The MIRS news service in Lansing has reported that Hawke Fracassa, the Republican seeking office in south Macomb County’s 9th state Senate District, has been living in Wyoming since July.
Fracassa took a job in July at the Cody Enterprise, a twice-weekly newspaper, though he is still listed in the election paperwork filed with the Secretary of State as a Warren resident.
A longtime journalist who most recently ran an obscure paper known as the Macomb Observer, Fracassa is still hoping to defeat Democratic incumbent Sen. Steve Bieda of Warren. According to MIRS, he continues to own a home in Warren and will return to Michigan if he wins the November election.
“I came out here to make money,” he told the news agency. “If I win the election, I will obviously accept the nomination (sic), but what are you going to do, not eat?”
Bieda is the overwhelming favorite to win in the heavily Democratic 9th District (Warren, Center Line, Eastpointe, Roseville, Fraser and southern Clinton Township).
The senator said he will not make an issue of Fracassa’s long absence. But he did note that The Detroit News, Fracassa’s employer for a number of years, endorsed Bieda in the upcoming election.
A July 21 story run by the Cody Enterprise introducing Fracassa to the community as the paper’s new managing editor never mentioned his Michigan candidacy. But he told MIRS that he views his new job as a “temporary assignment” until the Nov. 4 vote.
A colorful character going back to his days at Wayne State University, when he was known as E. Dale Lee, Fracassa ran unsuccessfully for Warren City Council, state representative, Warren Woods school board and county commissioner from 2007-12.
In his most current attempt at a political job, he blames Bieda for urban blight and says that the communities in the 9th District look like “a bombed-out shelter from Iraq.”
By the way: On his campaign website, Fracassa thanks the 7,853 voters who supported him in the August GOP primary election. He does not mention that he was running unopposed and living nearly 1,600 miles away at the time.
His website also incorrectly identifies his district as territory that includes St. Clair Shores and Lake Township. It should be noted that Lake Township no longer exists and is now part of Grosse Pointe Shores.
Eagerly awaiting Chad's write-up on the residences of democrats Sander Levin and Brian Banks.
Levin got burned by a bad piece not that long ago about him claiming his Maryland home as his primary residence on his taxes.
Banks?
Well, no one is really sure where Banks lives.
Why not look into it, Chad?
Are you implying that any of the two issues (that I have not seen anything about as yet) would therefore excuse what Mr. Fracassa is trying to pull? You surely cannot be supporting this sham artist?
I'm not supporting him nor criticizing him.
He's not a dog in any race I'll be voting for, so that part is moot.
But what is important is the fact that the spotlight is brought onto some politicians, while others are given a free pass.
That to me is newsworthy right there.
Some would refer to the Macomb Daily as an obscure newspaper, and also use the word to describe this writer.