Tag: Cherry (page 2)

Serious questions created by a serious bit of... pure, unadulterated lunacy... coming out of the Granholm-Cherry administration.  Yesterday 100 state police troopers lost their jobs on orders from the Governor and her 2010 Gubernatorial candidate.  Last week Lansing Democrats fought to keep alive the administration's dream for a new, inefficient, hundred million dollar state police headquarters that the state police don't want.  Meanwhile, this year alone, 3,500 dangerous convicted felons are being released EARLY from prison and set loose in Michigan neighborhoods.

So what's a state to do with fewer cops walking the beat, more law enforcement dollars swallowed up paying to provide pet projects (and big paydays) to Democratic donors / developers and a sudden spike in the number of dangerous career criminals prowling the streets?

Import more criminals.  From California.  

Import.  Criminals.  From California.

Who came up with this idea, Lex Luthor?  Norman Osborn?  The Joker?  No, no and, well...

According to Booth Newspapers, this one is the brainchild of the Granholm-Cherry team.  

California has too many prisoners and Michigan soon will have too many empty prison cells.

Therein lies the possibility of a "mutually beneficial partnership," Gov. Jennifer Granholm told Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter Monday...

In her letter, Granholm referenced earlier conversations with Schwarzenegger in which she said Michigan "could be of help."

Granholm said she was "certain that Michigan can provide a safe and secure environment for prisoners and help prepare them for a return to California and a crime-free lifestyle."

What's worse, this can't even be chocked up as an outside-the-box scheme to generate extra revenue for the state.  According to Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan, "we're not looking to make any money off this."  

Marlan said in regards to the California offer, Michigan would be seeking mainly to recover labor, food and health care costs.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised.  The administration has already crippled our economy, swelled the ranks of the unemployed to record levels, put a nearly unbearable strain on the state's social services and grown the size of the Lansing bureaucracy to astronomical proportions (the budget has grown by nearly $6 billion since Granholm and Cherry took their oaths of office in January 2003).  Suppose it was only a matter of time before they tried turning Michigan into a penal colony.

Plus, look at it this way... importing hardened criminals is ONE way of countering the dramatic outbound population flight we've seen the last six years.  Better yet, unlike hardworking Michigan families who've just plain had enough, Californian prisoners couldn't leave, even if they wanted to.

Had a chance a few days ago to play a little catch-up with former longtime Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis.

Saul's been doing some pretty awesome work across the Country these last few months, from sitting on a new RNC committee that's looking at the Presidential Primary process to working with Newt Gingrich to making pretty regular appearances on the cable news talkers.  

So what's his take on Terri Lynn Land's decision to drop out of the Primary field?  On John Cherry's chances of winning the Governor's office?  Of President Obama's first six months in office?  You can learn the answers to these and many more questions by clicking the little "play" arrows on the videos below...

Invited to the Kent County Republican Committee's Grand Rapids headquarters by a press advisory that promised a long expected official announcement about Land's intentions regarding the 2010 gubernatorial race, media outlets from across west Michigan had their cameras rolling as she continued.

She didn't deliver what they were anticipating.  There are things Michigan needs, she said.  Legislative experience.  Administrative experience. Leadership experience.  She'd found in someone else a candidate who represented, in her estimation, the best hope to turn the state around.  And then she introduced him.  

Taking the press pool by surprise, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard emerged from a back room alongside his wife and joined the Secretary of State at the podium.  

"We're both worried that our kids will be forced to leave Michigan to find jobs," Land continued.  And she believes Bouchard is the man to end that trend.

And yes, This one was a real endorsement.

Standing side by side it didn't take long for WOOD TV 8's Rick Albin to ask the next logical question... "Where will you look for a Lieutenant Governor?"

Bouchard explained that geography is less important in an eventual running mate than skill and ability and then may have tipped his hand a bit.  "One (candidate) who would be and should be on anyone's short list is standing here," Bouchard said, nodding at Land.  

The Secretary smiled... knowingly?  Not seeking the Party's gubernatorial nomination, perhaps, but very clearly not out of the Governor's race.

Bouchard becomes one of the most prominent voices in Michigan to advocate some pretty serious changes to the way things are being done in Lansing, from being open to "tweaking" Proposal A to openly advocating a part-time legislature.

Just a few of the highlights include-

RightMichigan: Thoughts on the new State Police Headquarters?

Sheriff Bouchard: "What good is a state of the art building if you can't inhabit that building with the men and women who are there to protect you?"  ... "They should have put (the project) on hold years ago, frankly."

RM: The Americans for Tax Reform "No New Taxes Pledge?"

