Chairman’s Corner August
2006
State Party Convention
A great Republican State Party Convention in Novi took place this past weekend. Oakland County Republicans left the Convention unified, energized and ready to work!
The State Party Convention had a distinctive Oakland County flavor. Our County Executive L. Brooks Patterson was the emcee for the event. Speaker of the House Craig DeRoche welcomed all the delegates to Oakland County. U.S. Senate candidate and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard electrified the crowd early with a great speech. In a terrific show of class and Party unity, he was introduced by Keith Butler, who reminded us why we need to replace “Do Nothing Debbie.” Our County Clerk, Ruth Johnson, was nominated as our Lieutenant Governor candidate and laid out the case for change in Michigan. Oakland County also provided two candidates for statewide office in the education arena -- Tom McMillin for the State Board of Education and John Akouri for Wayne State University Board of Governors. Finally, former State Representative Mark Shulman was nominated as Republican candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court. Obviously, all eyes are now firmly fixed on Oakland County!
In less than 75 days, Michigan voters will go to the polls to decide the future of the state of Michigan. If we don’t work hard to get the message of our candidates out to the voters, we jeopardize our chances in November. The time for planning is over, now we must execute the plan!
I urge you to contact our Republican candidates for county, legislative or statewide office. They need you and they need you now! You can walk and hand out literature door-to-door (very healthy, I might add) or you can make telephone calls. There are voter lists to prepare and signs to be placed on lawns and businesses. Whatever your skill set, we can find you a job!
I urge you to go to one of our four Victory Centers in Farmington Hills, Rochester, Clarkston and Royal Oak. You can find locations and telephone numbers for those Victory Centers here at our website. You can also call our OCRP headquarters at (248) 655-0501 and we’ll be glad to “hook you up” with a candidate or task.
The Chairman only has two questions: “Who are you helping?” and “When have you committed to help?” I hope your answer to the latter question is “early and often!” Let’s work hard and enjoy victory in November!
Governor Mitt Romney hosted a “Pizza & Politics” event on Friday evening at the State Convention. Over 1,000 delegates and guests passed through the Romney tent. The Governor announced that the Republican Governors Association is sending $750,000 to Michigan to help in the election of Dick DeVos and Ruth Johnson. Governor Romney shared some very encouraging words with us and emphasized that Michigan is in a “single state recession.” Obviously, it’s time for a leadership change in Lansing. As one Oakland County Convention delegate said to me, “how did we ever let Governor Romney get out of the state of Michigan?” While I’m not sure how that happened, I know we have to make one thing happen -- Dick DeVos needs to be elected as our next Governor!
On August 17th, Oakland County held its convention for the purpose of electing delegates to the State Party Convention. We had almost 400 Precinct Delegates in attendance. I want to thank our Congressional District Chairs -- Dennis Buchholz, Bob Law, Larry Ward, and Glenn Clark -- for working with me to put together our slates. They passed with a minimum of changes!
The highlight of the evening was a four-minute standing ovation for Ruth Johnson, our County Clerk who is now DeVos’ running mate. Great speeches were also given by Congressmen Mike Rogers and McCotter and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, who is our U.S. Senate candidate. I received numerous compliments about the evening. However, the real thanks go to all those Precinct Delegates who showed up at our County Convention and are ready to work!