In this May newsletter:
- A Message from the Chairwoman
- Notable Announcements
- Support our Law Enforcement Rally on Tuesday, May 17, 6 - 8:00 p.m.
- “Walk for Israel” support on Sunday, May 15, 1:00 p.m.
- L. Brooks to Seek 7th Term as Oakland County Executive
- Plant a Tree in Detroit
- Meet Fritz Beiermeister 14th CD Member and Farmington Hills Activist
- Democrat Rep. Brenda Lawrence “Votes for Us” in Washington
- News Links of Interest
- Honor Memorial Day
A Message from the Chairwoman
Dear 14th District Executive Committee Members, and fellow Republicans;
Given Paul Welday's untimely passing, we are reminded just how precious life is and how we need to live each day as if it were our last. Paul was a former chairman of both the Oakland County Republican Party and the 14th Congressional District Republican Committee. Condolences to Paul's family and friends as he will be missed dearly. Although Paul is no longer with us, his legacy will live on. May he rest in peace in the presence of our Lord. The 14th District Committee has made a donation to the Autism Alliance of Michigan in memory of Paul Welday. https://aaomi.kindful.com/
Our “Support Our Law Enforcement Rally” is coming soon - Tuesday, May 17 - Free event - Please see the accompanying article below for details. I encourage all of our 18 communities to support this very special event. I especially look forward to seeing all of our 14th District Republican Committee at this event.
A special thank you goes out to Carol Foster and Karen Faett who are the sponsors of this great event. Here is what you can do to help:
- Mark your calendar to attend
- Invite a friend or two
- Announce this event at other group meetings!
- Let’s make it great!
Confirmed speaker Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard was just recognized with a fabulous national award. Click here to learn more. We are glad to have him at the event. Also confirmed to speak is Michigan Senator Patrick Colbeck (R-District 7).
We encourage all to bring signs, American flags and other visible messages of support for our officers.
Another great local event is the annual “Walk for Israel” - Sunday, May 15. - Free event - This a highly visible way for our members to show their support. Many candidates will be present for you to meet as well as many from the “other side”, While you Walk you will be able to
State Convention - April 8-9 was the infamous State Convention where we elected Delegates to the Republican National Convention. Friday night, each Congressional District elected their three respective Delegates to the 2016 RNC National Convention in Cleveland. This process was truly as “grassroots” as it can get! Our elected 14th District delegation looks like this, shown with the Presidential candidate that each is “bound to” for the first ballot:
Thanks for electing such a representative group. Of course, it goes without saying, but I am truly humbled to be your Chairwoman and to have been elected to be Donald Trump’s Delegate to Cleveland. I plan to post up to date photos and reports from the Convention on the 14th District Facebook page - watch here for photos and verbiage during the RNC from July 18th through 21st.
We’ve all heard much about “stealing delegates” at the RNC National Convention. Thought you might enjoy this perspective on that topic http://beartotheright.com/2016/04/05/there-is-no-such-thing-as-stealing-delegates/?platform=hootsuite
We’ve also heard much about the 2016 Convention being contested. The last GOP contested convention featured our own Michigander Jerry Ford and Ronald Reagan. Here is an interesting play-by-play look at how that process happened as seen through the eyes of those actually involved back in 1976 http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/1976-convention-oral-history-213793?platform=hootsuite
Last, congratulations to newly elected RNC National Committeewoman Kathy Berden and National Committeeman Dr. Rob Steele. These two will represent all of us at RNC National Committee meetings for the next FOUR years. We are privileged to have such dedicated volunteers serve us all.
All Republicans are welcome to attend this open meeting! Please join us with your ideas, energy and help us grow the 14th District!
Notable Announcements:
- May 3: Filing deadline to run for Precinct Delegate
- May 5: Wayne County 14th District GOP meeting at 7 p.m. featuring Will Broman, candidate for Michigan Representative (District 1); details here https://www.facebook.com/events/272242653108349/
- May 5: Farmington Area Republican (FAR) meeting at FH City Hall features AFP’s State Director Pete Lund and Representative Jim Runestad (R-District 44)
- May 9: Lakes Area Tea Party meeting at Uptown Grille at 7 p.m. features Massey Campos speaking about "Racism and How the Left Uses it to Undermine the Country"
- May 15: Greater West Bloomfield Republican’s annual parade participation at the Walk for Israel hosted at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield (walk starts at 1 p.m.); see article below
- May 16: Oakland County Young Republicans meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Black Finn in Royal Oak features Bryan Tupper of the Media Research Center with a presentation on liberal bias in the media. Email Shawn at [email protected] for details.
