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MI Political Week in Review

Submitted by Michigan LCV on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 21:18

 On the national scene...

Congressman Vern Ehlers (R) MI-03 set to retire

Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers, who has represented the Grand Rapids area in Congress for the last sixteen years, announced on Wednesday that he plans to retire at the end of his current term.  Congressman Ehlers has been a champion of the Great Lakes, and is currently part of three important House committees: Science and Technology; Transportation and Infrastructure; and Education and Labor. We at Michigan LCV would like to thank the Congressman for his tireless advocacy for the Great Lakes, and hope whoever is elected to his seat in the Third District carries on his legacy of environmental protection.

(A little Michigan LCV water cooler talk: At this point it looks like at least ten candidates are vying for Ehlers’ seat, including, perhaps, one of our friends…)

Senator Murkowski continues to wage war on the Clean Air Act

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the “Dirty Air Act” on January 21st in the Senate. This amendment undermines the Clean Air Act and limits the authority of the EPA to regulate CO2 emissions from large polluters. Fortunately, the amendment did not receive enough votes to bring the bill to the Senate floor at the end of January, but Sen. Murkowski plans to seek a vote on the bill in March. Sen. Murkowski claims that the bill is intended to “stop economically devastating regulations from going into effect at a time of great economic uncertainty”, but it seems to be more of a delay tactic, preventing real clean energy legislation from passing, stripping the Clean Air Act, and overturning the EPA’s scientific findings that greenhouse gasses are, in fact, dangerous to human health. Take action now to let Michigan Senator Stabenow know that we are opposed to Senator Murkowki’s Dirty Air Act!

Back in Michigan...

The Race for Governor
There was some shuffling of the candidate lineup this week. And the mudslinging appears to have already begun in earnest.
 
There were changes to the list of Democratic candidates this week: Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero officially announced his candidacy Monday, and Detroit Businesswoman and University of Michigan Regent Denise Illitch announced Wednesday that she would not run for Governor. And yesterday, former state Treasurer and current CEO of Major League Baseball Advanced Media Bob Bowman filed papers to form a gubernatorial exploratory committee.
 
On the GOP side, an independent group called the Michigan Civic Education Fund has been running a 30-second radio ad attacking Republican Candidate Rick Snyder. Snyder’s campaign has asked the radio station, WOOD-1300 news radio, to stop running the ad. The same group recently put up a negative billboard along I-75, questioning Republican candidate Mike Bouchard’s activities as an Oakland County Sherriff. The Michigan Civic Education Fund doesn’t appear to have a political affiliation, although one of its founders is a large contributor to Republican Mike Cox’s gubernatorial campaign. The Cox campaign has denied any affiliation with the negative ads, but Snyder and Bouchard are both calling foul play.
 
The Super Bowl gets “nerdy”

In case you were the only one not watching Super Bowl, you missed the “One Tough Nerd” ad by Rick Snyder's campaign.  The ad was the official launch of Snyder’s media campaign, as he tries to generate name recognition around the state.
 
Here’s a quick update on candidate’s 2009 campaign fundraising:

Snyder: raised $3.2 million

Cox: raised $1.2 million
Bouchard: raised $888, 149

Hoekstra: raised $475,070

George: raised $199,791

Wheeler Smith: raised $36,000
 

Revolving door sends State Representative Coulouris to Dow

State Representative Andy Coulouris (R) HD-95th is not planning to seek a final term in office. Instead, he has chosen to take the position of public affairs manager for Dow Corning in Washington D.C. This career shift came as a surprise to many Lansing insiders, and unfortunately, Coulouris’ seat will probably remain vacant until the elections in November. Coulouris’ departure is another loss for Michigan, of a potentially strong leader in Lansing.

Hot Button issue this week:

Several Great Lakes Governors, including Governor Granholm, met with administrative officials at the White House on Monday, to discuss the threat of Asian Carp to the Great Lakes. The result of this “Carp Summit” was a federal framework that outlines 25 steps that will be taken to mitigate the invasion of the carp into the lakes. Unfortunately, the summit did NOT result in the closing of the locks in the Chicago shipping canal, which is what Great Lakes politicians, scientists, and environmentalists have been advocating for the last month, as the only way to effectively keep the carp from establishing populations in the Great Lakes. The federal government’s refusal to act decisively and in an environmentally responsible way in this situation has been disappointing and frustrating to watch.

For a complete update on action being taken on the Asian carp issue, click here.

Please note that a public meeting will take place this Wednesday, February 17, from 3-6 pm at the Marriot at Eagle Crest in Ypsilanti, MI. Federal agency officials will be on hand to discuss the Asian carp invasion, and strategies to deal with it. If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can watch it online at www.asiancarp.org/regionalcoordination.

We’ve been all over the place lately! Check out Michigan LCV staff in the news!

And as always, don’t forget to follow us on facebook and twitter, and catch Executive Director Lisa Wozniak every first Friday on WEMU’s Focus on the Environment.

Have a great weekend!