Why the Greens are Dumb
Laura Berman
Republicans can thank Green Party for Senate victories
K yle McBee, a Green Party candidate for state Senate, can take credit for helping the Republicans keep control of the chamber.
This McBee was a key man, mysterious but influential.
His campaign was so quiet few knew he was even running. He only occasionally responded to voter information questionnaires, and did so with little personal detail.
At one political forum that I moderated, which included the other 13th District Senate candidates, he was a no-show, although other members of his party appeared.
So discreet was McBee's candidacy that even other Green Party candidates, like two-time would-be governor Douglas Campbell, can't quite place him. "I've met him," Campbell told me. "But I don't remember too much about him."
Dems not happy about it
But even without visible campaigning or a bio, McBee was an alternative in an earth-scorching, multimillion-dollar race for the Oakland County 13th District seat. Perhaps, in a vitriolic and mailbox-cluttering race, even low-profile McBee could exert a unique appeal.
When it was all over, John Pappageorge, a career military man and former state representative, won out over Andy Levin, scion of the Levin political dynasty (Sander, Carl et al.). The margin was 776 votes.
McBee's cut was barely 3 percent of the vote, a slim total of 3,118 votes. It wasn't enough to be a contender. But it was more than enough to give Pappageorge the victory. Put another way: Those left-leaning protest votes were four times the votes Levin needed to win.
"The Green Party gave us four years of Bush, now they're giving us four more years of a Michigan Republican Legislature," growled David Fink, an Andy Levin supporter and former Granholm official.
McBee and one other Green Party candidate -- Lloyd Clarke in the Saginaw-area 32nd District -- played spoilers so effectively they kept the Senate in Republican hands. (In the 32nd district, Democrat Carl Williams lost by 520 votes; Clarke the Green got 2,326).
McBee, who described himself as a lifelong social activist on a League of Women Voters form, is for transgender rights and anti-war -- not exactly Republican motifs.
Is he in hiding?
When I called McBee at his Royal Oak phone number to discuss the election, I got only the amateurish, but affecting, wail of a blues harmonica being played. Wah, wah, wah.
Irony intended?
McBee's e-mail address was also idiosyncratic. And as of my deadline Wednesday, there was no response.
So I cannot tell you how McBee felt, the morning after the election, having lost but also having played a significant role in helping the Republicans keep their majority.
Instead, I asked Campbell, the Green Party candidate for governor. "If you get a minority of the vote, you should lose -- you deserve to lose," he said of the Levin effort. "Why should anyone think otherwise?"
An interesting question -- until you remember he belongs to a political party designed to lose.
You can reach Laura Berman at (248) 647-7221 or lberman@detnews.com.