Newspaper praises campaign efficiency
It was nice to get some coverage for a change. I think what Dan should have said was that in all fairness Mike's portion of the debate ended at 7:30 p.m. I have no problem writing on a tight deadline.
The really disappointing thing is Dan ignored the substance of the press release, as well as the follow up one clearing up Mr. Ward's falsehoods in his closing statement. But we will give Dan the benefit of the doubt because we know this is his busy season.
And the winner is ... the quickest typist! (From Thursday's Press & Argus)
Before this reporter could even get back to his desk the night of the Daily Press & Argus' first election forum, one of the eight participants — Mike McGonegal — was already claiming victory.
"McGonegal wins first public debate with opponent," said the e-mail from his campaign, with a time stamp of 8:17 p.m. The event didn't end until 8:50 p.m., but, in fairness, McGonegal's portion started at 6:30 p.m.
"Rogers' Positive Accomplishments Dominate Forum," sent at 10:22 p.m., was the second press release to claim victory, and it was eerily similar to another press release from U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers' campaign. That one was titled "Rogers to Highlight Bipartisan Record of Accomplishment," sent on Sunday.
As of press time, none of the remaining six candidates had claimed, although they clearly lost the press-release race.
— Compiled by Daily Press & Argus reporter Dan Meisler.
posted by Communications guru @ 12:37 PM
16 Comments:
What does Meisler think, that people can't form an opinion until he writes something? He sure has an very positive view of himself.
Who wants to be the first to tell him?
Mike was right to claim victory because he exposed Ward's deception and evasion evidenced by his response to his opponent's streching the truth. Mike is a shaft of light cutting through the darkness of Ward's blather.
chris ward broke the law with his attempt to trade state land for his contributors sake where is the grand jury on this one. ethics laws are still in effect or are they since ward gets his pictures in the argus with the judges---
all meisler is saying is that the early bird catches the worm . he is right. isn't he
Hey, Guru:
Let's talk about hypocrisy. Did you see the story in the Detroit News today about all the free trips that family members of Congressmen and Senators take, paid for by lobbying groups? Aside from Carl Levin, every single Democrat in Michigan's delegation had a shameful record. Debbie Stabenow's new husband got several free trips, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick's family got a bunch, Dingell, Sander Levin, all of them. It was shameful.
Some Republicans had a few, too, but nothing like the Democrats.
Quoting from the story: "U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, a Democrat from Royal Oak, is the biggest trip taker from Michigan. He and his wife, Vicki, have traversed the world and rung up a $120,928 tab traveling 16 times at the behest of the Aspen Institute and other outside groups. U.S. Rep Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Menominee, and his wife, Laurie, follow the Levins on the list with trips totaling $63,824 to 14 locales."
What gives, Guru? I thought the Democrats were the party that couldn't be bought, and here they are accepting all sorts of free trips for their family members from lobbyists.
Before you go bashing Chris Ward for taking a junket, you should look at the members of your own party. This article blows your high moral ground out of the water. The Democrats are filthy dirty on this, and I don't want to hear you say, "Yeah, well, what about the Republicans?"
What about the Democrats, Guru? What about the Democrats?
If you're still planning on voting for Debbie Stabenow after reading this, you're nuts.
Mr.Ward is just like Bob Ney from Ohio. Free trips great food and fast women all in the name of government service.Mr.Ward's claim at the debate that other elected officials take free trips and are in the hip pocket of the lobyists begs the question of personal accountability.I can't wait to see the photos of him in the clubs and gilded halls of one of the world's worst governments.
Nearly 90% of all sewage waste in Taiwan is dumped into waterways untreated.Several rivers are so heavily polluted that it would take billions to clean them.Taiwan has few natural resources.So what does Chris Ward's trip have to do with our district? He must be planning to out source more jobs from Michigan to his friends there who work for low wages with immoral working conditions.Lou Dobbs from CNN says Chris is way off base because NAFTA type trade deals are not a good deal for Michigan and America.
Taiwan is a source, transit and destination point for women men and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labor. So what is Mr.Ward doing there again? Something for us back here in the good old 66th? Wake up you bloggers. Start writting your letters to the editors of our newspapers so these hard questions can be asked of Ward!
I would not be too hard on Dan. In his shoes, I probably would have written the same thing. I just wanted to make it clear that our press release came almost an hour after Mike’s portion of the debate ended. He said the debate did not end until 8:50 p.m. He got our press release at 8:17, but he did say the debate started at 6:30 p.m., in fairness. But it would have been more fair if he said when Mike’s part of the debate ended, at about 7:30 p.m., leaving me some 52 minutes to write the press release. Who can’t write four paragraphs in 52 minutes?
I thought then, and I still think so after listening to it again, that we won the debate. In fairness, most campaigns claim victory following a debate, but if we had done badly, like Mr. Devos did, we would not have claimed victory, even thought they actually did. I issued this challenge once before, and I’ll do it again; if any of Mr. Ward’s supporters believe he won the debate come and make your best case. To date, no one had done that yet.
