Tag: Whitmer

Never mind the danger signs of a character not so unlike the woman who wrecked Michigan so bad, it started a trend nationally.  Never mind the irresponsible buy now pay later attitude Democrats generally have when it comes to government.  Just do like the Republican leadership:

"LANSING -- An ambitious proposal by state Senate Democrats to provide free tuition to Michigan high school grads enrolled at state colleges and universities -- with an estimated cost of $1.8 billion a year to start -- earned the respectful attention Wednesday of the Republican majority on the Senate Finance Committee.

But that may be the high-water mark for a plan that aims to significantly increase the percentage of Michiganders with college degrees but doesn't specify where the money to do it will come from."

The First Amendment prohibits any law abridging freedom of speech or prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Religious freedom is further enshrined in Article I, Section 4 of Michigan's constitution, and Article I, Section 5 states:

Every person may freely speak, write, express and publish his views on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right; and no law shall be enacted to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press.

Unfortunately, Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) and certain of her colleagues do not share this perspective on freedom. They are attempting not only to tell certain non-profit organizations what they can and cannot say, but they want to force these organizations to share information promulgated by certain, selected professional associations. In so doing, they are circumventing the will of the people of the State of Michigan and infringing on our constitutional rights.

Opposing a bill to eliminate the MBT surcharge, Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) accused Republicans of lacking the courage to cut spending and said:

Yes, we want to move forward, absolutely, but with mature reflection and a dedication to ensure that these things we hold dear are not blindly sacrificed in the process.

Oh, really?

Our poor men and women in Congress have a tough life. Flitting from fundraiser to fundraiser, they can hardly be expected to sit down and actually read the laws they're voting to impose on the rest of us, especially 1000-page monstrosities like the stimulus package or the current health care proposal. Like John Conyers said, you'd need two days with two lawyers to understand it, and who wants to spend that much time in the company of lawyers?

At the state level, things might at first seem a little more sedate. Given the smaller size and scope of state government, you would think that our representatives would read the bills that come before them. Even more basic, you'd think they would read the bills they sponsor.

Gretchen Whitmer must be an exception. Perhaps she is too busy organizing her nascent attorney general campaign. Perhaps she is too busy promoting voter fraud. Whatever the reason, it's obvious she hasn't read Senate Bill No. 83, which she (alone) sponsored and introduced on January 27, 2009.

Every sport has an off-season (except possibly for Davis Cup tennis, which never seems to begin or end; it just keeps going). Electioneering used to have an off-season, when the voters could relax, watch TV, listen to the radio, and drive without being assaulted by an endless array of commercials, jingles, and road signs.

Those days are over.

Now, the end of one election merely signals the beginning of the next election cycle, when candidates begin lining up support and money for their next try at electoral glory. The parties, fundraisers, websites, and chatty emails begin slowly, then build to a headsplitting crescendo from the primaries to the general election.

And so, we now have candidates jockeying for position in the 2010 race for statewide office. As voters, it's tempting to tune them out, but as responsible voters, we need to take some interest in the candidates now, if only to sort out the contenders from the pretenders.

At this stage, however, there is little to go on. Without position papers, press conferences, and debates, it's not easy to tell what many candidates stand for. In some cases, there is a track record of accomplishment or futility that can inform and enlighten us.

Ah, futility. That brings us to Gretchen Whitmer, a state senator from East Lansing, who is apparently interested in running for attorney general next year. What does her record reveal about her and what kind of attorney general she would be?

Read on...

I think the same principle translates pretty well to the legislature where our elected officials spend tax dollars on the items, people and programs they believe are important while holding back from items they view as less important.  

Too often these days, though, doing a little case study of Michigan electeds will leave a guy scratching his head, confused and disappointed.

Exhibit A: Democratic Attorney General candidate Gretchen Whitmer and her state Senate colleagues.

Several weeks ago Whitmer and the Senate Dems voted to approve the Granholm-Cherry executive order firing 100 state troopers, taking freshly trained and hired law enforcement officers off the streets and away from our neighborhoods.  The move, they told us, was the only way the state could possibly save $1.7 million.

