Tag: Cherry (page 4)

First and foremost, it is an election day.  If you're reading this, the polls are open and you haven't yet, stop everything you're doing and go vote.  There are tax hike proposals in seemingly every city, township and village in the State and far left extremists running for just about every school board seat available anywhere.  

No, seriously, go vote.  We'll wait...

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Back?  What took you so long?  If you're in Detroit we already know it wasn't long lines, so don't try that excuse.  The Detroit News reports this morning that a measly fifteen percent of the registered voters in the D are expected to cast a ballot today to elect the city's next mayor.  Suppose that's what happens when you get a race between a pair of Democrats who are much more alike than they'd have you believe.  Don't give the voters a choice then don't be surprised when they don't bother showing up to make one.  Not even the 200,000 phantoms on the books.  

Meanwhile, an hour and a half to the west, the Granholm-Cherry administration is set today to unveil their sweeping, shocking, devastating, budget-balancing spending cuts.  Except that they aren't sweeping, they certainly aren't shocking, the Dems' core constituency won't be devastated and they don't balance the budget.  

Other than that, though, the administration is pitching a perfect game.

Read on...

In my experience, we on the right have a habit of jumping to immediate concepts, hopes and dreams for solutions.  It isn't that we're incapable of addressing the entire mess in our minds, it's just that we tend to be semi-neat and orderly.  Solve the immediate problem first then move to long-term solutions.

I know that's the way I typically think.  When news of the deficit jump broke mid-week I blogged that the legislature should be called to (or convene themselves) an emergency session to immediately right-size the budget.

Four days later and they haven't (why take your problems seriously when there's on-the-clock drinking to be done?) but they should.  

And while they dawdle, it is worth taking a look at the bigger picture.  We know what has to be done.  The Constitution requires a balanced budget so they're going to have to make some tough cuts and they don't have to but WILL use up a lot of one-time cash via the so-called stimulus package.  But how did we get here?

Exhibit A: LS Power.

LS Power is a New Jersey based energy company that was preparing to break ground near Midland, Michigan on a project that was expected to create thousands of new jobs... the construction of a new clean-coal power plant.  

On Friday they announced they were canceling those plans because of an unfriendly business climate and insanely complicated permitting requirements foisted on them by the Granholm-Cherry administration and their Department of Environmental Quality.  

The project was expected to create 1,500 construction jobs, 241 permanent jobs on-site and billions of dollars in regional economic activity.

Read on...

Twenty-four hours ago we were reading startling and scary news about Michigan's state budget deficit.  $785 million, the experts told us, with a fresh $5 million added to the pool of red ink every morning and half of the fiscal year behind us.  

Those were the days.

By mid-afternoon the word had leaked in Lansing that things were much (much... MUCH) worse than anticipated.  $1.3 billion in red ink.  That's a rough six hours.

Listen, we have a good time here on RightMichigan.  Our tongue is often firmly planted in cheek, we razz, we encourage, we joke, we enjoy a good bit of sarcasm and cynicism.  This is not one of those times.  

$1.3 billion in red ink with a balanced budget requirement in the Constitution and only half the fiscal year remaining to make the cuts.  

Dear Lansing- the fun and games are over.

We could look back over the last few years and analyze how we got here and there's a time and a place for that, too, but this is not it.  It is time to look forward.

The Granholm-Cherry administration was expected early next week to make $200 million in budget cuts via an executive order while asking the legislature to plaster over the rest of the deficit with one-time cash via federal stimulus funds.  Not only would that move be insufficient in light of the drastically larger deficit, it would be just plain irresponsible.  Period.

The legislature should convene an emergency session TODAY to start making deep, drastic and yes, painful spending cuts.  If the Governor won't call an emergency session and the House won't play along then the Senate should be the adults in the Capitol City and do it themselves.

Lieutenant Governor John Cherry and Senator Hansen Clarke should cancel their mid-day open bar lobbyist meet-and-greet fundraiser, too.  We literally cannot afford one more day of inaction and status quo.

