RandySF
RandySF's JournalMI: Prominent Romney supporter tied to corrupt (Dem.) Wayne County Executive.
WJBK) - Mitt’s presidential ambitions may meet their Waterloo in the Big Mitten and if they do, Mitt might have Bob to thank.
That’s because Romney and Bob Ficano, the Wayne County executive who is caught in the crosshairs of an FBI corruption probe, have a certain friend in common -- John Rakolta.
Rakolta is a prominent Detroit developer whose company Walbridge won a $300 million contract last summer to build the new Wayne County jail.
The feds are investigating a pattern of pay-to-play in the jail deal and have subpoenaed the county’s records in connection with Walbridge. As it happens, Rakolta has been a contributor to the Democrat Ficano, a member of Ficano’s finance host committee, and a $25,000 contributor to a non-profit business group know as Edge Opportunities that paid Turkia Mullin to lobby the county development czar.
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/politics/local_politics/will-michigan-be-mitt-romney%27s-waterloo%3F-20120217
NH Republican: Married Couples Should Use Abstinence Instead of Contraception
A New Hampshire lawmaker with a history of surprising statements suggested on Thursday that married couples who want to use contraception should practice abstinence instead of using birth control pills.
State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker (R-Concord) made the claim -- noting that abstinence is available "over the counter" along with condoms -- during a legislative committee hearing on a resolution urging the Obama administration to drop the birth control requirement for religious organizations. Blankenbeker was trying to explain her position on why the administration's requirement to provide insurance coverage for birth control should be overturned.
"People with or without insurance have two affordable choices, one being abstinence and the other being condoms, both of which you can get over the counter," she said.
The comments came at the same hearing where state Rep. Jeanine Notter (R-Merrimack) claimed that birth control pills lead to prostate cancer. In an interview with Merrimack Patch, Notter said that she was referring to studies discussing potentially high levels of estrogen in the environment through birth control pills and a connection to prostate cancer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/birth-control-debate-new-hampshire-lawmaker-abstinence_n_1284934.html?1329504272&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008
Maine GOP: Results went to spam
Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state’s caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account.
However, Webster insisted that the errors did not change the outcome.
On Saturday, he had declared former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney the winner of Maine’s Presidential Preference Poll by fewer than 200 votes, even though not all municipalities had reported results.
“There were clerical errors that did not significantly change the numbers. There were several smaller towns that were left out, the reporting was wrong. … We’ve corrected those clerical errors and will send those numbers out [soon],” said Webster in an interview with POLITICO.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73015.html#ixzz1mfeSw6PB
MSNBC: Colbert's mother seriously ill.
A guest on MSNBC reported that Stephen Colbert's show was suspended because mother is seriously ill and he wants to be by her side. Here's hoping she gets well soon.
Maxine Waters ethics case: All 5 Republican recuse themselves
The tumultuous ethics case against Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring politicians, took another strange turn Friday as six members of the House Ethics Committee recused themselves from considering the charges against her.
Committee Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) said that all five of the panel’s Republicans, including himself, and one Democrat were taking the unusual action of recusing themselves from further involvement in the long-running Waters case "out of an abundance of caution and to avoid even an appearance of unfairness." Six new House members immediately were named to the bipartisan panel to consider all matters related to the Waters case.
Waters, a South Los Angeles political fixture since the 1970s, has been accused of intervening on behalf of a bank where her husband owned stock and served on the board. She has denied wrongdoing. The case has taken on greater importance for Waters, who is in line to succeed retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) as the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
The investigation against Waters has been anything but usual. It has been sidetracked twice -- once by the committee's decision to put off a trial to conduct further investigation and then by allegations of misconduct against the ethics staff.
An outside lawyer was hired last July to examine whether the committee’s staff acted improperly in investigation allegations of misconduct.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-waters-ethics-20120217,0,7736816.story
Is Santorum wasting his time in Idaho?
I always thought Idaho was more like Utah than Colorado. Why is he spending so much time there?
PPP: Santorum leads Romney in Washington State.
Santorum up about 9 points on Romney on the first night of our Washington poll...would be big win sandwiched between MI/AZ and Super Tuesday
http://twitter.com/#!/ppppolls
Romney backer to flip to Santorum in Ohio
A top Ohio supporter of Governor Mitt Romney will switch sides and endorse Rick Santorum in Columbus this afternoon, a campaign source said.
The source declined to make public the identity of the switching surrogate.
While Ohio Gov. John Kasich remains neutral, Romney has the support of a handful of top current and former Ohio officials, including Attorney General Mike DeWine, Rep. Jim Renacci, and former Senator George Voinovich.
A spokeswoman for DeWine, Lisa Peterson Hackley, said "I can neither confirm nor deny" that he is the switcher, and declined to say what the State Attorney General will be doing at 2:00 p.m.
Update 12:05 p.m.: Santorum mentioned DeWine a few minutes ago at a campaign event in Shelby Township, Michigan while talking about how 2006 was a bad election year for Republican candidates.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/romney-backer-to-flip-to-santorum-today
Romney, Santorum tied in Michigan poll.
Victory Phones survey commissioned by Inside Michigan Politics Shows Romney, Who Had Trailed Santorum in Five Polls Reported Over Last Five Days, Has Caught His Opponent with 12 Days to go Before the Election; Paul is at 7%, Gingrich 5%, 22% Still Undecided.
http://www.insidemichiganpolitics.com/
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
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Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
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