As I’ve noted many times before, I’m running for County Commissioner in a heavily Republican district; the GOP incumbent (Shelley Taub) has crushed her last 3 Democratic opponents by a 2:1 margin. She’s been around forever and has high name recognition.
This year, she’s facing an unexpected primary challenge from a guy (Chuck Moss) who’s also pretty well-known in the area; in fact, the two of them have been swapping jobs for the past 2 decades (one was a Commissioner while the other was a State Representative, then they’d swap jobs when one was term limited out, then swap back again, with little or no serious Democratic competition).
Needless to say, it’s gonna be a tough uphill climb for a progressive Democrat to win in Mitt Romney’s hometown.
Since the day I decided to run, one question ran through my mind: Would either one of my opponents actually go on the record with their support of Donald Trump for President of the United States? Remember, at the time, there was still the off chance that Ted Cruz or John Kasich might pull out a surprise upset...or that the #NeverTrump brigade might pull off a miracle.
Neither Taub nor Moss, to my knowledge, had ever stated their POTUS position one way or the other...understandable, from their POV, because on the one hand, they’re both Republicans...but on the other, Trump is a grotesque caricature; a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic moron. What’s a Republican to do??
Well, with the Michigan primary coming up in less than 2 weeks (our Presidential primary is earlier than all the other races, for obvious reasons), the Michigan Voter Guide has been released.
One of the final questions was worded in such a way as to make it impossible to weasel out of an answer (assuming you filled it out at all); lo and behold, they are both now officially on the record as supporting Donald Trump for President...
Do you support and will you appear at campaign events with your party’s presidential nominee?
Chuck Moss: I will support my party's nominee, and will so appear.
Shelley Goodman Taub: As of today, the convention has yet to take place. As a Republican, I appear on the ballot below the picture of Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president. I will be supporting the Republican nominee.
...although you’ll notice that neither one could bring themselves to actually utter his name.
Contrast this with my response:
Charles Gaba: YES! I fully support Hillary Clinton and would be honored to appear at campaign events with her if invited to do so.
So, there you have it.
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Meanwhile, the Pre-Primary Campaign Finance Reports are posted on the county website, and there’s some interesting stuff there as well:
MYSELF: Thanks in large part to many of the folks here, I’m happy to announce that I’ve raised over $9,300 to date, while only spending $850 so far (remember, I have no primary opponent, so I can keep my powder dry for another couple of weeks). Thank you again to everyone who’s helped so far. I have about $8,500 on hand for the general.
TAUB (incumbent): $15.5K carried over, raised another $23.4K, spent $21.5K, around $17.4K on hand. Both her fundraising and spending is pretty normal for the race...remember, both she and Moss expect the general to be a cakewalk, so it makes sense to front-load their spending in the primary.
Moss, however, is a different story...
MOSS (GOP challenger): $102,400 to start. That’s right...he loaned himself $100,000 for his campaign...and then went on to only actually raise $340 from anyone else. He’s funding his own campaign 100%.
He then went on to spend a whopping $40,000 of that in the primary. Bear in mind that this is a part-time job which pays about $32K/year for a 2-year term.
In any event, between the two, they’ve spent over $61,000 beating each other up in the primary.
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Finally, as I noted last week, the video for my first official League of Woman Voters Candidate Forum is now available online, lousy audio and all!
Anyway, I have to report for jury duty, of all things, all next week, and after that it’s the primary on August 2nd, so there’s really not a whole lot else for me to do aside from working some canvassing in until after that.
In the meantime...I don't expect to match my opponent's war chest, but I'd like to at least have a fighting chance. With that in mind, please consider donating today!
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In addition, please help out Nicole Bedi, running for State Representative here in Michigan’s 40th state House seat!
(in fact, if you can only spare a donation for one of us, please donate to her campaign instead of mine; while I obviously want to win my own race, retaking the state house is more important!)
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UPDATE: One of the Detroit Free Press's questions was "Vehicles Owned".
I thought they meant "how many vehicles do you own?" and simply answered "1".
It turns out they wanted to know the make & model of my cars owned by the candidates. I sent a correction, noting that while I currently drive a Hyundai, all of my previous cars have been Fords, Chevys etc, and I hope to make my next car a Chevy Volt or Bolt.
To my surprise, they allowed the change (I didn't think they would, but figured it was worth a shot) and posted the update.