$1.3 billion in cuts from six months worth of a budget will not be easy and it is going to hurt like the dickens.  $1.3 billion in cuts from five months worth of a budget will hurt that much worse.  $1.3 billion from three months worth of a budget... you get the idea.

The time is now and urgency is required.  The House GOP, for their part, is ready to rock and roll.  Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer yesterday sent to budget negotiators a substantial list of proposed spending cuts while they continue to hunt and work for more.  

Representative Chuck Moss, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee said: "At the rate we're going, we may actually beat one of the auto companies into bankruptcy. We need drastic, immediate steps to put our state back in order. We tried the game of tax increases, look where that got us. It chased away business, foreclosed more homes, unemployment hit 12.6 percent. And we still didn't get the promised reforms. The day of reckoning is now. "

"Clearly the governor and Democrat's plan from 2007 has failed," said state Representative John Proos, R-St. Joseph. "We were promised that the largest tax increase in state history would solve the problem, but now we're left with a larger deficit and a much larger unemployment rate. History is repeating itself because nothing changed -- no reforms, no change in spending habits, and no change in budget deficits. We learned in 2007 that tax increases are not the answer. With the state of the economy and the national economy, we simply must spend less money."

Unfortunately, the House Minority seem to be about the only ones in Lansing taking this seriously, and that isn't just a knock on the Democratic Majority.  We could stand to see a little more leadership out of the Senate GOP, too.

Dear House Democrats- we tried your tax hike idea in 2007 and it has done nothing but made the problem (exponentially) worse.  Spending cuts will hurt.  Bad.  A real pain in the neck.  The alternative will hurt a lot more.  

Dear Senate Republicans- start acting like Republicans.  If the Left won't do the job (and every indication is that they won't) then it is up to you to save this state on your own even if that makes you "the bad guy."  Consider it the cost of character.

$1.3 billion in red ink.  And the legislature isn't in an emergency 24 hour marathon session to cut spending because...?

The sunshine and rainbows have gone away, ladies and gentlemen.  Time to get to work.

Welcome to my Wednesday.

We've got the Associated Press working the budget angle, either months early or months late, depending on your perspective, because the state budget keeps hemorrhaging red ink to the tune of $5 million a day.  "Gov. Jennifer Granholm, lawmakers working on Michigan budget plan" the headline announces.

"About dang time," I reply quietly, assuming I'll read about how the Democratic administration is taking the pending deficit seriously.  "Never mind," I mutter as I realize that assumption truly is the mother of all... well... here, read for yourself:

Michigan is facing an estimated budget shortfall of $785 million in the current budget year, although that could grow as additional auto jobs are cut and the state unemployment rate increases. Money from the federal stimulus package will fill some of the budget hole.

But Granholm has said budget cuts will be needed even with the recovery act cash. Leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House have been meeting with administration officials on drawing up a list of what's expected to be more than $200 million in cuts and adjustments.

Emphasis mine.  So much for taking ANYTHING seriously.  

How many times did we here in 2007 that we NEEDED a record-shattering Democratic tax hike because A) it would balance the budget for forever and B) because we simply couldn't use one-time fixes anymore?  Now here we are, only two years later with a massive budget deficit and the Granholm-Cherry administration is using more one-time fixes.  

That sort of inconsistency is enough to drive a man to drink.  Literally, in the 2010 Gubernatorial candidate's case.

And the hits just keep on coming.  

Read on...

How much more of a problem, then, if the men and women drowning their sorrows in the middle of the day are the folks voters elected and sent to Lansing specifically to FIX this state's problems?  

This Thursday morning, while moms and dads across Michigan tighten the family budgets, hunt for jobs and worry about how they're going to put food on the table, 2010 Gubernatorial candidate and current Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and state Senator Hansen Clarke will be taking "unbelievable," "inappropriate" and "tone deaf" to disturbing new levels.

The Lansing Democrats will be getting liquored up with special interest pals and high-dollar donors at an open bar event they are describing as a "Mid-Day Fun-Raiser."  Support a "two hour moratorium on dry political fundraisers," they encourage via an email invitation obtained by RightMichigan.com.  

