Dear Friends,<br />
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I apologize it has taken me a couple of months to get a newsletter out to you all.&nbsp; Things have been very busy this summer, as I&rsquo;m sure it has for most of you.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t believe summer is coming to an end and college football season will soon be upon us &ndash; Go Blue! <br />
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Things are going very well for the county party.&nbsp; Thus far we have hosted two very successful fundraisers (Lincoln Day Dinner and Summer BBQ), have raised approximately $8,000, hosted a successful membership event, and have recruited several new valuable members into our party.&nbsp; A special think you to everyone for all of your hard work!&nbsp; This year has been a total team effort, and I cannot thank all of you enough.&nbsp; &nbsp; <br />
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Please read carefully the following information.&nbsp; We have a couple of very important announcements&hellip;.<br />
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The following topics to be covered in this month&rsquo;s newsletter&hellip;<br />
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1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; August Monthly Meeting<br />
2)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Summer BBQ Wrap Up!<br />
3)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fall Fundraiser &ndash; October 22nd with Secretary of State Terri Land!<br />
4)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Membership Event - Lugnuts Game<br />
5)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; CCW Class &ndash; Exercise your 2nd Amendment Right!<br />
6)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congratulations Paul Opsommer!<br />
7)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Candidate Websites<br />
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1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; August Monthly Meeting <br />
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A special thank you to all of you who attended our August monthly meeting!&nbsp; This month was one of our best to date in terms of attendance, as we had 34 in attendance!&nbsp; This was a great turnout for an August meeting.&nbsp; Thanks to all of you!&nbsp; Let&rsquo;s keep up the great work!<br />
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Our next monthly meeting will be on Thursday, September 17th, at 7:00 PM at the DeWitt City Hall!&nbsp; Please note we are changing meeting venues for one month in hopes of bringing a few extra people to our meeting from the southern-tear of the county.&nbsp; I will send another reminder email out about this.<br />
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Please note we will also be having a 30 minute social period from 6:30-7:00 at the City Hall.&nbsp; Representative Opsommer has graciously volunteered to purchase us Pizza for the September 17th meeting.&nbsp; We will start with pizza at 6:30 PM and then go into our meeting at 7:00 PM.&nbsp;&nbsp; A special thank you to Representative Opsommer for his willingness to do this!&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
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2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Summer BBQ Wrap Up<br />
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I want to send a VERY SPECIAL thank you to Fundraising Chair, Vern Klassen and to the rest of the party members that made our First Annual Summer BBQ such a great success!&nbsp;&nbsp; The event featured Attorney General/Gubernatorial Candidate Mike Cox, as well as several other state-wide candidates running for Secretary of State and Attorney General.&nbsp; Those in attendance were AG candidates, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, Judge Bill Schuette, and SOS candidates, Senator Cameron Brown, Senator Michelle McManus, Representative Judy Emmons and Calhoun County Clerk, Anne Norlander.&nbsp; We also had approximately 100 grass roots activists in attendance.&nbsp; More important, we were able to raise more than $2,000 for our local candidates! &nbsp;Thank you to all for your help!&nbsp; &nbsp;<br />
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Again, I want to send a very special thank you to Vern Klassen for helping make this event such a great success.&nbsp; I would also like to thank my parents, Larry and Sadie Leonard for their generous donation of the party tent, and to Angie and Alison Keilen, Jenell Hierholzer, Heather Wood, Bruce and Janice Harte, Brian Began, Marcia Daigle and to Steve and Sheri Willis for all of their help setting up, grilling, cleaning, etc.&nbsp; I also want to thank our 28 event sponsors.&nbsp; Your generous donations made this event a huge success!<br />
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3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fall Fundraiser Featuring Special Guest, Secretary of State, Terri Land<br />
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I am proud to announce that our Fall Fundraiser has been set!&nbsp; We will be hosting a reception at Ryan&rsquo;s Roadhouse, located in St. John&rsquo;s, featuring special Guest, Secretary of State Terri Land.&nbsp; All Attorney General and Secretary of State Candidates will be invited, and it is my hope most will choose to attend as they did at the summer BBQ. <br />
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Details are as follows:<br />
What:&nbsp; Clinton County Fall Fundraiser with Secretary of State Terri Land<br />
Where: Ryan&rsquo;s Roadhouse in St. Johns<br />
When: &nbsp;Thursday, October 22nd from 5:30-8:30PM<br />
Cost: &nbsp;$50 for sponsorship (Includes 2 tickets to the event) $20 for 1 ticket and $10 for Students<br />
* Please note that all sponsors will be recognized on our invitation flier.&nbsp; If you would like to be an event sponsor, please contact me at tleonard28@gmail.com or Vern Klassen at klassenv@gmail.com ASAP so that your name can be added to the flier. <br />
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* All proceeds to benefit the Clinton County Republican Party<br />
