Rick Baxter
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 Rick Baxter official portrait |
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| Born: | July 18, 1979 (age 27) Jackson County USA |
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| Occupation: | District Director Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI), Chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party |
| Spouse: | Erica Ann |
| Children: | Isaac Isaiah, Rachel Ann, & Seth Alexander |
Rick Baxter is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He started out, from 2003 - 2004, as a county commissioner for the County of Jackson, Michigan. Later, from 2005 - 2006, he served as a Republican in the Michigan House of Representatives for the 64th district, representing Jackson County.
Baxter, has been in office since a relatively early age, 23 as a county commissioner, 25 as a State Representative.
After serving as the State Representative, he ran and was unopposed to be the next chairman of the Jackson County Republican. Baxter promised to bring the Republican back to be the ruling party of Jackson County, Michigan. In his first few months of serving as chair he has completely reorganized the local party by rewriting their by-laws, consolidating their committees to be more broad and effective, and chaired their first major fundraiser featuring Karl Rove that raised in one event more than the county party usually raised in an entire year. He also works as District Director / Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI).
[edit] Controversy
Baxter's first action, in 2003, that drew the ire of his some locals, was when he proposed the "Sanctity of Marriage” Resolution, in the County of Jackson. This resolution, obviously, was a polarizing element in the State of Michigan at the time. Baxter endeared himself to his social conservative constituents and made himself Public Enemy No. 1 to Democrats, Homosexual and Transgender proponents. The resolution passed and a year later Baxter ran for State Representative, at the same time as the state had banning same-sex marriage on the ballot, which contrinuted to a win.
Controversy has surrounded this short-lived political figure. Baxter defeated an incumbent Republican county commissioner when he was elected in 2004. Two years later he ran for an open seat for State Representative. He defeated two other Republicans in the primary and won a very tight race in the general. For his next re-election, in 2006, he was challenged in the primary by a formally defeated foe, Bob Ross. Baxter defeated him but went on to lose his re-election bid in the general. The Democrats spent more than a million dollars for their candidate in 2006. That race, to date, was the most expensive State Representative race in Jackson County's history.
In 2004, one of his primary opponents filed a complaint against Baxter about a contribution his family's business made to a non-profit (which yielded high-level endorsments). The organization took the corporate check and deposited it into their PAC, which is against state law. Several accusations were made during this time but in the end, the PAC was fined for their actions and the PAC was ordered to return the company's money. Baxter's family company was cleared of any wrong doing and has yet to see their money returned to them. The PAC has since disappeared. Baxter has had the event used against him by every one of his opponents, Republican or Democrat, in every one of his campaigns since.
