Michigan’s 52nd State House District is a R+1 district that has been held by Democrat Gretchen Driskell for the past two election cycles. It was held briefly between 2010 and 2012 by now-MIA Republican Mark Ouimet. Before that, Democrat Pam Byrnes represented the district for four years, serving for a time as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House. The […]

We’re not losing this one Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog As I wrote yesterday, the Washtenaw County Democratic Party’s Precinct Organizing Committee (led by me and organizer Tad Wysor of Ypsilanti) has been holding a series of Grassroots Empowerment Orientation sessions across the county over the past month. These meetings are the first steps toward building a […]

“Nice guy”, my ass When we moved to Dexter about seven years ago, our State House Representative was the amazing House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes. She was term limited out of office and, in the crashing tea party wave of 2010, this historically Democratic seat was lost to “Nice Guy” Republican Mark Ouimet. As I have reported in the […]

On so many levels…

Back in 2010, I documented the obscene campaign run against Democrat Christine Green in Michigan’s 52nd State House District. While Michigan Republicans ran no less than five hideous robocalls against her, sent out mailings with her home phone number on them and generally ran a smear campaign against one of the most upstanding citizens in the Ann Arbor area, Mark Ouimet sat back and allowed it to happen. And, all the while, said he was going to bring peace and civility to the House and work across the aisle with Democrats in our state legislature.

This turned out to be completely false and was just one more in a long list of deceptions from Ouimet over the past two years.

My take on why Mark Ouimet does not deserve to represent the 52nd District after the jump.

Let’s go to tape, Mark…

Mark Ouimet rode the 2010 Republican wave to replace Democrat Pam Byrnes as the Michigan State House Representative of the 52nd District. In a dirty campaign with hideous robocalls against his Democratic opponent Christine Green (listen to them HERE, HERE, and HERE), Ouimet appealed to voters with a claim of being moderate and willing to work across the aisle with Democrats. Two years have passed and just how many times has Ouimet voted against the majority of his own party?

0.8%.

Much more after the jump.

Gretchen Driskell embodies what Mark Ouimet pretends to be

As Democrats in Michigan attempt to retake control over the House of Representatives, one of the most closely-watched races is in the 52nd District, the area west of Ann Arbor. Long a Democratic stronghold, it went to Republican Mark Ouimet in the 2010 Republican wave. The 2010 races was pure gutter politics on the part of the Republicans who ran no fewer than five increasingly offensive and nearly slanderous robocalls against Democrat Christine Green.

This year, another Democratic woman will face the Republican smear effort in the 52nd — Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell. Driskell is less a politician than she is a true public servant. As Saline’s first woman mayor and longest-serving mayor, she’s been on the front lines of making her community the kind of place where people want to be to raise kids, start a business and enjoy the city’s charm. She’s served the community for over 20 years spending six years on the city council and another 14 as mayor.

I sat down for an with Driskell this week to discuss her candidacy. Please click through for the interview.