Going after Gilbert

Eric Schertzing takes it as a good sign that Republicans quickly attacked actress Melissa Gilbert when she announced her candidacy for the 8th Congressional District seat.

It means that they view her as a serious candidate, said Schertzing, the Ingham County treasurer who ran unsuccessfully last year against U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop.

And they should, he added, saying he is optimistic about her chances.

“She has the connections and the name recognition, and some of her history is going to help her attract the money necessary to knock out a weak freshman incumbent.”

Gilbert, 51, who starred in the popular TV series “Little House on the Prairie” in the 1970s and ‘80s, said Monday she will seek the Democratic nomination to run against Bishop next year. She lives in Howell in Livingston County with her husband, actor Timothy Busfield, an East Lansing native. Besides Livingston, the district comprises Ingham and northern Oakland counties.

Republicans responded quickly to the challenge with a press release pointing out that Gilbert owes the IRS more than $360,000 in back taxes.

“Hollywood Actress and IRS Tax Cheat Melissa Gilbert owes hundreds of thousands to the IRS and wants to get a government paycheck,” Stu Sandler, Bishop´s campaign spokesman, said. “Melissa Gilbert can afford to have a stylist for her dog, but cannot pay her taxes. Her values are out of whack with the district.”

Schertzing said he was also pleased they attacked her dog. “As a county treasurer, who licenses 25,000 of them, it’s a bad idea to attack dogs.”

MIRS, a Capitol news service, said that in an email Gilbert responded to the attack by saying, “The truth is I got caught in a perfect storm of financial difficulty, which is why I initiated a conversation with the IRS, told them I was having trouble and together we set up a payment plan.”

A Detroit News article said the actress blamed her financial troubles on her 2011 divorce from actor Bruce Boxleitner, a struggling acting career, and the economy.

In her campaign announcement, Gilbert said, “I´m running for Congress to make life a little easier for all the families who feel they have fallen through the cracks in today´s economy. I believe building a new economy is a team effort, and we need to bring fresh voices to the table to get the job done.”

Schertzing lost 54 percent to 42 percent to Bishop, but he said that Gilbert can do better in 2016 because “in a presidential year those numbers move around 5 percentage points.”

He described her as a mainstream Democrat whose two-time presidency of the Screen Actors Guild means she’s “no newcomer to negotiating tough situations, not all that unlike electoral politics.”

“Women candidates are always very attractive,” he added. And her work on behalf of the Mark Schauer gubernatorial campaign last year is a plus, he said.

As for her appeal to non-Democrats, he said the “Little House on the Prairie” connection will benefit her. “I loved that show. I loved reading those books to my kids.There’s a visceral connection she makes to a lot of independents because of that history.”