The Detroit News reported
The fliers, distributed by Americans for Prosperity — Michigan, ask residents to call or email state Sen. Coleman Young II to reject a bill supporting the proposed public/private bridge.
Residents and a state legislator lambasted the circulars, saying they were a scare tactic by opponents of the bridge.
Dolores Toth, 81, who has heart problems, began to shake after reading the notice, said her son, Steve.
"How low can you go?" Steve Toth said. "This isn't something you do, I don't care who you are."The Michigan Tea Party admits it posted the fake notices -- and made no apologies.
The Detroit Free Press was not amused. Writes Stephen Henderson, in a blistering column,
Emotional terrorism is the cowardly refuge of someone on the losing end of an argument.
Thus Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group unable to muster any real facts in opposition to a publicly built bridge across the Detroit River, has resorted to preying on the fears of residents in one of the city's most distressed areas.
The indecency of the group's campaign is eclipsed only by the obvious desperation of its cause.Henderson said the motive is profit -- the Michigan Tea Party is aligned with the current bridge's owner, Matty Moroun, to prevent competition. The Tea Party won't say where it got the money for the fliers. We can guess.
