Michael Trebesh for 33rd Michigan Senate

After some serious consideration at the committee meeting, I decided to throw my support behind Judy Emmons on the November Republican ticket. As result, Judy Emmons led Scott Hummel by a substantial margin and won the nomination process. I would like to thank all my friends and supporters. We fought hard, and we will continue to work toward the betterment of our government

GOP Voters Want Trebesh to be Nominee

ST. JOHNS -- An automated survey of 306 Republican likely voters in the 33rd District shows Republicans want Michael Trebesh to be selected to replace Brian Calley on the November ballot. The poll was conducted on Friday, August 27th for the Trebesh campaign by Opinion Factor. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 5.7%.

Trebesh was the choice of 44.8% of Republican voters. Former State Rep. Judy Emmons was the choice of 32.4% of Republicans. Former State Rep. Scott Hummel was the choice of 22.9% of Republicans.

Trebesh garnered nearly 13,000 Republican votes and carried two of the four counties in his August State Senate primary loss to Calley, who subsequently was selected to be Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Snyder's running mate.

Republican County executive committees from Clinton, Ionia, Montcalm and Isabella are expected to meet later this week to choose a replacement for Calley on the ballot.

"The support that I've received since the Calley announcement has been encouraging," Trebesh said.

"Nearly 13,000 area Republicans voted for me to be their state senator. I've campaigned in all four counties, and carried two of them. I've built a district-wide conservative grass-roots organization. I've been endorsed by over 600 local community leaders and over 100 local small business owners.

"I'm ready to go back to work on the campaign trail as the Republican State Senate nominee and to fight to bring common sense, conservative values back to state government," Trebesh concluded.

Area Republicans were quick to call on executive committee members to 'do the right thing' and select Trebesh as Calley's replacement.

"Nearly 13,000 Republicans throughout the 33rd District voted to make Michael Trebesh their State Senator. I encourage executive committee members to respect the will of area Republicans and select Michael to replace Brian Calley on the ballot," said Larry Behrenwald, Ionia and Montcalm business owner and farmer.

"In the August Republican Primary, Michael won two of the four counties of the 33rd District. Michael is the logical pick and I encourage executive committee members to do the right thing and nominate him to replace Brian Calley," said Bill Simpson, Sheridan and Stanton business owner and elected official.

"Michael had the courage to place his name on the ballot and to do the hard work. Polling shows him to be the overwhelming choice of Republican voters. I hope executive committee members will respect the will of area Republicans," said Leon Brewbaker, St. Johns business owner, long time Republican activist and former chair of the Clinton County Republican Party.

"We know all three candidates. They're all good people. However, in this instance, it's only right that the executive committees nominate the person who finished second in the August Republican Primary and make Michael Trebesh our nominee," said Claude and Shirley Vail, long time Republican activists, former county commissioners, farmers and recipients of the "Republican of the Year" award.

"Michael Trebesh should be our State Senator. He is the logical choice and it is an issue of fairness and doing what is right. Michael is the only one who invested time and resources in the primary. It was an open primary and anyone could have run. He ran a good race, was professional and worked hard. Michael met with thousands of citizens throughout the four counties and he understands our concerns, frustrations and issues," said Jim Goodrich, Mt. Pleasant business executive.

One of the three candidates vying for the Republican nomination in 33rd Senate District criticized the system the party is using to fill the vacancy created by former nominee Brian CALLEY's leaving for the Rick SNYDER ticket, and hinted that the Michigan Republican Party (MRP) may hear more about it in the days ahead.

Michael TREBESH, the Bingham Township treasurer and accounting professor who finished second to Calley on Aug. 3, called the special 7 p.m. Wednesday committee meeting to pick Calley's replacement "less than democratic."

The meeting at Alma High School will include the combined 127 members of the executive committees of the counties of Clinton, Isabella, Ionia and Montcalm counties. Ionia County Vice Chair Diane ADAMS alerted the MRP today that she accidentally miscounted the number of executive committee members in her county.

Instead of the 29 reported at Monday's organizational meeting in Lansing, there are 30, the same number of committee members in Isabella and Clinton counties. Montcalm happens to have 37 and will have more votes, despite only having the third highest population of the four-county 33rd Senate District (See "Wednesday Eyes For 33rd District Convention," 8/30/10).

