YOB’S NEW HOME

Back last November when John Yob bolted from the quagmire of a gubernatorial campaign of former Detroit police chief James Craig, insiders told us that he would eventually be connecting with the expected campaign of Perry L. Johnson, Bloomfield Hills Republican and founder of the Perry Johnson Companies in Troy. Now both gossip items have come to pass. Johnson, billing himself as the “quality guru” – a direct reference to one of his companies that is considered the largest ISO 9000 training company, with a presence in 80 cities globally – is the second millionaire of the 13 GOP hopefuls who have set their sites on the governor’s office. Taking a page from the playbook of former Gov. Rick Snyder, Johnson introduced himself to voters with Super Bowl ads, part of a $1.5 media buy that would provide the candidate with exposure state-wide through early March. The early media push fulfills part of a promise by Johnson to put $2.5 million of his own fortune into this run for office, much like the pledge by deep-pocketed Kevin Rinke of Bloomfield Township, who says he’ll spend millions of his own stash to win the August primary. As for Yob, he managed the 2010 and 2014 runs by Snyder for governor and has a long history of political consulting for the likes of David Trott, Candice Miller, Bill Schuette, just to name a few.