Sheriff Bouchard: "Clearly one of the first things you have to do is learn to live within your means... in fact, I was the first gubernatorial candidate to sign the taxpayer protection pledge."

RM: First specific thing you'd do, day one as Governor?

Sheriff Bouchard: "Stop the bleeding.  I'll freeze all non-essential spending and begin to go through immediately where we can cut spending..."

RM: Should we tweak proposal A?

Sheriff Bouchard: "I think you have to constantly, in government or the private sector, look at what you're doing and make sure you're competitive." ... "In anything you have to constantly go back and reexamine it and make sure it's meeting your goals." ... "I'd be willing to look at a whole new tax and regulatory process."

RM: On the idea of a part-time legislature...

Sheriff Bouchard: "Based on what I'm seeing in Lansing and how broke Lansing is I'd be calling for a part-time legislature." ... "One of the fixes I'd suggest is that we go to a part-time legislature."

And much, much more...

The Grand Rapids Press is reporting that Farmer's Insurance will today announce plans to create 1,600 jobs in suburban Grand Rapids.  Maybe.  

I mean, the announcement is coming today and Governor Granholm will be there giving a speech and looking extra gubernatorial... but the actual creation of 1,600 jobs is a little more iffy.  

The announcement is expected to coincide with expected approval of huge tax breaks for Farmers by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority Tuesday morning...

The company would have 12 years after completing (two new) facilities to create 1,000 additional jobs at the campus in order to qualify for a 100 percent employment tax credit.

Farmers would need to create 1,400 jobs by the end of the 17th year in order to qualify for the final year of tax credits.

The only other certainty is that the Democratic governor had to offer a 100 percent tax credit (that's all of it, for the arithmetic-challenged) to convince a company already located in Michigan to consider expanding their operation effectively over the course of two decades.

Fingers crossed, knock on wood and any other superstition of your choosing that Farmers comes through but the recent track record of MEGA hasn't been that hot.  Won't stop the mainstream media from fawning all over the Governor, though, and giving her credit for creating thousands of jobs that won't exist until her kids are approaching the big 4-0.  

Going to go out on a limb and guess there won't be a reporter at the presser or anywhere else in the state with the stones to call the Guv on her tax policy hypocrisy, either.  The best kept secret in the state of Michigan is how much faith the Democratic administration actually places in tax CUTS as tools for economic stimulus and job creation.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the state where automobile manufacturing plants continue to be shuttered, laid off Michigan auto workers can do little but look on as another auto manufacturing operation gets set to open somewhere else.  The Detroit News is reporting that the auto manufacturing hotbed that is... Louisiana... is set to build a few extra cars.

A well-financed company is close to choosing a shuttered north Louisiana site to start a new automobile manufacturing facility, creating up to 1,500 jobs, according to two elected officials from the region.

State Rep. Jim Fannin would not identify the company but said the vehicles would be its first and would be built at a former Guide Corp. plant in Ouachita Parish. He said Gov. Bobby Jindal would make an announcement about the deal Wednesday.

Monroe City Council member Arthur Gilmore said the project, which would build fuel-efficient vehicles, involves California venture capitalists Ray Lane and John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, which has been extensively involved in "environmentally friendly " projects and companies.

Got that?  California environmentalists are set to open a green-car manufacturing outfit in Louisiana.  Not Michigan, where our workers, engineers and infrastructure have been built for the last one-hundred years specifically for projects like this.  Louisiana.  What do they have that we haven't?  I mean, besides a dynamic, successful economic conservative in the Governor's office.  

Then again, maybe the more relevant discussion is about what Michigan has that Louisiana doesn't.

It was in 2004 that the Guv first tabbed her second-in-command (and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate) John Cherry to head up a fancy commission to identify and establish plans to double the college graduation rate here in Michigan.  Because if you form a special task force it shows you're serious, whether or not it delivers the bacon, apparently.  

And if that kind of a move sounds familiar, it should.  Earlier this calendar year the Guv tabbed her second-in-command (and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate) John Cherry to head up a fancy commission to identify and establish plans to ostensibly reduce the size of state government. Because the two of them have shown such a strong commitment to that concept these past six-plus years.  (But that's a rant for a different post.)

No one's quite sure when or where Cherry's fancy NEW task force is going to be holding it's supposedly (but not really) public hearings... and if YOU'VE gotten wind of the specific when and where, please, leave a comment... but we've already got the results, recommendations and battle plans that emerged from the 2004 group of talkers.  A lot of talk and bluster and posturing and promises.  Results? The Detroit News:

It was a lofty goal: Double the number of Michigan residents with a higher education within a decade.