Trebesh said he's still awaiting an official list of executive committee members from Ionia and Montcalm counties despite making repeated requests for them.

"It's not fair to the public. They have not been forthright with the communications and the information," he said.

The accounting professor also took a shot at the MRP for making the meeting a closed-door affair, which is a disservice to the nearly 30,000 voters who participated in the primary election.

"We're talking about citizen representation. Let the citizens speak. At least let the citizens in and let them observe the process," he said. "It just all seems very undemocratic, the whole process. This whole smoke-filled room, cigar-chomping stuff has to stop. That's why they don't want me down there. I'm a reformist."

Trebesh is facing former Reps. Judy EMMONS and Scott HUMMEL for the nomination, and the executive committee members MIRS has talked to indicate the race will be between Emmons and Hummel. While Trebesh has some votes, he's not necessarily popular with the party brass.

Trebesh said he realizes that, which is why he's parading around a poll he commissioned that shows Trebesh was the choice of 44.8 percent of 306 voters polled recently for the seat. Emmons had 32.4 percent of the vote. Hummel had 22.9 percent.

"Nearly 13,000 area Republicans voted for me to be their state senator. I've campaigned in all four counties and carried two of them," he said. "I've built a district-wide conservative grass-roots organization. I've been endorsed by over 600 local community leaders and over 100 small business owners."

The distribution of the votes works to the advantage of Emmons, who represented Montcalm and Ionia in the state Legislature, but Hummel has strong support on the committee and could pull it out if the race goes to a second ballot.

Under the Republican rules, a candidate can only win with at least 50 percent of the votes plus one. If no candidate receives that in the first ballot, the candidate with the least number of votes drops off and there is a runoff.

"My hill to climb got a little higher, but I'm unfazed in my pursuit of the nomination," said Hummel, who is a member of the Clinton County GOP executive committee and will be in a position to vote for himself. "It will be a dogfight between Judy and I."

In other news, while Calley has stayed publicly neutral on his replacement, his wife, Julie CALLEY is supporting Emmons, according to an e-mail being circulated by Heather LOMBARDINI, who is raising money for Emmons.

"I cannot emphasis how important it is to get Judy elected. Once Rep. (Tonya) SCHUITMAKER wins her race :) that leaves us with only one female in the senate. WE NEED JUDY!" Lombardini wrote.

Emmons did work in Calley's office when he was a state House member.

Given current events the GOP will need a replacement for the 33rd District State Senate seat. The replacement nomination will be decided by Republican Party County Executive Board members in Clinton, Isabella, Ionia and Montcalm County. Anyone can be nominated through this process. Whoever gets the most votes from local county executive members will be the replacement on the ballot.

Currently there are people other than Michael Trebesh are interested in this replacement. However, Trebesh is the only person who ran a full campaign through four counties; Trebesh won Clinton and Isabella county, received close to 13,000 votes in last primary election. Trebesh has the campaign team ready to go and face the democratic candidate in November. Nominating anyone else who had no interest in the seat before (and in addition to lack of name recognition in all four counties) would provide a great opportunity for the democratic party to regain the seat. It is a sure thing that the democratic party would be very pleased if they see the opportunity in this senate district.

Please make your voice heard and let the executive board members know that you'd like Michael Trebesh to be your next state senator.

An open letter to the Michigan Republican Party, and specifically the members representing the of Counties of Clinton, Montcalm, Ionia and Isabella. The following named individuals are asked to take note of this letter:

We would like to firmly suggest that the Republican Party of Michigan replace Brian Calley's name for the candidacy for State Senate with Michael Trebesh's name on the November 2nd ballot in Clinton, Montcalm, Ionia and Isabella counties. Mr. Trebesh was the only candidate opposing Mr. Calley in the August Primary Election and actually gathered more votes in two of the four counties. Any right thinking person would assume that there should be no question who the candidate should be, with Mr. Calley stepping aside to become Rick Snyder's running mate. Any other choice by the party will certainly be viewed as "politics as usual" in the tradition of our current Federal administration and a blatant attempt to thwart the will of the voters in the forementioned counties. In closing, we are hoping that the Michigan Republican Party will do the right thing in nominating Michael Trebesh to be our next member of the Michigan Senate.

Respectfully and sincerely,

James R. Miller
Bonnie L. Miller