On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, topics include the governor's race, education funding (and Saturday's controversial Meat Out), and the 3rd District Congressional race.
Grand Rapids Press politics editor Jeff Cranson chats with Matt McLogan, vice president for community relations at Grand Valley State University, who is pinch-hitting for Ed Golder.
1. Getting negative The race for governor heats up with allegations from Attorney General Mike Cox suggesting that fellow GOP candidate Pete Hoekstra is not the fiscal conservative he claims to be because of votes in favor of the $850 billion bank bailout, raising the debt ceiling, earmarks and his refusal to take the no-tax pledge.
A Hoekstra spokesman responded: "Today's negative attack from the Cox campaign is not a surprise. It is a desperate attempt to divert attention from the string of controversial stories and scandals the Cox campaign has had to deal with in the last week. Unfortunately for the Cox campaign, the people of Michigan are smarter than that."
Also in the news, Republican candidate Rick Snyder continues his call for investigations into the source of robocalls and negative ads. Snyder campaign officials say people connected to the groups involved in the ads were at one time connected to the Cox campaign. The Cox campaign denies any involvement.
Robocalls have also been used on the Democratic side with some ringing phones in Grand Rapids last week attacking the labor union credentials of Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero.
2. Paying for education Gov. Jennifer Granholm, trying to focus on something besides not eating meat, makes her case Wednesday in conference calls with reporters and school officials for more funding for K-12 education. The calls come just days after the Obama Administration released a plan that, as the Christian Science Monitor wrote, "bends the No Child Left Behind learning curve."
Granholm's calls come at the same time higher education officials are worried that action in the Senate Appropriations Committee will lead to tuition hikes.
Also today, Senate Republicans failed to muster the votes for the super majority necessary to prevent 3 percent raises for state employees from going into place later this year.
3. The Grand Rapids area Congressional seat and other local races. A formidable Democrat seems poised to jump into the race where the buzz has so far focused on three GOP candidates: state Rep. Justin Amash, state Sen. Bill Hardiman, Steve Heacock and Bob Overbeek.
Conversation starters:
• Jeff on President Obama's NCAA picks and why he chose Kansas to win it all.
• Matt on whether the House passes a health care reform bill with a straight vote or parliamentary maneuvers.
