Senate Showdown: “Combative” GOP Senate Primary Will “Drain Resources,” Rogers Takes More “Flak” for Working With “Chinese Telecom Giants”

Tim Skubick: "The U.S. Senate race, Republican side, starting to get a little ugly."

LANSING - What's the status of the Michigan GOP Senate Showdown? It's getting "bitter," "vicious," "increasingly combative," and "particularly nasty" as Mike Rogers, Justin Amash, and Sandy Pensler continue to "blast" and "attack" each other.

To add fuel to the fire, Rogers is taking more "flak" for "consort[ing] with lobbyists," "repeatedly [standing] in the way of campaign finance reforms," and got rich working with "Chinese telecom giants" that "posed a national security threat to the United States."

Here's the latest on the "increasingly combative" and "particularly nasty" GOP Senate primary:

• Claws are out. Reporting from Bridge Michigan details how Mike Rogers is taking "flak" in the "increasingly combative" and "particularly nasty" primary as Amash and Pensler "repeatedly blast" and "attack" him as a "deep state … establishment stooge."

• Bridge Michigan notes that Pensler "has already launched an ad campaign against Rogers and used Rogers' past… as political fodder." Amash has "repeatedly blasted" Rogers for being "the worst establishment candidate that you could ever imagine."

• Michigan pollster Richard Czuba said the GOP primary is "going to become a particularly nasty race," and it will "drain a lot of resources that the Republican candidates don't seem to have."

• People are asking… where does Rogers even live? Bridge Michigan highlights how Rogers is living "at a home reportedly owned by his sister-in-law," and the Michigan house he bought right when he moved back is still under construction.

• Reporters are noting the messy infighting in the primary. Tim Skubick summed it up on Off the Record, "the U.S. Senate race, Republican side, starting to get a little ugly."

• Skubick also pointed out how Republicans are discontent with Rogers and the desire for Trump to endorse someone else.

• Political commentators pointed out Pensler's "damaging bodyblow ads up against Mike Rogers."

• Richard Czuba summed up the Republican primary as "bitter" and "vicious." Czuba went on to say the Pensler ads "could hurt" Rogers, and the work that the general nominee will have to do to unify the party after the August primary.

• The Gander shined a light on how Rogers "consorted with lobbyists and repeatedly stood in the way of campaign finance reforms that were designed to minimize corporate influence in politics and bring more transparency to political spending."

• Rogers' opposition to campaign finance reform is comparable to… *checks notes* prostitution? Rogers suggested that cracking down on money in politics would be ineffective because "it's like the old saying about a prostitute. You'll do it for a million or you'll do it for a dollar-it still makes you a prostitute. It's the same way with corruption."

• Rogers working with "Chinese telecom giants" that "posed a national security threat to the United States?" It's more likely than you think. American Journal News shined a light on Rogers' work in Congress that highlighted the dangers of Huawei and ZTE to national security and his subsequent work at AT&T when the company was doing business with both companies.

• Pensler reiterated his desire to gut Social Security, emphasizing that politicians need to "take on the entitlements" and "cut the deficit."

• On Thursday, the Senate voted on "one of the toughest border and immigration laws in modern history." However, Mike Rogers stands against the "most conservative border bill in decades" backed by border patrol agents and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that would have strengthened our border and stopped the flow of fentanyl.

See for yourself:

Bridge Michigan: Trump 'warrior' Mike Rogers takes flak in Michigan GOP primary for U.S. Senate

• Even as Trump praised Rogers in his recent rally, some fans began chanting the name of long-shot grassroots candidate Sherry O'Donnell. Others had already launched an online petition urging Trump to rescind his Rogers endorsement.
• GOP rival Sandy Pensler is running television ads… and fellow Senate candidate Justin Amash has repeatedly blasted Rogers as a "deep state … establishment stooge."
• "It's going to become a particularly nasty race, from what we're seeing very early on," said Richard Czuba, a longtime Michigan pollster and founder of the Glengariff Group Inc. "It's going to drain a lot of resources that the Republican candidates don't seem to have."
• Pensler, a self-funded business executive, has already launched an ad campaign against Rogers and used Rogers' past… as political fodder.
• Amash, his one-time Congressional colleague, recently called Rogers "the worst establishment candidate that you could ever imagine."
• Rogers' opponents have capitalized on his long record in Congress and the comments he made on CNN and other networks, raising concerns about his work in the intelligence community…
• Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Sam Chan suggested the infighting will leave Republicans with "a badly-damaged candidate who is out of touch with working families."

Bridge Michigan: "Mike Rogers, a Livingston County native who represented the region in Congress from 2001 through 2014, moved to Florida after his retirement from the U.S. House and was up until recently registered to vote at a home he owns in Cape Coral… In January, the Michigan Advance reported that he and his wife had purchased a home in Oakland County's White Lake Township but were not yet residing there. That property is currently undergoing a rebuild…"

Off the Record: Tim Skubick: "The US Senate race, on the Republican side, starting to get a little ugly."

