PICKING A HORSE: And no, silly, we don’t mean I’ll Have Another, winner of the 2012 Kentucky Derby. You see, Republican Highland Township supervisor candidate Lynn O’Brien and state Sen. Mike Kowall go way back to his days as White Lake Township supervisor, and well before that when he served in the state House of Representatives. Therefore, it’s not really a surprise that he’s backing her instead of one of the four other hopefuls in [...]

HITTING HARD: It’s looking like the race between the man who Jimmy Fallon called the “Preezy of the United Steezy,” Barack Obama, and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt “Stormin’ Mormon” Romney, won’t be the only bare-knuckled contest this election season. Just look to our own backyards, where you’ll find — not literally, of course, because that would be creepy — Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Bill Bullard, Jr., a Highland Township Republican, and state Rep. Lisa [...]

SHADES OF PEE-WEE: Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who says he is “known for telling it like it is” in his official Twitter biography, is also known for a biting sense of humor — just ask state Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills), who once found himself on the receiving end of a Brooks barb that branded him as a member of the “Taliban wing” of the Republican Party (L-to-the-Brooks also reportedly gave the family [...]

KOMEN KERFUFFLE: Now that the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood have apparently — at least on the surface — locked arm-in-arm after a very public and vitriolic dust-up involving some funding, it’s not surprising that at least one Republican representing the lakes area in Lansing has some harsh language for the agency that’s oft-targeted by the (Religious) Right for providing abortion services at some of its clinics. Take state Rep. Bill Rogers (R-Milford), [...]

SOTC, NOT ROTC: If you love acronyms as much as we do, you know that “SOTC” stands for State of the County — Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson’s SOTC, that is, which is slated for a week from today. Our source — OK, we’ll tell you: it’s Brooks — says that the speech is turning out to be positive in tone. “It’s going to be an upbeat speech,” he said. “We’ve got some positive [...]

REDISTRICTING DUST-UP: Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Gingell (R-Lake Orion) isn’t buying Democrats’ claims that a new state law is purely a political gesture aimed at giving Republicans in Oakland County a sweet deal after suffering defeats in 2008 that they surely would rather forget. “I think our map will be more appropriate than any map that’s going to be introduced at this point,” Gingell said, referring to new district lines that are called for [...]

WHAT’S NEXT? With visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, perhaps, and a lengthy break on the way, members of the lakes area’s delegation to the state House of Representatives are likely eager for a respite from the rigors of Lansing. We know we would be, too, after a year of doing political battle for, you know, the GOP’s wish list for Santa Claus — business tax cuts, labor reforms, tackling teacher tenure, yadda, [...]

GREAT SCOTTS: John Scott is many things — a hunter who just returned from a trip during which he nabbed a doe; a Republican; and a county commissioner representing portions of Waterford and West Bloomfield — but one thing he is not is a carpetbagger. How does Oakland Confidential know? Well, County Commissioner Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) seems poised to be the next state representative for the 29th State House District, now that its former [...]

A collection of gossip, scuttlebutt, and odds and ends from our reporters’ notebooks: GOING KOWALL: Apparently that’s the latest buzz-phrase in Lansing — at least, according to state Sen. Mike Kowall’s (R-Commerce, Highland, Milford, Walled Lake, Wixom, Wolverine Lake, White Lake, Orchard Lake, West Bloomfield) official Facebook page. We’ve got some ideas of our own for new-and-improved “Going Kowall” artistry — Kowall as Luke Skywalker thrusting a light saber in the air; and Kowall as [...]

A collection of gossip, scuttlebutt, and odds and ends from our reporters’ notebooks: WHAT HE MISSED: Speaking of lacking clarity, that is what Michigan Democrats say they are trying to inform U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Waterford, White Lake, Highland, Milford, Commerce, Wolverine Lake, Walled Lake, Wixom) of in a release dated Friday, Sept. 30, in which the Dems blast the guitar-wielding Livonia Republican as being “so willing to leave his district behind in pursuit of [...]