Weekly Musing 3-25-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman

RNC National Committeeman for Michigan
Today, I am formally announcing my candidacy for re-election as Michigan’s National Committeeman. It has been an honor to serve as your representative on the Republican National Committee.

I would like to formally and humbly ask for your support and vote at the next state convention coming up in May.

I have had both the privilege and honor serving as one of Michigan’s three members on the Republican National Committee. Over the last 6 years, I haven’t missed a single meeting and have been asked to serve as Chairman of the RNC Technology Committee as well as a member of the committees on Rules, Temporary Delegate Selection Committee, 2012 Compliance Committee and the Committee on Arrangements for the 2012 National Convention.

I have traveled extensively across our state to virtually every county over the last 6 years. I have worked diligently to provide as much information as possible to activists across our state as to the process, rules, candidates, news and contacts to help bring in speakers and resources to our state, districts and county parties.

Interestingly enough, the two questions I get asked most is “how much does it pay” and “are you guys allowed to endorse candidates”.

First, this is a completely volunteer position. No pay. Additionally, we are NOT reimbursed for our expenses by either the Michigan Republican Party or the Republican National Committee. We pay our own way and expenses to every meeting, Lincoln Day, RNC meeting and activity we participate in.

Second, yes, in Michigan we have NO restriction on endorsing candidates and getting involved in primaries. As Chairman, I decided it was best to stay out of primaries since my role was broader and required disbursing resources as well as often times serving as arbitrator. As National Committeeman, traditionally in Michigan, our members have usually endorsed candidates and have been involved in primaries as far back as the 80’s.

As an active member, there may be issues or endorsement you may have disagreed with. However, I have worked tirelessly on behalf of our candidates and our party. I have pushed and successfully helped pass rules that required transparency, independence, secret ballots and conflict of interest rules to minimize, if not eliminate the power of the so called “party bosses” at any given point and time. My goal has been to insure a fair and open process, regardless of which candidate or position any of us may support at any given time.

I hope I have proven my commitment to our party and our conservative principles…earning your support for my re-election bid.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to serving you over the next few years.

Clark Durant for U.S. Senate
As we prepare for this fall’s battle for control of Congress, one of the most important races in America is for the U.S. Senate. Senator Debbie Stabenow is one of the MOST liberal members of the Senate who is clearly out of touch with Michigan voters.

No one is better prepared, as a citizen politician rather than a Washington insider, than Clark Durant to challenge Stabenow and her policies. We need to shake things up in Washington, and having an entrepreneur who is a movement conservative, running for ALL the right reasons is our best chance to win this fall.

Join me in supporting Clark Durant for the U.S. Senate. You can find out more at:

http://www.clarkdurant.com

Obama’s tax hikes threaten a new US recession
America needs to reform its tax rules and entitlement programs. But we can do this in a way that strengthens confidence and raises the rate of economic growth. The dramatic rise in federal revenue starting next year that is built into current law would undermine the economy and threaten this year’s rate of expansion. The political choice has never been more important for the nation’s economic outlook.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d0e7acc-6f7d-11e1-9c57-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=published_links/rss/comment/feed//product#axzz1pgcWt1N0

A Nice Start! By 2050, Paul Ryan’s budget would reduce government to its smallest share of GDP since 1950!!!
When the CBO projected Ryan’s plan four decades into the future, it concluded that the size of government would shrink to 15% of the economy by 2050. How small is 15%? As a share of GDP, it would be the smallest government since 1950/’51. Here’s Ryan’s proposed 2050 budget and our real 1950 budget, side by side

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/paul-ryans-vision-of-government-in-2050-is-absurd-and-impossible/254845/

Kalamazoo Grassroots Activist Training
If you have an opportunity or need to help get some of your activists trained in grassroots activism…here is your chance. Leadership Institute “Grassroots Training” event that is sponsored by the Kalamazoo County GOP coming Saturday, April 14th.
It will be in the Fetzer Center on Western Michigan University’s campus. Seating IS limited. The $35 early registration fee includes both a Continental Breakfast and a Box Lunch. An agenda is attached. It says 8:30 but it really starts at 8:15 to allow for breakfast.

http://kalamazoograssrootstraining.eventbrite.com/?ref=enivte&invite=MTc4OTkzNS9zdGFucnVueW9uQHlhaG9vLmNvbS8w&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=invitenew&utm_term=attend

Great book: Liberty Intrigue
Tom Grace: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorTomGrace

Air time with Rush: http://tomgrace.net/the-liberty-intrigue-storms-into-top-online-book-sales-lists/

Get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Intrigue-Tom-Grace/dp/0965604012

Khan Academy: Learn almost anything for free
With a library of over 3,000 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 311 practice exercises, we’re on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

Very cool.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.

