Tag: lobbyists (page 3)

That's the reality Senator Debbie Stabenow has faced for the last six months as her husband, Tom Athens, made bank on the payroll of Democratic mega-donor and alleged lothario Jim Papas.  Unfortunately, despite the unending rhetoric about transparency and ethics in the Dem controlled Congress, the Senator who once voted to establish the Senate Office of Public Integrity chose to turn a blind eye to her husband's criminal actions, putting him, partisan election interests and the family bank account above Michigan residents and campaign promises.

Meanwhile, voters and taxpayers are left with more questions than answers...

How long has Senator Stabenow known her husband was breaking the law, making a living as an unregistered lobbyist?

How much money did Stabenow and Athens deposit into their family bank account as a result of the illegal lobbying?

Records indicate that Athens publicly lobbied Michigan lawmakers and at least one member of Michigan's Congressional delegation because he understood they were firmly opposed to green-lighting a hazardous waste well.  There are no records of official lobbying of the Stabenow Senate office.

Is that because Stabenow supports her husband's efforts to re-open the dump site despite her campaign pledges to the contrary?

Read on...

According to this morning's Detroit News, he's speaking specifically of $2 million lottery winner (literally), Democrat Barb Farrah.  After being termed out at the end of calendar year 2008 she went to work as a lobbyist at the state's largest multi-client and for once, her former constituents are the lucky ones.

Lobbyists get a bad rap.  Wait, that sounds apologetic... let me rephrase.  Lobbyists deserve to get a bad rap, BUT, they're a natural byproduct of our system of government and our constitutional right to freely associate with whoever we'd like.  If there's an issue we want to see addressed as a group it only makes sense to pool our resources to better petition those in the halls of power.

In that sense, I don't see the same problem that Schmind sees.  Far worse, in my mind, is the way so many elected officials simply trade offices at the Capital, switching over their "Representative" ID tags for those of bureaucrats.

Last month Leon drew everyone's attention to Ed Gaffney's recent gubernatorial appointment to the Liquor Control Board, a move that looks as close to a quid pro quo (he was one of less than a handful of GOPers to support the Democrats' $1.5 billion tax hike in 2007) as anything you're likely to see this decade.  But Gaffney isn't the only one.

Democrat Paul Condino was recently appointed by the Governor to the 10 member state parole board, an interesting decision since he A) gets a raise (this "public servant" is making nearly $82,000 a year!!!!!) and B) could be obsoleted should the Granholm-Cherry administration get their way and effectively eliminate the need for parole boards statewide.  

And no, none of the talk about reducing legislators' salaries includes so much as a mention about reducing those of bureaucrats and gubernatorial appointees.  Funny thing about it is, if the Governor wanted to cut the pay of bureaucrats she'd have an easier time.  There are (MANY) more of them, often times they make substantially more cake than elected officials and they have ZERO built-in taxpayer accountability (read: they never have to run for reelection).  

Read on...