Former Knollenberg staffer takes aim at Peters in MI-9

The former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, is looking to avenge the defeat of his old boss at the hands of Gary Peters.

Paul Welday served as Knollenberg’s chief of staff for nine years before the Bloomfield Township Republican lost to Peters in one of 2008’s biggest political fights in Michigan. Now Welday is beginning his campaign about 19 months before Election Day 2010 to beat Peters, a Bloomfield Hills Democrat.

Welday said he’s better in tune with the 9th Congressional District, which takes in much of Oakland County, and that Peters’ support of a bigger, more expensive federal government puts him out of step with the historically Republican district’s voters.

“He has continually voted to expand the size and scope of the federal government and spend tax payers money in a way that will bankrupt future generations,” Welday said in a recent interview, citing Peters’ votes in favor of the $787 billion stimulus bill and $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill that funds the federal government through September.

However, the suburban district, which includes Rochester, Auburn Hills, Pontiac, Troy, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham and Farmington Hills, has picked up a Democratic tilt in recent years. In 2006, Knollenberg won re-election by 14,770 votes. In 2008, Peters beat Knollenberg 52 percent to 43 percent. Inside Michigan Politics’ Bill Ballenger said Peters has the inside track to win, but added that the election is far too distant to make firm predictions.

Thus far, Peters’ most public role in his four-month-old term was his proposal to tax bonuses given by American International Group to employees after it received federal bailout money. While Peters’ proposal didn’t become law, it was one of a few that were used to threaten AIG’s employees to give up their bonus pay.

Welday said going forward all companies that receive bailout money should have their bonuses “brought in line” before taking additional federal money. However, Welday said Peters essentially allowed the bonuses to be paid when he voted for the stimulus bill last year, which had removed language to limit executive compensation.

On arguably the most important effort the feds have undertaken regarding Michigan’s economy, loans to General Motors and Chrysler, Welday said he backs the idea of lending to the automakers.

“I believe the federal loans to the automakers are an important step to the recovery of General Motors and Chrysler,” Welday said.

Welday said that if elected, he’d want to push to establish “renaissance regions” for the hardest hit areas of the country, similar to Michigan’s 150 “renaissance zones” that are virtually free of state and local taxes.

Welday said the goal of the government’s economic efforts should be to help the private sector create long-term jobs and growth, and reaching that goal first through targeted tax cuts, then regulatory reform and finally spending.

Coming full circle, Welday said Knollenberg, his former boss, told him to simply work early and hard at winning against Peters.

“I know some disagree with it, but he was a hard working, committed representative from this area and I was proud to work for him,” Welday said.

Welday may not go unchallenged in the Republican primary though. Former State Rep. Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski has been weighing a bid for the GOP nomination. Ballenger said Raczkowski has a better chance than Welday to win the GOP primary election.

“Look, Raczkowski has been elected to office, served in office, ran statewide in 2002 even though he got beat by [Democratic U.S. Sen.] Carl Levin,” Ballenger said, adding that Welday is “well known and well liked” but lacks an electoral base from which he can run.

Ballenger said Raczkowski is overseas on duty in the U.S. Army Reserve and efforts to reach Raczkowski were not successful.

While Raczkowski hasn’t officially announced, two other names have been the subject of speculation for a challenge to Peters: Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, who unsuccessfully ran against Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2006, and state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop of Rochester.

Regardless of which candidate wins the Republican Party primary, Peters is a well-heeled opponent. The congressman raised more money than any other U.S. representative from Michigan in the first quarter of the current election cycle. Peters brought in $433,000 or about a fifth of what he raised and spent to unseat Knollenberg last year.