In case you missed it:
Here’s my Sunday column …
Internal elections for a state party chairman typically produce little
intrigue, but the intense, behind-the scenes campaign for the Michigan
Democratic Party leadership pits a coarse, Macomb County-schooled, longtime
incumbent against a smooth, charismatic newcomer who has adeptly created a
bandwagon effect for his candidacy.
The result? A campaign with surrogates for Chairman Mark Brewer and
challenger Lon Johnson locked in a hardball political battle for support from
Democratic delegates as the Saturday state convention approaches.
How bad is it? Amid rumors about attempts to essentially steal the election,
Johnson’s camp wants to put the convention election in the hands of a
neutral entity. Perhaps Jimmy Carter is available.
While some in the Detroit media portray this race as a contest between two
like-minded candidates with a mutual respect for each other, the internal
campaign has been cut-throat.
Johnson, a relative unknown among many of the party faithful, essentially
launched his candidacy a little over a week ago with a massive surprise attack.
The state’s entire Democratic congressional delegation endorsed Johnson for
chair rather than Brewer, the 18-year incumbent.
The back-stabbing and bad-mouthing quickly commenced.
Congressman Sandy Levin has never meshed with Brewer and he instigated his
first attempt to oust the chairman two years ago. In recent days, sources say
Levin has privately engaged in a no-holds-barred effort to line up support for
the challenger. Stabenow, the other leading protagonist in this pro-Johnson
push, may still be upset with Brewer’s Fall 2012 effort to have the senator
share the wealth of her multi-million dollar campaign warchest once it became
clear that she was cruising toward an easy victory in November.
That’s according to the talking points spoken in the shadows – at least
those talking points that can be printed in a family newspaper.
Publicly, the Dem delegation said it was time for a fresh face to front the
party, especially after the Republicans have secured solid control of the state
House and Senate. In turn, the Johnson congressional coup generated snickers
from the Brewer camp, with antagonists saying that the delegation’s geriatric
unit – Reps. Levin, John Dingell and John Conyers, plus Sen. Carl Levin – has
no business calling for fresh blood.
What’s more, the party’s top elected officials didn’t vet Johnson. He has a
spotty voting history that shows he has failed to vote in several recent
elections and is a solid no-show for local school and municipal elections.
Worst of all, Johnson wants to lead the party in its 2014 campaign bid to
defeat Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, yet records show that he did not cast a
ballot in November 2010 when Snyder was first elected.
At the same time, Brewer’s recent track record may be his undoing. In a Blue
State (at the presidential level), the Republicans control all of state
government: governor, attorney general, secretary of state, the House and
Senate and the Supreme Court.
Johnson’s team, bolstered by full-time help from congressional aides and
union representatives, followed up with another big setback for Brewer – 11 top
Macomb County Democrats, including the “Big Five” countywide elected officials,
threw their support to the challenger, snubbing Brewer, the stalwart of Macomb
politics.
Still, some of the Johnson backing that came from Brewer’s back yard seemed
forced. It appeared that many of those endorsing Johnson had never met him and
some refused to talk about their decision to back him. Insiders say that Sandy
Levin relentlessly pushed for the endorsements, asserting that party unity
depended upon it.
Brewer supporters quickly countered with a press release announcing that
seven of the nine Democrats on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners had
endorsed the chairman. I’m told that, within minutes of that release going
online, a UAW official called one of these commissioners and suggested that, if
he didn’t withdraw his endorsement, his buddy-buddy relationship with the union
was over.
That’s just one example of the bitter division within the labor community
over this slugfest. Yet, the UAW that supported and dictated to Brewer over
many years is hard-pressed to explain their sudden turnaround. Union President
Bob King, who is not particularly attuned to Michigan politics, embarrassed
himself last week when he blamed Brewer for Democratic losses in the 2012 state
Senate races. The senators were not up for election in 2012.
Meanwhile, the pro-Brewer crowd is pulling out all the stops. In a move that
some saw as dirty politics, they leaked documents that show Johnson was hit
with nine building code violations over a short period of time on his Royal Oak
house, which he was renting to tenants. The $625 in fines assessed by the 44th
District Court probably will not sway the chairmanship election, but the court
documents also revealed that Johnson was living with his wife in Chicago in
late 2011 and early 2012, just months before he ran for a state House seat in
the Kalkaska area.
I’m told by northern Michigan political observers that Johnson was a
hard-working and charismatic candidate but he lost the House election largely
due to voter perceptions that he was a “carpetbagger.” Now, some of those who
closely watched that losing effort are stunned that this resident of rural,
Republican Kalkaska County could mount a substantive campaign to become the
Democratic Party chairman.
Brewer, 57, who can be as gruff in substance as his gravelly voice sounds,
has certainly rubbed certain top party officials the wrong way over time. A
veteran of Macomb politics (many don’t remember that he helped spearhead the
first attempt, a 1986 ballot proposal, to create a charter/executive form of
county government) Brewer is a product of a county where politics is a blood
sport.
Johnson, 41, (a “West Wing”/Rob Lowe lookalike) has been the
picture of professionalism, insisting that no question from the media is out of
bounds. Without hesitation, he has calmly laid out his personal and
professional history to The Macomb Daily.
That historical trail, reflecting a vagabond political life, may be his
primary weakness. It appears that Johnson, who formerly worked for the national
Democratic Party, has no roots anywhere.
Since 2000, Johnson has lived in Washington, the Downriver town of Rockwood,
Washington again, Royal Oak, Iraq (working for a nonprofit), Kalkaska,
Washington a third time, Kalkaska again, Washington a fourth time, Chicago, and
then Kalkaska a third time.
In his favor, Johnson clearly has big-league party connections – his wife,
Julianna Smoot, was President Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager – and he
could potentially raise millions upon millions of dollars for the state party.
He has also demonstrated an ability in this campaign to effectively use social
media sites, particularly Facebook.
Still, Brewer is an old-school survivor, a fighter. It’s no coincidence that
he is the longest-serving state party chair in the nation.
Saturday’s Michigan Democratic Party convention would typically attract a
rather modest crowd of about 1,500 delegates. But with this bruising political
fight — a possible 15-rounder – at the top of the bill for the Cobo Center
event, perhaps the party could sell tickets to this spectacle.
