Dick DeVos to Speak to GOP Here May 16; Pundit Hannity to Promote Michigan?
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
Richard DeVos Jr.
Republican candidate for governor.
Dick & Betsy Devos
Richard DeVos Jr., Republican candidate for governor, will speak to the Bay County Republican Party annual meeting here May 16.
DeVos and Gov. Jennifer Granholm are tied at 44 percent each in the latest opinion poll of 500 likely voters announced recently by Rasmussen Reports. DeVos has gained steadily since announcing his candidacy for governor nearly a year ago.
About $2.5 million already has been spent by DeVos on a negative television ad campaign depicting the governor as a "do nothing" contributing to the lagging state economy while touting his potential for change as a successful business leader. Reports are the Grand Rapids billionaire is prepared to spend $100 million on the race.
We confidently predict the dirt will fly like never seen before in Michigan and the names Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff will be prominently mentioned. The governor is expected to be tough in any debates but don't count DeVos out on this one.
Meanwhile, inside information from Lansing is that talk show host Sean Hannity, a conservative firebrand and DeVos backer, and WJR Radio announcer Paul W. Smith may be spokesmen promoting Michigan in a new ad campaign of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).
"The governor is smart to approve an ad campaign featuring her worst enemies," said Lansing Louie, our inside news source. "It shows she is open and willing to work with anybody to help the state."
Some Granholm staff members reportedly opposed the use of Hannity in the Michigan campaign because of his connection with DeVos and his conservative commentary on the talk show "Hannity and Colmes," aired nightly on Fox TV.
The DeVos visit hasn't been formally announced by the local GOP, headed by Earl Bovia, chairman, and Dennis Poirier, vice chair, but MyBayCity.com has learned that ticket sales are underway for the event.
The name DeVos is golden in this area because the family gave $5 million to found the DeVos Graduate School of Management at Northwood University, Midland. In other local connections, DeVos Jr. is a graduate of Northwood and former member of the board of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
There also is talk on the street that the DeVos family foundation may be asked to contribute to a major historic preservation project in Bay City.
DeVos, 50, son of Amway Corporation founder Richard DeVos, until 2002 was president of Alticor, Inc., a holding company, headquartered in Grand Rapids.
Alticor manufactures, markets and distributes more than 450 consumer products including soaps, cosmetics, vitamin and food supplements, and air and water-treatment systems, chiefly through a global network of over 3.6 million independent representatives. It also owns the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids and Access Business Group, a product development, manufacturing and logistics subsidiary. Company roots date to 1959, when Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos, direct sales veterans, launched Amway.
DeVos Jr.'s wife, Betsy DeVos, is the former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party.
As head of Alticor, DeVos Jr. expanded the nearly $5 billion company into world markets. He oversaw a corporate restructuring of Amway and created Access Business Group LLC, and Quixtar Inc. Amway has been investigated by the FTC for pyramid scheme violations and is continually under attack by liberal groups for allegedly preying on the poor.
DeVos Jr. was one of the founders ofthe Education Freedom Fund and is also the author of the New York Times best seller "Rediscovering American Value."
The younger DeVos drew attention recently from Rolling Stone magazine for his alleged backing of so-called Dominionists, described as a religious right group headed by D. James Kennedy, Florida evangelist and co-founder of the Moral Majority.
Rolling Stone says the Dominionists are biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, want judges who follow Old Testament law, advocate posting the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. It was Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and called on Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take comatose Terry Schiavo into state custody before she died last year.
Rolling Stone may not have its facts entirely right when it reported that "Amway founder Rich DeVos, a Kennedy ally who's the leading Republican contender for governor of Michigan, has tossed more than $5 million into the collection plate." The magazine apparently has the candidate for governor confused with the senior Richard DeVos who is 80 years old and a heart transplant recipient.
Rolling Stone went on about the Dominionists: "Jean Case, wife of former AOL chief Steve Case -- whose fortune was made largely on sex-chat rooms -- has donated $8 million. And Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, is a major source of cash for Focus on the Family, a megaministry working with Kennedy to eliminate all public schools."
Wow! and who ever said religion was boring? Have a nice week and send us your printable comments about this story and others on http://www.MyBayCity.com
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
Dave Rogers |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-15-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm