Mike Duggan’s auto insurance subsidy legislator buddy in action…
Police: State senator facing charges after Detroit shooting
Sorta looks like ‘ol Virg took Slo-Joe Biden’s advice to heart, huh? Actually, it also appears that ‘ol Virg took Bill Clinton’s advice to bed, too. Yep. Democrats being Democrats. #WhiteMercedesMatter
But, never fear, Worthy is kicking that can down the memory hole from the 36 hour *news* cycle.
(13)Nuh Uh.
(2)Spending Money Is Not Leadership
Kwame’s and Bobbie’s ‘Bridge of Bucks’ over Telegraph Road
Now that Michigan voters have mercilessly dispatched Proposal 1 to the garbage can of history, lets talk a bit about the philosophy of a truly effective plan to get Michigan’s roads and bridges up to par. This will provide a proper foundation for developing a ‘Plan B’ which will actually improve Michigan’s roads and bridges, and be acceptable to the population as well.
The underlying premise of Proposal 1 was that the only action required to fix up Michigan’s roads and bridges was injecting big money into the Michigan Transportation Fund. The depraved philosophy of modern American government. Not true and the voters knew it. But Michigan’s power elite believed that opposition could be neutralized by icing a pile of feces with chocolate frosting. Didn’t work despite a lavish $ 10 million effort.
The condition of Michigan’s roads and bridges has only a casual relationship with the funds available in the MTF. In 2014, 11% of MTF funds were siphoned off by various State of Michigan Departments in the form of charge backs for ‘services’ rendered to the MTF, as well as priority grants that have little to do with roads and bridges. Debt service is also a component of this 11%, but that is effectively a payment for previous time preferences of bureaucrats and politicians. Then 9.5% of the remainder was diverted to the Comprehensive Transportation Fund for mass transit. Finally, the MTF was partitioned amongst the State Trunkline Fund (36%), county road agencies (34.6%), and cities (19.8%). In each partition, further funds are siphoned off by charge backs, pension payments, and OPEBs. What’s left for the roads is more a function of politicians and bureaucrats preferences at every level than the amount of money front loaded into the MTF.
So how do we proceed? First develop a philosophy to frame and inform the ‘Plan B’ debate. After the fold.
(10)Nuh Uh.(0)Just dusting off one of a few old projects that I’ve had one hell of a time trying to finish up over the past few weeks.
Composing a post on a tablet is relatively easy compared to trying to edit something on video. Even moreso when the truck is moving
Watching the local news this afternoon gave me the final push to finish things up before tomorrow.
(5)Nuh Uh.(0)RightMi.Com editors weigh in on their favorite anti-prop 15-1 articles.
We’ve had plenty to say about proposal 15-1.
In fact, there was so much to be said that we had to create a special category for it, and all things leading up to, and related have been edited by Kevin to reflect their importance to the issue. While the traditional media sources play the equal opportunity game with both proponents and opponents of HR UU (proposal 15-1), it’s been our position to not do so. We have maintained that equal opportunity is already a function of those who would lie about its ‘advantages,’ and it needs no further promotion to make it one of the most dangerous options Michiganians have ever faced at the ballot box.
As we wrap up the arguments with only 2 days left before the polls close, RightMi.com editors thought it important to offer up a few ‘MUST READS!’ As you make a special trip to the polls for an election day that you wouldn’t have if the last legislative session would have done its job we have highlighted the most compelling. The editors have selected 5 or more articles from RightMi.com directly, and one other from anywhere else, traditional or otherwise.
Let the review begin!
(15)Nuh Uh.(2)Prop 1 is for roads???...Hardly...
Detroit’s ‘Core’ a ‘Common’ problem…
Being a ‘newbie’ senior citizen, I’ll have to rely on the ‘old school’ math, but…let’s at least try to sum this up, shall we???