Please share.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis

On Twitter at:
@sanuzis

Thanks again for all you do!

Weekly Musing 3-18-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman

Election Year Math
“But any combination of two or three smaller states — all of which went for Obama in 2008 — could achieve the same end. North Carolina and Virginia would do it in tandem. North Carolina and Colorado would also produce the magic 270. New Mexico, Nevada, Iowa, and Indiana all went for Obama in 2008 but if Republicans can’t win in these states they probably don’t have much of a chance anyway. So the final battleground is likely to be North Carolina, Virginia, and Colorado. Democrats figured this out long ago.”

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/15/election-year-math

A Lesson in Obamanomics: Detroit Nears Bankruptcy“It’s hard to think of many social experiments that have more disastrously failed. Now many of these once flourishing cities are hollowed out shells, while around them suburbs and increasingly exurbs flourish away from the deadening influence of urbanist politics. None of this affects the hold of progressive and urbanist ideology on true believers; if anything, they believe even more passionately in the cause. Obviously the problem is that we haven’t spent enough on enough tenured teachers, haven’t written enough new regulations and established enough new bureaus to enforce them, haven’t published enough white papers by enough credentialed planners, haven’t extracted enough taxes and provided enough services. If we could just tax the suburbs and exurbs more heavily and spend more of the money in the cities, all would be well.”

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/03/11/detroit-nears-bankruptcy/

Wake Up America!!! CBO: Exploding debt under Obama policies
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday that President Barack Obama’s tax and spending policies will yield $6.4 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than double the shortfall in CBO’s own fiscal baseline — even after taking credit for reduced war costs.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74109.html

Behind the Curtain – Obama’s campaign is watching you
“Obama for America has already invested millions of dollars in sophisticated Internet messaging, marketing and fundraising efforts that rely on personal data sometimes offered up voluntarily — like posts on a Facebook page— but sometimes not.
And according to a campaign official and former Obama staffer, the campaign’s Chicago-based headquarters has built a centralized digital database of information about millions of potential Obama voters.”

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=6D8F3A6F-C634-473C-A050-8F9C44D0AC47

Interesting — Social Super Tuesday — How the 2012 Candidates Stacked Up On Facebook“Successful social campaigns are actually quite simple. Make fans/supporters work, but don’t make them work too hard. The most engaging campaigns have an interaction that’s clean, simple, fun, and rewarding — with as little friction between click and share as possible.

Respect the social context and don’t send the fans to your website. Keep the fan where they want to be — on the social network where they encountered the campaign — and give them something to share. Content speaks volumes, and political candidates do have a lot of, ahem, content to share.

Social media represents a huge potential to engage followers both locally and nationally. Social media lets fans volunteer without even leaving their seats. Politicians must learn how to put advocates to work on their campaigns and make it easy and fun. Chances are the candidate that masters engagement and grassroots community-building will find themselves in the White House after November’s election.”

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/11/social-super-tuesday

Interesting – The Revolution Will Be Mapped
Through the use of proprietary technology provided exclusively to Labels & Lists by Moonshadow Mobile, VoterMapping.com allows users to display and analyze millions of voter records instantly, visualizing them geo-spatially over Bing Maps™ in real time.

http://www.votermapping.com/

Great book: Liberty Intrigue
Tom Grace: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorTomGrace

Air time with Rush: http://tomgrace.net/the-liberty-intrigue-storms-into-top-online-book-sales-lists/

Get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Intrigue-Tom-Grace/dp/0965604012

Khan Academy: Learn almost anything for free
With a library of over 3,000 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 311 practice exercises, we’re on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

Very cool.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.

Please share.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis

On Twitter at:
@sanuzis

Thanks again for all you do!

