With this year’s primary election upon us and voters casting ballots on Tuesday, Aug. 7, we reached out to Derek Bailey and Allen O’Shea — two progressive Democrats who are vying to oppose incumbent Republican Ray Franz for Michigan’s 101st House seat in the November election.
Our online story yesterday about a poll released by the Derek Bailey campaign that reportedly puts him in the lead one week before the Democratic primary apparently ruffled a few feathers, and raised questions, among Leelanau County Democrats.
The results in a new poll of 400 likely Democratic primary voters released in mid-July shows Derek Bailey, candidate for the 101st State Representative District, leading his opponent, Alan O’Shea of Manistee, by eight points as the August 7 primary approaches.
Democrat Derek Bailey, the much heralded chair of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, who launched a run last year for U.S. Congress, has switched gears and will now go after State Rep. Ray Franz, a self-identified “conservative Republican” who won a seat in Lansing in 2010. The Traverse-City Record Eagle reported the news today. Follow GlenArbor.com for more news in the coming days.
When I spoke on the phone recently with Derek Bailey, current chair of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and now Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, he was crossing the Mackinac Bridge and returning home to Traverse City. The tires on his 2005 Saturn VUE hummed loudly as he passed over the rumble strips on the majestic arch that connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced funding for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative projects in Northern Michigan totaling $1.1 million. The projects will help to restore the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Grand Traverse Band watersheds and put people back to work, using a conservation corps model to hire unemployed workers to improve habitat and clean up shoreline.