Oakland County orgy

Being one of the five most Republican counties in the nation does not always mean also having a well-- oiled, smoothly functioning Republican organization in place. One obvious case in point is Oakland County, Michigan, where the GOP holds most offices and usually turns out healthy margins for its statewide candidates, but where many Republicans are not happy with their party.

To religious conservatives, the longstanding poster boy for what is wrong with the local GOP is County Party Chairman L. Brooks Patterson, who also serves as county executive. In fairness to Patterson, the former prosecutor and radio talk show host has a record as a conservative and in past bids for governor, U.S. senator, and state attorney general has run as an anti-tax, pro-gun, pro-- life, and pro-death-penalty candidate. He is one of the few politicians to back the death penalty in the first state in the nation to outlaw capital punishment and where statewide officeholders from Republican Gov. John Engler on down are anti-death penalty.

But, in a clash that traces its origins to 1988, when Michigan Republicans split like a giant amoeba and sent two delegations to the national party convention (one favoring the elder George Bush, the other for Pat Robertson), religious conservatives argue that Patterson is hostile to their candidates and causes. Last year, Patterson called on the state legislature to include sexual orientation in hate crimes legislation and opposed the efforts of pro-family groups to put the party on record in opposition to human rights ordinances in Ferndale and Royal Oak. Patterson maintained, however, that he was not taking a pro-gay stance but rather that it was simply not the county party's business to get involved in local issues.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Dec 23, 2002
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