Gary Peters Introduces Barack Obama in Detroit

Joe and his team at Arts, Beats and Eats

Joe Knollenberg, Mike Brownfield, Joe's campaign manager, were at Arts, Beats and Eats in Pontiac yesterday. I got to talk to Mike Brownfield for a minute about when Joe will debate Gary Peters, the Democratic candidate. He said that Knollenberg had agreed to debates. Well, apparently this was news to the Peters campaign. When I asked a staffer, no one on Peters' team is aware of any debate invitations that Knollenberg has accepted and Brownfield wouldn't share with me which invitations they'd accepted.

More Reasons Not to Vote for Joe Knollenberg

This is How You Do It, Joe

Here's Joe Knollenberg. Joe is putting leaves in a bag. Joe is good. See Joe clean.

Below is a picture of Gary Peters and his team. Instead of putting leaves in a bag, they helped build a house for a family.

I vote for the team that helped a family own their own home, Gary Peters.

Knollenberg Could Lose in November

From Michigan Messenger, they report that Knollenberg's negatives are very high at 47%. Hopefully thanks a little bit to yours truly.

By Diane Sweet 8/26/08 11:20 PM

In Oakland County (MI-09) the latest poll shows incumbent Republican Joe Knollenberg leading Democrat Gary Peters 43 percent to 36 percent, but polling data indicate that lead could disappear as Peters’ name recognition grows through campaigning.

In the Ninth Congressional District, voters are unhappy with Knollenberg’s job performance: 47 percent give him negative marks, compared with 35 percent positive.

Peters, a former state lottery commissioner and state senator from Bloomfield Township, is not recognized by 56 percent of voters, while only 10 percent said they didn’t recognize Knollenberg’s name

While pollsters say Knollenberg has the advantage this election cycle, the Ninth District has been battered for years by the loss of jobs in the auto industry and home foreclosures that will surely weigh upon voters’ minds as they head to the polls in November. If Peters’ name recognition improves as it should as we near Election Day, the increasingly Dem-leaning Ninth District could decide it’s time to say buh-bye Joe, and hello to change.

Polling results also show that when those polled are read biographies of each candidate that includes their ages (Knollenberg is 75; Peters is 49), Peters gains a four-point lead over the nine-term incumbent.

An increasing Democratic-leaning constituency in Oakland County may also plague Knollenberg at the polls come November. The vocal Democrats in the area have long decried Knollenberg’s support of the war in Iraq and his failure to vote in favor of the failed SCHIPS legislation that would have provided health care insurance for thousands of Michigan children

Vote Yes on Gary. First Peters TV Spots Go Live

These two ads started playing in the 9th District yesterday.

Joe bought and paid for by Contributor? Quid Pro Quo?

I was away last week visiting my daughter and her family, so I missed this story. This comes from an article in the Detroit Free Press and focuses on Joe Knollenberg doing favors for his campaign contributors. As you can see below, Dan Stamper, President of the Detroit International Bridge Company and his wife, Darlene, are big contributors to Joe Knollenberg's campaign. It turns out there is a study being conducted, the Detroit River International Crossing Study. Business supports a new border crossing, but Joe Knollenberg wants to protect the monopoly held by the Detroit International Bridge Company. Could it have anything to do with the donations made by the President of the Detroit International Bridge Company and his wife? Knollenberg wrote a letter to Mary Peters, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, asking that Peters direct the Federal Highway administration and the Michigan Department of Transportation to "cease participation in the study," thus protecting the monopoly of the Detroit International Bridge Company. Click here to read the story.

From the Detroit Free Press

It could be the isolation of working inside the Beltway that is affecting Knollenberg and Kilpatrick. Or it could be the thousands of dollars of personal political donations they have received from executives of the privately owned Ambassador Bridge. But Knollenberg and Cheeks-Kilpatrick forgot to ask the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, Automation Alley, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, the United Auto Workers, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Michigan Manufacturing Association, the Automotive Alliance or, even, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Michigan’s most ardent private sector business advocate, for their thoughts on the matter. Read the rest of the article. Click here.

