On Monday, March 3, Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon and Redford Twp. Supervisor Miles Handy (a key Dillon supporter) organized a press conference at which local firefighters announced their opposition to Speaker Dillon's recall from office.

The press conference was lightly attended, but local reporters did show up. Our hero and Chair of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Rose Bogaert, is leading the effort to recall Dillon. Rose crashed the press conference and stole half the ink in the weekly Dearborn Press and Guide! Read the entire article here.

Great job getting the message out, Rose. And THANK YOU to the many citizens of Dearborn Heights, Redford Township and Livonia who are trudging through near-record snows and frigid temperatures to collect petition signatures for Dillon's recall. Speaker Andy Dillon, the taxpayers villain, can be held accountable for the recent state tax hikes if Rose Bogaert and her stalwart volunteers can collect 8,720 valid signatures by May 1st.

As Rose said in the article linked above, "A lesson has to be learned. If Dillon wants to raise taxes, he picked the wrong district to do it in."

Go, Rose, go! And long live the Wayne County Taxpayers Association!

I’ll keep you posted,

– Leon Drolet

Signature gathering for the recall of House Speaker Andy Dillon is heating up. Below are some links to current information about the recall effort.

First, from Wayne County Taxpayers Association Rose Bogaert, comes the tale of her efforts to collect Dillon recall signatures at the Redford Twp. Post office. Efforts which brought out at least three Redford Twp. Police cruisers, one U.S. Post Office police officer, and one sign-wielding pro-Dillon blocker. All trying to stop the greatest public security threat in the history of Redford: Rose Bogaert. Read Rose's story of how Redford tax dollars were spent harassing her instead of protecting public safety here: wctaxpayers.blogspot.com

Also, I'll throw in a link to an article that ran in the local Redford Observer and Eccentric newspaper last week. Its pretty good, actually. Click here for the article.

I'll keep you posted!

– Leon Drolet

Michigan Recalls launched the petition drive to recall House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford) and Representative Marc Corriveau this past Monday with a "recall bootcamp" in Livonia. The event was attended by over 50 volunteers (including a few opposition spies) and was covered by the suburban Wayne County local newspaper.

I kinda expected the local reporter to slant the story heavily toward the tax-hiking politicians because local newspapers tend to have cozy relationships with their local politicians. Instead, the story was rather balanced. Read it here.

Another nice surprise media valentine was the column written by Lansing State Journal Assistant Editorial Page Editor Derek Melot yesterday. Melot (while getting a few facts wrong) actually defended citizens right to seek recall against their elected officials and criticized local boards of electors for playing politics with the process. Mr. Melot's column can be read here.

Alas, not all is love and roses this Valentines Day. The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce issued an open letter to the media this week urging citizens not to sign recall petitions and criticized the recall efforts. Michigan Recalls took this as a good omen, however, because the Detroit Regional Chamber has opposed nearly every citizen-petition effort to bring about change - and have lost. So, hopefully the trend continues and victory is near! Read The Detroit News article here.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, the last time that the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce (not to be confused with the more principled MICHIGAN Chamber of Commerce) and I agreed on a petition drive was when we both supported L. Brooks Patterson's petition drive to eliminate the dreaded Single Business Tax. Had I known that Lansing politicians were just going to replace the SBT with the new Michigan Business Tax and then increase the tax by 22%, I would have never supported the SBT elimination (however well-intended).

Lesson: If the establishment, politically-correct Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce is with you, you may have a big problem. Got that Speaker Dillon?

These next few weeks are critical. We have until May 1st to collect the needed recall signatures. Please, pitch in any way you can and help rescue Michigan from inept leadership, make history, and regain citizen control of Lansing!

I'll keep you posted.

Leon Drolet

This past Monday afternoon, Governor Granholm called for a recall "cease fire" as reported in the Detroit Free Press here.

The problem with Granholm's cease fire proposal is that she is attempting to negotiate a political deal (according to several Lansing sources) with GOP party leaders and Lansing politicians - not with any citizen group engaged in recall campaigns. Granholm is simply incapable of understanding that citizens may actually have political power, and steadfastly believes that all political action begins and ends in Lansing with partisan powerbrokers.

I guess we will wait and see what the big announcement that Granholm hints is coming at the end of this week is all about.

Be sure to click on the 'view comments' link at the end of the story - lots of interesting reader comments. Especially the comment from a reader named Portnoy who writes:

The other day when I was minding my own business, a man walked up to me on the street and demanded that I turn over my wallet.

I refused.

He then turned a knife on me forcing me to give him my money.

Before he turned away, he said to me, "Look, I know you want to call the cops, but I need this money because I misspent all of my other money on items I could not afford. Now I am broke and, in order to pay for my overextended lifestyle, I need to take your money."

"I have your money now," he continued, "and you will never get it back, so lets just move forward from here on out. I promise not to steal from you again. Should you call the cops, you would only be wasting yours and their time and money pursuing me."

"Let's just move forward and forget that what I did was wrong."

"Ok?"

Portnoy gets it!

Recall Boot Camp in Livonia on Monday!

Do you live in Redford, Dearborn Heights, Livonia, Northville or Plymouth Twp? Then please attend a recall training session geared toward helping oust tax hiking House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford) and Rep. Marc Corriveau (D-Northville) from office.

The event is Monday, February 11 at Livonia's Best Western Laurel Park Suites from 7:00pm until 8:30pm. The hotel is located at 16999 Laurel Park Drive at I-275 and 6 Mile Rd.

Be there! Help save Michigan, help make history!

Leon Drolet