Politics

Update: Rick Snyder Campaign Boots Dirty Trickster Intern

June 25, 2014, 2:45 PM by  Alan Stamm

Sneaky campaign snooping can be a career setback for a political science student, especially when it becomes public.

That lesson hits home swiftly for a Michigan teen caught in a stunt that sent Rick Snyder's re-election staff into next-day damage control, as Jonathan Oosting reports at MLive:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's re-election campaign has parted ways with an intern who asked about volunteering for Democratic challenger Mark Schauer in an apparent attempt to infiltrate the rival campaign.

Snyder campaign spokesperson Emily Benavides described Taylor Grenawalt as a "former" part-time intern who was let go as soon as it was learned he had sent emails to Schauer staffers and his running mate Lisa Brown.

Benavides makes a point of saying the aggressive college student "told me it was something he had done on his own accord." 

Online reactions include a Michigan Liberal blog post by Eric Baerren of Mount Pleasant, who comments:

The most outrageous thing here is how incompetent this guy was as disguising himself. It speaks to the need for a better class of dirty trickster.

I mean, I take the Snyder people at their word that he didn't do this under their direction [and] give them credit for being smarter than not telling him to clean up his online profile, but this was carried out so ineptly that even if it gets exposed that you just simply can't take any credit for it.

Tuesday night article:

Taylor Grenawalt, a 19-year-old from East Lansing, is used to pinning opponents as a Brown University wrestler. Now he's accused of unsportsmanlike political conduct after an apparent try to infiltrate Mark Schauer's campaign for governor.


Taylor Grenawalt, shown as a high school senior, is back in East Lansing this summer and apparently tried some political mischief.

In a six-sentence email Tuesday to the Democratic candidate's deputy campaign manager, Tess Troha-Thompson, Grenawalt said he's "very interested in volunteering and getting involved . . . with the Mark Schauer campaign." A copy of the message and a May 27 inquiry to the office's general email address are posted by Chris Savage of Dexter at his eclectablog, a progressive news and politics site.

The Schauer campaign did a bit of checking into Taylor Grenawalt and, without much effort, discovered that he is, in fact, an intern with Governor Rick Snyder’s reelection campaign. ...

On his LinkedIn page, he describes his role in the Snyder campaign as doing “data research and analysis for Governor Rick Snyder’s reelection campaign.” . . .

A trip around Facebook shows that Grenawalt is, indeed, a major supporter of Governor Snyder. He posted a Rick Snyder campaign video on several Michigan College Republican pages.

Savage sees more than a misguided student stunt.

"Given that Grenawalt just completed his freshman year at Brown, it’s pretty unlikely that he was acting on his own," he writes, bypassing the possibility that Grenawalt may have wanted to stand out from Snyder's intern brigade and impress staffers with ad hoc opposition snooping. The teen didn't answer the blogger's comment request.

Zack Pohl, Schauer's spokesman, tells Savage their campaign "has never sent anyone to volunteer, intern or work for another campaign.” Pohl seizes the chance for a mighty swing at an easy one:

“It looks like Republican Rick Snyder has sunk to a new low. First he sent a campaign staffer to pose as a fake CNN reporter at a Schauer town hall and now he’s sending interns to spy on our campaign. This is a desperate and Nixonian move, and the people of Michigan deserve better from our governor. Snyder needs to stop the dirty tricks and apologize.”

Maybe that's what happened. Or maybe the fact that Grenawalt just finished his freshman year, studying political science and psychology, explains why his infiltration mission was so sophomoric.

Earlier at Deadline Detroit:

Coldwatergate: Did Gov. Snyder's Team Send A Fake CNN Cameraman To Shadow Schauer?, March 7


Read more:  MLive


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