Dan Stamper

Donation of $2,300 to Knollenberg For Congress
Committee

Dan Stamper

President
Detroit Intrnl Bridge Co.

Q1/2008

$2,300

Plymouth MI

Donation to Knollenberg For Congress Committee

Darlene Stamper

Donation of $2,300 to Knollenberg For Congress
Committee

Darlene Stamper

Homemaker

Q1/2008

$2,300

Plymouth MI

Donation to Knollenberg For Congress Committee

Dan Stamper

Donation of $2,300 to Kilpatrick For United States
Congress

Chicken Joe Won't Attend Republican Convention

In a stunning piece of news, Chicken Congressman Joe Knollenberg, will not be attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minneapolis. Perhaps he's afraid nature will call while he's in the Minneapolis airport and he will need to use the same facility that Senator Larry Craig was arrested in last fall. Maybe he just can't afford to be seen with fellow Republican rubber stamps for President Bush, or worse yet, get caught in a frame with John McCain, who he has endorsed. You'd think if Joe had endorsed John McCain, he'd at least show up at the convention.

And news has still not come from the Knollenberg campaign that Joe has accepted any of the invitations to debate Democrat Gary Peters, nor has Knollenberg held any town hall meetings with his constituents.

Freep Covers Barn Burner between Peters and Knollenberg

The race is really heating up in the 9th Congressional District and the race is starting to garner major press coverage. Today's story in the Detroit Free Press is evidence of that. I think it's time that Joe Knollenberg accept all the debate invitations and get up on stage with Gary Peters so the public can see what they are both made of and how they propose to solve the huge problems facing America and specifically Oakland County. If Joe Knollenberg thinks he can hide for the rest of the campaign, he's wrong. The voters deserve an opportunity hold their elected officials accountable for their votes and their words, as was expressed in another letter to the editor in the Oakland Press today.

Knollenberg has not personally offered an apology for his "Asian Invaders" blog entry. What kind of man is Joe Knollenberg anyway?

Knollenberg and Peters in tough fight for Congress seat

Hot race in 9th District pulls in big cash, names

BY KATHLEEN GRAY • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • August 21, 2008

The battle for a heart-of-Oakland County seat not long ago considered among Michigan's most reliably Republican has emerged as one of the state's hottest congressional races as dollars pour in, charges fly and a changing political landscape threatens Joe Knollenberg's bid for a ninth term.

On the day after the Aug. 5 primary, Oakland County Democrats gathered in front of Knollenberg's office in Farmington Hills to encourage voters to give him the boot because of his support for the Iraq war and other issues.

On the same day, the Bloomfield Township Republican unleashed a barrage of automated phone calls touting his record in Congress.

Democrats have had their eye on the seat ever since a relatively unknown candidate with virtually no financial help from the party gave Knollenberg a scare in 2006.

His 2008 Democratic challenger, Gary Peters, a former legislator, lottery commissioner and unsuccessful attorney general candidate, has been raising lots of money and bringing in party luminaries to help him campaign for months.

"It's going to be a barn burner," said Lansing political consultant Tom Shields, who works primarily with Republican clients. "This district has become more and more Democratic over the years."

Before Knollenberg's 52%-46% victory in 2006, he had won at least 58% of the vote in seven successive elections.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted the 9th and 7th Congressional Districts as two of 26 seats nationally where they hope to beat incumbent Republicans. State Sen. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, is challenging Tipton Republican Tim Walberg, who represents the 7th Congressional District in southern Michigan.

The DCCC has budgeted $35 million in advertising for the seats to air closer to the election. Click here for the rest of the story.

Peters/Knollenberg Debate?

Joe Knollenberg apparently is really afraid to debate Democrat Gary Peters. Heard on the street, Peters has accepted several invitations to debate Knollenberg and Knollenberg has yet to accept even one invitation.