- May 17: Support our Law Enforcement Rally at the Southfield Civic Center; see article below
- May 19: 14th District Republican Committee Meeting, Emagine Theatre in Royal Oak (200 N. Main Street). 6:00 p.m. dinner and networking, with a 7:00 p.m. business meeting with featured speaker Justice Maura Corrigan
- May 24: MEDEFCO meeting at 7 p.m. at The Bruce Post VFW Hall in SCS featuring Chris McCourtney, general manager of WDTK (The Patriot at 92.7 FM/1400 AM) speaking on the role of talk radio in the conservative movement
- May 30: Memorial Day; see article below
- June 3 and 4: MIGOP State Committee Meeting in Lansing
Support our Law Enforcement Rally on May 17
Karen Faett, RNC Convention Delegate for Gov. John Kasich (R - Ohio) and 14th Executive Committee member from West Bloomfield, noted that when there was that fatal shooting by a Dearborn police officer of a criminal suspect in Detroit recently a protest was scheduled within 48 hours, “without any investigation of facts whatsoever.”
Meanwhile, Carol Foster had proposed last fall that 14th District Republicans host an event to show of support for law enforcement in light of recent unprovoked acts of violence against police officers.
As a result, Faett and Foster, both 14th District Republican activists, teamed up to create the Support Our Law Enforcement Rally scheduled on the Southfield Civic Center Campus from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17. The event will feature as speakers Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who recently was named national 2016 Sheriff of the Year, and Senator Patrick Colbeck (R -District 7). Press releases about each speaker are here http://www.14cd.com/press_releases. Additional elements of the program will be announced as added.
“I have received overwhelming appreciation and enthusiasm from our law enforcement community for having this Rally. Everyone involved is excited and looking forward to the event. We encourage everyone who will be attending to bring banners, American flags or similar signs of support” said Foster. For additional details, call Carol at(248) 961-6016
“Walk for Israel” support on May 15
Join local Republicans as we “Walk for Israel”. Started ten years ago, “Walk for Israel” events, sponsored locally by Temple Shir Shalom, have grown in size and prominence by appealing to a broad cross section of the community. The Detroit area has the second largest Jewish population in the midwest. See more details athttp://walkforisrael.org/.
Several GOP groups will be participating in the 2016 “Walk for Israel”. See the link above for details or just look for the GOP float on May 15 (walk begins at about 1:00 p.m.) at the corner of Walnut Lake Road and Orchard Lake Road in West Bloomfield. The 2015 event looked like this https://vimeo.com/120438974.
Walk for Israel GOP participants and float in 2015
L. Brooks to Seek 7th Term as Oakland County Executive
As widely anticipated, L. Brooks Patterson confirmed that he will once again seek the position of Oakland County Executive. Widely regarded as one of the best run counties in the U.S.A., this is excellent news for county citizens and for other Republican candidates seeking office in Oakland as L. Brooks has consistently been a vote leader on the ballot. Click here to read more.
Plant a Tree in Detroit
Join hundreds of volunteers on May 7th as they plant over 3,000 trees just east of downtown Detroit. Register for the 2016 version of this event here http://www.hantzfoundation.org/registration.html. To see how this program worked in 2015 check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF7qkNWbU_0
Meet Fritz Beiermeister 14th CD Member and Farmington Hills Activist
Fritz Beiermeister has some advice for 14th Congressional District Republicans who want to learn about local politics: Attend a school board meeting.
If your experience is anything like his, it’s likely to be quite an eye-opener.
“Most of the population doesn’t have a clue … what’s happening there,” Beiermeister said.
His own education started in 2012 when the community rejected a $222 million facilities bond issue for the Farmington School District. After the defeat of a subsequent $186 million proposal, Beiermeister and some others, including members of Farmington Area Republicans, asked the school administration to form a capital advisory planning committee. The panel pinpointed overcapacity in district facilities and recommended the closing of two administration buildings and four schools.
With that in mind, the district administration fashioned a third bond issue — a five-year, $131.5 million plan that voters approved in 2015.
“The whole school deal has been interesting and there is no understanding by most people what the schools are doing,” Beiermeister said.
For instance, most people don’t realize that the property tax they pay goes mostly to the state for redistribution, and not to their own local schools.
If citizens looked closely at their schools, they would find they are saddled with declining student populations, legacy costs attributable to past promises for pensions that are untenable and quality problems with curriculum, Beiermeister said.
Beiermeister’s three children went through Rochester schools “but it’s not very different here,” he said of Farmington schools, nor for other districts.
Beiermeister’s odyssey to local involvement — he is still part of a citizen’s oversight committee related to the bond program — actually started in 2008, through the Tea Party movement.