We don’t have to go back too far, let’s just start with the Guv’s 2012 budget, and it’s expansion since then… http://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_state_budget_%282011-2012%29#Deal_negotiated
$47 billion for 2012, and now asking $53 billion…and an estimated $2 billion more each year in tax increases proposed in Prop 1…Just where is all this money going???…Let’s follow some (most) of it…I have…
Starting with the Detroit bankruptcy bailout, $195 million, our State tax money…We’ll try (try, that is) to keep a running total…Stay with me here, the ‘River” gets murky in some spots…http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/detroit-bankruptcy/2014/11/08/detroit-bankruptcy-timeline/18680129/…Speaking of rivers, let’s cross this one… http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/snyder-canadian-leaders-urge-washington-to-fund-dric-customs-plaza. The $550 million Canada has promised for the bridge construction is a loan, to be repaid from tolls, but that’s another story entirely…So Detroit has $195 million in State money to get itself out of Court…
(17)Nuh Uh.(0)
Snyder confronts bailout question: "I don't view it as a bailout when it's really being done in getting something stable and working well."
— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) April 30, 2015
Yep. Another $720,000,000.00 flushed down the drain on the Progressive’s Utopia, City of Detoilet.
(20)Nuh Uh.(0)Awkwardness in the House: @CindyGamrat is withdrawing each of her amendments, one-by-one. There are 23 on a list I saw. Twenty-three.
— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) April 28, 2015
This better have something to do with Plan “B”.
‘Nuff said!
(5)Nuh Uh.(1)It's funny what you find when you kick over a rock.
H/T to Saynotohighertaxes.org
(9)Nuh Uh.(0)SafeRoadsYes! Has A Phantom Contributor
Today was the deadline for the last campaign finance filings with the Michigan Secretary of State before the May 5th vote on Proposal 1. SafeRoadsYes! filed five late contribution reports and a pre-special general report. Contributions supporting Proposal 1 now exceed $ 8 million and, as you might expect, the roster of SafeRoadsYes! contributors reads like a Michigan road constructors’ directory. SafeRoadsYes! expenditures now exceed $ 7.2 million, and SafeRoadsYes! still has more than $ 843,000 yet to be spent. Of course there may be massive contributions yet to be made which would not be reported until after the election.
MGM Grand Casino and FireKeepers Casino contributed $ 50,000 each, presumably to curry favor with the Lansing power elites. BlueCross/Blue Shield and the Michigan Township Association each threw in $ 100,000 which was picked from your pockets by ObamaCare and your property taxes, respectively. Dick DeVos, after having his stooge knife Representative Gamrat for not supporting Proposal 1, got in late with a $ 50,000 contribution from his Alticor investment group.
There is one phantom entity in the SafeRoadsYes! late contribution reports which is worth investigating. An organization called ‘Powering the Economy’ gave $ 75,000 on 22 April. The problem here? ‘Powering the Economy’ doesn’t exist in either the Michigan LARA corporate database or the Secretary of State’s searchable PAC database. So who are they?
Best guess, the merry screw ups at the Detroit Regional Chamber have created a new ballot question PAC to replace their recently terminated – and heavily cited – ‘Detroit Regional Chamber PAC II‘ ballot question PAC. DRC PAC II earned eighteen citations from the SoS since 2013 for filing screw ups. DRC PAC II filed a dissolution notice on 02 April and paid the $ 875.00 dissolution fee on 07 April. ‘Powering the Economy’ has the same address as the Detroit Regional Chamber, One Woodward Avenue in Detroit – which used to be known as the MichCon or ANR Building before Dan Gilbert bought it. And DRC has trademarked ‘Powering the Economy’ as one of their signature catch phrases.
Somebody is ignoring Michigan’s campaign finance laws. Not just ignoring them, trampling them. But this has been a routine practice during the Proposal 1 proponents’ campaign. Our Attorney General is supposed to enforce these laws, but he hasn’t been exactly active on this front despite Schuette ostensibly opposing Proposal 1. So all we can do at this late date is tell you about another scam behind Proposal 1 and let you spike this dragon at the ballot box. Sweet revenge is $ 9 million of your opponents’ money down the drain. Vote May 5th.
(20)Nuh Uh.(0)Admit it. Your front lawn is bland.
It needs something to “jazz it up” a little.
Lawn Gnomes won’t do the trick.
Neither will gazing spheres, solar powered lawn lights or tiny banners displaying the upcoming holiday.
Why not try this?
{Find out about the wonder item that everyone will be clamoring for below the fold}
(10)Nuh Uh.(0)
