Political News and Commentary with the Right Perspective. NAVIGATION
  • Front Page
  • News
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • RSS Feed


  • Advertise on RightMichigan.com


    NEWS TIPS!

    Get the RightMighigan.com toolbar!


    RightMichigan.com

    Buzz

    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Who needs...


    By JGillman, Section News
    Posted on Tue Jul 06, 2010 at 09:22:00 PM EST
    Tags: HCF, Petition drive, Friends, Slavery, Perspective, Shame (all tags)

    We weren't able to collect enough signatures.  It was tough, we didn't have as much time as typical ballot initiatives, but the results were not so bad.

    From the NFIB:

    "Although we fell short of the number of signatures required, the results are unprecedented in recent Michigan history," said Charlie Owens, NFIB State Director. "Critics who are dismissive of our efforts would do well to consider this fact in light of ongoing efforts that will continue through the elections in November."

    Owens said that most ballot petition drives use paid petition signature gathering firms, spend millions of dollars and have a much longer time frame than this effort. "The average petition drive has six months to gather signatures and spends about $1.5 million. "We had about 11 weeks and spent about 2 percent of that amount and we still managed to obtain a record number of signatures," said Owens. "This is a battle, not the war; we will carry on with this fight in the courts, with legislation and at the ballot box in November."

    The NFIB was the only state business organization to participate in the petition drive. They at least tried.  So did a great many of us in a great many parts of the state. My own count nowhere near the efforts of some others even locally.  One NFIB member brought in a couple hundred by herself, and that was in a first time of signature gathering.  Others in the 912 groups and Tea Party organizations worked hard as well.  And even those who felt it was too much of an uphill battle gave it a shot, not because they thought it would happen, but because it was worth it.

    We have truly committed citizens who are willing to spend their time on those things that matter for our country.  THEIR time.

    Sadly, this report brings news of others who should be happy about the efforts made, yet find some way to sour on the unselfishness of the effort's organizers, participants, and the very effort itself.

    There were of course, a number of folks who opposed the effort as it was underway.  People who cannot possibly fathom true freedom, the intent of our founders, nor even the basic natural rights given by our creator.  Its sad to have to interact with these lost souls in attempts to explain all they have learned from progressive news, schools, and other sources is a lie.  That forcing any individuals into providing for another, or performing certain acts as a condition of being a citizen is not only against what our founding fathers died for, it is outright slavery.

    Slavery.  And they don't see it that way.

    But we have learned to expect that from our leftist counterparts.  This is their holy grail.  Nothing like taking over a large part of the national economy with unanswerable levels of government.  It is a sure thing.  We expect it with a certainty usually reserved only for death and taxes.

    Its when friends take a swipe at the efforts in an unnecessary manner, that the hair raises, and I feel it is necessary to scratch the ol noggin in disbelief.

    I received an email earlier today that made me quite sad.  It was to tea Party leaders and participants throughout Michigan.  It was from one of those whom we have fought alongside against many of the recent impositions of our liberty.  I will leave off her name here, but I cannot quell my disappointment.  

    This is what I received: (Complete with no changes, so is left for complete perspective)

    Drive by information from the Sabbatical....

     Having been reminded about this because of a FaceBook event, a press conference called by media hound Wendy Day to "announce" the results of the Health Care Petition Signature collection today, I decided to call the State Board of Canvassers (517) 373-2540

    The petitions were never turned in

    The results will never be public. Of course either way that was always the intent

    No one really knows how many or more importantly how many signatures were NOT collected

    All data collected is the property of Wendy Day, Tom McMillian and shared with the Republican Party and who knows who else Fair Taxers?

    No data is shared because the petitions were not turned in and made public

    And I am sure no one will ever ask for an accounting of signatures or of all the $$ that was collected and how it was spend

    These ARE the types of questions that critical thinking tea party Conservatives should be asking.......but back to my Sabbatical from this "circus of politics "

    as there IS "nothing new under the Sun"


    What has been will be again,
           what has been done will be done again;
           there is nothing new under the sun.

    Ecclesiastes 1:9

    Why would a presumed ally attempt to denigrate the efforts of so many with so few inconsiderate words?  What selfishness or pride brings about such accusations that have so little merit.

    My own efforts on this drive were not as great as others, (and I did go out several times) but I recognize how hard so many worked, and to see the underlying vitriol aimed at those efforts offers only confusion.  With little or no knowledge of what it took to get as many signatures as we did, along with a near paranoid concern of "data mining", the author was quick to shoot from the hip at an organizer and other participants who already are a little discouraged at the results of their efforts.

    Perspective asks.. "with friends like these.."

    < Open Thread - Unfunded Mandates | The Convoluted Mess Of The NRA >


    Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit


    Display: Sort:
    Petitions (none / 0) (#1)
    by Wendy Day on Wed Jul 07, 2010 at 06:57:36 AM EST
    Thanks Jason. I am so glad this is out in the light of day.  For the record, financial filing is due by the 15th.  Then the entire world can see just how we spend the money- most of which came from Common Sense in Government.

    The signatures are going into a data base so we can stay in touch with people who care about healthcare and help us pressure the legislature into doing the right thing.

