# Liberty Movement > Defenders of Liberty > Justin Amash Forum >  Brian Ellis announces primary challenge against Justin Amash

## jct74

> *GOP rival announces Justin Amash primary*
> 
> By TAL KOPAN | 10/8/13 6:17 AM EDT
> 
> A businessman is challenging libertarian Rep. Justin Amash in the Republican primary for his Michigan House seat.
> 
> Brian Ellis announced the campaign on Tuesday, saying Amash has turned his back on conservative principles. Elliss campaign bio describes him as a fiscal and social conservative Republican who embraces traditional values, limited government, and strong national security.
> 
> ...
> ...


http://www.politico.com/story/2013/1...use-97971.html

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## jct74

> *West Michigan businessman Brian Ellis announces run against Rep. Justin Amash*
> 
> By Andrew Krietz 
> October 08, 2013 at 8:55 AM
> 
> GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Local businessman Brian Ellis will vie for the Republican nomination to a congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Justin Amash.
> 
> Ellis' candidacy, which was declared early Tuesday morning in a press release, pegs him against the sophomore congressman.
> 
> ...


read more:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapi...ian_ellis.html

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## erowe1

Now is the time to dig for dirt before he hires people to clean up whatever is out there on the internet about him.

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## jct74

press release




> *Conservative Republican Brian Ellis Announces Candidacy for U.S. House*
> 
> Congressman Amash Turned Back on Conservative Principles
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grand Rapids, MI (PRWEB) October 08, 2013
> 
> ...


http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11206375.htm

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## erowe1

He was recruited by the establishment because of Amash's small-government votes.

The fact that he's pretending abortion has anything to do with it proves he's a snake. There's dirt on him. We need to find it.

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## JCDenton0451

> He was recruited by the establishment because of Amash's small-government votes.
> 
> The fact that he's pretending abortion has anything to do with it proves he's a snake. There's dirt on him. We need to find it.


Christian fundamentalists may be dumb enough to fall for this. But how many of them live in Michigan anyway?

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## erowe1

> Christian fundamentalists may be dumb enough to fall for this. But how many of them live in Michigan anyway?


Grand Rapids? Are you serious?

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## Warlord

I think Justin will be ok but we need to have his back round here

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## phill4paul

> *He was recruited by the establishment* because of Amash's small-government votes.
> 
> The fact that he's pretending abortion has anything to do with it proves he's a snake. There's dirt on him. We need to find it.


  Finding his political links might be the first step. If he can be painted early as an establishment hack it may help. I really am not familiar w/ Michigan politics so I don't know whether that would make a difference or not.

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## EBounding

This is why the donations were important.  If you can't fund raise, the establishment smells blood in the water.

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## erowe1

> I do know that DeVos (head of Amway, lots of community investment) is backing him


How do you know this?

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## erowe1

> Michigan has a "closed primary", but for all intents and purposes, it's an open primary.  You just pick a Democrat or Republican ballot at your voting location so you can't cross-vote.  You don't have to register beforehand.


Doesn't that make it an open primary?

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## Brett85

It sounds like this could be a problem for Justin, if this guy raises a lot more money than Justin and outspends him by a large amount.

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## EBounding

> Doesn't that make it an open primary?


Yes, but the State calls it a closed primary. And that was just for the Presidential primary.  The last August primary was open.  It'd be nice to go to a caucus/convention system to select party candidates.

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## Bastiat's The Law

I hope the big boys come to help Justin campaign.  Ron, Rand, maybe even Cruz.

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## Brett85

> I hope the big boys come to help Justin campaign.  Ron, Rand, maybe even Cruz.


Especially Lee, since Lee and Amash are good friends and Lee even encouraged him to run for the Senate.

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## Brett85

So far, none of my posts on his Facebook page have been erased.  We'll see how long that lasts.

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## jct74

man, this guy's attacks are really lame...




> Mr. Ellis called Mr. Amashs present votes a cop-out.
> 
> I just think voting present is disrespectful to the citizens of the third district, he said. It means were not represented at all. You need to take a stand.
> 
> One area where Mr. Amash has skillfully hammered past opponents is on his record of never missing a vote compared to those of his opponents, who may not have missed many on a percentage basis, but the number looks big on a raw number basis.
> 
> Mr. Ellis said attendance is important, but how you vote is more important.
> 
> He can get his little gold star for attendance, but I think the citizens of this district deserve a representative who votes with conservative Republican values, he said. This, to me, is a conservative Republican district. I think they want a representative that reflects those values and our present representative does not.


h ttp://ellis4congress.com/news/ellis-comes-out-firing-on-amash/

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## Bastiat's The Law

> Especially Lee, since Lee and Amash are good friends and Lee even encouraged him to run for the Senate.


