In this January newsletter:

• Notable Announcements
• 14th CD Holiday Party Recap
• ML King Day Celebrations Held in the 14th District
• Nearly 30,000,000 People Have Watched this TEDEx Presentation
• Meet Glenn Gilbert, 14th District Newsletter Editor
• Keep the Oakland County Majority Event Features Meekhof and Cotter
• Michigan Likely to Lose a Congressional Seat in 2020
• Co-founder of Greenpeace Comments on Global Climate Change
• Strobl Says University’s Now Designed to End Debate (Not Encourage It)
• Lakes Area Tea Party Remains Strong
• Democrat Rep. Brenda Lawrence “Votes for Us” in Washington
• News Links of Interest
• A Message from the Chairwoman

Notable Announcements

• January 7:  Farmington Area Republican (FAR) meeting at FH City Hall features Michigan Senator Patrick Colbeck (R-7th District) at 7 p.m.  http://www.senatorpatrickcolbeck.com/
• January 11:  LATP monthly meeting at Uptown Grille with speaker Tom DeWeese, of the American Policy Center beginning at 7 p.m. (see article below)
• January 13:  Birmingham/Bloomfield Republican Club meeting (7 p.m.) at Bloomfield Township Auditorium with Michigan Senator Marty Knollenberg speaking about straight ballot voting and Matt Maddock speaking about Battle Cry Michigan
• January 14:  Republican Presidential Debate from North Charleston, SC broadcast on Fox Business Network with the time TBA
• January 18:  Oakland County Young Republicans meeting at Black Finn in Royal Oak with Judge Jeff Matis, recently appointed to the 6th Circuit Court.  Email Shawn at [email protected] for further details.
• January 18:  M.L. King Day celebrations in the 14th CD.  Some of the options at http://www.metroparent.com/daily/family-activities/family-events/mlk-jr-day-events-southeast-michigan/.
• January 21:  14th District Republican Committee Meeting at Jimi’s Restaurant in Royal Oak, 6 p.m. dinner and networking, with a 7 p.m. business meeting topic “The Other Side of the Refugee Crisis” featuring Dr. Jihad Alharash, M.D., who is active in the Syrian American Rescue Network (SARN); learn more at www.sarn-us.org.
• January 23: Bloomfield Republican Women's Club meeting at Bloomfield Township Senior Center (4315 Andover Road) will provide a training session to teach words and techniques to communicate the Republican message to win over recruits.   Details at  www.bloomfieldrwc.com
• January 28-29:  Battle Cry Michigan How to get the party back. http://battlecrymichigan.com/
• January 28:  Republican Presidential Debate from Des Moines, IA broadcast on Fox News at 9 p.m.
• February 3:  Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) at the University of Michigan is sponsoring the Bill Ayers (remember this radical’s influence on BHO)  and Dinesh D’Souza debate at 6 p.m. in the Michigan League Ballroom. Free and open to the public, seating is first-come, first-served. Register here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1716853438545179/
• February 5-6:  MIGOP State Committee Meeting in Lansing  
• February 9 and 11:  Hold these dates for a Greater West Bloomfield Republicans "Valentines Day" CPL Class.   Details to follow at https://m.facebook.com/Greater-West-Bloomfield-Republicans-GWBR-187346907974091/

14th CD Holiday Party Recap

A beautifully decorated and festive banquet room welcomed those attending the first ever Christmas/Holiday party for the 14th CD.  The event was held at the Mexican Village restaurant in Detroit.   The party featured great authentic Mexican food, incredible Latino dancers, a GREAT group of Republicans that included most of our 14th District Republican Committee, Judges, Councilwoman, Councilmen, Precinct Delegates, and many activist members.  All came together to celebrate the holidays!  

Janine Kateff, Chairwoman, reported “Our Presidential ‘straw poll’ was very interesting!  The winners were Donald Trump, in first place, and Ted Cruz in second.  Detroit’s own Dr. Ben Carson came in third.  With so many wonderful GOP candidates who knows if that will hold as 2016 rolls forward, but these three dominated.”

A good time was had by all. Thank you to those who took time out of their busy schedule to support the 14th District by coming come together to celebrate the season and our successes.

A huge thank you goes to the Feliz Navidad Committee, Gloria Rocha, Donzell Green and Matt Schonert.

(above) 50 plus Republicans attended the first ever 14th District “Feliz Navidad” party at Mexican Village restaurant in Detroit.

   
(above)  Gloria Rocha, Chairwoman of the event committee (left) and Janine Kateff, 14th CD Chair (right) with dancers who entertained in traditional costumes.  

