MI Political Week in Review
First things first, we apologize for missing last week's edition. The excuse? As evidenced here, we were in DC fighting the good fight!
So, this is a quick overview of the latest in Michigan environmental politics to catch you up:
State Legislature:
- Representative Dan Scripps (D-Leland) introduced a bill (HB 5906) on Thursday, February 25 that would increase Michigan's Renewable Energy Standard (RES) to 30% by the year 2025.
- Representative Mike Lahti (D-Hancock) will be the chair of the new House Appropriations Subcommittee in charge of the Michigan DNRE. Rep. Doug Bennett (D-Muskegon) will serve as the vice chair.
- Representative Tim Bledsoe (D-Grosse Pointe) held a town hall meeting at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial on the topic of Asian carp.
Governor's Race:
We were going to say that it looked like the hokey-pokey was over on the democratic side now that Speaker of the House Andy Dillon is "in", but former Genesee County Treasurer Dan Kildee pulled the quick "in and out".
We also learned that former Congressman Joe Schwarz, M.D. is forming an exploratory committee with the potential of running as an independent.
With five months to go, our tea leaves tell us that this race is anyone's at this point.
Here's your lineup, folks:
DEMOCRATS:
State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith
Speaker of the House Andy Dillon
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero
REPUBLICANS:
US Congressman Peter Hoekstra
Attorney General Mike Cox
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard
Businessman Rick Snyder
Businessman David Kniffen
State Senator Tom George
INDEPENDENTS:
Joe Schwarz, MD
What the polls say:
A Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV/WOOD-TV/WJRT-TV/WILX-TV poll (conducted 2/22-25 by EPIC-MRA; surveyed 600 RVs; margin of error +/- 4.0%) shows... Dillon leads the Democratic primary line-up at 17%, with Kildee trailing at 12%, Bernero at 8% and Wheeler Smith at 7%. With 45% undecided, please standby! For the GOP, it looks like Hoekstra is out front with 27%, followed by Cox at 21%, Snyder at 12%, Bouchard at 10%, George at 1% and 26% undecided.
US SENATE:
The three lead Senators (Kerry, Graham & Lieberman) are taking a new approach to energy/climate legislation. This includes treating sectors differently in hopes to address specific concerns of Senators.
Negotiations are underway. We haven't seen the language just yet and we don't know the timeline, but we will keep you posted at www.MichiganLCV.org. Obviously, we’re interested in the plan that cuts pollution, addresses concerns of Senators and the emissions go down.
If you haven't called our Senators yet, please do so (via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121) and encourage them to be engaged in this fight.
US CONGRESS:
- MI-03: Retiring Rep. Vern Ehlers has endorsed former Kent County Commissioner Steve Heacock (R).
- MI-06: Former state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (R) "is considering a run" against Rep. Fred Upton (R).
- MI-07: Rep. Mark Schauer (D) could face off with his 2008 opponent (and member of the national LCV Dirty Dozen) Tim Walberg (R).
We helped release the National Environmental Scorecard. Here's how our delegation performed in 2009:
Senate:
Carl Levin (D-MI) 100%
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) 100%
House:
Bart Stupak (D-01) 93%
Pete Hoekstra (R-02) 7%
Vern Ehlers (R-03) 50%
Dave Camp (R-04) 21%
Dale E. Kildee (D-05) 100%
Fred Upton (R-06) 36%
Mark Schauer (D-07) 100%
Mike Rogers (R-08) 21%
Gary Peters (D-09) 100%
Candice Miller (R-10) 50%
Thaddeus McCotter (R-11) 36%
Sandy Levin (D-12) 100%
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-13) 100%
John Conyers, Jr. (D-14) 93%
John D. Dingell (D-15) 93%
In summary, who we elect matters. Spread the word!
The week ahead:
Stay tuned for some big news out of MichiganLCV on Monday! HINT: Title of movie with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson.
Want more insider info? Become a member by clicking "donate" at www.MichiganLCV.org. We can't do this work without your support!
PS Mark your calendar for our nonpartisan Gubernatorial candidate forum on May 12th! Click here for details or see who plans to attend on our facebook page!
