Yesterday the Sierra Club endorsed Dr. Fred Johnson for US Congress in Michigan's second congressional district. A crowd of people showed up from the Sierra Club as well as general citizens and union representatives, one of whom I met from the United Steel Workers.
They made the announcement at Kruse park a couple miles from my house...
Which is pretty fitting for its natural awesomeness...
It's really very little wonder WHY he secured the Sierra Club endorsement. He's one of the few brave candidates in West Michigan to stand proudly in favor of promoting wind power in West Michigan.
I engaged in an email correspondence with his far right conservative opponent, Bill Huizenga, about wind power. He's against it. First he says he's against it on the basis that maybe they're more susceptible to terrorist attack, until you suggest that they're far more diversified and less interesting to terrorist attack than, say, a nuke plant. Then he switches to the age old "I want to leave this stuff up to market forces" lingo. Basically he just doesn't like wind power...ya know...cuz one of his lobbyist buddies said it's no good...and really, that's all you need to know if you're Bill Huizenga. The benefit of lobbyists telling you what to think about this comes of being Peter Hoekstra's public policy director for six years.
Also, Huizenga's family fortune is in gravel mining and sales. So. There's that. Not exactly the Sierra Club's specific cup of tea.
Interestingly...while Fred Johnson is out in the field shaking hands, meeting people, doing publicly accessible speeches and announcements, Huizenga isn't doing any of that. So far his campaign strategy seems to have been:
- Play golf
- Hold $250 a plate campaign fund raisers in Grand Rapids which isn't even in the district he's running for
and
- Spread pictures of himself making sweet, sweet love to Pete Hoekstra...by which I mean shaking hands and sitting close to each other just to show they're two peas in a pod.
Other than that, I'm not really sure what the guy is doing. I know most folks can't really afford to go to his mega-cash fundraisers.
The guy really is taking this election for granted, while Dr. Fred Johnson is getting out into the community and seeing his crowds grow. In the next couple days the Holland Hispanic Leadership Committee is going to be holding a rally for him and doing a Get Out The Vote Drive for Fred...that is HUGE. Holland has a strong and growing Hispanic community, and this year they're going to flex their muscles in a big way.
This guy can and will win Michigan's 2nd Congressional District.
And by the way, I am a paid blogger for Fred Johnson. Not a whole lot. But it's amazing to be able to throw myself into something without feeling my wonderful wife's frustration about me using up my time to be a do-gooder for free while the family needs more support.
Here's some good spontaneous video of Dr. Fred Johnson at Kruse park after he received the Sierra Club endorsement...and a $5, $10, or $20 donation to this growing grassroots campaign would be a big help.