The 14th District also had a tremendous show of financial support for this event as there were a record eight sponsors. A good time was had by all of the over 50 revelers. More pictures are posted to our Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/mi14gop/photos/pcb.761430807294378/761426503961475/?type=3&theater

ML King Day Celebrations Held in the 14th District

Dr. M.L. King Day celebrations will be held throughout southeast Michigan on January 18, 2016.   Learn more about specific events by checking this list http://www.metroparent.com/daily/family-activities/family-events/mlk-jr-day-events-southeast-michigan/

His most famous speech, first delivered here in Detroit, can be heard at this link: https://archive.org/details/MLKDream

Nearly 30,000,000 People Have Watched this TEDEx Presentation 

Find out why!  One of TED Global’s most popular talks focuses on body language.   TEDex provides this overview:

“Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how ‘power posing’ — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.”

https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are?language=en  Change your 2016 by changing your body language. Try it.  

Meet Glenn Gilbert 14th Congressional District Newsletter Editor

This is the fourth in a series of profiles about our 14th District Executive Committee leadership. 

With the new leadership elected in February 2015 one special blessing was that Glenn Gilbert agreed to become 14th Congressional District Editor.  As Editor, he has responsibility for the production quality of this monthly newsletter and for the periodic press releases produced for the 14th District. These releases are either directly for 14th District events or where the 14th supports like-minded groups in the District.

Who is Glenn Gilbert?   

Shortly after retiring as editor of Digital First Media, which included serving as executive editor of The Oakland Press, Glenn got re-involved in local politics.  DFM also has newspapers in Macomb, Mt. Pleasant, Dearborn and Southgate, all of which were under Gilbert’s supervision.  

What an asset for our 14th District!

 While attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Gilbert was an aspiring politician who was active in Young Americans for Freedom. YAF remains a conservative voice on the Ann Arbor campus to this day.   

Concluding that law school — the likely path to a political career — would not be in his future, Gilbert dove into journalism by taking an editor’s position in Flat Rock, Mich.   Along his distinguished journalism career he held positions in Willoughby, Ohio (editor of The News-Herald), suburban Chicago (city editor) and worked for 11 years with The Ann Arbor News.  That stint in Chicago explains Gilbert’s commitment to being a Chicago Cubs fan and contracting Cubs fever.  Gilbert notes, “There is, unfortunately, no cure for it.”

Gilbert points out that his conservative leanings were not common in the newsroom.   He commented:  

 “A conservative in a liberal newsroom can be lonely.  When the editor of The Ann Arbor News decided that we were going to endorse Ronald Reagan for President in 1980 the two editorial writers refused to write the endorsement.  The editor was a bit rusty and wandered out to where I was working as assistant city editor while musing that he was having trouble finding anything to say about Reagan.  I responded that I could think of plenty to say and volunteered to write the endorsement.  That started a tradition for me.  I would go on to write or help write every presidential endorsement editorial for every paper I worked at for the next 32 years.  Each was for a Republican!”

Married for 38 years to Linda, the Gilberts have three adult children and one grandson.  Linda Gilbert has worked as a teacher at various Christian schools for many years and now works part time at Franklin Road Christian School in Novi.   Gilbert remembers that his father “changed his name from Goldberg to Gilbert because the enlightened FDR liberals imposed quotas on the number of Jews admitted to medical schools.  So he changed his name to become a physician.  This is hard for people to believe today.”

Noting that his industry is going through major changes, Gilbert observed that local journalism is dying altogether.   These positions spawned many of the entry-level jobs for people who went on to other leadership positions later in their careers.   He noted that young journalists now need skills in social media, digital graphics, video photography and editing.   The era of instant access to news, in Gilbert’s opinion, means: “We will be better informed than ever.  This should eventually benefit freedom and democracy worldwide.”

Keep the Oakland County Majority Event Features Meekhof and Cotter

The Republican Oakland County Commissioners and their PAC hosted the “Keep the Majority Event” on Dec. 14 at Andiamo’s Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills.   With all seats on the Oakland County Commission up for election in November 2016 this reception was focused on maintaining or expanding the current GOP majority.  Special guest speakers included Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and Speaker of the Michigan House Kevin Cotter.  The speakers addressed the importance of Oakland County to the state and the importance of retaining the GOP majority now in place..

Attending from the 14th Executive Committee were Janine Kateff (West Bloomfield), Chairwoman, and Bill Rauwerdink (West Bloomfield).   Also attending were Glenn Gilbert (West Bloomfield), 14th CD’s Communications Editor, and Ben Ohly, President of the Greater West Bloomfield Republicans (GWBR) and Marian Sheridan, Vice President of GWBR.

Michigan Likely to Lose a Congressional Seat in 2020 

With certain states continuing to grow rapidly, after the 2020 U.S. census Michigan is again projected to lose a U.S. Congressional seat.  If the projection holds true, Michigan would have the smallest number of Congress members in over a century at thirteen.  Learn more at http://mitechnews.com/politics/census-michigan-slowing-growing-could-lose-congressional-seat/   Michigan will likely stay a top ten state in terms of population as it leads number eleven (New Jersey) by more than a million residents.

