OAKLAND COUNTY CAN BOAST ABOUT TWO ICAUCUS ENDORSED CANDIDATES - UPDATED

As an IC delegate, I am excited to report that two of our republican candidates have won the Icaucus (www.icaucus.org) endorsement: Rocky Raczkowski from the 9th congressional district and Gene Taliercio from the 12th MI Senate district. Rocky is hoping to replace Democrat Gary Peters and Gene is vying for term-limited Mike Bishop’s seat.

Both are commonsense constitutional conservatives, the basic requirement of Icaucus. Icaucus, or Independence Caucus (NOT Independent Party) is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization seeking candidates that are willing to go through a rigorous vetting process consisting of 80 questions based on constitutional values and principles. Having passed that with a minimum score of 70 %, the candidate then goes through a grueling interview. As a member of the interview steering committee I can attest the interviews are intense at least. The interviews are taped and then presented to the Michigan members (today there are at least 1000 +). The members listen to the interviews and vote on a candidate based on his questionnaire score and interview. Again, the total score must be a minimum of 70%.

Paul Welday, also from the 9th district was not able to achieve the required minimum 70%, compared to Raczkowski who had 96% on his questionnaire alone and beat Welday on the interview 2 -1. (67% to 33%)Gene Taliercio was the only one brave enough in his race against Copper Rizzo, Jim Marleau, John Garfield, and Kim Russell to go through the vetting. Both Rizzo and Marleau were invited to participate several times, but they declined. Gene passed his questions and interview with high scores.

The ultimate goal of IC is to send vetted constitutional candidates to DC or Lansing and to unseat incumbents that are beholden to unions, lobbyists, and big money special interest groups. The first ever endorsed candidate is Jason Chaffetz from Utah, now making a name for himself in DC.  With the help of Icaucus, early primaries show endorsed candidates having won their races, to name just a few are Bill Randall from NC, Jim DeMint from SC, John Dennis from CA (to beat Nancy Pelosi) ToddYoung from IN. To see all endorsed candidates nationwide log into http://www.icaucus.org/.

The IC helps vetted and endorsed candidates by providing campaign assistance in various ways.

To date Michigan has other endorsed candidates worth mentioning: Robert Palmer, MI Senate, 31st , Steven Mobley, State House, 62nd, Bill Cooper, CD 2 to replace Pete Hoekstra, Tom Stillings CD 1 to take Stapak’s seat,

The following is a list of all Michigan endorsed candidates to date, with more to follow soon:

Congressional District 1: Tom Stillings, R Torch Lake http://www.stillings2010.com


Congressional District 2: Bill Cooper, R Spring Lake http://www.billcooper4wmi.com/

Congressional District 3 Justin Amash, R Cascade Township http://amashforcongress.com/

Congressional District 9 Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski, R Farmington Hills http://www.rockyworksforus.com/

State Senate District 12 Gene Taliercio, Rochester, www.geneformichigan.com

State Senate District 30 Brett VanderKamp, R Holland http://brettvanderkamp.com/

State Senate District 31 Robert Palmer, R Bay City http://www.palmer4senate.com/

State House District 62 Steven Mobley, R Athens http://www.stevenlmobley.com/

State House District 72 Eric Larson, R Cascade Township http://www.ericlarson2010.com/

State House District 74 Dave Agema, R Grandville http://www.daveagema.com/

State House District 91 Ken Punter, R Ravenna http://votepunter.com/

ROCKY WINS THE INDEPENDENCE CAUCUS ENDORSEMENT

"Congratulations to Rocky Raczkowski on winning the vote 2 to 1 over Welday and becoming our 3rd Endorsed candidate in Michigan and our 1st Endorsed U.S. Congressional candidate in this state. I have been holding back on making any comments besides the interview committee recommendation to avoid showing my bias. Now I can state that Rocky is going to be a fantastic Representative for the 9th District, Michigan and the USA. He has convinced me that he will listen to us and defend the Constitution as he has demonstrated for the past 24 years of Military Service and in State office. He will also oppose statism and promote free enterprise and individual liberty.


This race will get national attention because it is considered a toss-up by the so-called experts. It flipped to a liberal in 2008. It will be up to all of us to help our membership grow to make sure it flips back to a conservative in 2010."

To get involved with the Independence Caucus and help Rocky with his campaign, go to www.icaucus.ning.com/group/michigan or http://www.rockyworksforus/.