The event is scheduled to begin thirty minutes after the Michigan Senate is gaveled into session this Thursday.  

We've already learned this week that tens of thousands of Michigan jobs will disappear and Friday stands to be one of the most important days in the history of Detroit's automotive industry.  No sense letting THAT stop a good time when there are lobbyists to schmooze and martinis to sip, though.

So many questions come to mind.  

Will Lieutenant Governor Cherry and Senator Clarke register their attendance in the Senate during roll call and then make their way over to the open bar?

Will Cherry and Clarke return to the Senate chamber after having spent the morning and early afternoon imbibing with lobbyists, special interest friends and big dollar donors?

Will John Cherry and Hansen Clarke be driving themselves or are they planning on using a designated driver?  And will the taxpayers foot the bill?

Which other House and Senate members, staffers and Democratic Party big-wigs will be inebriated by half-past one in the afternoon?

And maybe most importantly the day before General Motors submits to the government a last-gasp reorganization plan with hundreds of thousands of Michigan jobs on the line... In what freaking universe does the state's number two guy, a candidate for the highest office in the land, think it's a good idea to waste away the work day partying, booze in hand with lobbyists?

At the helm, on the clock and getting hammered.  If THAT doesn't scream "leadership" I don't know what does.

Primary races are already beginning to shape up and take form across the state.

None will be as closely watched as the race for Governor and we'll be doing our best to bring the candidates directly to you!

On March 30th Congressman Pete Hoekstra (MI-2) announced his intention to run for the state's top executive office.

He and his campaign team have been fantastic and were able to put some time on the books for the Congressman to speak with everyone here at RightMichigan.com.  

Interview below the break...

The administration's inside men, a CEO and a Board of Directors they hand picked and put in place to run the ship per the administration's specific and explicit guidelines made a series of announcements yesterday and none of them were pretty.

Ugliest was the news that 1,600 white collar workers right here in Michigan would be losing their jobs in the next few days.  The Detroit News reports:

The announcement was made by GM North American President Troy Clarke in an e-mail sent to employees Monday, spokesman Tom Wilkinson said.

"This is part of really restructuring the company to a smaller, leaner company, one that can, as the (Obama) administration requested, be profitable on an ongoing basis," Wilkinson said.

It is like Donald Trump meets Meg Ryan.  "You've got mail... you're fired."  And all courtesy of the President of the United States.  Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg.  47,000 mostly Michigan jobs are expected to be whacked on the President's say-so, because apparently that's less damaging to the man politically than forcing his special interest pals at the UAW to negotiate down from that $50+ an hour all-in pay scale.

And the alternatives aren't particularly pretty.  President Obama has made it clear... it is his way or the highway.  GM's new leadership team are killing Michigan jobs on his orders and with the threat of forced bankruptcy hanging over their heads.

The Ivory Tower opines about Obama's threat:

"This is truly scary," said John Wolkonowicz, IHS Global Insight senior automotive analyst. "Neither the government nor GM has any control over the outcome if this goes to bankruptcy court."

Probably why, as we find out this morning, the company poured millions of dollars into lobbying the Democrats in DC in just the last three months.  All told, the last nine months have seen GM lobbyists spend $8.8 million to wine and dine and bribe... errr... influence... errr... cajole the power players on the Left into being less hostile.  And hey, I'm not saying there's a direct connection to the $13.4 BILLION in free TARP money the President and Congressional Democrats gave GM, but making a key Senator or three feel like $8.8 million bucks couldn't have hurt.

Maybe they could spend a few of those TARP dollars bribing... errr... lobbying stock holders next.  The Associated Press reports that shares of GM stock plummeted 11 percent yesterday on news of the President's plan to kill those 1,600 jobs.

That's a move even John Cherry wouldn't be proud of.  Who am I kidding.  That man is so tone deaf to the problems of real Michiganders he'll probably send a campaign email embracing the administration's job killing plans.