But nearly five years after Gov. Jennifer Granholm's call to educate the work force to a more prosperous economy, Michigan's rate has merely inched forward.

The number of degrees and certificates awarded in Michigan increased just 4.4 percent over four years, according to data compiled by The Detroit News.

OH!  4.4 is 93.6 LESS than 100.  What is it the kids are saying these days? "EPIC FAIL?!"  

Are these the kind of results we can expect from John Cherry's super-secret, wasteful, duplicative "government efficiency" task force?  Here's hoping. Frankly, a 4.4 percent success rate is better than I'd normally expect from Lansing Democrats.

RightMichigan: On the decision of other GOP candidates to oppose a no-new-taxes pledge:

Cox: "I'm very disappointed that I'm the only Republican... you know, I expect some Democrats might be against a no-tax pledge, but I don't think that the problem is we're sending too little money to Lansing..."

RightMichigan: On a new constitutional convention?

Cox: "I'm afraid of mischief... I like the amendment process much better... I don't like these stealth projects like we saw last year with RMGN."

RightMichigan: Cherry's decision to duck the candidate debate on Mackinac Island?

Cox: He ducked us.  Absolutely.  Isn't that telling?  Part of that is, if I were him, I don't know what I could say.  We are last place in employment, third from worst in business taxes, we increased income taxes and he was the final vote a year and a half ago.  He's been wrong on all of the issues so I can understand why he doesn't want to talk about them."

And much more...

SNL? Forget it. Family Guy? Boring.

If you really want to laugh, tune into the hilarious world of John Cherry.

That Cherry is running for governor is a given, but his pre-announcement committee is called "A Whole Lot of People Supporting John Cherry." It's like a supermarket generic name -- a white box with black lettering -- and shows there is no limit to the dumbing down of the political process.

The Detroit News has an article today titled, "Cherry has image problem in bid to be next Michigan governor." No kidding! The article's thesis is that Cherry is "widely recognized by experts as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for governor. But among voters, Lt. Gov. John Cherry is barely recognized at all." Again, no kidding! He's 35 points behind that noted statesperson, Debbie Stabenow, in polling among Democrats and, when voters are not read a list of names, they manage to dredge up Cherry a whopping 9 percent of the time.

This is a frontrunner?

But the fun doesn't stop there! In the same article, the author says Cherry is "respected by leaders of both parties and is known around the state capital as a smart behind-the-scenes public policy wonk who has learned during 20 years in the Legislature and six years as lieutenant governor how to broker deals."

A public policy wonk! The Random House Dictionary gives three definitions for "wonk":

1. a student who spends much time studying and has little or no social life; grind.
   
2. a stupid, boring, or unattractive person.
   
3. a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.

Of course, all Democrats are considered geniuses by the media, so here is Cherry being described as the quiet genius, laboring behind the scenes to accomplish . . . uh, what, exactly?

Here's how a couple of admirers describe Cherry. The Port Huron Times Herald opined on January 2, 2009:

[Cherry] served in the Legislature for 20 years and understands how things get done.

On February 24, 2008, the Associated Press fawned:

Cherry has led efforts to bring about many of the changes Granholm wants and has helped decide what those goals should be. He headed a task force that led to the creation of a plan to double the number of college graduates and was a key negotiator during last year's epic struggle to raise taxes and balance the state budget. As the Senate's presiding officer, he cast rare tie-breaking votes for tax increases.

Wow. He was in the legislature for 20 years, and he voted for tax increases and helped to implement the Granholm agenda. Amazingly, he puts this stuff on his website! What a sense of humor!

Can't you picture Cherry and his pals sitting around, laughing about his candidacy:

Minion: "Tell us again, LG, what you put on your website."

Cherry: "You won't believe this -- I put on there that I voted to raise taxes and worked FOR Jenny's agenda!" (Wild laughter)

Minion: "Oh no, you didn't! You are crazy, man -- what next?"

Cherry: "Hey, I'm making this up as I go along. Still, it's working -- I'm the frontrunner." (Wild laughter)

Minion: "How about if we blame everything on Engler?"

Cherry: "Brilliant! Pour me another one." (Wild laughter)

Oh, man, I can't take it anymore. These guys are killing me! Only an expert comedian would run on an economic record that has us heading toward 15 percent unemployment and perhaps higher, with ballooning budget deficits, higher taxes, and the systematic destruction of our entrepreneurial spirit.

On his website, under "His Vision for Michigan," Cherry has a picture of a windmill.

Stop it, already!