He recalled that the state was a disaster under then Governor Jennifer Granholm. He began attending meetings of the Rattle With Us Tea Party group in Plymouth. They were going through a study of the Republican platform. Beiermeister said at the time he was “more in an independent mode, but you need to check a box. I support the GOP platform.”
Beiermeister notes that the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reserves powers to state and local government and his own journey actually started with his work in a homeowners association. That inevitably led him to involvement with local government and Michigan’s catastrophic situation during the Granholm years.
“The federal government is not where the solutions are,” Beiermeister said.
Thus he thinks the path to growth for the Republican Party in the 14th District is through “community based activities that have some visibility … things the Jaycees used to do, though I’m not sure specifically what those should be … You need to give people something to do.”
He, for instance, helped gather petition signatures for Clark Durant’s run for the U.S. Senate in 2012.
“I applaud people who do this stuff,” Beiermeister said. Organizations should “give checkmarks to those who get involved.”
Issue-oriented education also should play a role. Tea Party meetings have been instructive in that regard and “Janine has done that too,” he said of some of the District meetings that have been held under the leadership of 14th District Chairwoman Janine Kateff.
He said that over the time of his involvement with Rattle With Us the group has studied the 10th Amendment, the national debt, whether Michigan should hold a constitutional convention, the proposed part-time legislature, right-to-work, Common Core, home schooling, health-care alternatives, state and federal budgets, the new bridge to Canada, road funding and medical marijuana.
He said Republicans locally have only a small percentage of people on city councils, township and school boards, and noted there will be three openings on the Farmington School Board this fall.
“Democrats do better at local politics,” Beiermeister said.
Now retired, Beiermeister had extensive involvement with General Motors in a career stretching from 1970 to 2008. He was executive director of GM/OnStar from 1995 to 2008 and prior to that was executive director for international export for GM in Europe from 1991 to 1995.
Beiermeister said his years in Europe instilled in him a strong belief that we here in the United States are unique.
“People here can imagine they can succeed at all sorts of levels,” he said. “In other places you just can’t have the dreams.”
Beiermeister attributes this to the fact that people came to this country “in difficult circumstances. We are a nation of immigrants. People don’t understand what that means. It’s in our DNA.”
He and his wife, Rosemary, live in Farmington Hills. They have three children and six grandchildren.
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.
- HB 4408 passed 392 to zero (yes, you read it correctly) with Lawrence voting with the majority. This requires the president to develop a plan that would limit travel by terrorists within the USA and around the world. [N.B. Doesn’t this seem like a good idea?] This policy should identify federal activities that now constrain the travel of these individuals and identify ways to improve the effectiveness of such activities. [N.B. And these politicians wonder why voters are upset with their behavior.]
- HB 2406 passed 242 to 161 with Lawrence voting AGAINST. This exempts certain items used in hunting and fishing---such as lead bullets and lead sinkers----from the regulations imposed by the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. It also eases the restrictions on hunting and fishing on federal land and (of course, here is the necessary “pork”) provides funding to states to acquire land for target shooting ranges.
- HB 3442 passed 267 to 151 with Lawrence voting AGAINST. This requires the Treasury Department to post a plan to reduce government debt when the debt amount approaches the then approved debt limit. Who could be against this?
- HB 4557 passed 238 to 163 with Lawrence voting AGAINST. This blocked the EPA from regulating emissions from kilns that make bricks until the courts have ruled on the legality of the EPA’s rules in this area.
News Links of Interest
- Virgin Atlantic Airlines discovers design in Detroit
- Tulip Time now available by live streaming from Holland, Michigan
- Eastern Market’s ten year plan
- Disruptive leaders do these five things
- Pontiac’s business district is growing
- FBI issues advisory about cyber attacks against connected automobiles
- Next housing crisis is upon us
- Detroit’s Billionaires Rebuild Downtown
- Craft beer sales soar in 2015
- 50th Anniversary of Batman headlines Comic Con 2016
- Detroit bids for U.S. Figure Skating Championships
- Putting faith in a good education
- Japanese companies flourish in Michigan
- A billion dollar a year business that no one else saw coming
- Surprise Michigan city on list of top ten places for young professionals to work/live
Honor Memorial Day
Memorial Day is set aside to remember the men and women who died while serving in the country’s armed services. The holiday originated as Decoration Day after the Civil War in 1868, when an organization of Union veterans established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of soldiers with flowers. By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged to become Memorial Day which then was extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service.
Memorial Day weekend events for 2016 in Metro Detroit include parades, ceremonies, commemorative events, and a variety of fun things to do May 27, May 28, May 29, and on Memorial Day, May 30, 2016. There will be many ways to remember the primary purpose of the Holiday. Here is one resource to locate events in your area http://oaklandcountymoms.com/memorial-day-weekend-events-2016-metro-detroit-mi-27775/