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More information about this event will be coming out shortly.&nbsp; I hope to see everyone there!<br />
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4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Membership Event &ndash; Lugnuts Game<br />
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A special thank you to those who turned out for our first membership event in June!&nbsp; Our group had a wonderful time, first meeting at the Nuthouse for dinner and then at the Lugnuts game.&nbsp; We had 25-30 members throughout the night, including Special guest, Secretary of State Candidate, Cameron Brown and State Representatives Paul Opsommer and Brian Calley.&nbsp; A special thank you to Marcia Daigle for all of her hard work helping put this event together. &nbsp; <br />
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* Note &ndash; It is our hope to have another membership event within the next couple of months.&nbsp; Details will be coming soon.&nbsp; .&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
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5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; CCW Class &ndash; Exercise Your 2nd Amendment Right!<br />
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The Clinton County Republican Party is putting together a special event for those that would like to obtain their CPL/CCW license. <br />
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The event will be held on Saturday, September 19th in St. Johns.&nbsp; The cost will be $80.00 (Please note the party will not cover this cost).&nbsp; We will need a minimum of 10 members to hold this course (cutoff is 30).&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
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This will be a great opportunity for us to get together as a small group, learn how to responsibly carry/use firearms, and to obtain our CPL/CCW permits. <br />
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I want to thank Vern Klassen for organizing this event for us.&nbsp; Vern will be sending details out soon.&nbsp; If you are interested, please RSVP to Vern ASAP as this event is fast approaching.<br />
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6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Congratulations to Paul Opsommer!<br />
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I want to congratulate our State Representative, Paul Opsommer for being named Legislator of the Year by the Michigan Municipal League (MML) for his emphasis on public policy, including the needed changes in regards to the urban cooperation act, revenue sharing, and local control.<br />
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Paul has been and outstanding public servant that should make all of us proud.&nbsp; Please take the opportunity to congratulate him on this fine achievement the next time you see him. <br />
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7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Candidate Websites<br />
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I will continue to provide candidate websites in the monthly newsletter until election time. We have many excellent candidates running for office, and I want all of you to have an opportunity to make up your own mind regarding these candidates&nbsp; As more candidates declare their candidacy, I will continue to add websites. <br />
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* Note - if the candidate does not have an official site for the office,I have googled to the best of my ability to give you some type of insight on the candidate.&nbsp; Some of the links are simply articles about the candidate running for office.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />
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Governor<br />
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Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard - www.bouchardforgovernor.com<br />
Attorney General Mike Cox - www.mikecox2010.com<br />
State Senator Tom George - www.georgeforgovernor.com<br />
Congressman Peter Hoekstra &ndash; www.hoekstraforgovernor.com<br />
Ann Arbor Businessman Rick Snyder - www.michigantalks.com<br />
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Attorney General<br />
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Senator Majority Leader Mike Bishop - www.mikebishop.com<br />
Senator Bruce Patterson &ndash;<br />
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/01/gop_state_senator_bruce_patter.html<br />
Former Congressman/Appellate Judge Bill Schuette - http://domemagazine.com/blogs/schuette<br />
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Secretary of State<br />
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Senator Cameron Brown - www.cameronsbrown.com<br />
Former Representative Judy Emmons - www.judyemmons.com<br />
Senator Michelle McManus - www.michellemcmanus.org<br />
Callhoun County Clerk Anne Norlander &ndash; www.annenorlander.com<br />
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State Senate &ndash; 33rd District<br />
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State Representative Brian Calley - http://www.briancalley.com<br />
Bingham Twp. Treasurer Mike Trebesh - http://www.trebeshforsenate.com<br />
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State Representative &ndash; 85th District<br />
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Harold &ldquo;Buck&rdquo; Kuisel - http://the-buck-stops-here.com/<br />
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As always, a special &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; to everyone for their efforts!&nbsp; Things are going very well for our party thus far.&nbsp; We truly have had a great &ldquo;team effort&rdquo; over the past eight months.&nbsp; I want to thank all of you for this.&nbsp; As always, please email me with any of your comments or concerns. <br />
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Best Regards,<br />
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Tom Leonard<br />