Seeing Pink Elephants on Mackinac Island: GOP Allegedly Caters to Underage Students With Free Booze in Exchange for Support

BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

The Michigan Democratic Party is all up in arms over reports of their rivals giving away alcohol to underage students in exchange for campaigning during a weekend conference on Mackinac Island. But let's be real; how else did they expect the GOP to get gaggles of college kids to stump for their candidates?

The event occurred over the last weekend in September, just as a contentious budget battle raged in the state's capital. At the time, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer put out a video statement blasting the GOP's choice to put on the conference when a budget needed passing in Lansing within a few days of that weekend:

While they're partying on Mackinac Island this weekend, the fate of our school kids, our police and firefighters, our unemployed, our college students who are looking forward to the promised scholarship, is [all] hanging in the balance. But do the Republicans care about that?

College students looking forward to scholarships? Pfft. Shows what he knows about the youth of today! Later, Michigan Democrats stumbled across a blog from an underage student from Central Michigan University named Vanessa Oblinger who attended the weekend soiree.

"Let me tell you, rich politicians know how to throw a pretty damn good party and they definitely do treat the [college Republicans] pretty well -- a free trip to mackinac [sic] including free fairy [sic] trips, free hotel rooms, free food, and 'the drank,'" Oblinger wrote. "Friday night, we were rewarded with open bars and free dinners. The X’s on the minors hands were washed off and the free drinks showered upon us."

Though the original blog has been deleted (as has what was reportedly Oblinger's FaceBook page), a version of the post referenced is captured here.

Though Oblinger's descriptions of campaign-sponsored open bars were the main subject of media attention, I found the creepy youth-worship by some older Republicans in attendance more interesting from a "social studies" standpoint. Oblinger described how she and her boyfriend were treated by some adults at the conference (emphasis mine):

"Joining us in the carriage was a huge group of swingers (they never told us, but it was pretty obvious), they were staying in the same hotel condo 'complex' as we were and they were all drunk out of their minds telling Zack and I how adorable we are together as a young Republican couple and how they've come from all over the country to meet up this weekend at Mackinac. Also, they’re all wearing wigs and yelling inappropriate, but hysterical things such as 'I'm f**kin’ forty with three kids! Ya'll are so young and precious I miss those days!'" she wrote. Oblinger then goes into some detail about one woman in the group who nearly sexually assaulted her boyfriend, to the cheers and laughter of her colleagues, before group "invited us to their hotel for some 'fun and games' later -– they all winked and kind of elbowed each other. Zack and I decided not to put ourselves in that situation. We didn’t know what the hell we would expect."

Clearly, these adults were just drunk and acting out, and this carriage ride was not any officially-sanctioned event. I just thought Oblinger unwittingly put her finger on the importance some older Republicans place on having younger Republicans at the event.

The only Republican campaign to respond to the accusations was that of gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder, whose spokesman said volunteers were made to sign a documents saying they would adhere to the law in their events over the weekend. The spokesman added that they "ran an efficient operation on the island and didn’t waste resources on open bars or beer parties, so this really isn’t an issue for our campaign."

Yet this AP story published before the revelations about underage drinking became public suggests that the freebie angle ruled the day that weekend, and Snyder was not going to be left behind on that aspect (emphasis mine):

Other candidates also brought along campaign volunteers, supplying them with T-shirts and lodging and offering free food and drink at events aimed at drawing actual and potential supporters. But the Snyder campaign effort was the most noticeable, offering prizes to supporters who did the most to promote their boss during the conference.

"He's making a big play to do well in the straw vote or even win it," said Bill Ballenger, editor of the "Inside Michigan Politics" newsletter. "If he doesn't do well, people are going to ask, 'What does this guy bring?'"

Snyder ultimately won the straw poll, which Oblinger referenced when she said that the college Republicans' campaigning was important because, "more times than not, the straw poll winner is the election winner." Things have gotten worse for Snyder after a contract was leaked in which students who received free lodging form the campaign promised to vote for Snyder in the straw poll, as described in this local report:

Gubernatorial hopeful Rick Snyder has been accused of capturing the top spot in an exclusive Detroit News/WJR NewsTalk 760 AM straw poll during the Sept. 25-27 gathering by having students sign a letter vowing to vote for the Ann Arbor businessman in the poll or risk losing the free hotel rooms and island ferry rides.

