When millionaires run
Terri Lynn Land, the only Republican outside of tea partier Rob Steele interested in running for Senate against Gary Peters, is a wealthy woman. How wealthy? Wealthy enough that she could all but self-finance her campaign. She and her husband are worth at least $34 million and own nearly 70s pieces of property in Florida and Michigan. Nonetheless, she made it very clear recently that she is talking to the Super PACs and they are “committed to Michigan”. You can hear her speak in a video posted at Huffington Post that was taken at a Republican Women of Leelanau County Garden Party.
So, my husband and I, like I said, are committed to this. We’re out on the road, we’re raising money, it’s going to take a lot of resources to do this. It’s probably a $20 million campaign. But the reality is, we’ve got new folks out there who are raising money. That’s the super PACs.Now this is a whole new world and after, some of you remember, the Citizens United lawsuit that happened, which actually started here in Michigan. I don’t know if some of you know that it started here in Michigan. And that changed the dynamics of politics, restricted the parties, but it let individuals and others raise resources to do that.
Now, our campaign has talked to a lot of those folks. They’re committed to Michigan. […]
[T]his is not just about Michigan, the whole country is watching. They really want to support us here in Michigan. And again, if we can do this in Michigan, that means they win in the other states.
This is what it looks like when millionaires run for office. They go to garden parties of other wealthy people and ask them to support their campaign by promising that other wealthy people and corporations, too, my friend, are going to help. As Michigan Democratic Party Communications Director Josh Pugh put it, “Although Republicans would love to have Michigan’s next US Senator chosen by corporate CEOs and wealthy special interests, that decision belongs to the people of Michigan.”
According to the HuffPo piece, there is interest in filing a complaint with the FEC, calling for an investigation into Land coordinating with the Super PACs since this is, of course, illegal.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., Land’s Republican colleagues are getting ready to shut down the government because, you know, Obamacare. Like petulant children who didn’t get their way on something, they are threatening our economy to make a point that everyone already knows: they hate Obamacare. They also hate the president and their biggest fear in life at the moment is that people are going to realize that the Affordable Care Act is a Good Thing and the sky will remain up when it is fully implemented.
Where does Terri Lynn Land stand on crashing the economy to make useless political points? She’s for it:
Others to embrace the plan include former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel (R), former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (R), who is the likely Republican nominee to run for retiring Sen. Carl Levin’s (R-Mich.) seat, and Alaska Tea Party candidate Joe Miller (R). Three of the four GOP candidates running for Iowa’s open Senate seat have come out in favor of the push.
In light of this, Democratic candidate Gary Peters has vowed to donate his salary to charity every day that the government is shut down if Republicans move forward with this outrageous, unnecessary, and wildly unpopular move.
Finally, Land has drawn some laughs at an email gaff this week that says Republicans can “win the US Senate race this year“. Roll Call columnist Warren Rojas quipped, “That’d be one helluva of political coup — considering retiring Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., isn’t stepping down until January 2015.” You can see a screenshot of the email at the Heard on the Hill blog.
[Land image taken from video posted at Huffington Post]
