Welday’s carefully chosen words

This postcard wound its way into my e-mail box after the August 5 primary. It was mailed out shortly before the election, by the eventual winner of the Republican primary, Paul Welday. He rightly touts his Detroit News endorsement, as well as the conservative political action committees that have endorsed him.

And then he took it all just a step too far. The other two quotes, from the Farmington Observer and Detroit Free Press, were lifted directly from endorsements for Welday’s primary rival, Richard Lerner. For instance, while the Observer did say Welday was qualified, here’s the full sentence:

“Paul Welday, with his heavy GOP connections and lobbying background, is qualified to be a state rep, but resumes aren’t everything in this election. Party isn’t everything in this election. There is still much healing to be had in Lansing before we can see an effective state Legislature. We need cooperation, leadership and a shared vision of how to turn this state around, now. That doesn’t include time-consuming partisan bickering and posturing that we’ve seen in recent sessions.”

And here’s the truth of what the Free Press had to say: “The biggest name in the GOP race is Paul Welday, 49, of Farmington Hills, a former executive director of the Oakland County Republican Party who has most recently worked as a lobbyist. He’s a skilled political strategist who knows Lansing and many of its leaders, and he is well versed on the state’s economic issues. However, what political newcomer Richard Lerner lacks in political connections, he more than makes up for with thoughtful, specific ideas about repealing the Michigan Business Tax, making the state’s expenditures accessible to the public online, and setting a 100-day legislative agenda, after which lawmakers would be docked pay for every day of gridlock. Lerner, 49, of Farmington Hills, would be a solid, issues-oriented challenger for Democrat Vicki Barnett, a former Farmington Hills mayor who is unopposed on the Democratic side.”

This tactic of delivering carefully selected words to distort the truth is exactly the argument both editorials made against his candidacy: Welday’s a political player, a gamesman, and we don’t need more game-playing in the State House.

What’s sad is that Welday has plenty of endorsements from conservative icons – he didn’t need to steal the few choice words from those that weren’t his. He’s also got a decent platform (although he appears to have boiled the issues section of his Web site down to a graphic with 10 points)  and at least one good idea. Be nice if he just ran on those this time around.

—Joni Hubred-Golden
Enterprise Publisher

Best wishes, Mr. Lerner

In an e-mail sent to his supporters today, Richard Lerner thanked everyone – and announced he has no plans to run again.

Bummer.

Campaign Finance (is it August 6 yet?)

We’ve been tipped to a circumstance in Paul Welday’s campaign finance reporting that changes one of the numbers as reported in a previous post.

The campaign finance statements also require the reporting of unpaid expenses, and the Welday campaign has nearly $8,000 outstanding to vendors for signs, fund-raiser food, accounting and graphic design services. In the interest of accuracy, that brings his total campaign spending to $31,680. Contributions bumped today as well, with the late reporting of two contributions, including $243.45 from Right to Life Michigan.

A clarification from the previous post: The Great Lakes Education Project, which contributed $500 to Welday’s campaign, favors “school choice,” a generally accepted euphemism for vouchers. The PAC was founded by none other than Dick DeVos, whose unsuccessful 2006 candidacy set a record for campaign spending in a Michigan gubernatorial campaign.

–Joni Hubred-Golden
Michigan Woman Blogger

Campaign Finance, Advanced

I expected to see a difference in the amount of money raised by Paul Welday and Richard Lerner in the Michigan House District 37 primary, but the pre-primary campaign finance statements filed July 25 were still quite an eye-opener.

Welday has thus fair raised from Political Action Committees more than $15,000, which is greater than the total amount Lerner has raised from all sources ($12,303). Welday’s largest contributor, the Michigan Chamber PAC, donated $5,000 – only two judicial candidates in the Fourth District Court of Appeals race have received larger donations ($10,000 for one, $9,521.50 for the other) from the lobbying arm of the state’s largest business advocate. The owner of Mitchell Interactive, one of Welday’s many business associates, serves on the Chamber’s Board of Directors. Welday also sat at the top of the contributions list for Attorney General Mike Cox’s PAC, right under a Supreme Court judge candidate committee. One of Welday’s partners in Renaissance Strategies joined the company immediately after serving as director of constituent relations for Cox’s office. Here’s a complete list of Welday’s PAC contributors:

Mi. Association of Builders & Contractors PAC $500
Great Lakes Education Project $500
Michigan Chamber PAC $5,000
Cox 5200 Club $2,000
Realtors PAC of Michigan $2,000
Auto Dealers of Mi PAC $1,000
UPS PAC $1,000
Grand Rapids Chamber PAC $1,000
Strobl & Sharp PC PAC $500
Mi Beer & Wine Wholesalers PAC $500
Martin J. Knollenberg Lead PAC $500
Mi District Judges Ed Fund PAC $400
The Great Southwest Fund $300
AT&T Michigan PAC $250
Chrysler Service Contracts PAC $200
Miller Canfield PAC $100

Lerner has received funds from one political action committee, CAPPAC, formed by the owners of a pension management company called CAP Advisors, who contributed the princely sum of $250. The company is headquartered in Northville, but the owners are Farmington residents – as are all but about a dozen of Lerner’s 57 contributors. Only 33 of Welday’s 250 or so contributors are local residents, and they account for just $5,400 of the $58,190 in contributions.

Other notes from the numbers: Lerner has dropped $8,750 into his own campaign; Welday, $3,692. Discounting their own contributions, the average contribution to Welday’s campaign has been $219, and to Lerner’s, $62. Welday has spent $23,683 thus far; Lerner has spent $10,475.

It should also be noted that the Democratic challenger in this race, Vicki Barnett, has thus far collected PAC donations from 14 organizations of the 169 total donations she has received. More about that when the “real” race is on. One observation: Some of the same PACs donating to Barnett’s campaign also donated to Welday’s. Interesting.

–Joni Hubred-Golden
Michigan Woman Blogger