Posted on 08/10/2015 1:53:30 PM PDT by cripplecreek
LANSING, MI — Actress Melissa Gilbert, best known for her childhood role as Laura Ingalls Wilder on "Little House in the Prairie," is running for the U.S. House out of Michigan.
Gilbert, a Democrat who has lived in Livingston County since 2013, announced Monday that she is running for the 8th Congressional District seat currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop of Rochester.
"Here in Michigan, I know people are doing their best to make a good life for themselves and their families. When it comes down to it, I think that's what we all really want," Gilbert said in a statement distributed to reporters and posted online.
"I'm running for Congress to make life a little easier for all the families who feel they have fallen through the cracks in today's economy. I believe building a new economy is a team effort, and we need to bring fresh voices to the table to get the job done."
Gilbert, 51, was born in Los Angeles and is married to fellow actor Timothy Busfield.
She served as president of the Screen Actors Guild -- a labor union representing film and television performers -- from 2001 to 2005 and hit the campaign trail in 2014 as a supporter of Michigan gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer.
Gilbert has had problems with the Internal Revenue Service, which filed a tax lien against her on February 3 claiming she failed to pay more than $360,000 in federal income taxes.
She attributed the unpaid taxes to a "perfect storm" involving the economic recession and a prior divorce, telling The Detroit News she had negotiated a repayment plan with the IRS.
The Michigan Republican Party, pointing to the tax dispute, questioned whether voters should trust Gilbert on the economy. Stu Sandler, a spokesman for the Bishop campaign, said Gilbert's values are "out of whack" with voters in the district.
"It's amazing that a woman who owes hundreds of thousands of dollars, who moved here from Hollywood and has a dog stylist but won't pay her taxes, is considering running for Congress to get a government pay check," Sandler said.
Bishop won the 8th District seat last year, defeating Democrat Eric Schertzing to replace outgoing Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who did not seek re-election.
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon last week noted that Bishop has been added to the National Republican Congressional Committee's "patriot program," which is designed to help protect vulnerable incumbents.
Bishop's "career of out of touch statements and votes to hurt his constituents are finally catching up to him," Dillon said Thursday.
“I’m running for Congress to make life a little easier for all the families who feel they have fallen through the cracks in today’s economy...”
By taxing the fudge out of the increasingly shrinking tax paying base keeping the economy afloat...bleed that turnip. Gilbert is a “Half Pint” low on the grey matter.
Half-Pint is a half-wit Hollywood loon.
Every chance we can get to defeat a Democrat especially a high profile one like Gilbert we should focus like a laser beam on.
Half Pint is pretty chunky these days.
You'd be surprised at Livingston County now, with all the money moving in there it's not the same old conservative seat it use to be when I grew up in Brighton at all.
:: Laura Ingalls will save us all ::
From her statement above, she appears to want to “save” ONLY the welfare freeloaders.
She knows very little about living in Michigan, economically speaking. Two years? Livingston County? I smell a personal agenda.
She doesn’t pay her “fair share” but would love to increase your share!
Hypocricy thy name is democrat!
She's mad about Granholm's film subsidies being cut. That's a big reason why she was campaigning with my former congrescritter and governor candidate Marky Mark Schauer who comes back like a bad penny. Her husband's an East Lansing native.
Yeah, no thank you very much.
Best show ever is Leave it to Beaver.
I don’t think Ms. Gilbert will win. Election historians (you know who you are) may recall a 1992 Congressional election in Georgia. The Democrat nominee was a likeable school principal with the appealing name of Barbara Christmas. Subliminally, some people initially thought she was Mrs. Claus, but she turned out to be a Southern Fried Feminist/Leftist. That wasn’t what the voters wanted and they responded accordingly, electing Jack Kingston to his first term. This is not a perfect comparison to the Gilbert candidacy, but there are parallels. When people figure out she’s not Laura Ingalls, her campaign will deflate.
I compare her candidacy to that of Clay Aiken, except I think he’s currently more well known than her. She’ll get Hollyweird money like Nick Clooney did in 2002 but I think the rats would be better served by a local state legislator or something.
Loved that series.
She was married to Bruce Boxleitner at the time; didn’t know they had split up.
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