UNDATED (WKZO) -- The primary is one week from today. The candidates can debate term limits, argue abortion, talk about scandals, but the #1 issue on voters' minds is jobs. House Speaker Andy Dillon says it's the single biggest issue. While he has several ideas about how to put Michigan's economy back on its feet, he says the primary obstacle to that is the state's government itself. Dillon faces Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero on ballots August 3rd.
Just a week before the primary, investigators have produced an affidavit that claims that Attorney General Mike Cox got a lap dance from a stripper at the legendary party at the Manoogian Mansion, the night that Carlita Kilpatrick allegedly struck Stripper Tamara Greene. Greene would later be murdered.
The story comes from a biker who claims he was hired to provide security that night, and now fears for his life. Investigators working for the lawyer who is representing Tamara Greene’s family say the witness surfaced as they were investigating her death, and why it wasn’t investigated.
Cox’s involvement in the party has been an issue for years, and recently the subject of a series of attack ads running in Detroit. Cox says it’s an attempt to smear his name just before the primary. The story does have holes. Would elected democrats party with a republican Attorney General with strippers and bikers in attendance? But the biker gave his statement under oath and now faces prosecution if it’s a lie.
Mike Bouchard has begun an 8 day 80 stop marathon swing through the state right here in West Michigan to try and overcome a gap in the polls that show he is #4 in a 5 way race for the GOP nomination for Governor.
He says he has internal polling that shows he is among the three front runners, Snyder, Cox and Hoekstra. He says what makes him different is that he has both legislative and executive experience, something the other three can’t claim. He says they have saved all their resources and are planning a media blitz between now and next Tuesday’s election. He huddled with about a dozen local members of the Homebuilders Association yesterday in Kalamazoo.
Bouchard isn’t the only one launching his pre-election drive in S.W. Michigan. Rick Snyder had town hall meetings in Dowagiac, Jones and Three Rivers yesterday. Republican gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra will be holding a meet and greet at White Oaks Retirement Center this morning from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m. in Lawton.
