Anti-abortion mailing splits Oakland County Republicans (Brooks v McMillan again)

AP ^ | 11-03-03

[Dan from Michigan]

Anti-abortion mailing splits Oakland County Republicans

The Associated Press
11/3/2003, 2:07 a.m. ET

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Postcards bearing a graphic description of an abortion procedure and diagrams of an abortion in progress are at the center of the latest rift among Oakland County Republicans.

Republican Oakland County Commissioner Tom McMillin says he spent $1,000 of his own money to print and send the mailers, which target state Rep. Aldo Vagnozzi, D-Farmington Hills, and state Sen. Deborah Cherry, D-Burton.

The cards attack Vagnozzi's and Cherry's stance on the dilation and extraction abortion procedure, known as partial-birth abortion to its foes.

"This is an issue that will oust Democrats, but not if the Republicans are going to be a bunch of squishes about it," McMillin, told The Detroit News for a Monday story.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who last year stepped down as chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party, said he fears swing voters will be repelled by the gruesome mailings.

"The Democratic Party in Oakland might as well close their doors and save their money, because McMillin is single-handedly delivering the county for the Democrats," Patterson said.

Rochester Hills resident Craig King said he supports McMillan.

"It's horrifying," King said of the abortion procedure. "And yeah, if my kids saw (the postcards), I think they'd be upset," he said. "But I'd want them to know about this."

Republican Oakland County Commissioner Mike Rogers said he and his wife were upset by the postcards, especially after their 4-year-old daughter retrieved one from the mailbox.

"She didn't understand what she was looking at," Rogers said. "That was something my wife and I should have been allowed to discuss with her when we thought the time was appropriate."

Oakland County Republican Party Chairman Paul F. Welday said McMillin does not represent the party.

"Tom McMillin represents Tom McMillin," Welday said. "I and virtually the entire Republican Party are very opposed to partial-birth abortion, but there are more reasonable ways to voice our opposition than this."

[Dan from Michigan]

Brooks, you couldn't deliver the county in 00 or 02 for Bush or Posthumus. Tom McMillan won several times, and in Auburn Hills which leans democrat. I don't agree with the tactics here(for the reasons Rogers stated), but McMillan is more than willing to fight the dems, much like you used to in the early years before you turned anti-2nd Amendment and outspokenly pro-abort. When's the last time Brooks was aggressively fighting the dems? Instead he spends all his time against Tom McMillan.

BTW - For clarification, that is a different Mike Rogers than the congressman.

[lormand]

"The cards attack Vagnozzi's and Cherry's stance on the dilation and extraction abortion procedure, known as partial-birth abortion to its foes."

I would love to see the commie-lib press say the same thing about SDI, "Stretegic Defence Initiative, known as Star Wars to it's foes."

[Shethink13]

Republican Oakland County Commissioner Mike Rogers said he and his wife were upset by the postcards, especially after their 4-year-old daughter retrieved one from the mailbox.

"She didn't understand what she was looking at," Rogers said. "That was something my wife and I should have been allowed to discuss with her when we thought the time was appropriate."

Right. I often send my 4 year old to the mailbox to retrieve and review my mail for me.

[Capt. Tom]

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who last year stepped down as chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party, said he fears swing voters will be repelled by the gruesome mailings

Maybe some swing voters might be repelled by the gruesome procedure. -Tom