NASCAR and the GOP Primary
In the movie Days of Thunder (1990) a notable explanation of stock car racing was given that directly applies to what I am seeing down in the GOP South Carolina primary. In fact, this whole race and the one I observed from the inside of a campaign in 2008 remind me a lot of a good traditional and hard fought NASCAR race. In the movie Harry Hogge yells into the driver’s ear, “Cole, you’re wandering all over the track! “ Cole Trickle responds, “Yeah, well this son of a bitch just slammed into me.” Harry Hogge laughs and...
read moreWhat a Difference 4 Years Can Make
The picture here was taken four years ago today. It is a picture of Governor Mitt Romney, his wife Ann, son Josh and I talking as we left New Hampshire after coming in second (Sen. John McCain won with 37% of the vote). We were on a flight directly back to Michigan (the next primary) and were in fact talking strategy as the reporter from the New York Times noted in the article they published. At the time the focus was balancing frustration and strategy and trying to put the best foot forward to start winning the primaries rather than...
read more2011
2011 was a special year for me. Not special in a normal way but special in an extraordinary way. In fact, special wasn’t even the right word for it. Smashing comes a lot closer. Exquisite for sure. Exceptional and memorable and at the same time uncommon, unique and unusual. Particular days were peculiar. The events and circumstances I experienced were among the best of my life and at the same time I recall with each breath what brought me here. Smashing is a better adjective for describing 2011 because that’s what...
read moreNews & Views
Click here to listen to my interview on the News & Views show on December 23, 2011. I was interviewed by Chuck Bates about the state of things in our criminal justice system in America. My interview starts at minute 51:40 if you don’ t want to listen to my friend and former media guru Fred Wszolek speak. Listen Here Download Here Information about the show…. It’s the News Behind the News! News & Views is a live two-hour, issues-oriented and caller-intensive daily radio news magazine delivered from an economist’s...
read moreSunrise on the Tarmac
Descending toward a sleepy Detroit this morning had all the mixed morning feelings a flight can bring with the expectant pleasure of returning home in time for Christmas. The flight out from DC gave me a clear view of the well lit street lights with very little traffic on any of the streets or highways. Surprisingly our landing had the same optics, character and feel to it here in DTWville. There was no snow to greet me. No hope of seeing my breath as I walked to my car. No real need at all for the jacket I have been carrying around...
read moreJustice Fellowship
Here is the press release that went out announcing my new job as Director of External Affairs for Justice Fellowship. ### Justice Fellowship Advocating for Criminal Justice Reform FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ryan Sanders Ph. 703-554-8453 Email: Ryan_Sanders@pfm.org Former Michigan House Speaker Named Director of External Affairs at Justice Fellowship LANSDOWNE, VA, December 20, 2011—Justice Fellowship announced the appointment of Craig DeRoche, former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, as their Director of External Affairs....
read moreThe Baby and His Mother Stamp
This week I made the time honored trudge through slush and snow and brisk winter winds to wait in the long lines of my local USPS. This is one of the few things that can be replaced by the internet (stamps.com) but largely isn’t– at least in my own experience and the others who were standing in a motionless line when I arrived. The scene there was almost exactly the same as I have encountered for twenty or more holiday seasons, only louder and more animated. The woman at the desk being served when I was about three people away...
read moreDetroit Sports
Detroit had a rough weekend. The state didn’t do much better. Or should I say, State didn’t do much better. As if the Lions throwing away a second game and Red Wings snapping a losing streak wasn’t enough, MSU let the first Big Ten Championship Game slip through like the crisp winter breeze that snapped onto the scene Sunday. I am convinced after watching MSU play Wisconsin twice that if the two teams were to take each other on ten times they would each come out with 5 and 5 records. I guess for this year, MSU just...
read moreGetting There
This website is taking much longer than I thought to develop. Thinking about this at 12am on a weeknight I suppose there shouldn’t be much of a surprise that a former insurance salesman and politician can’t quite get his code and widgets to present well for the website. Oh, well. Not much more to do before the site is fully functional. Persistence, persistence.
read moreWelcome to my blog!
Welcome to the collection of thoughts and insights this website was created to share with my friends, family and well… you! Over the years I have never been shy about contributing to the debate or slow to express an opinion. For stretches of my career I have even been semi-diligent about writing opinion pieces in newspapers.
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