Co-founder of Greenpeace Comments on Global Climate Change 

Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, comments on global climate change.   We know that President Obama has stated that the most significant threat to our well being is “climate change” (f/k/a global warming after it was f/k/a global cooling).   So how does this environmentalist see things https://youtu.be/RkdbSxyXftc

Strobl Says Universities Now End Debate (Not Encourage It)

Grant Strobl, 14th CD Executive Committee member (Grosse Pointe Shores), continues to lead the effort to keep campuses (at least one called the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor) open to free speech.   In addition to efforts to get the movie “American Sniper” shown and recent efforts to show the film “Honor Diaries” (against concerns about showing Islamic “honor killings” and other oppression of women), Strobl is now focused on the attack on common language on campus.  

Check out his article published at www.RedAlertPolitics.com http://redalertpolitics.com/2015/12/01/1984-u-mich-asks-students-report-bias-crimes-acts-intolerance/#HVWdIyoUu4TRq4uT.99. In the article, Strobl notes, “One could call this crazy, but the university lists ‘crazy’ as an offensive, banned word in the Inclusive Language Campaign launched last year.”  This Inclusive Language Campaign allows the University to launch disciplinary action against any student who violates the “thought police” restrictions on words.

As noted in the “Notable Announcements” above, on February 3 Young American’s for Freedom in Ann Arbor is sponsoring a debate between Bill Ayers and Dinesh D’Souza. Strobl also serves as president of this YAF chapter. Attend to see free speech on campus!

Lakes Area Tea Party Remains Strong

This is the fifth in a series profiling groups that support GOP positions.

Like so many similar groups across the country, the Lakes Area Tea Party was born out of a frustration with the direction the country was taking in the fall of 2009.

But while many Tea parties have lost some of their steam — and members — LATP has more than doubled its size.

The question is, what is the key to LATP’s growth in numbers?

“We have more things for people to do,” says LATP leader Marian Sheridan. There are a variety of projects, campaigns and internal activities like recruitment that members can choose from.

“Lakes Area” refers to some of the communities in northern Oakland County: Orchard Lake, Walled Lake, White Lake and Lake Orion, for example. “Anyone from anywhere is welcome, and many come from the 14th District and many come from outside Oakland County”, Sheridan says.

Leadership of the LATP group  “has always been a loose board of members giving input. The original founders were: Deb O'Hagan, Peggy Miller, Laura Aquinto, Rosanne Ponkowski, Sue Helke, and myself along with people who floated in and out of the board meetings, much the way it is set up now.”

Reflective of that approach is the fact that Sheridan does not have a formal title like chairman or President of LATP. 

The LATP website www.lakesareateaparty.com declares its members will:

• EDUCATE ourselves and others on local and national issues through speakers and existing resources;
• NETWORK with other like-minded organizations for strength in numbers;
• SHARE solutions with ourselves, our community and our legislators;
• ELECT sound conservatives. We won’t always endorse, but will help to find the right candidates;
• MONITOR all levels of government and hold elected officials accountable and demand transparency;
• RENEW the American Spirit through an understanding of our Founding Fathers’ documents and symbols.

When it started “we had many elected officials in the Republican Party visit our Tea Party. We worked to help get many of them elected, including Klint Kesto,” the current State Representative for the 39th District that includes the western half of West Bloomfield Township, Commerce, Wixom, Wolverine Lake and parts of Waterford. 

One of the projects LATP is involved with is "Battle Cry Michigan,” which will be taking place at the Firekeepers Casino in Battle Creek January 29 and 30.  More information is available at www.BattleCryMichigan.com

“ ‘Battle Cry’ is for Republicans who are tired of being treated like the ugly stepchild inside the Republican Party after we work hard to get many in the legislature elected,” Sheridan said. “Those elected have promised us limited government, but all too soon after winning office they abandon those promises. ‘Battle Cry’ will teach concerned citizens how we take our Republican Party back to its platform principles.”

Reflecting more on LATP’s history, Sheridan said:

“In the fall of 2013, we were meeting at the Multi Lakes Conservation Club in Commerce. About that time, I took over more of a leadership role and the board evolved a little, but the main people remained mostly the same.”

“At our board meetings we regularly have guests and receive valuable input from others directly involved in the grassroots movement,” Sheridan said. “We now meet at the Uptown Grille on West Maple in Commerce, inside the 11th District. It was a good move for us to change locations.”

Sheridan said audiences range from 90 to 130 at the monthly meetings held on the second Monday of the month. A social hour starts at 6 p.m. with the main program starting at 7 p.m.

It is “more than an education forum for voters,” Sheridan said.  “LATP now has specific short-term and long-term goals as a group.  Those goals are the result of many members’ work.”