Why won't Joe Knollenberg conduct any town halls meetings where constituents get to ask real questions about policy, even though some of Knollenberg's colleagues have held town halls where everyone is welcome to ask questions? Why did Joe Knollenberg fail to personally appear at Saint Joseph Mercy Oakland last Saturday? He apparently told the PR people at the hospital that there was a death in the family. Yet when I called Joe's office to confirm the fact for his non-appearance was legitimate, the person answering the phone knew of no death in Joe's family, at least no one close to Joe, and answered that Joe does have a large family, so even though the person answering the phone knew of no such death in Joe's family, there may have indeed been a death of a distant relative. It sounds to me like a dog-ate-my-homework excuse. Easy to assert, hard to prove.

Personally, I think Joe knew that being out in public can be a scary thing where someone other than a friendly reporter might ask a real question.

Then there is the issue of debates between Peters and Knollenberg. I think Joe owes it to the voters of the 9th Congressional District of Michigan to appear on the same stage and have a real debate with his opponent about the issues on the voters' minds. Joe hasn't debated his opponents ever that I can remember. In fact, why not have two or three debates between now and the election? Our elected officials owe us that much.

Peters Kicks Knollenberg on Energy

Energy is a big issue on voters' minds these days and the issue has gotten scant attention from Joe Knollenberg, until the past few months. Knollenberg has been in Congress for almost 18 years and has had numerous chances to vote to start taking energy policy seriously. Gary Peters is coming at Knollenberg strong on an issue that is on our minds every time we pull up to the gas pump.

John McCain - Maverick or Scoundrel? You decide

Here's a great ad pointing out the hypocrisy of John McCain running as a "maverick." John McCain is no maverick. He should be in jail along side Jack Abramoff and this is the candidate Joe Knollenberg has endorsed?

Web Ad Launched

Det. News blog reports Knollenberg To Be Top Target of Humane Society

I reported this a while ago, but now the Humane Society Legislative Fund is revealing that they will be launching a radio and/or television campaign against Joe Knollenberg, highlighting his abysmal record on animal rights.

Rep. Knollenberg is Humane Society's top target for defeat

The Humane Society Legislative Fund said today it's top target for defeat this election is Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfield Hills.

Sara Amundson, the executive director of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, cited Knollenberg's "long-term abysmal record" on animal welfare issues, his Democratic challenger's "stellar" record in the Michigan legislature, and the makeup of Oakland's Ninth Congressional District, which she said is far more progressive on animal rights than is its representative.

"Knollenberg is really out of step with the district he represents," Amundson said, pointing to his 17 percent rating on the Humane Society scorecard.

Knollenberg campaign manager Mike Brownfield said, "This is just another thinly veiled attempt by an outside attack machine to smear Congressman Knollenberg and his record."

The group endorsed Democratic challenger Gary Peters and will also run an independent campaign to defeat Knollenberg. "We're still making a decision whether it'll be both TV and radio. We'd like to do both," Amundson said.

In its announcement on why it is targeting Knollenberg, the group said, "Throughout his career in Washington, he has opposed modest animal welfare reforms, including efforts to halt horse slaughter for foreign consumption; stop the processing of animals who are too sick or injured to walk to slaughter and pose a greater threat of spreading 'mad cow disease;' stop wealthy American trophy hunters from shooting threatened polar bears in the Arctic; stop the trophy shooting of bears over piles of grease and jelly doughnuts on national forests and other federal lands; stop the use of steel-jawed leghold traps and wire neck snares on national wildlife refuges--inhumane and unsporting practices opposed by responsible hunters; and protect dolphins from drowning in tuna nets.

"Although he claims to be a fiscal conservative, Knollenberg voted to use tax dollars to promote the trophy hunting of elephants in Africa, and to give a $2 million annual subsidy to the luxury mink coat industry. He voted twice to spend millions of dollars to kill predators with cruel traps and poisons as a government subsidy for private ranchers, and he sought to de-fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture's enforcement of the federal law to combat animal fighting--the same law that was later used to break up Michael Vick's dogfighting ring."

