16 months early, campaign for Miller’s congressional seat underway

A full 16 months before the August 2016 primary election, the campaign for outgoing Congresswoman Candice Miller’s seat has begun.
Michael Flynn, the Republican treasurer of Shelby Township in Macomb County, sent out mailers this week that promote his bid for the upcoming 10^th Congressional District vacancy.
Though Flynn is out in the field incredibly early, essentially operating on a presidential campaign timetable, it’s a long leap in politics from a township treasurer to a U.S. congressman. He will certainly be viewed as a darkhorse candidate.

Other GOP candidates already in the race are state Sen. Phil Pavlov of St. Clair County and former senator Alan Sanborn of Macomb County’s Richmond Township, who has formed an exploratory committee.

A very early poll by Inside Michigan Politics put state Sen. Jack Brandenburg of Harrison Township, another likely Macomb contender, as the Republican primary frontrunner in the GOP-majority 10^th District.

Flynn served four years as a trustee on the Shelby Township board and then was elected township treasurer in 2012. In 2013 he became a central figure in some heated township board debates over a car towing contract.

The oversized postcard he sent to 10^th District voters curiously does not refer directly to Flynn as a candidate. Instead, it says that Flynn “has a record of results, not rhetoric … substantial economic progress and genuine government reform in one of the largest communities in the 10^th Congressional District.”
Flynn claims that he saved Shelby taxpayers $1 million by eliminating guaranteed pensions for new township employees, and that his activities on an economic development team resulted in “hundreds of new high-paying technical and manufacturing jobs for the 10^th; revitalized neighborhoods, and new families.”
The township treasurer may be angling for votes from moderate Republicans and independents as the front of the mailed placard features a cartoon lampooning Democrats (donkeys) and Republicans (elephants).

As for Pavlov, who declared his congressional bid just days after Miller’s surprising retirement announcement last month, it appears that the St. Clair lawmaker may need to undertake some reacquainting with voters. On social media, residents of Lapeer County comment that Pavlov “was” a good state senator. That sounds like they might think he no longer plays a role in Lansing.

Redistricting took away Lapeer County, which was the geographic majority of the Senate district he first represented after the 2010 election. Nonetheless, many political observers believe that Pavlov emerges as the favorite if several Macomb County candidates split up the vote.
The congressional district spans from Sterling Heights, through all of north Macomb County, to the tip of the Thumb Area. It includes St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola and Lapeer counties.

Meanwhile, Brandenburg was dinged on Thursday for his vote in favor of a controversial auto insurance reform bill that critics say is a bad deal for average motorists.

The liberal group Progress Michigan reported on its website that the five GOP state senators who approved the no-fault reform bill in committee received a combined $225,000 in campaign cash from insurance industry execs and company PACs.
The hastily arranged bill was sent to the full Senate on a 5-3 party line vote in the Senate Insurance Committee.  Progress Michigan said its research found that Brandenburg has received $23,550 from insurance interests.