Turns out that wasn't quite the whole truth.  This Tuesday Whitmer and team voted AGAINST cutting the legislature's budget by $2.5 million, a move that would have saved more taxpayer cash annually than the trooper cuts, further cutting into that nasty deficit.  Better to spend the cash themselves... on themselves... than on keeping cops on the street.

And as ugly and selfish a move as that was they topped themselves in session on Thursday.

We've been covering the Michigan State Police boondoggle literally for years. From Representative Arlan Meekhof's update earlier this week to our examination of the original appropriation back in June of 2007, we've been on top of the story.

By way of reminder, the Michigan State Police currently lease their headquarters in East Lansing for the grand total of $1 a year.  One dollar.  

The Michigan State Police do NOT want to move.  They've said so.  Explicitly.

So, obviously, the only thing for the Granholm-Cherry administration to do was to approve a $117 million plan to build a new MSP headquarters in downtown Lansing.  And just to sweeten the pot, they made sure that A) the new building wouldn't be large enough to house all of the MSP operations, necessitating additional facilities, B) made sure there was a massive yearly lease to replace that all-together-too-reasonable $1 rate and C) made sure Democrat sugar daddy Joel Ferguson, a long-time ultra high dollar donor to Democratic candidates and causes and a personal friend of Governor Granholm got the contract to do the development and rake in the taxpayer cash.

Attorney General Mike Cox this week informed the legislature that legally they could get out of the entire brain dead scheme if they simply pulled back the funding.  Yesterday the Senate voted to do just that.  

The GOP Majority amended the State Police budget, SB 253, to strip funding for the "triangle project."  Gretchen Whitmer and her Senate Dem colleagues then voted to protect their donor's payday by attempting to strip the amendment that killed the funding.  They opted to waste $117 million on a new building MSP doesn't want after firing 100 of the men and women for whom it was supposedly being built.

Thankfully their attempts failed and the GOP amendment stuck.

Meanwhile, Troopers across the state are expected in the next few days to vote to dramatically cut their own pay to save their fellow troopers' jobs. Their hearts are unquestionably in the right place.  In an amazing place.  

Only wish the same could be said of Gretchen Whitmer.

Given the opportunity yesterday to do just that, Whitmer joined fifteen of her Democratic colleagues and voted NO.  Worse than the simple fact that Whitmer and the Dems voted against right-sizing the legislature's budget is the fact that their vote came only a couple of weeks after they approved, en masse and on record, the Granholm-Cherry administration's decision to fire 100 state troopers.

The General Government appropriations bill, Senate Bill 245, was approved Tuesday on a Party line vote.  Each of the Republicans present and voting approved a $2.5 million annual cut to the Senate's budget while each of the Democrats voted against it.  

By way of comparison, it's worth noting that the EO firing 100 state troopers represented a total cut of $1.7 million.  In other words, the Democrats' Attorney General candidate and the rest of the big-government  Senate Left could have kept 100 law enforcement officers on the street protecting our neighborhoods, cut their own budgets and still saved taxpayers an additional $800,000 each year.

But that isn't what they did.  I mean, fighting crime, saving jobs and supporting law enforcement is important.  Apparently it just isn't as important as protecting the status quo when it comes to office allotments.  

Tells you a thing or two about Whitmer's priorities and her sincerity when she's on the stump... errr... making comments on the Senate floor.  And this is the woman who wants to be the state's top law enforcement official?

Few races will be as closely watched as the contest for Attorney General and we're bringing the candidates directly to you!

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop recently announced his candidacy for Attorney General and has been traveling the state making public appearances and speaking about his vision for the office and the state of Michigan.  

He is simultaneously heading Republican efforts in the legislature to deal with a rapidly growing state budget deficit with Democrats in the House, Senate and Governor's office arrayed against him.

This weekend I had a chance to catch up with Majority Leader Bishop to discuss the Attorney General's race, his candidacy and the budget crisis gripping Lansing.

What does he think about the current budget crisis?  Could we see another tax increase?  What will Senate Republicans propose THIS WEEK?  Does he have any regrets from the 2007 tax hike debacle?  What does he think about the Democrats likely AG nominee, state Senator Gretchen Whitmer?

Without further ado, here are the answers to these and many more questions...