Off the Record: Tim Skubick: "Well, how do you account for the fact that some of the Trumpers want Mr. Trump to undo what he'd done did with Mr. Rogers?"

WJR Radio: "Sandy Pensler has some pretty damaging bodyblow ads up against Mike Rogers… do those do any lasting impact?"

Richard Czuba: "Well you know, as I said, I think we're going to see the Republican primary become pretty bitter, pretty vicious. And what kind of damage does that cause to whoever the nominee is? … But do these Pensler ads start to hurt [Rogers?] And then if he is the nominee, what work does he have to do to unify the party after the August primary?"

The Gander: Mike Rogers voted against reining in special interests. Now he's running for US Senate.

• …Voting records show one Republican US Senate candidate from Michigan has done little (if anything) to curb the outsized role that cash-and corporate influence-plays in deciding federal policy. His name is Mike Rogers.
• Rogers served 14 years in Congress before announcing his retirement in 2014, and a review of his record from his time in the House of Representatives shows that Rogers consorted with lobbyists and repeatedly stood in the way of campaign finance reforms that were designed to minimize corporate influence in politics and bring more transparency to political spending.
• In 2002, Rogers voted against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, otherwise known as the McCain-Feingold Act, which regulated political spending and required candidates to "stand by" their advertisements-namely by throwing a tagline with their name at the end of commercials.
• When asked about why he opposed the legislation ahead of the vote, Rogers, at the time, explained to one reporter: "It's like the old saying about a prostitute. You'll do it for a million or you'll do it for a dollar-it still makes you a prostitute. It's the same way with corruption."
• The legislation passed into law without Rogers' support, and was billed as the most significant campaign finance law to be passed by federal lawmakers since at least 1974.
• In 2006, Rogers voted against a House Resolution that sought to ban lawmakers from accepting gifts from lobbyists, including travel expenses. It also sought to close (or at least slow down) the so-called "revolving door" of ex-lawmakers retiring from Congress to pursue often-lucrative careers as lobbyists by extending the lobbying ban on former legislators from one to two years.
• Later that summer, Rogers was reportedly spotted on the bow of a luxury yacht alongside lobbyists with the National Marine Manufacturers Association. The event-dubbed the "Congressional Cruise Series"-was billed, unabashedly, as a way for lobbyists to develop relationships with influential politicians, according to reports from the Chicago Tribune.
• A few years later, in 2010, Rogers voted against the DISCLOSE Act, which would've required groups who spend money on elections to disclose their largest donors-namely to help lift the veil on so-called "dark money" groups that hide their donors while trying to influence voters.
• In 2011, Rogers voted against another piece of legislation that would've required presidential campaigns to disclose any contributions from foreign individuals, corporations, or countries-as well as any donor who spends more than $100,000 during the presidential election cycle.
• And in 2014, Rogers voted for legislation that would have effectively blocked the IRS from issuing proposed regulations designed to require more transparency in political spending.
• At the time, advocacy groups said the legislation only helped preserve a tax loophole created through Citizens United that allows corporations, associations, and the super rich to conceal multi-million dollar investments through the guise of so-called "social welfare" organizations.

American Journal News: Mike Rogers' ties to Chinese telecom giants fuel hypocrisy scandal

• Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers warned in 2012 that the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE posed a national security threat to the United States.
• Four years later, he was hired by AT&T, which did business with both entities. The transition adds to a growing list of issues Rogers has flip flopped on.
• Starting in 2011, he was the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Under his leadership, the committee investigated two Chinese telecommunication companies: Huawei and ZTE.
• Rogers' committee concluded in a 2012 report that both Huawei and ZTE were arms of the Chinese government, had stolen trade secrets from American corporations, and could potentially spy on Americans.
• Rogers left Congress in 2015. As detailed in a report from the Detroit News, he was hired by AT&T in 2016 to be their Chief Security Adviser. At the time, AT&T was trying to broker a deal with Huawei to sell Huawei products in the United States. Congress, relying on the report from Rogers' committee, pressured AT&T to not do business with the Chinese company.
• When Rogers was with AT&T, the company also had dealings with ZTE.
• The FBI warned in 2018 that no American ZTE or Huawei product is completely safe.
• It is unclear when Rogers stopped working with AT&T.

Talk of the North: Pensler: "I think this professional class of politicians that we've created just doesn't take on the hard decisions. It doesn't take on the entitlements. It doesn't take on cutting the deficit."

Focus: When asked about Pensler's attack ads on him, Rogers responded "…I just don't know why people listen to you. And so somebody that's not doing well in the polls, this is a flailing candidate…"

Michigan Democratic Party: Mike Rogers Stands Against "Most Conservative Border Bill in Decades," Prioritizes Politics Over Border Security

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