One of the most absurd claims being made this campaign cycle concerns the race for Congress. For the second election in a row, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman is being challenged by Democrat Callie Barr. For much of the campaign, Barr seemed largely absent outside Democratic ...
Hi, contrary to a recent letter to the editor by Ms. Goike, I am the chair of the Alpena County Republican Party. Jesse Osmer hasn’t held an officer position for quite a while now. I’ve reached out to our state party to correct their online directory. However, I am actually writing for a different reason, to share information: 1. The SAFE PAC that paid for billboards and postcards for Fritz, Ratz, Carlson, and Kipfmiller is registered under Alpena Democratic Chair Sarah Lane and liberal activist Marie Fielder. 2. Both these ladies helped circulate the ‘Build a Better Board’ ...
Recently, our county clerk rejected petitions calling for the recall of three Alpena Public Schools school board members. Earlier, our clerk had accepted these same petitions. But when a law firm told her the petitions were procedurally defective and that if she didn’t withdraw her ...
As we approach a highly contentious Alpena Public Schools Board of Education election, I am making a conscious effort to give every candidate an equal opportunity to earn my vote. That means researching their records, asking questions, and understanding the decisions they've made. As the parent of a former APS high school athlete and a future APS athlete, I was surprised to learn that current board member AJ McArthur reportedly voted NO twice in the past four years on resolutions supporting APS membership in the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). Why does this ...
The defining moment of the 2024 presidential campaign, it can be argued, came almost exactly two years ago, on Sunday, Oct. 20, when then-former President Donald Trump traded his suit coat for a yellow apron and worked the fry station and the drive-thru window at a McDonald's. His staff picked a propitious location in the battleground state of Pennsylvania: lower Bucks County, just south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and about a mile west of U.S. 1, suburban turf settled a generation or two ago by the sons and daughters of blue-collar ethnic communities in northeast ...
Ironically October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The smear campaign literature sent out a couple of weeks ago by the Alpena Republican Party bullying Evan Carlson, Sarah Fritz, Claire Kipfmiller, and Kayla Ratz was deeply troubling and disgusting. School Board elections are nonpartisan and political parties should not be involved. These candidates are our family, friends and neighbors, and they deserve to be evaluated on their qualifications, experience, ideas, character, and commitment to our students—not attacked through partisan political tactics. Just as troubling is ...
