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October, 2013
An independent monthly chronicle of 11th Congressional District Republican Party news and events
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An independent monthly chronicle of 11th Congressional District Republican Party news and events
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'The Elephant In The Room' is a monthly newsletter, reporting items of interest to active Republicans in the 11th District - primarily present and future Precinct Delegates, but also other interested Republican party participants. Occasional bulletins may also be sent if an important item comes up that can't be delayed. If you know others who would have in interest in reading this, but do not currently receive it, they can be added to our mailing list. Just send an e-mail from the address at which they wish to receive the newsletter to EITR@Juno.com, with the word 'Subscribe' in the header. If you do not want to receive any further issues, simply reply to this address with the word 'Cancel'.
Wayne 11th
The Wayne 11th Republican Committee monthly meeting was held on September 12. The chairman announced that Dave Osborne had resigned from the committee, and his replacement would be considered at the next meeting. Various committees presented their reports. During the TEA party outreach committee report, when the announcement of Wes Nakagiri's campaign for Lt. Governor was mentioned, booing was heard from the liberal end of the committee tables.
Toward the end of the meeting, Chairman Paul Cusick spoke for about five minutes on the divisions developing between factions supporting different candidates. He stated that it while it was clear that pretty much everyone present would be individually supporting one Republican nominee or another, he asked committee members to not publicly disagree with the committee "as Wayne 11th members".
WCRC
The Wayne County Republican Committee (W.C.R.C.) monthly meeting was held on Sept. 23. This was the Monday immediately after the weekend of the Mackinac Island Republican Conference. Many of those present had just driven back that day, or the night before, so this was about the freshest possible sampling of the thoughts and conclusions that had come from the island. A common sentiment was a feeling of inspiration after hearing the speakers at Mackinac. The widening split in the party was obvious, although the opinions expressed were noticeably civil in discourse. The attendees at W.C.R.C. meetings are mostly long time Republican party activists and office holders - the voting members are all appointed by the chairmen of the various county congressional district Republican committees, including the Wayne 11th.
During discussion of planning for upcoming events, one young aspirant spoke on volunteering to organize an "Eisenhower Dinner". He stated that Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley had agreed to be the main speaker for the event. There was some discussion of combining it with the W.C.R.C. Christmas party, but an ex-W.C.R.C. chair pointed out that if Mr. Calley was the focus of the event, about half of the committee members would not attend. The consensus decision was to hold two separate events, leaving the Eisenhower Dinner until March or April.
One other item of interest - according to reports from Mackinac, the proposed Republican party rule change that would have prevented candidates from being nominated from the floor of the 2014 state convention was not raised at the conference. Presumably, those behind it concluded that they would not have been able to prevent a challenge to the Lt. Governor; the Nakagiri campaign is visibly up and running, and it may have been apparent that it would not have been stopped by the new rule.
11th CDRC
No public meeting was held in September by the 11th Congressional District Republican Committee. One was scheduled for Sept. 24, but it was cancelled at the last minute with a notice on the website (link). The next meeting is listed as Oct. 22, but then again there is also one listed for Christmas Eve, so this schedule may be a speculative thing.
11th CDRC monthly meetings are usually on the last Tuesday of the month, at 7pm in the Suburban Collection Showplace (used to be called Rock Financial Center). The address is 46100 Grand River Ave Novi, MI 48374. The meeting room is on the right after you enter the front door, then left down a hallway. Chairs are available for visitors to watch from, and two-minute audience comments are allowed at the end of the meeting. This year the custom is for visitors to be asked to stand up and state their name at the beginning of the meeting.
Event calendar:
Oct. 3, 6:30pm- Farmington Area Republicans (Link)
Oct. 8, 7pm- Trevor Loudon at Crystal Gardens - Five TEA parties (Link)
Oct. 8, 7pm- Troy Area Tea Party meeting (Link)
Oct. 10, 7pm- Wayne 11th CDRC Meeting (Link)
Oct. 20, 6:00pm- Lakes Area Tea Party meeting (Link)
Oct. 22, 7pm- 11th CDRC meeting (Link)
Oct. 24, 6:30pm- Sec. of State Ruth Johnson at NORC (Link)
Oct. 28, 7pm- Rattle With Us TEA party meeting (Link)
Oct. 28, 7pm- Wayne County Republican Committee meeting (Link)
Thought for the day:
"After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805 - 1859
E.I.T.R. Policies and Principles
If you have an article, event, or other news that you think the readership should know about, we welcome your contributions. Editorial judgement will be applied to consider what interest readers will have in the submission, so keep articles or letters to a reasonable length. Articles should be factual - you must be able to provide corroboration of your information. Articles can be published under an alias, but you must be prepared to be able to stand up in court, raise your right hand, and testify to what you personally witnessed (because it may come to that). Unsubstantiated allegations just won't fly here, and rumors will be not be treated seriously unless they have some special reason to have plausible and substantive news value. We will be happy to follow up on tips which cannot yet be proven, but we can't publish them as fact without confirmation.
Letters expressing an opinion are fine, and will be published as such, if they would be of interest to the 11th District readership. Keep it local; there are other venues for national articles and issues. We want to focus this chronicle on items affecting Republican district affairs, including the activities of the office holders elected from this district.
Notices of events, planning, organization, etc. are welcome. If you want to get word out to like minded people in this district, send in your notice or idea. Keep it succinct, factual, and don't bore the reader - nobody wants to plow through long diatribes. The 11th CDRC party leaders have no control over this publication, and cannot censor any notices or opinions.
Responses to E.I.T.R. articles will be considered on their merits, and published if they are informative and a reasonable length. Our intention is to send each issue out at or around the beginning of the month, so sending items in at least a week before that is a good idea. That will allow time for two-way communication regarding any questions that may come up.
Denis Curran, Editor - E.I.T.R.