The group also endorsed Democrat Mark Schauer over Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, who received a 17 percent rating.

Boehner coming to Oakland County to "help" Knollenberg

John (Crybaby) Boehner is coming to Oakland County to "help" Joe Knollenberg in his campaign against Democrat Gary Peters. Knollenberg's campaign must be in worse shape than I thought if he thinks crybaby Boehner can actually help his campaign.

Boehner to visit 18 districts

By Aaron Blake

Posted: 08/12/08 07:27 PM [ET]

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is using August recess for a whirlwind tour of the Northeast and the Midwest to campaign with GOP candidates in 18 districts. Boehner is scheduled to be in Connecticut on Wednesday to stump for state Sen. David Cappiello (R), who is taking on freshman Rep. Chris Murphy (D). He has already campaigned for Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and five candidates in Pennsylvania. The tentative schedule includes four stops in Michigan, one in New Hampshire, three in New York, one in Pennsylvania, and more in his home state of Ohio. The beneficiaries (aka victims) include GOP Reps. Tim Walberg (Mich.), Joe Knollenberg (Mich.), Randy Kuhl (N.Y.) and Phil English (Pa.). Boehner is also helping top candidates Sandy Treadwell and Chris Lee in New York and Kirk Schuring in Ohio, as well as former Rep. Jeb Bradley in New Hampshire. Bradley faces a primary in September against former state Health Commissioner John Stephen. Boehner has previously contributed to Bradley’s campaign.

I took to the streets asking about equal pay for women

Equal pay for women affects over 50% of the voters in the upcoming elections. It would seem on this one issue alone Joe should be voted out of office, if only more people knew that Joe Knollenberg voted against equal pay for women by voting against the Paycheck Fairness Act. So, I took to the streets and here is one of the interviews with a local Rochester resident, one of Joe's constituents, and I'm sure her comments on this issue are felt by women all across the district.


The Paycheck Fairness Act would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963, closing loop holes and improving the law's effectiveness. The Paycheck Fairness Act would, among other things, deter wage discrimination by strengthening penalties for equal pay violations, and by prohibiting retaliation against workers who inquire about employers' wage practices or disclose their own wages. The bill also requires employers to show that wage gaps are truly a result of factors other than sex, collect better data on wages, reinstate activities that promote equal pay at the Department of Labor, and develop training for women and girls on salary negotiations. The bill's measured approach ensures that women can obtain the same remedies as those discriminated against based on race.

Did you know:

Women working full-time, year-round earn only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, virtually the same amount women earned in 2004. In 2005, the median annual earnings of women ages 15 and older were $31,858, compared to $41,386 for their male counterparts.

There is not a single state in which women have gained economic equality with men. As of 2002, Washington, D.C. was the area with the smallest wage gap, at 92%, whereas Wyoming had the widest gap, with women making about 66% of what men earned.

As women get older, the wage gap for them widens. When women start their careers, the pay gap is relatively small: females aged 15 to 24 working full-time year-round have median annual earnings that are 96% of what their male counterparts earn. However, by the time they reach the critical years leading up to retirement, that 4% pay gap has increased more than seven times: women aged 45 to 64 who work full-time earn only 70% of what men do.

For more information on this issue visit: http://www.pay-equity.org/info-leg.html

Congressman Joe Knollenberg voted NO on this legislation. How will you vote on Joe Knollenberg on November 4?

If John McCain is elected President and Joe Knollenberg isn't Defeated in November

This is what will happen, guaranteed. Please help this video go viral. Put this link in an e-mail to your e-mail list. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w&eurl=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/10/153314/656/229/565225

I love this saying. It kind of says it all.

Is the Oakland Press in the bag for Joe Knollenberg?

