County. Read more about it here.

Attorney General - Regardless of what he does in and out of his bedroom, Mike Cox is not exactly working for you and I. He's working for Mike Cox, Saul Anuzis, and the many special interests that lined his campaign war chest. Our own governor should not have to do his job for him when he refuses to protect everyday citizens like you and I (UofM Admissions Case). Amos Williams has had a long record of serving the people, even those who can't contribute to his campaign.

And these are just a few. So many areas to improve upon.

That's why I have to give props to Nirmal. His post is chock-full of brainstorms for how our community moves forward is exactly the nudge (or kick!) we all need. I'm grateful that he's posted it before we start to get together for what I hope will be a very effective planning session. What we'll come away with, I can only guess and hope for.

I hope that our party leaders, our elected officials, and all of the players in front of and behind the scenes realize the potential and power of the bloggers and online community.

Did You Know -

• We can go places and do things that traditional media and campaigns can't.
• We reach an enormous (and often hard to reach) audience and have an incredible pull when it comes to soliciting donations. I believe whole-heartedly that campaigns can't afford to ignore us any longer.
  
• The best part is that for most of us, we're the most dedicated, hard-working, and inexpensive (sometimes practically free!) group of volunteers any candidate/campaign can hope for. We feel honored and appreciated when we're reached out too, and that initial email/conversation could reap more votes than can be counted.

So as candidates are starting to position themselves, races are considered, and campaigns are started in people's kitchens and living rooms, I ask just one thing. Don't forget about the bloggers. We are most definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Howard Dean's Coming to Town! (and you should go!)

Like all good liberals, I love Howard Dean. In fact, I'm even proud of the fact that I'm an original Deaniac. March of 04 was a rough month for me when the man dropped out of the race. Too bad he was ahead of his time.

However, all is not lost, as he's found a great fit as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. I've been really impressed with how he's been invigorating the Party and focusing on wide-spread outreach, and strengthening local party efforts, and not just dumping money in the swing states.

In carrying out his duties as Chair, the former Vermont governor is coming to stump for MI-08's challenger - Jim Marcinkowski. As the LSJ briefly explains

Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean will visit Lansing on Friday to campaign for congressional hopeful Jim Marcinkowski.

The event will begin with a private reception for donors from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the law offices of Hay & O'Rourke, 221 W. Saginaw St.

A rally will follow from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. featuring remarks from Dean and Marcinkowski, who is challenging U.S. Rep Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, in Tuesday's election.

Soooo...if you missed your chance in '04 to get revved up by someone nearly as charismatic as our own lovely Lady Gov, now's the time!

Who's going? :-D

~LL

Marcinkowski: Making the Real Difference for MI (08)

If there's one thing Mike Rogers' aint, it's compassionate. In the time that he's been elected to Congress representing the 8th Congressional District here in Michigan, I'm still trying to figure out what he's done. Here's what I do know -

He LOVES the Iraq War. And I mean loves! In the various times I've visited his DC office (and we're talking over 5 times in the last six years) to advocate on behalf of the patient community (I have a chronic illness and work with several national patient advocacy organizations) all I've heard about is how much he's 'working on the war'. What exactly does that mean?
So he's concerned about making sure our troops have what they need to do the job (a valid concern, and yes, if they are risking their lives they deserve the right equipment to stay safe) BUT - its not like he's out in the trenches with them, or can't crawl out from under his lofty Washington lobbying contributions to get work done. I mean, how many times have we seen the man strolling the D.C. streets with Mark Foley on CNN? Apparently all that time with Mark Foley has kept Rogers a busy boy, and away from appropriating much-needed funds to the National Institute for Health to do everything from research on down. Poor Mike, it must be hard LOVING the war. Question is - what has he actually done for his constituents?

Well, as far as I'm concerned - he's got to go. Never before is there a man more aptly suited to do his job than Jim Marcinkowski. Check out his website here and I think you'll agree with me.
There's a great story today about Jim in one of the lesser-read papers here in Lansing. It might be the paper of MSU, but they occasionally run some decent stories, and today's about Jim is no exception. Here's just a tad of what they have to say about Jim -

Jim Marcinkowski has waged a campaign focused on change.

The Democratic challenger for Michigan's 8th Congressional District, which includes MSU, says he wants to "put this country back on course" by increasing funding for health care, withdrawing troops from Iraq and improving the country's economy.

After spending more than 30 years in government service, including tenures in the FBI, CIA and Navy Marcinkowski switched to politics and joined the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office where he became Royal Oak's deputy city attorney in 1996.

He says his background in the federal government, particularly in overseas affairs and in the intelligence community, would help him as a congressman. Specifically, Marcinkowski says, he is running to bring an end to the Iraq war, and increase funding for health care and higher education.

Although I must say, my favorite part of the article is Jim's closing statement.

Marcinkowski expressed serious concerns about the direction the country is headed in, and also the conduct of his generation's leaders.

"I'm old enough to be concerned about what I will turn over to my children," he said. "(If it keeps up), my generation will turn over something less than what we were handed."

Marcinkowski is afraid government has become too accommodating of corporations, not the people it was meant to serve.

"You can complain and do nothing, or you can get off your dead ass and do something about it," he said.

So why might you vote for Rogers?

~LL