Jerry D. Roe (born 1936) is currently an adjunct professor at Lansing Community College[1] and is best known for his 10-year stint from 1969 to 1979 as the executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.

"I decided around that time to become a Republican because it seemed to me from reading history that the GOP was much stronger on foreign policy matters," Roe said.

Comments like that, one newspaper reported, qualified the outgoing GOP executive director as "one of the most colorful -- and controversial -- figures in state Republican circles.

[7] "While Roe insists the 166-mile train ride was only a part of the reason for Ford's almost 2-1 trouncing of Californian Ronald Reagan, others say it was a key factor in the race.

"President Ford, his campaign running dangerously low on steam, took a whistle-stop tour through Illinois yesterday.

[10] Responding to national media inquiries about narrowing poll numbers in Michigan during the 1976 campaign between Governor Jimmy Carter and Ford, Roe commented: "I'd rather be ahead at this point than behind.

"When county party [GOP] chairs descended on Lansing to meet with Roe, he said, 'They would say things like, If that goddamned Millken doesn't shape up --' Then they'd go to a reception with him and tell him they loved him.

[15] He was elected in August 2008 at Michigan Republican State Convention as Presidential Elector for John McCain in the 7th Congressional District.