Weekly Musing 3-11-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman

From my son’s Facebook page, had to proudly share:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Romney Wins Saturday Delegate Battle 38-34
Romney wins Wyoming, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands & Virgin Island while Santorum won the majority of delegates in Kansas. Romney continues to dominate the delegate race to the nomination.

It’s time to believe: Romney’s a winner”He won six of 10 states, including Ohio, the night’s marquee contest. His win rate was higher than John McCain’s in 2008 on a night that all but clinched the GOP nomination. He has won about 40 percent of the delegates he needs to win the nomination and has more than twice as many as Santorum, his nearest competitor. And the party’s new system requiring the proportional awarding of delegates, though it has slowed Romney’s coronation, now makes it essentially impossible for anybody to catch him.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/believe-it-romneys-a-winner/2012/03/09/gIQAyxqO1R_story.html?hpid=z2

Obama Mines for Voters With High-Tech Tools
“it is home to the largely secret engine of President Obama’s re-election campaign, where scores of political strategists, data analysts, corporate marketers and Web producers are sifting through information gleaned from Facebook, voter logs and hundreds of thousands of telephone or in-person conversations to reassemble and re-energize the scattered coalition of supporters who swept Mr. Obama into the White House four years ago.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/us/politics/obama-campaigns-vast-effort-to-re-enlist-08-supporters.html?_r=2&ref=politics

Smell the Roses – BUT Wait Until America Start Focusing on Obama’s Record“If I had told you in January 2009 that the Obama story seven months before the 2012 election would be: unemployment over 8 percent, $5 trillion added to the national debt, a nearly $1 trillion stimulus package that both left and right agree was at best poorly designed and at worst an outright failure, gas prices rising above $4 a gallon and a health-care mandate of which Americans disapprove by a margin of 3 to 2, you would have wondered at the gift presented by the gods to the Republicans in the form of an easily defeated incumbent.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/enjoy_the_roses_now_fBnfGG4SqHWrgQOYdxcPjI

From Democrat/Liberal Activist Joe DiSano“Operation: Hilarity.”
“The do-gooders and progressive purists will wring their hands at those among us who helped Rick Santorum win 7 of Michigan’s 14 Congressional Districts. They will tell you our efforts were misguided and unproductive. Some will even say our efforts were unethical and an example of dirty politics. They may be right on that last point.

Our efforts may have been dirty and unethical. I don’t think so, but I suppose honest people can debate that. What is undeniable is the effectiveness of the efforts of progressives and Democrats to help deliver delegates to Santorum.
Through our campaign of 80,000 robo-calls, 200,000 emails, several radio and TV appearances and countless print mentions leading up to primary day, a list of just under 14,000 Democrats pledged their support to Rick Santorum in the GOP primary.

Look to the results in Michigan’s sprawling 1st U.S. Congressional District. Santorum won the district by less than 1 percent or 790 votes. Our list of Democrats in the 1st U.S. Congressional District had 800 voters agreeing to support Santorum. Look at the 13th U.S. Congressional District, where Santorum won by a margin with 1,535 votes. Our robo-call program alone identified just fewer than 1,300 Democrats willing to hold their nose and vote for Santorum in the Wayne County-based 13th CD. That doesn’t include people activated by our email blasts or media appearances.

At the least, our efforts in Michigan moved the delegates from the 1st, 7th and 13th U.S. Congressional Districts to Santorum’s column. We denied Romney the clean sweep he’d expected.”

Tom Grace on ‘The Liberty Intrigue’ – Between the Covers – National Review Online
Great book…check it out!

http://radio.nationalreview.com/betweenthecovers/post/?q=ZmZmOTRjNWM0ZGUxNzNiMjYxNThkNjE5NTIzOGY5MjI=

“The Genesis Code” DVD
A great movie discussion creation and the Christian faith came out on DVD this Tuesday. Check it out, I was able to watch the pre-lauch. It’s a great teaching tool for kids and adults alike.

http://www.thegenesiscodemovie.com/The-Genesis-Code-Fred-Thompson/dp/B0077PHME8

Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.

Please share.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis

On Twitter at:
@sanuzis

Thanks again for all you do!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, my birthday is actually coming up on March 6th. Thanks again!