Again, I am disappointed we are not getting the coverage I think we deserve, and it bothers me that Mr. Ward gets a front page story when all he does it out a press release saying that he’s disappointed the Governor signed a bill the Legislature his party controls sent her. The story should have been how ridiculous a charge that really was, and our press release was not even mentioned. But that’s the power of incumbency, and it’s why ineffective Legislators like Mr. Ward keep getting returned to office.
I have to disagree with you Y&BDg. I think Dan is a good reporter just trying to do his job, but there is always room for improvement.
Welcome to the blog, jonnie, and I hope you continue to contribute. The problem with the land swap is he withdrew it when someone caught it, so it, luckily, never happened. All of Mr. Ward’s questionable actions are inside the law. They are unethical but barley legal.
I also want to welcome you to the blog, moogmm. You are probably right, but, again, I thought he falsely, unintentionally I’m sure, gave the impression that we sent the press release before the debate was over. Actually, I have so much respect for Dan that all I was trying to do was make his tough job a little easier. I wanted the press release to be on his desk when he got back to the office. It’s tough to write on a short deadline, and I just wanted to give him all the assistance I could offer.
I also welcome you to the blog, Dennis and Mark, and hope you are regular contributors. While I don’t even want to speculate on the reasons you gave for Mr. Ward’s all-expenses paid vacation trip to Taiwan. However, I do know two things about the trip. He has never given a satisfactory answer to why he took the trip, and pointing to other people who allegedly did the sane thing has nothing to do with his trip.
And again, Guru, you've said nothing about all the Democrats in Congress who've taken junkets with their families.
Perhaps Chris Ward should switch parties and be elected to Congress. He'd fit right in with Debbie Stabenow and Sander Levin, wouldn't he?
There’s so much about this post, who-ever-you-are, that I don’t even know where to start. I also appreciate your comments, even though you don’t have the courage to take ownership of your own comments.
First, if you want to talk about hypocrisy then you must be a fan of Chris Ward. When the Amway guy said he wants to ban all travel paid for by lobbyists, Mr. Ward chimed in with a quote from the very same article that he had been trying to do the same thing for years. Not true by the way, and you can look at our post on 10/4 for confirmation. But you would think he at least supports it, would you not? So he then takes an all-expenses paid trip paid for by lobbyists. That, my unknown friend, is the very definition of hypocrisy.
As for the Detroit News article, yes I did read it, and I got out of it that six Democrats and seven Republicans were on the list. Two Democrats, Sen. Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. John Conyers did not take any. On the other side, only U.S. Rep. McCotter did not take any trips. In fairness, Joe Schwarz was not on the list, but according to many of you he’s a liberal anyway. True, the top three for cash value were Democrats. If I lived in their district I would demand an explanation, as well as the other thee Democrats, and if it was not satisfactory I would not vote for them in the primary. What about the seven Republicans?
Explain to me how this is just a Democratic problem? It’s not illegal. It should be, but it’s not. However, the bribery, corruption and other scandals of Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Tom Delay, Jack Abarmoff and Mark Foley are both Republican scandals and illegal.
The Democrats have never, ever said they are the party of perfection and perfect morals. The Republicans have, and that’s where the majority of the scandals have come from.
I am not happy with the trips Debbie Stabenow took, but I’m more upset with her vote for torture. However, the alternative to her is much worse. The Republicans have controlled things for far too long, and look how badly they have screwed things up. It’s time for a change.
I would not call seven Republicans and six Democrats on the list as “Some Republicans had a few, too, but nothing like the Democrats.”
I will continue to “bash Chris Ward for taking a junket” until he starts telling the truth and tells us why he took it. We will also continue to point out his lousy, ethically challenged record, despite his trying to falsely spin it as personal attacks. I challenged them to show us a personal attack, and I’m still waiting.
It’s kind of funny that you alleged my defense would be "Yeah, well, what about the Republicans?" That was precisely Mr. Ward’s defense when called out on taking the junket by Mike in the debate last week, Democrats do it too.
Then why talk about banning something when you refuse to stop doing it yourself? Doesn’t it kind of remind you of Mark Foley being in change of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus?
What person on the list in the News story publicly said like Ward that they have been trying to ban travel that allows them to take a family member along for years? Answer: none. That blows your while argument out of the water, Who-Ever-you-are. Look up hypocrisy,
Also, if you take a closer look at this blog you will see it’s the official campaign blog of Mike McGonegal for the State House. As such, I am only worried about one Republican and one Democrat. Do you see any posts on here abut anyone else?
And again, who-ever-you-are, you've said nothing about all the Republicans in Congress who've taken junkets with their families.
I’m sure Chris Ward would switch parties if he thought he had a better chance of getting elected that way. After all, he’s already thinking about his next political job since that's the only job he has ever had in his life. I think he will be fine sticking with the party he’s in. He'd fit right in with Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney and Tom Delay, wouldn't he?
Ward may have committed crimes becaus the last I looked an attempt to commit a crime is in fact a crime at least in Michigan.So this land deal sounds about the same as what went on in Illinois with Dennis the federal Speaker of the House. LaFave,Ward and Dennis are three of a kind and withdrawing the legislation was still an attempt to be a criminal
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