UPDATE: Mich. GOP leaders continue to pander to wacky ‘Trucker Randy’

Trucker Randy

Ron Weiser, left, and Trucker Randy's tea party radio co-host, Brian Sommerfield.

The evidence keeps pouring in that Randy Bishop, aka "Trucker Randy," has hoodwinked the Michigan Republican Party’s top establishment leaders, who treat him like a real player in tea party and GOP politics.

On Tuesday, former Michigan GOP chairman Ron Weiser, the picture of Republican establishmentarianism, chose Trucker Randy’s radio show to announce his candidacy for the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

Trucker Randy, who used his Aug. 15 radio broadcast to declare war on the too-liberal Michigan GOP, must have been delighted when Weiser started to talk the talk. The former party leader said he wants to counter the socialists who “brainwash” U-M students.

Trucker Randy, who was previously convicted of two felony fraud convictions related to the real estate business, may have engaged in some on-air delusional thoughts that he and Weiser, who was a big player in real estate, are birds of a feather.
The Weiser radio appearance came on the heels of photos showing Trucker Randy hanging out with the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

As for Trucker Randy’s bold plan to take over the GOP, county by county, that manifesto was thoroughly ignored by party and tea party activists across the state.

Except for one. 

Pannebecker

Brian Pannebecker of Macomb County, a leader of the successful anti-union push that led to the Michigan right-to-work law is the only donor so far to Trucker Randy’s bid to establish a separate GOP youth leadership group in all 83 counties.

Though the effort was launched several months ago, Pannebecker’s $100 represents the entirety of group’s cash flow.

Meanwhile, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Trucker Randy has difficulties with basic math and history.

In one of his latest rants on Facebook, the trucker fails to understand that when the state Senate last week supported a measure, by a 21-17 margin, to take a second vote on Medicaid expansion, Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof could not be blamed for the outcome.

With a 21 to 17 tally, if one vote is switched, a majority of 20 to 18 still prevails.

As for the history, he claims that the real agenda for Meekhof and some other Republican senators who (openly or secretly) support Medicaid expansion was to initiate taxpayer-funded abortions in Michigan. Trucker Randy doesn’t realize that the Hyde Amendment more than 30 years ago banned federal funding for abortion – a law that also impacts Medicaid services. A law that has restricted the existing Medicaid program for decades.

(It should be noted that Trucker Randy believes that certain senators, because they voted to provide Medicaid to the "working poor," were paid off and will burn in hell.)

In the budding contest for lieutenant governor, the MIRS news agency has reported that Trucker Randy supports the attempt by fringe elements to oust Lt. Gov. Brian Calley in 2014. But Trucker Randy insists that Calley’s challenger, Wes Nakagiri, a Livingston County tea party leader, is actually a plant put in the race by Gov. Snyder’s allies, particularly GOP Chairman Bobby Schostak. Presumably, Nakagiri would close the door to other GOP opponents and then later pull out of the race, giving Calley a clear path to renomination.

Asked if Nakagiri’s past support for Schostak would make it difficult for him to gain grassroots backing, Trucker Randy responded, "Absolutely. Period. End of story."

Those comments alone, not to mention all of Trucker Randy’s other baggage, should have been enough for a man like Weiser, a former national party official and a former U.S. ambassador, to steer clear of the trucker’s trashy show.

*****

If you want to catch Trucker Randy in action, he will be moderating the “debate” on Michigan’s new right-to-work law tonight at the American Legion Hall on Cass Avenue in Utica. The event, organized by anti-union activist Brian Pannebecker, begins at 7 p.m.