    Don't give them the benefit. (none / 0) (#2)
    by KG One on Wed Jul 07, 2010 at 12:42:50 PM EST
    I'm not going to give any of the progressives the satisfaction of getting me p.o.'d at the outcome of the petition drive.

    Would I have preferred a different result?

    Of course, I would.

    The thing that I can take satisfaction in (and many others should, too), is that we did what we could to get the necessary signatures by the deadline. Speaking for my self (and I'll venture, many others) this was not an easy task with that pesky thing called work getting in the way.

    I can at least take some satisfaction in doing what I could, instead of sitting on my hands bemoaning Obamacare and not doing anything at all.

    It should also be mentioned that, there were many others who did a fantastic job with the petitions. One example is the gentleman mentioned yesterday afternoon on the State Capitol Steps, who got around 2,500 signatures. He really deserve kudos for his work.

    Kudos also needs to go out to Wendy Day and those who were responsible for helping to create and  coordinate this petition drive, along with keeping things going over the past few months with the resources available.

    Thank you for your work.

    One last thing, I've got some pictures and video from yesterday that I'll be posting once I get caught up with some odds and ends.

    Central-West Michigan . . . (none / 0) (#4)
    by Kevin Rex Heine on Wed Jul 07, 2010 at 01:56:45 PM EST
    . . . for the purposes of this particular campaign consisted of fourteen counties:

    Allegan ... Barry ... Ionia ... Kalamazoo ... Kent ... Lake ... Mason ... Mecosta ... Montcalm ... Muskegon ... Newaygo ... Oceana ... Osceola ... Ottawa

    . . . In actuality, Allegan, Barry, and Kalamazoo are properly Southwest Michigan, but were added on to my area of responsibility (apparently just because Wendy decided I needed a challenge).

    Jeff Orzechowski (the Regional Field Manager of the Fix Michigan Center of West Michigan) and I led a volunteer staff of about 80 volunteers (not including 17 County and Town Coordinators).  I don't know exactly how many the Central-West team actually collected, because not everything came through my office, but I do know that Christie Whitehouse (our administrative aide-de-camp) reported up about 11,039 signatures to the state headquarters over the course of the signature campaign.

    As far as the "data mining" paranoia goes, entering the contact information of people who signed the petition is a fairly common practice in signature-gathering campaigns.  This way, the campaign crew can stay in touch for follow up action (regardless of what that follow-up action might be).  The data gathered from the petitions isn't anything that isn't already public record, unless the signatories volunteered their phone numbers and e-mail addresses (which didn't happen that often).

    Apparently, however, there are those who let their egos (and/or unreasonable paranoia) get a little too attached to their sphincters.  They are the exceptions in this effort, however, as the sensible members of this crew are taking what we've got and moving forward.  Last I checked, we still have an election to win.

    Photos (and video) from July 6th in Lansing (none / 0) (#5)
    by KG One on Thu Jul 08, 2010 at 06:32:40 PM EST
    Here are the images and video that I took on Tuesday. I had a bit of a delay because of that pesky thing called work and also trying to clean up the audio on the video below (unsuccessfully).

    Because of problems with the audio quality being unusable, the first few minutes of the video were clipped.

    MCHF000

    {Mistaking the MCHF for the SEIU, Capitol Police were on hand to help keep the peace, should things get out of hand.}

    MCHF001

    {People gathering before the Capitol Steps before things begin.}

    MCHF002

    {People talking before things begin.}

    MCHF003

    {One of the VOLUNTEER petitioners speaking about gathering signatures.}

    MCHF004

    MCHF005

    {This is the gentleman that I mentioned who got something in the neighborhood of 2,500 signatures!!!}

    MCHF006

    {9/12 Project talking about gathering signatures.}

    MCHF006

    {In the back, the MCHF petitions. In front, a hard copy of the Obamacare bill. Scary, huh?}

    MCHF007

    {Michigan Senior Capitol Corespondent, Tim Skubick covering the event. It'll be interesting to hear his take on this tomorrow afternoon.}

    Video - Part 1

    Video - Part 2

    Video - Part 3




    Healthcare Petitions (none / 0) (#7)
    by wctaxpayer on Thu Jul 08, 2010 at 10:16:27 PM EST
    When I started getting involved over 30 years ago, we had access to shopping malls, post offices, strip malls, senior buildings, government buildings and more, to collect signatures. It was still difficult to get things on the ballot but not like today.

    Access to practically every one of these avenues has been restricted or stopped. While communication has been aided by the internet, the amount of coordination and the numberof those necessary to collect signatures has increased.

    We have nothing to be ashamed of in the muber of signatures we gathered in 90 days. On the other hand, those who have criticized and done nothing should look to themselves and their motives. Look in the mirror and ask yourself what you should have or can still do to change the situation. Just make sure that you are ready and willing the next time and armed with more than criticism.
    Rose Bogaert, Chair Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Inc.

    Display: Sort:

    Login

    Make a new account

    Username:
    Password:
    Tweet along with RightMichigan by
    following us on Twitter HERE!
    create account | faq | search