EDITOR”S NOTE: My motto ever since launching this on-line rag has been, “I report what I see and hear. And sometimes I comment on it.”
With that in mind, the following is the second of a series of political endorsements or positions for the Aug. 2 primary election, which is only two weeks away:
Michigan’s 80th Legislative District has been a battleground scene for the mainstream Republican Party and the Tea Party ever since former State Rep. Bob Genetski was term limited.
The Tea Party in August 2014 scored a huge upset with the GOP primary election of Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell.
But the celebration was short lived about a year later when the State Legislature voted to expel Gamrat for a tawdry sex scandal with fellow Tea Partier Todd Courser and an alleged coverup.
Even before she was kicked out of the State Capitol, Gamrat had run afoul of GOP leaders, who banned her from committee meetings and treated her like a renegade. Her tenure as a state legislator was tainted by poor attendance at local government meetings and ineffectiveness in getting things done in Lansing.
Arising from the ashes of that previous August primary was the runner-up, Mary Whiteford, certainly a mainstream member of the GOP. She captured an amazing 51 percent of the vote in a seven-candidate special primary in November and then cruised to a general election victory in March.
However, it appears the war is not over for the Tea Party.
Now comes Abigail Nobel, who is taking the unusual step in challenging a sitting incumbent in the primary coming Aug. 2. Nobel was not a candidate among the seven in the fall of 2015, but she filed for the seat this year.
Interestingly, both Nobel and Whiteford have been nurses in their careers. Even more interesting, but probably coincidental, is that Gamrat also is a nurse.
The similarities between Gamrat and Nobel continue in that their politics is severely right-wing Christian, what you would expect from the Tea Party. Nobel was a member of a family that famously, loudly and proudly had their children home schooled. Gamrat did that for her children as well, even though she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
There is a striking difference between Nobel and Gamrat in that Nobel has not been tainted by the foul odor of scandal. You might say she essentially is a “Scandal-less” Cindy Gamrat.
I suspect that if Nobel was elected she would avoid scandal, but at the same time would push obscure issues and find herself on the outside looking in when the GOP convenes, much like Gamrat.
Whiteford convincingly was selected for the position in Lansing in two elections in the last year, and she deserves a chance to show what she can do.
This may surprise some observers because I have not been kind to Whiteford in previous editorials, suggesting she’ll be a “yes lady” for Republican leaders and donors and do as she’s told. I still believe that, but I’ve had occasion recently to believe she might strive to be her own person when she must take a moral stand of right vs. wrong.
So it’s not very difficult at all to endorse Mary Whiteford to be returned to serve her first full term in a State Legislature I despise.
C’mon Mary. Research Paul Hillegonds a bit and see if you can be like him.
The 80th Legislative District includes all of Allegan County except for Wayland, Leighton and Dorr townships and the City of Wayland. It does include Hopkins, Martin, Watson, Monterey and Salem townships.
PHOTOS: Abigail Nobel Mary Whiteford