The speaker at the next meeting, on January 11, will be Tom DeWeese, of the American Policy Center. Sheridan said DeWeese is one of the nation's leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights and personal privacy and is an authority on arming communities to stop Agenda 21. 

Wikipedia describes Agenda 21 as an action plan of the United Nations with regard to "sustainable development".  It is a product of the  U.N. Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. It is an action agenda for the U.N., other multilateral organizations and individual governments around the world that can be executed at local, national, and global levels, Wikipedia states. The "21" in Agenda 21 refers to the 21st Century.

Democrat Rep. Brenda Lawrence “Votes for Us” in Washington

Your Democratic 14th Congressional District U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence has been busy in Washington, D.C.  Here is a recap of several of her recent and shocking votes.   Her role in supporting the Democrat Party line and not Michigan values can be seen very clearly here.   Her votes often are like this:  think of a logical idea/opinion and then vote the opposite way.   After considering her positions, please feel free to call her office at 202-225-5802.

• Amendment 748 to HR 22 was approved 216 to 207 with Lawrence voting  FOR.  This Amendment creates a government tourism committee, comprised of political appointees representing specific special interest groups, to advise the DOT. The Amendment’s sponsor was Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) who represents the district that contains Disney World.
• Amendment 738 to HR 22 failed 196 to 225 with Lawrence voting AGAINST.  Unlike the prior Amendment (see above) which created more bureaucracy, this Amendment would have required the DOT to create an online database of the costs of environmental impact studies mandated for transportation projects.  Such studies are required before any federal construction project can begin.
• Amendment 769 to HR 22 failed 172 to 255 with Lawrence voting AGAINST.  This Amendment would have banned using road repair funds for “landscaping and scenic enhancement”.   Should sound familiar to Michigan voters!
• HB 2189 passed 241 to 185 with (of course) Lawrence voting AGAINST.  This bill expands the authority of Congress to oversee the monetary policies implemented by the Federal Reserve Bank.  Among its features, this Bill ends restrictions on the GAO’s ability to audit the Federal Reserve, limits its ability to lend to insolvent banks at low interest rates and requires cost/benefit analyses for regulations issued by it.

News Links of Interest

1. The science of sounding smart 
2. We have driven on John R Road, so who was John R?  
3. 53 new things in Detroit 
4. Eastern Market under pressure to expand 
5. Taylor Swift turns 26 (really?) and has 26 quotes to celebrate 
6. This helps explain why so few leaders exist among politicians 
7. Ten technology trends that will shape 2016
8. Oakland County FOIA requests now processed online 
9. Caucus Club restaurant to reopen 
10. Top ten new financial lingo words of 2015  
11. Successful people stand out from the pack and here is how 
12. New credit cards cause longer lines and (maybe) better security 
13. Oakland County Parks accepting summer job applications now 
14. Twenty five things you did as a kid that you can no longer do today 
15. Which are the best managed local non-profits?  

A Message from the Chairwoman 

Dear 14th District Executive Committee Members, and fellow Republicans near and far;

Happy New Year!   

Welcome 2016 and all the opportunities the new year offers!   Like many in the 14th District, after welcoming in the New Year, we’ll recover from the Holiday period (many will watch football--need I say Go Blue?) and  —  perhaps — make a resolution or two for 2016.  

Certainly one resolution that we all need to make is to do all that we can do to RECRUIT and ELECT Republicans from the top of the ticket on down to the most local positions and non-partisan positions like judges.  We will soon be looking at all of the open seats in the 14th District in an attempt to RECRUIT and ELECT Republicans to win new seats. Stay tuned for more on this.

Look at the “Announcements” section above in this newsletter!  It illustrates the very high level of activity already underway among Republicans in the 14th CD.  This is awesome and I believe this is just the beginning of our 2016 campaign efforts to RECRUIT and ELECT more Republicans everywhere!  There is no excuse to not get involved - somewhere.

Our first ever Christmas/Holiday event named Feliz Navidad to honor our in District location of Mexican Town, was truly a great time with 50 plus attenders supporting the 14th District!  We are even more excited to know that some great new money was added to our bank account to support candidates!  More on that later, but a final THANK YOU goes out to our record EIGHT sponsors and kudos to the Party Committee: Gloria Rocha, Donzell Green and Matt Schonert.   Please check our Facebook page to see some of the pictures from the event. https://www.facebook.com/mi14gop/photos/pcb.761430807294378/761426503961475/?type=3&theater

One service that the 14th CD launched in 2015 was a press release resource for both our own releases and for other groups in the 14th CD for the purpose of promoting their events.  To date this year, we have handled 14 press releases with 12 being direct releases about 14th CD  and 2 being “facilitated” releases to plug events sponsors by other clubs located in the 14th.  As you move forward in 2016, keep this service in mind.  Bring any events that need promotion to our attention.