UPDATE: Agema has issued a statement to the Detroit Free Press announcing he has sent GOP political operative Chuck Yob (a former GOP Committeemen) to the national meeting to act as his proxy. "My liberal critics within the Republican Party have chosen to elevate this discussion to the RNC Meeting and make it a drawn out fight between liberals and conservatives within the party," Agema said in his statement to the Free Press. "For this reason, I have decided it is best for the party that I not attend the meeting this week and instead have sent a proxy who will vote how I want on Rules."
Under fire for bigoted posts on his Facebook page, former State Rep. and current Michigan Republican National Committeemen Dave Agema appears to have gone AWOL from the annual winter meeting of the national GOP.
The three day confab of party leaders began in Washington DC Wednesday morning, but Agema was apparently not in attendance. The Detroit Free Press is reporting he canceled his two night reservation in a local hotel, and Chad Selweski over at Macomb Politics Politically Speaking blog reports he has been told Agema had canceled those reservations as well.
Meanwhile, Jeff Timmer, co-founder of Sterling Corporation - a leading Republican political consulting firm - posted on Facebook that Agema has resigned. He retracted the claim shortly after on Twitter, writing, "My little bird may have been incorrect about Dave Agema resigning. #wipingeggfrommyface." Gongwer News Service, a subscription only news outlet covering Michigan politics, reports he has not resigned, and that such statements are false rumors.
The move comes as a growing chorus of GOP leaders are beginning to sing from the Agema must resign song hymnal. Congressmen Fred Upton and Justin Amash, Congresswoman Candice Miller, former RNC Committee representatives Betsy DeVos and Saul Anuzis, and Michigan Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville are all among the newly formed sing along chorus. They join former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox who condemned Agema last spring.
While the newly formed chorus is singing Agema resign they may want to turn their hymnal to the Where in the World is Dave Agema song, conducted to the tune of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego."
This is not the first time Agema has disappeared at a key moment in his political life. In 2007, as the state legislature struggled to pass a state budget; Agema took off for trip to Siberia to hunt goats. This move earned him the moniker goat killer over at Michigan Liberal.
So, #WheresAgema? What wild animal is he stalking now, rather than fulfilling the duties of the office to which he was elected by the state Republican Party?
