The Ballenger Report

Question 1): Bridget MCCORMACK, Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court,  announced last week that she is resigning from the bench no later than Dec. 31 but not before Nov. 22. McCormack, who became the 108th justice and the ninth woman to join the Court when she was sworn in as an associate justice on […]

Beginning in 2020, retired attorney Bob LaBrant, who once had been Senior Vice President for Political Affairs and General Counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, became increasingly estranged from the Republican Party. What was the motivation for his metamorphosis? Let’s hear it from LaBrant in his own words: “I publicly supported Joe Biden for […]

Any discussion of political campaign financing and the laws governing it in Michigan must start with retired attorney Bob LaBrant, for years the Senior Vice President for Political Affairs and General Counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. LaBrant spent most of his working career defunding political opponents, almost always to the advantage of the […]

Question 1): Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed two debates with her Republican opponent, Tudor Dixon, on Oct. 13 at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids and Oct. 25 at WXYZ in Detroit. Dixon has countered with a demand for four debates — the WOOD debate on 10/13 but three others earlier, preferably in September or the first […]

That headline quote is from the famous Casey Stengel, then managing the hapless New York Mets in 1962, when he talked with reporters while the expansion franchise struggled through an abysmal season. It seems that’s the same query that might be asked in Michigan after the Board of State Canvassers (BOSC) deadlocked on whether two […]

Question 1): Former state Rep. Shane Hernandez (R-Port Huron) prevailed Saturday (Aug. 27) at a raucous Michigan Republican Party convention at the  Lansing Center, where delegates voted to make him the party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor. The paper ballot vote capped a wild conclave and whirlwind two weeks for Hernandez, who lost a Congressional bid […]

Question 1): Tudor Dixon, the Republicans’ gubernatorial nominee, last Friday announced her pick to be her running mate in this fall’s campaign leading up to the Nov. 8 general election. He’s Shane Hernandez (R-Port Huron), a former state Representative who chaired the House Appropriations Committee in only his second (and last) of two terms. during […]

Question 1): MIRS newsletter reported last week that “quiet conversations” are beginning in Republican circles about the possibility of the GOP-controlled state House and Senate in the next few weeks fashioning a “modest” abortion rights bill to defuse the expansive “Reproductive Freedom For All” proposal likely to appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. […]

Trump-aligned challengers ousting GOP legislative incumbents By TODD RICHMOND and DAVID A. LIEB AP TODAY Aug. 6, 2022 Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos talks to the media after Gov. Tony Evers addressed a joint session of the Legislature in the Assembly chambers during the Governor’s State of the State speech at the state Capitol, Feb. […]

Subject: Spotlight on The News (WXYZ TV/Channel 7 in Metro Detroit) & Off the Record (Michigan Public Television) Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2022 15:18:39 -0400 Bill Ballenger, Tim Skubick, Chuck Stokes, Zoe Clark, Emily Lawler, Kyle Melinn & Ed Sarpolus Spotlight on the News: Inside the MI Primary with Bill Ballenger & Ed Sarpolus https://www.wxyz.com/news/political/spotlight-on-the-news/spotlight-on-the-news-inside-the-mi-primary-election-with-bill-ballenger-ed-sarpolus […]