Tag: Mackinac Center (page 2)

Illegal scheme continued despite law explicitly stating providers are not government employees

MIDLAND -- Michigan's 60,000 home health care aides should no longer have so-called union dues skimmed from their subsidy checks as a result of an informal but binding opinion letter issued today by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. The opinion was issued in response to a request by Rep. Paul Opsommer, R-DeWitt, six weeks after Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation ending the stealth unionization. The Service Employees International Union has taken some $30 million from the state's most vulnerable residents over the last six years, including more than $680,000 since the scheme was outlawed.

"This episode demonstrates how government-sector unions often act in ways that benefit themselves at the cost of taxpayers and their shanghaied members," said Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright. "The independent contractors and family members who provide aid to the developmentally disabled were never government employees and should not have been paying dues in the first place."

When the squishy policies of entitlement theory fall from the vine under their own weight, sour grapes soon turn to whine:

"Rep. Levin Asks I.R.S. To Look Into Mackinac Center

Questioning whether the Mackinac Center for Public Policy engaged in lobbying activities when it claimed on its tax disclosure forms it did not, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking it to review the organization and take "appropriate actions" to ensure it complies with requirements for tax-exempt charitable and education organizations."

Yesterday was Michigan's birthday.

Our state has undergone a great deal of change over the last 175 years, and today can serve well as a history lesson for the country and itself.   Especially given the recent discussion with regard to government owned bridges, light rail, and other stimulus & economic development efforts funded with tax dollars, we should certainly note that some things never change.

"Gov. Snyder seemed to focus more on new programs than on limiting government's scope," said LaFaive. "However, if last year's address is an indicator, he may be understating his plans to lessen the impact and cost of government in the coming year. Like last year, the governor intends a series of legislative updates, which along with his budget presentation may give us a better understanding of his policy agenda."

LaFaive noted that last year the governor offered a disappointing three limitations of government in his proposal, only to rein in the state in many more areas than he outlined in his address.

"I am hopeful that the actual work accomplished by his administration is once again more inspiring than the vision laid forth tonight," LaFaive added.

Mr. Snyder acknowledged that the new bridge remains a tough sell in Michigan, where relatively few people understand the vital role the bridge plays in getting U.S. exports to markets in Canada and beyond. The project was first proposed more than five years ago.

The perception in many parts of the state is that the project is a political payoff for the heavily Democratic Detroit area, offering jobs and construction contracts to an economically depressed part of the state.

"This is a very tough project," said Mr. Snyder, who is in Ottawa to speak at a cross-border innovation conference organized by the U.S. embassy and Canada 2020. "I wouldn't underestimate the challenges. But we will get this to happen."

He blamed "special interest politics" for poisoning the debate on the U.S. side.

Certainly that has nothing to do with the $500 million gesture that you begged the Canadians for or your PAC.

"I understand why they're spending the money," he said of the Morouns. "It's economic self-interest. The troubling part is the lack of accuracy in what they represent."

Well, that inaccuracy has always been on the governments behalf, GoverNerd.  It's well documented here.  Simply hit any of the 'Tags'.

Minutes earlier, a substitute bill supported by Democrats, which provided community benefits for the Delray area of southwest Detroit, where the bridge would be located, was voted down, 5-2, on a party-line vote.

On the main bill, Sens. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, and Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, were the only "yes" votes, with Sens. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake Township, Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, and Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek, voting "no."

The vote is also a blow to Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe (YES!), who backs the bridge and pledged to secure the votes to get the bridge bill out of committee.

Thank you to all the No votes that killed this unwanted boondoggle.

The Michigan Senate's top-ranked Republican expects a committee scheduled to meet Thursday will advance a bill authorizing a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

The Senate Economic Development Committee is scheduled to vote on the proposal after a one-day delay.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville expects there are enough votes in the Republican-led committee to advance the bill to the Senate floor, his spokeswoman Amber McCann said Thursday morning.

Sen. Kowall, I'm not sure what your interpretation of transparency is, but, I've looked here, here, and here... No substitute Sen. Hunter Bill for the constituent class to review.

From The Mackinac Center's McHugh:

"MIRS has reported that all 12 Democrats in the state senate -- only four of whom are from Detroit -- will vote "yes" on a controversial Detroit-Windsor bridge, but only if the deal includes a wish list of "community benefits" being written by Sen. Tupac Hunter, D-Detroit.

What are these "community benefits"? The fancy labels like "employment training and related facilities;" "housing;" "economic development;" "green development initiatives;" and more sound nice, but the benefits of these programs are, at the very best, uncertain. Here's what is certain: For the political system's foot soldiers, these programs translate into jobs with the government or organizations funded by government. For the moneyed interests that bankroll the political system, it means "economic development" -- business subsidies, sweetheart real estate deals, selective tax breaks, government contracts and so on. These benefits to the politically connected boil down to political patronage. "

In this case, lets fill the pockets of the community organizers just before the 2012 elections. That way fair elections are sure to occur.

McHugh has put the dot on the i. Between the patronage Snyder could guarantee for the left, and the crony capitalism that has no political center, the vote rewarding is apparent.