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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Be Ready


    By Michelle McManus, Section News
    Posted on Wed May 06, 2009 at 04:19:59 PM EST
    Tags: deficit, taxes, spending, Tea Party (all tags)

    (Promoted by Nick... Thanks, Senator, for checking in and for the warning!)

    As you know, the Michigan Legislature this week approved the governor's Executive Order to resolve a deficit of more than $1 billion for the current fiscal year. This is only the first step in addressing our state's overarching budget crisis.

    Be ready.

    To the thousands of people across Michigan who attended the Tea Parties on April 15 - be ready.  Despite the fact that the mainstream media under-reported your passion for smaller, more reasonable government, you know who you are.  Standing on the steps of Michigan's Capitol, I felt the passion of your convictions. You came to the Capitol not to rally against anyone, but to stand up for an idea - that government must live within its means.  Now I encourage you to be ready to put your convictions to work and encourage a new direction for our state government.

    In the coming weeks and months, you will hear our governor yet again make dire statements about Michigan's financial woes and how state government is slipping further and further into the red.  She is even talking about tinkering with the income tax. Anyone else think that sounds like Democrat-speak for raising taxes?  Be ready.

    My Republican colleagues in the Michigan Senate have had enough.  We are making our stand.  We will not be led down the path of another middle-of-the-night tax increase when what we need to do is learn to live within our means like the hardworking taxpayers of this state.  Democratic Leadership in the Michigan House and the governor's mansion are fearful of what the Tea Party crowd might represent - taxpayers fed up with government overreaching who are willing to mobilize and do something about it.  They will publicly dismiss the showing as a GOP stunt, but in their heart of hearts they know it was a groundswell and their best defense is to close their eyes in hopes that you will just go away.  Be ready.

    When the Michigan Senate makes its stand, we need you to be there for us.  Have your state rep, state senator and the governor's phone number on speed dial, and be ready to make your voice heard as we make our case for a stronger, leaner state government.  Be ready.

    To stay up-to-date on the effort to take back our government, you can follow me on Twitter at @michellemcmanus.

    Your time is coming.  Be ready.

    < Michigan: Leadership or a funeral? A Choice for Republicans | GM closings have Lansing poised to see another steep drop in tax receipts >


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    Be Ready | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 hidden)
    Nice! (none / 0) (#2)
    by Republican2679 on Wed May 06, 2009 at 07:41:09 PM EST
    Very good article.  

    We're waiting Senator (none / 0) (#3)
    by stevenstmason on Wed May 06, 2009 at 09:07:05 PM EST
    This is shades of 2007. Republican leaders talked about how they were going to hold the hard line. But Senators failed to produce a list of actual cuts that could get the support of the entire caucus. How does anyone take this talk seriously if Senators won't produce a list of real cuts?

    Restrict Funds (none / 0) (#7)
    by Brady on Thu May 07, 2009 at 09:42:30 AM EST
    Nick, actually in many of those case, the spending resrictions were approved by voters, not legislators and they are sometimes constituional law as well as statutory law.  Michigan voters have indicated they want a large portion of the budget to be restricted to avoid those funds from being raided to cover GF/GP budget deficits.  Road funding, school funding and the Natural Resources Trust Fund are all examples.

    2007 Senate budget cuts (none / 0) (#9)
    by Brady on Thu May 07, 2009 at 09:58:20 AM EST
    Jackietreehorn, the budget cuts proposed by the Senate in 2007 amounted to $900 million out of a $1.75 billion dollar deficit.  This is hardly making up the entire deficit with cuts.  And these were cuts which even Republican Senator Valde Garica described as "unrealistic" and which the Capitol press more politely described as "gamesmanship".  House Democrats, by the way, proposed a similar set of cuts in 2007 which were rejected by Republicans as "partisan".

    Kevin.... (none / 0) (#15)
    by Brady on Thu May 07, 2009 at 12:30:19 PM EST
    Don't get too excited.  I was merely saying that a concept like the graduated income tax or a progressive consumption tax (Fair Tax) should be considered.  Both would have to be approved by Michigan voters and at this point, I think a graduated income tax is the more likely of the two.  And I'm sure there are other options out there.  As for who I work for, I'm speaking for myself, not anyone else.

    I'll Believe It When I See It (none / 0) (#17)
    by wctaxpayer on Thu May 07, 2009 at 01:48:58 PM EST
    If I hear Republicans say "we had no choice" one more time I will get sick. They have a choice. They just don't choose to make it. Someone Save Our State!
    Rose Bogaert, Chair Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Inc.
    No Credibility (none / 0) (#19)
    by stevenstmason on Thu May 07, 2009 at 10:27:13 PM EST
    This is why Republicans in Lansing have no credibility. Nick leads off with this statement:

    "Check out Jack McHugh's blog in Thursday in the Sphere, today.  There are billions in potential savings out there.  They are achievable.  They will hurt.  They are necessary."

    If you go to Jack's blog, you see the cuts include this:

    "Shift state police road patrols to less expensive county sheriff deputies. With benefits and related expenses it costs more than $100,000 per year to employ a state trooper; most sheriff deputies cost much less to employ. Effect on public safety: Zero. Savings: $65 million."

    But when it is proposed to cut funding for state troopers, every Republican in Lansing cries foul. It can't be both ways. If Lansing Republicans can't stand behind the cuts they claim to support, they'll have zero credibility with the public.


    McManus not for real. (none / 0) (#25)
    by Angry White Male on Sun May 10, 2009 at 09:04:25 AM EST
    On April 1 she voted to restore $3.5 million for arts grants which the Governor had recommended eliminating. She also voted "no" on an amendment to the same bill that would remove $22,400 for a "Michigan history day" grant to the Historical Society of Michigan. McManus puts on the mask of a fiscal conservative, but immediately after the the 2007 tax hike she voted for spending increases that spent every extra penny they took.

    BTW, McHugh proposed firing state cops and replacing them with an equal number of county mounties, who are much cheaper and who are trained to a standard that the MSP essentially devise (so don't try to argue that they're a bunch of gomers.)

    McManus is no different than this guy.

    Be Ready | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 hidden)
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