Weekly Musing 3-4-12
Saul Anuzis
MI: Republican National Committeeman

Congratulation State Representative Joe Graves!
In an impressive victory and with the help from Michigan Republicans statewide, Joe Graves won the special election to the state House last Tuesday. Joe will make a great State Representative and will be an enthusiastic new member in the House Republican Caucus! Go Joe!!!

Romney Sweeps Michigan, Arizona & Washington State
In an impressive show of strength and organizational prowess, Mitt Romney pulled off an impressive “come back” victory in both Arizona and Michigan. Then last night he won Washington State’s caucuses! Romney’s message on jobs and the economy resonated with voters. Even with a not so covert effort on the part of liberal Democrats to “hijack” our primary in favor of their perceived weaker candidate, Romney won convincingly amongst Republicans, Catholics and others parts of our coalition.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, but I was surprised to see Santorum openly accept and encourage Democrats, labor and liberal to join his coalition in OUR PRIMARY to support his candidacy. With over 100,000 Democrats voting in Michigan’s Republican Primary, Democrats supported Santorum over others by a 3:1 margin, clearly boosting his efforts in many congressional districts across the state. Republican should nominate our Republican nominee…and Democrats should nominate their own nominee. We then fight for the hearts, souls and votes of swing and cross-over voters in November.

Closed Primary & Party Registration
I think given the fact over 100,000 Democrats came over and tried to hijack the Republican primary to support our perceived “weaker” candidate, we should have an open discussion about changing the way we run our primaries.

I like primaries over caucuses because it encourages greater participation. If we had party registration, partisan voters could pick “their” nominee in the primaries and then compete for independent and cross-over votes in the fall.

Maybe an idea whos time has come???

Michigan’s broken Republican Primary
“Had the post-primary story been that Romney swept both Arizona and Michigan, it would have been more difficult for Santorum and Gingrich to be perceived as credible candidates and talk of a brokered convention would have been put to rest. Instead, Romney & Co. will continue to spend millions and attack each other at least through Super Tuesday. Once again, Democrats gain from how the Republican nominee is chosen in Michigan.
It is not clear how to solve the problem of an open primary – but surely if a political party is going to pick its nominee it should do it in a way that ensures it is picked by members of its own party rather than members of the opposing party. My first inclination is to make people declare what party they wish to participate in and to do so far enough ahead that they don’t know whether or not there will be a contested race in the primary election or caucus. Regardless, it is time to think about how to have political party nominees be chosen by members of that political party.”

http://www.michiganview.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120302/MIVIEW/203020406/1469

My Election Night Interview on The Kudlow Report
Discussing how Democrats cross-over votes helped Santorum…is that a recipe for Republican nomination or concern?

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000075877

Why Michigan was so close, and how Romney won
“Nearly 1-in-10 voters in the Michigan Republican primary identified with the Democratic Party. These Democratic voters overwhelmingly supported Santorum…By comparison, Romney defeated Santorum among the 59 percent of Republicans casting ballots by a margin of 48 percent to 37 percent and independents by a margin of 35 percent to 34 percent. If the Democrats had not crossed over and voted in the Republican contest, Romney would have won the Michigan Republican primary by 8 percentage points, in the process changing the characterization of the result from a close race to a comfortable victory.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57387277-503544/why-michigan-was-so-close-and-how-romney-won/

Michelle Malkin For Clark Durant: Michigan’s Senate GOP race“Durant is relentless, tireless, and entrepreneurial. He’s passionate about charter schools and education reform — and he has a track record of success with the inner-city Cornerstone charter schools he co-founded in Detroit. He’s got experience in both the private sector and academia. He’s the father of four, served in the military, and worked in the Reagan administration. ..The establishment GOP favorite in the race, Pete Hoekstra, may have bigger PAC donors and name recognition. But Durant has the backing of a growing number of state and national movement conservatives, along with top-notch campaign organization and fund-raising muscle.”

