Tag: political class

Note the careful phrasing: "Benefits they've said over the years they would pay." The first "they" is current and past politicians, and the second "they" is future taxpayers.

Read on...

Name of candidate, and office sought:________

Part 1 -- These specific measures received votes in the Michigan Legislature. How do you think you would you have voted?

1. Bills to provide substantial tax breaks for ethanol and biodiesel producers.

2. Bills that would increase unemployment insurance assessments (taxes) on employers by $70 million annually in order to get $139 million in one-time federal "stimulus" money.

3. An amendment adding $9.5 million for low-income youth dental programs in Wayne County.

4. A bill allowing local convention and tourism bureaus to levy a 2 percent hotel and motel room tax to support regional marketing and promotion programs. ­

5. "Revenue enhancment" bills to extend for another six years "temporary" increases passed by the previous Legislature in business incorporation fees, investment advisor license fees, etc.

6. A bill to spend $60 million raised by borrowing against future tobacco lawsuit proceeds for tourism industry promotion.

7. A bill allow local school districts to levy a "sinking fund" property tax millage that could be used for certain operational expenses (2008 vote and 2009 vote).

8. A bill to allow teacher union locals to bargain over a school district privatizing non-instructional services. ­

9. A bill to require unions to annually seek written permission from each individual worker before using that worker's union dues for political purposes.

10. A bill to require MESSA (the MEA teacher union's insurance affiliate) to release individual school district claims history data.

11. A bill to impose renewable energy mandates on electric
    utilities.

12. A bill to scale back Michigan's electricity competition law.

13. A bill to prohibit drilling for oil and gas underneath the Great Lakes (slant drilling).

14. Bills to allow local government borrowing (bonding) to cover the cost of government retiree health care benefits (2006 vote and 2009 vote).

15. A bill making state government employee post-retirement health benefits an enforceable obligation on the state.

16. Bills voted on in the House and Senate that let local school districts increase property taxes by up to 1 mill to operate swimming pools, recreation centers, auditoriums, conference centers, etc. as a "recreation authority."  

17. A bill to hand out millions of dollars of cash subsidies to Hollywood producers who shoot films in Michigan.

1. Would you support repealing a 22 percent Michigan Business Tax surcharge passed in 2007, and replacing the $700 million it raises each year with budget cuts?  ­

2. Will you sign a "no new taxes" pledge?

3. Would you support replacing some Michigan prisons with privately managed prisons?  

4. Would you support "voucherizing" higher education funding so the money follows the students rather than the university?    

5. Would you support shifting Michigan State Police road patrols to county sheriff deputies if this would save money? (This is strongly opposed by the MSP.)    

6. Would you support placing all new school employees in defined-contribution pension systems?  

7.  Would you support repealing the "prevailing wage" law that requires union-scale wages to be paid on school and other state construction projects?

8. Would you support making Michigan a right-to-work state?  

9.  Can you name three state government programs that you would introduce legislation to eliminate?

Ten things you can do to keep the Tea Party movement moving ahead:

1. Subscribe to the Mackinac Center's free Michigan Capitol Confidential. It reveals which legislators are upholding limited government principles in Lansing -- rather than just giving them lip-service at home.

2. Create an account on MichiganVotes.org and sign up for free e-mail notices of action on legislation in "watchlist" categories of interest to you (starting with "taxes").

3. Call, write or e-mail your state representative and senator when they vote or introduce a bill contrary to limited government principles (which you can discover on MichiganVotes.org and in Capitol Confidential). State lawmakers actually get very little feedback from "real people," so just a few calls on a bill or vote can impact their behavior.    (Note: When you call or write, state your name, address, the bill number and your position. Be brief, be polite, and don't debate, harangue, condemn or argue.)

4. Maximize your electoral clout by always voting in August primary elections. Most legislative and congressional districts are gerrymandered one-party districts, so in Michigan the real election happens in August, not November. To lawmakers, August primary voters are distinctly "more equal than others."     (Note: Never vote for a candidate you have not researched. If you're not sure, just don't vote that race - those "none of the above" undervotes also send a message.)

5. If your local newspaper, radio and television news reporters and editors aren't reporting important issues or giving the full story, call and let them know. Let them know when they do good work, too.

6. If you are concerned about government encroachment on the right to own property, subscribe to the Mackinac Center's free property rights newsletter, The Refuge.

7. Talk to your own children and grandchildren. Make certain they understand the principles of personal responsibility, free markets and limited government.

8. Engage in on-line activism. Register on Facebook and become a "fan" of Facebook pages like the Mackinac Center, Capitol Confidential, and other pro-limited government Michigan groups.

9. Consider starting a blog that focuses exclusively on local government and school district issues. Several people can collaborate on this. Become the place where people go to discover what tax, spend and over-regulation issues may be brewing right in your back yard. Become the media.

10. Network with others in your community to keep an eye on local government and school district activities. When they propose anti-taxpayer measures like tax or spending hikes, organize with your neighbors and protest. When they propose positive measures like spending cuts or privatization, do the same -- except protest against the special-interest defenders of the status quo.

(Cross-posted from the Mackinac Center website; this is part of a Tea Party Activists "Tool Box" that also includes "Ten-Minute Tea Party Activist" and "Candidate Questionnaire for Tea Party Activists.")

Samuel Adams, widely believed to be the instigator of the Boston Tea Party, once said that it didn't take an activist majority to prevail, "but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

Setting brushfires requires attitude, especially during a time described by Adams, "when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, (and) our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

The following describes an attitude that, if widespread, would vastly improve the incentives of lawmakers to honor the principles of limited government.

A disturbing sidelight to the successive budget "crises" is the things you learn about where some of the money goes in that $43 billion monstrosity called the State of Michigan budget.

For example, the political class and its mainstream media adjunct are about to get all breathless about State Police layoffs that are reportedly under discussion. The MIRS newsletter says that 81 spanking-new state troopers fresh out of police academy will be eliminated, although the jobs might be "saved" if some 70 older cops are bribed with a pension boost to retire early, and presumably forego entering a "DROP" program.

What is a DROP program, you ask? It amounts to pension double dipping scheme:

Troopers start getting a portion of their pension while still working and simultaneously collecting their regular salary. The amount of pension they can collect is 30 percent the first year, 50 percent the second, and then increases 10 percent each year until eventually they are getting full pension and full pay before they have retired. The money is not paid out to them immediately but is deposited into an interest-bearing retirement account they get when they really retire.

That's nuts, of course. No sane private sector employer would give away such a benefit.

We offer one because legislators abandoned their fiduciary duty to be responsible stewards of the public fisc and gave away a huge pile of loot to a powerful public employee union.

The rationale under which that caper was foisted on taxpayers was that Michigan State Police are eligible to retire and collect their pensions after just 25 years of service with no minimum age. As a result it's not uncommon to have age 40-something men and women in the prime of life eligible to call it a career and head for the beaches, spending the last 35-40 years of their lives lounging at taxpayer expense.

Needless to say this causes potential staffing problems at the MSP. Rather than fix the problem in a rational and fiscally prudent way - establish a minimum age of say 55 or 65 before an individual can start collecting a pension - the political class gave away some boodle in the form of a goofy DROP program as an incentive to keep troopers working.

Pretty sweet deal, huh? Sweet for the troopers, but not for the taxpayers. And just one more example of why you should never believe a politician who says, "Our budget has been cut to the bone."