Yeah, Mike Lee would be great!

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## Cleaner44

> I hope the big boys come to help Justin campaign.  Ron, Rand, maybe even Cruz.


This is where we will find out who the friends of liberty are.

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## Cleaner44

> Agreed but I advise all to be civil, report the facts and don't antagonize or come off negatively on Amash. So far, good job Rocco!





> Agree 1000%, with the same caveat FSP Rebel mentioned. Gotta win the social media battle!


Agreed. Facts should be our allies.

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## MichaelDavis

> I created a quick website so we can gather details on this joker:
> https://ellis4congress.wordpress.com/


Just a heads up: neoconservative is not an insult for most Republican candidates. If you have knowledge about his foreign policy views, call him a "warmonger". If he supports Syrian intervention, be sure to mention that.

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## Bastiat's The Law

> Just a heads up: neoconservative is not an insult for most Republican candidates. If you have knowledge about his foreign policy views, call him a "warmonger". If he supports Syrian intervention, be sure to mention that.


You'd actually get further if you spin it as him being allied with al Qaeda and supporting them.  The warmongers are so overzealous for war that they've allied themselves with al Qaeda.

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## Slutter McGee

If the challenge gets serious Amash should start playing the game like Rand. At least until he is entrenched. 

Ron did it.

Slutter McGee

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## Brett85

This guy has been flat out lying about Justin's positions on his Facebook page.  I've been calling him out on it.  Others should as well.

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## EBounding

> Just posted the wordpress article up to Ellis's facebook page....THIS is where we can have a real impact. Lets make his social media life hell!
> 
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/ellis4congress



Looks like you struck a nerve with him, lol.  Here's his lame response:

https://www.facebook.com/ellis4congr...94104687384122




> We have received several comments regarding the history/budget deficiencies during the time I was on the school board, which I want to address.
> 
> The school board deliberately built up its surplus so that when times were bad we would could weather the storm. Due to the difficult economy, the state did cut funding and raised pension costs to school districts so we deliberately drew down our surplus in a prudent manner to maintain programs for children.
> 
> For more information on my role om East Grand Rapids, Michigan's school board, view my LinkedIn profile:

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## Rocco

Ellis finally banned me  Be sure to post this on his wall! 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU9vulSGWkg#t=74

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## jct74

Brian Ellis claims to agree with Justin on NSA, but says Edward Snowden is a "flat-out traitor".




> "To me, it's two separate issues," Ellis said. "I'm not privy to all the data and information that (Amash) has, but by everything I read, it appears as if the NSA has overstepped the bounds and possibly is being too intrusive with collection of the data. We should reign that in.
> 
> "Where I'm not in agreement (with Amash,) ... when a government contractor takes our secrets ... goes to a foreign country and spills, Amash calls that a whistleblower. I have a problem with that. He's a flat-out traitor in my book.
> 
> "I agree with what (Amash) is doing. Again, if the NSA appears, I'm going by what I read, if this steps over the line, then by all means our privacy should be protected. Our privacy and and safety always has been at tension. It appears we have overreacted from 9/11 and 9/11 was a horrific event, and our government has reacted to keep us safe. I think we all want safety ... but that doesn't give (Edward) Snowden a pass. He's broken laws.
> 
> "He's exposing our precious methods and information all designed to keep the country safe. That is not a whistleblower in my mind. ... There's a way to do that within our country and within our laws and he chose to violate that and disclose that information."


http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapi...ctions_in.html

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## jct74

> Ellis finally banned me  Be sure to post this on his wall! 
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU9vulSGWkg#t=74


there has been a lot more people posting on his facebook page ever since the mini-debate on the radio yesterday, the interview was posted on Ben Swann's site so I think that is where some people came from.

https://www.facebook.com/BenSwannRea...16984981699789

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## TaftFan

I'm posting as Don Hall on there.

Cathy Ann, Joyce Simonson, and Nancy Sue Martin are liberals who troll Amash's page. Call them out if you get the chance.

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## jct74

Ellis has a new smear website up stopamash.com, it says Justin voted with Obama 51% of the time in 2012 and repeats a few other of his worn out attacks about the Keystone pipeline, Paul Ryan budget, Planned Parenthood, etc.  here's a screenshot of it so you don't have to give it any traffic.

http://i.imgur.com/o5v8NbU.png

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## Brett85

> Brian Ellis claims to agree with Justin on NSA


He knows which way the wind is blowing.

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## Natural Citizen

> I'm posting as Don Hall on there.
> 
> Cathy Ann, Joyce Simonson, and Nancy Sue Martin are liberals who troll Amash's page. Call them out if you get the chance.


You crack me up sometimes, taft. Get me to giggling, man.

Love the Tom Selleck pic, btw. Heh.

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