While the GOP spokesperson refused to comment on anything that did not occur at the central event, the response from the Michigan Democratic Party was unsurprisingly more robust.

"This wasn’t a so-called 'policy conference' -– it was 'Animal House on the Island' for three days sponsored by the Michigan Republican Party and its candidates," Brewer said in a statement.

Brewer also held a press conference calling for an investigation into the weekend, specifically calling out Republican members involved in law enforcement such as Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and two Republican candidates vying for his job, which will be vacated in Cox's run for governor.

"It's hypocritical for the Republican Party -- the alleged party of family values -- to tolerate, condone, even encourage this type of illegal activity," Brewer said during the presser.

It's hypocritical, yes. But it's almost understandable. If Republican Party hopefuls promised students all the free roundtables on the legacy of Milton Freeman and rallies to repeal the Death Tax that they could handle, do you think they would have gotten such a robust response? Even free tea bags won't bring in new, young blood like alcohol will.

To be fair, all parties use partying to get potential voters and volunteers in the door. And everyone knows college kids love free stuff. But what comes after the election?

The main three items featured on the relatively sparse Michigan Republican Party site this morning were about how Democrats are going to raise your taxes and Republicans won't. The Michigan Democratic Party, while highlighting various national and local issues from utility costs to the healthcare debate in Washington on their Web site, was also the first state party to sign up with the civil engagement group known as the Blue Tiger Democrats. The group was formed to show that a party can do more than just ask for your vote every two years, and it committed to community service and activism.

The effort shows that the energy of young people and college students need not be squandered. That said, everyone knows that the majority of young people do drink underage, especially college kids. Oblinger wrote about kids partying in their hotel rooms during the weekend, something that would have likely happened with or without the consent of adults at the conference.

But at a conference like this one, those hung-over kids should be roused at punishingly early hours for policy debates and training on get-out-the-vote efforts, not "hit[ting] the bars around 11 am" as Oblinger described her Saturday. Candidates and supporters should be talking to kids about what their party stands for, not subjecting them to "some of the drunkest, most ridiculous political discussions and pathetic sleeze-ball [sic] dancing of our lives."

Honestly, the idea of young or college Republican groups always confused me. Young/college kids are often poor and many lack adequate healthcare, and even if that's not their particular situation, they likely know someone who has such issues. Furthermore, Republicans in office tend to cut school programming and jack up the price of student loans whenever they can. Why vote against your own interests so early on in life?

Students and young people should be looking forward to the future, not backward at the past as the Republican Party seems to do at every opportunity. Furthermore, one would think college students in particular would be turned off by the anti-intellectualism displayed by the GOP.

And as this Michigan blogger points out, the hypocrisy goes beyond fiscal policy to socially conservative values. Noting that Oblinger and her boyfriend stayed in the same room, the writer notes:

Personally I don't care (they're adults -- they can do what they want) but some of Michigan's conservative Republicans have spoken openly about wanting to recriminalize cohabitation and the tab for the hotels was apparently being picked up by the Republican party (or one of its affiliates).

The same goes for the zero-tolerance, "tough on crime" policies pushed by the Republican party; should the politicians that hosted these soirees at which minors were (allegedly) freely drinking alcohol be punished as severely as they advocate punishing others? 

I guess the new GOP plan is if you can't get 'em on substance, get 'em on substances. And, as Oblinger's final thoughts in her blog post suggest, this booze-soaked event is not a one-time, local phenomenon and is expected to extend to a certain conference scheduled for February 2010:

Beer and foo-foo drinks and you name it were all clutched in the hands of the under-aged [college Republicans] -– however, they were all incredibly careful about not getting kicked out or noticed for under-aged drinking to avoid getting the candidate who had been throwing the party into any sort of career-jeopardizing trouble. There were no MIP's given out or DUI's. Thank God Mackinac island cops are on foot and bicycles and that no cars are allowed on the island.

I can't wait for CPAC.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Image courtesy of aka Kath's photostream on Flickr.