This piece from the Oakland Press editorial board is amazing. Joe Knollenberg and his staff insulted Asian Americans, and they're making excuses for Joe and his staff. Politically incorrect phrases are campaign issues, just ask George Allen, former senator from Virginia who referred to an opponent's employee as macacca, when it was discovered that macacca was a racial slur.

Do I think Joe wrote the offending blog entry himself, of course not. But here's the problem, I do think in order for a staffer to write such an thing and post it on the Internet for even one second reveals a lot about Knollenberg and his campaign. In order to create a title that includes the words "Asian Invaders" referring to a group of Americans tells me that there is pervasive racism within the heart of the candidate and his staff for the person that wrote the title of the blog to even think it would be allowed to go forward. Then for the Oakland Press to defend Knollenberg is an egregious violation of journalistic ethics, especially when I have been taken to task by the Oakland Press for my criticism of Knollenberg and his hypocrisy on his health care voting record. It's time for the Oakland Press to come clean and reveal any relationship they have with Joe Knollenberg or anyone on his staff and why they continue to defend a U.S. Congressman who is clearly out of touch with his constituents and refuses to answer questions about his record in public.

It makes me wonder what would have happened if a Democrat had made a similar comment, whether written or orally.

I think a real apology from Joe Knollenberg himself, not his spokesperson, in front of the media answering questions about how this happened and how this racist blog headline made it to the Internet in the first place is in order. But I know Joe Knollenberg will never answer questions from the media about this incident. He thinks he's above answering questions for his constituents, at least any that disagree with him.

Well, well, well, Joe, Over $92,000 in oil company holdings

Now this explains a lot.

This chart shows stock holdings in the leading oil companies by members of the House of Representatives. If you aren’t familiar with personal financial disclosures, they require lawmakers to list assets in a range (i.e.: $15,001-$50,000). In the chart you will see a low estimate, a high estimate, and an average. In some cases, lawmakers list the actual value - not a range - and that is listed in this color.

So, who’s going to make money if Congress passes pro-oil industry legislation:

Top 25 Congressmen with Holdings in Leading Oil Companies

Congressman	Low Estimate	Average/Actual	High Estimate
Hayes, Robin (R-NC)	$3,645,012	$8,572,506	$13,500,000
Carter, John (R-TX)	$1,000,001	$3,000,001	$5,000,000
Freylinghuysen, Rodney (R-NJ)	$950,008	$1,500,004	$2,050,000
Sensenbrenner, James (R-WI)	$1,133,985	$1,458,984	$1,783,983
Marchant, Kenny (R-TX)	NA	429,148	NA
Sessions, Pete (R-TX)	$215,003	$382,502	$550,000
Whitfield, Ed (R-KY)	$200,002	$350,001	$500,000
Upton, Fred (R-MI)	$195,005	$347,503	$500,000
Maloney, Carolyn (D-NY)	$151,003	$258,002	$365,000
Price, David (D-NC)	$130,003	$240,002	$350,000
Doggett, Lloyd (D-TX)	$116,003	$215,502	$315,000
Berkley, Shelley (D-NV)	NA	$165,751	NA
Goode, Virgil (R-VA)	$100,002	$150,001	$200,000
Buchanan, Vern (R-FL)	$81,014	$148,007	$215,000
Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV)	$66,003	$115,502	$165,000
Cohen, Steve (D-TN)	$65,002	$107,501	$150,000
McCaul, Michael (R-TX)	$46,004	$105,502	$165,000
Knollenberg, Joe (R-MI)	NA	$92,500	NA
Bono Mack, Mary (R-CA)	$22,008	$88,504	$155,000
Moran, Jerry (R-KS)	$51,002	$83,001	$115,000
Camp, Dave (R-MI)	$32,004	$81,002	$130,000
Oberstar, James (D-MN)	$50,001	$75,001	$100,000
Duncan, Jimmy (R-TN)	$30,002	$65,001	$100,000

(Source: Open Secrets)