Tag: Kent County Republicans

In Michigan, the County Apportionment Commission consists of 5 members:  The County Clerk, the County Treasurer, the County Prosecutor, and the chairs of the two county party committees that received the largest share of the vote in the most recent gubernatorial election.  In the case of Kent County, the Board of Commissioners is 15 R - 4 D (because the Kent GOP was able to flip four seats in 2010) and the Apportionment Commission is 4 R - 1 D.  And with the dems that badly outnumbered, you just know that they're going to get . . . creative . . . in their approach to "assisting" in the redistricting process.

There shall be a meeting of the duly elected Precinct Delegates and the At-Large Delegates to the County Convention at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 10, 2011 at the Western Michigan University Conference Center in Grand Rapids (200 Ionia Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI - 49503).

The purpose of this meeting shall be to elect Delegates and Alternates to the January 28 & 29, 2011 State Convention to be held at DeVos Place in the City of Grand Rapids.  The purpose of the State Convention is to elect district and state party leadership.

Only Precinct Delegates elected at the August 3, 2010 Primary Election, the most recent Republican nominees for County and State legislative offices, and Precinct Delegates seated on a permanent basis at the August 2010 County Convention will be seated and considered eligible to vote at this convention.  We will be using an apportionment method based on the 2010 General Election results for the Secretary of State by district.

My report on the convention follows the break.

But Mr. Schostak is a wise man, and he is well aware that the voting delegates of the Michigan Tea Party Alliance (who will carry considerable clout on the state convention floor) require some convincing before they'll buy into his candidacy.  It was with this very thing in mind that he scheduled a couple of events - occurring on December 28th - with the leader of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, Michelle Bachmann.

There shall be a meeting of the duly elected Precinct Delegates and the At-Large Delegates to the County Convention at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 22, 2010, at the Western Michigan University Conference Center in Grand Rapids.  The purpose of this meeting shall be to elect members of the County Republican Executive Committee.  Only Precinct Delegates elected at the August 3, 2010, Primary Election, the most recent Republican nominees for County and State Legislative Offices, and Precinct Delegates seated on a permanent basis at the August 2010 County Convention will be considered eligible to vote at this convention.

My report on the convention follows the break.

My "normal job" here at the Fix Michigan Center of West Michigan is as the Communications Coordinator, which means that I'm supposed to be cranking out one blog per week.  Yeah . . . not so much.  The brutal reality for me this particular election cycle is that I've been heavily involved in a leadership position for the Kent County Republicans in the ground game in Kentwood.  My work is impacting the 3rd Congressional race (Justin Amash), the 72nd and 75th State House races (Ken Yonker and Bing Goei, respectively), and the 12th, 13th, and 19th County Commission races (Harold Mast, Dick VanderMolen, and Shana Shroll).  Of those candidates, only VanderMolen is an incumbent; Mast and Shroll are challengers, and the others are running for open seats.

So far as I know, all six of those races are more or less safely in Republican hands right now, though some of them are tighter than we might care for.  On the other hand, there is one race in Kent County that will be closer than we'd like, that the Democrats want really bad, that the Republicans cannot afford to lose . . . and I've been working on the ground game (to a greater or lesser degree) since May.  Such is the life of a Precinct Delegate.

This in from Joanne Voorhees, Chair of the Kent County Republican Committee (KCRC).  Those of you in West Michigan (or within driving range of Grand Rapids in any event) who would like to have a chance to meet the Republican candidates for the 2010 Michigan Gubernatorial Election are cordially and enthusiastically invited.