By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-920926.mp3
LANSING, MI –
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The Michigan Republican Party holds its summer convention in East Lansing on Saturday. The GOP will nominate candidates for offices including secretary of state, attorney general, and the Michigan Supreme Court. And, as Michigan Public Radio reports, members of the tea party movement say they want to show they can be a force in the GOP.
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More than a thousand delegates from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula are expected to attend.
Ken Mitts is a tea party delegate from Vicksburg in west Michigan. Mitts says he's going to the convention to send a message to the Republican leadership:
"To say, hey, we're a viable part of this party and it's time you started listening to us," he says.
But state Republican Chairman Ron Weiser says he does not see any threat to the GOP from the tea party. He says that's because they are both conservative movements.
"I mean, why would we be concerned about people who want to get involved with the Republican Party?" he asks.
A west Michigan tea party group says its delegates will oppose the nomination of state Representative Brian Calley for lieutenant governor because he helped to draft the Michigan Business Tax. Calley is the choice of nominee for governor Rick Snyder.
Election 2010 - WKAR
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