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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.

Cindy Hollenbeck surprised herself this past winter when she took a personal day and drove to Lansing to join a demonstration against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s Emergency Manager bill — which was signed into law on March 16 and gave the governor the right to dissolve economically troubled schools and public municipalities and appoint his own fiscal managers to run them.

n early March 2011 I invited the Representative of Michigan’s 101st District, Ray Franz to come and speak with my students at Onekema Elementary School about his role in our State’s government, I asked him to speak of current issues in Michigan that would be of interest to a typical third grader, and to answer student questions regarding our natural resources, energy, transportation, and our civil liberties.

Diane Conners of the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service wrote an informative story today about how legislation pushed by State Representative Ray Franz (who represents Leelanau, Benzie and Manistee Counties) and 14 other Republicans in Lansing would privatize food service for school cafeterias, which could hurt popular farm to school programs.

Northern Michigan legislator Ray Franz, who often talked about repealing a Michigan law requiring that 10 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources tells the Michigan Land Use Institute he will no longer pursue the matter.

Courtesy of the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service — A newly elected state representative who says he doesn’t believe in man-made climate change and supports building a nuclear power plant in northern Michigan is standing by his recent claims about wind power, despite fact checking that indicates most of his assertions were incorrect.

State representative-elect Ray Franz favors cutting “Pure Michigan” funding by as much as 80 percent, the soon-to-be legislator from the 101st District told the Leelanau Enterprise last week. Franz said he would reduce funding from $25 to $30 million down to $5 to $6 million, while comparing Michigan’s tourism economy to keeping the books at the Onekema grocery store he owns.

In reality, there are three parties actively running in these midterm elections: Democratic incumbents, Republican moderates and Republican Tea Party extremists who would have us storm the kitchen, fire the chefs, dump out the giant vat of slow-cooking soup, and start all over again. Michigan largely appears to have bucked the trend of Tea Party-rage this election season.