Bishop: More of the same

His election playbook is copied from Tea Party-trending Republican conservatives, and there is little to suggest from his 12 years in the Michigan Legislature that he will stray from his rigid ideology. Certainly, Bishop´s winner-take-all approach was displayed when as Senate majority leader he was instrumental in the shutdown of Michigan´s government in 2006 and 2009.

The 8th District includes the northern half of Oakland and all of Livingston and Ingham counties. It leans Republican: Mitt Romney out-polled President Barack Obama by 3 percentage points in 2012. The Cook Report rates the district “solid Republican,” a steep political climb for Democrat candidate Eric Schertzing, Ingham County treasurer. There have been no published polls on the race, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has pulled its support for television spending in this race, suggesting that the party´s internal polling shows a likely win for Bishop.

He is seeking to return to politics with the support of big business interests like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a slew of PACs: Exxon, CMS Energy, Ford, Quicken Loans and similar organizations. Clearly, they know who will best represent their interests, which align with Bishop’s website message that that he is a “life-long conservative leader with a record to prove it” and winner of the conservative legislator of the year award from MIRS, a newsletter covering the state Capitol.

The scolding nature of conservative politics seems at odds with how Bishop is positioning his campaign.

“A variety of people have been responding to Mike’s positive message.” his spokesman, Stu Sandler, said in a report by Maureen Groppe in last week´s Lansing State Journal. By the low standards of the Republican Party, it is positive. Bishop´s skimpy issues page on his official website is studded with these uplifting phrases: “fought against Obamacare,” “opposed to any amnesty,” “led the fight,” “cut public official salaries.” In Bishop´s universe this is positive stuff.

Outlining his key issues, Bishop brags that he put forth more than $1 billion in spending cuts, which of course doesn´t mean they happened. But proposed cuts play well to the conservative crowd and business interests that support his candidacy. They don´t usually affect them.

Bishop pledges to help develop policies that will promote job growth and jumpstart the economy. He takes an obligatory swipe at President Obama, who he says has used the tax code, over-regulation and red tape to stifle job growth and stall our economy. It makes you wonder if he reads anything in The Wall Street Journal but its rabid editorial page. Here is what the news section of the newspaper reported about jobs on Oct. 3.

“Employers added 248,000 jobs in September, rebounding from a weak August, the Labor Department said Friday. Payrolls have expanded an average 227,000 a month this year, putting 2014 on track to be the strongest year of job growth since the late 1990s.” Maybe he should coordinate claims with Gov. Rick Snyder, who is bragging about job creation in Michigan, making it a centerpiece of his reelection campaign. Also, the Department of Commerce reported last week that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.6 percent in the second quarter 2014. And in August, personal income increased $47.3 billion, or 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $35.2 billion. Imaging how much stronger the economy would be if the House of Representatives had helped rather than taking a four-year legislative sabbatical.

Bishop, of course, wants to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. If elected, he can vote time-after-futile time along with the rest of the congressional Republicans to eliminate or trim the program. He offers no meaningful alternative to the program.

And here is something to consider if you attend a Bishop rally. He could be packing. Bishop says he´s a gun owner with a concealed permit license, which no doubt bring piece of mind to his neighbors in his hometown of Rochester and among his co-workers at International Bancard Corp., where he is chief legal officer. He says he supports Second Amendment rights (he makes no mention of other constitutional amendments) and says he has received a A/a rating from the National Rifle Association — the group fought limits on cop killing Teflon bullets and promoted a video arguing that blind people should have the right to carry guns.

He says that he has a 100 percent pro-life record, whatever that means, had a 100 percent attendance record as a state legislator, supports right-to-work and “sponsored legislation to cut public official salaries, including his own as a Senator.”

These cut-legislative-pay proposals never pass, but if Bishop is serious and truthful in his intent, he can pledge to return a portion of the $174,000 of his congressional pay to the treasury. When that happens, you can read about it here.