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/02/27/for-clark-durant-michigans-senate-gop-race/

You Spend 120 Times Longer on Facebook Than Google+“according to data from comScore, reported by the Wall Street Journal, visitors to the sites using computers spent an average of about three minutes a month on Google+ between last September and January, versus six to seven hours on Facebook each month over the same period. That’s over a 120 times longer.”

http://gizmodo.com/5888846/you-spend-120-times-longer-on-facebook-than-google

Tech giants have power to be political masters as well as our web ones
“As the internet becomes more central to our lives, the power of the commercial companies that mediate citizens’ interactions with one another and with the state increases with every passing day…One of the central ideas in MacKinnon’s book is the concept of what she calls “sovereigns of cyberspace”, – companies like Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon that now exercise the kinds of power that were hitherto reserved for real “sovereigns” – governments operating within national jurisdictions…The powers to curtail people’s freedom of speech in this way were traditionally reserved for governments which – in democracies at least – theoretically derived their legitimacy from John Locke’s notion of “the consent of the governed”.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/26/internet-companies-power-politics-freedom

“The Genesis Code” DVD Release Tuesday
A great movie discussion creation and the Christian faith will be out on DVD the Tuesday. Check it out, I was able to watch the pre-lauch. It’s a great teaching tool for kids and adults alike.

http://www.thegenesiscodemovie.com/The-Genesis-Code-Fred-Thompson/dp/B0077PHME8

Stay In Touch…Feel Free to Share
My goal is for this to be a weekly political update…sharing political news and analysis that should be of interest to most activists.

Please share.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

On Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/sanuzis

On Twitter at:
@sanuzis

Thanks again for all you do!

Statement by Saul Anuzis
Republican National Committeeman from Michigan
Member of the Michigan Republican Credentials Committee

At the February 4th State Committee meeting held in Lansing, the Credentials Committee unanimously passed the procedures for allocating Michigan’s delegates to the National Convention in the event that the RNC imposes the 50% penalty on our delegation.

We agreed that if only 30 delegates would be designated as voting delegates, the Michigan Republicans would send 2 from each congressional committee and 2 at large. We agreed that the two at large delegates would be taken from the top of the slated delegations as submitted by the candidate who received the most votes statewide.

Last night the Credentials Committee met via teleconference and voted to apply the rules as passed unanimously on February 4th which results in the 2 at large delegates be awarded to the statewide winner, Mitt Romney.

There were no changes in rules or procedures, the Credential Committee only ratified the existing rules as previously passed after some made erroneous claims to the media that the at-large delegates would be split.

There is no disagreement amongst the members that this was the intent of the Credential Committee and there is email traffic between the committee members and counsel discussing the same.

Regrettably, there was an error in the memo drafted and sent to the respective campaigns. There were questions raised at the time the memo was drafted as to whether the legal language used was accomplishing the goal of the committee and we were advised that it was, but now it is clear that the memo did not properly communicate the intent of the committee. The email traffic surrounding the drafting of the memo in early February makes explicitly clear what the intent of the committee was.

The committee convened again last night to affirm that the intent was clear and that the memo was inaccurate. That affirmation came in a 4-2 vote. While we all regret the error in the memo, it does not change what was voted on by the committee, which was to award the two at-large delegates to the statewide winner. It was premature for any candidate to be declaring the delegate count prior to an official announcement by the Michigan Republican Party

This is much to do about nothing. The rules were set in place, in advance, by a unanimous vote. A press conference should not force Michigan Republicans to change the rules.

Update: See the Michigan Republican Party’s Memo to the RNC on Delegate Allocation

MI Delegate Allocation Memo

Good morning —

As the Primary Election Day gets rolling this morning I felt it very important to pass along some extremely disturbing news out of the Rick Santorum campaign. It seems that he has chosen to throw his hat in with the Barack Obama, Democrats and union bosses.

Last night the Santorum campaign admitted to engaging in automated robo-calls targeted to known Democrats in some of the most Democratic leaning areas of the state. His request was simple and the same request Mark Brewer from the Michigan Democratic Party was making this past week – Democrats, please cross over and vote in the Michigan Presidential Primary taking place today.

To read the Detroit Free Press story, click here:
http://www.freep.com/article/20120227/NEWS15/120227072/1001/news

This is no way for a person to act that wants to be the Republican nominee to take on President Obama in the fall. As a leader in the party and someone who cares about making sure Republicans are voting for our Republican nominee, I urge all Republicans in Michigan to denounce these “dirty tricks.” The Democrats already picked their candidate and we have been paying for that decision ever since. Lets make sure we do not let them do it again.

Please join us in condemning this behavior and sending a strong message that Republicans, not Democrats, should be choosing our party’s nominee.

Saul Anuzis
RNC National Committeeman – MI