Monday, June 18, 2012

Michigan Right to Life Endorsements

Michigan Right to Life came out with its August primary election endorsements today. The most notable endorsement was covered in a separate post.

https://secure.rtl.org/apps/elections/listing

There are two notable non-endorsements on their list. Congressman Justin Amash and Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger are both conspicuously absent.

Amash is pro-life and supports banning abortion, but has differed with Right to Life on several tactical questions.

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/justin_amash_explains_present.html
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/juneweb-only/gender-abortion-bill.html

As for Bolger, my best guess is that MRTL thinks he hasn't moved pro-life legislation quickly enough in the state house.

In other races, all four Republican senate candidates met MRTL's criteria. All the Republican congressional incumbents were endorsed. In the 11th district, Kerry Bentivolio and write-in Nancy Cassis both met criteria. Democrat Bob Costello was endorsed in the 14th.

In state house races, Republican incumbents and some democrats were endorsed. For the open seats, we have the following.
4. democrat Ernest Little. MRTL hasn't had much success in Detroit. Little is one of 11 candidates for an open seat.
18. democrat Phillip DeMaria. He's one of four democrats seeking this Macomb seat, along with former rep. Sarah Roberts.
25. Republican Sean Clark. He seems decent. He has a lot of establishment support, including conservative Senator Jack Brandenburg.
26. Republican Mark Bliss in this safe D district.
28. democrat Lesia Liss over fellow incumbent Jon Switalski.
39. Republican Nicholas Kennedy. He's one of six Republicans seeking this competitive seat vacated by the infamous democrat Lisa Brown. Brad Hantler looks pretty good here.
40. Republican David Wolkinson, one of four. Seems to be a Rick Snyder loyalist. County commissioner David Potts has a ton of establishment support. Is he not pro-life?
41. Republican Martin Howrylak. I like Deb Debacker here. Howrylak does not mention life issues on his website. Is Matt Pryor not pro-life?
52. No endorsement for Mark Ouimet.
63. No endorsement for Jase Bolger.
67. All Republicans meet criteria.
68. Republican Timothy Moede in this safe D district.
74. Both meet criteria.
78. Republican Dave Pagel. David Mann looks good here. Definitely not Brian Savage.
81. Republican Dan Lauwers, one of five. Check out Gary Eisen's mailbox.
88. Both meet criteria. Amanda Van Essen looks good here.
93. All four meet criteria. I like Tom Leonard here.
94. Republicans Ann Doyle and Tim Kelly both meet criteria.
108. No endorsement for Ed McBroom.

1 comment:

Right to Life of Michigan said...

Hi,
If you want to have Right to Life of Michigan's PAC reasoning regarding our endorsements, feel to contact us. We do post our phone number and an e-mail online if you have questions/concerns about our endorsements. Taking guesses at why we've done something is often going to provide you with the wrong reason.

Sincerely,
David Malone
PAC Director
Right to Life of Michigan