One of the Republicans on the Board, Steve Linder, recently stepped aside over a conflict of interest re: RMGN.  Mr. Linder is the top dog at Sterling, one of the Lansing based mega-political consulting / operations shops and one that isn't particularly fond of the Democrats crass attempt to gut the Constitution.

A week ago today, the Michigan Republican Party submitted three names to fill the vacancy.  Fast forward to this week.  

On Wednesday, July 30th the BOC is expected to discuss the RMGN issue.  They'll be setting a deadline for challenges relating to the validity of thousands of signatures. Signatures that appear to have been fraudulently collected.  

With Linder's resignation the board sits at only three members.  They are required a fourth.  Enter: The specter of corruption and illegality.

Yesterday the Governor sent a letter to the Michigan Republican Party denying their right to nominate a member to fill the Republican vacancy.  The argument appears to be that The Michigan Republican Party isn't REALLY the Michigan Republican Party.  She is seizing on language that refers to a central "committee."  

A) According to MRP's bylaws, MRP IS the central "committee."  The names are explicitly interchangeable.  

B) The Governor knows that.  She's accepted nominations from MRP before and always without incident.  

The Governor compounds the game playing by asserting that she might just go ahead and fill the vacancy herself without MRP input, slapping a rubber-stamp, ultra-liberal fourth member onto the BOC... in direct violation of the Constitution.  

So what changed?  Why the threats of overt-law-breaking, cronyism and corruption?  The only answer, literally, is RMGN.  Sort of begs the question... if the administration is willing to violate the Constitution in broad daylight,  just how much exactly DO Jennifer Granholm and John Cherry have wrapped up in this back-room power play?