Democrats

Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans, Taxes

Chemistry, The Problem is C-H-E-M-I-S-T-R-Y

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Flint Water Quality is Now a Presidential Campaign Issue

Lab Rat Image 4Governor Snyder’s many attempts to deflect responsibility and and tamp down adverse media coverage of the Flint water situation are failing miserably. Snyder cannot make a public appearance without getting peppered with antagonistic questions about the circumstances behind the Flint water sourcing change. National International media are now all over this story, and their coverage is ugly. Democrats are having a field day promoting the ‘uncaring Republican’ meme. This story is going to really hurt the Republican Party’s 2016 Presidential nominee unless it is spiked quickly. Hillary Clinton is already using it.

Snyder’s ineptitude at handling the Flint situation, plunging from a deep hole into the abyss, also creates great risks for taxpayers across Michigan. We have already pointed out that skilled, predatory legal vultures are circling the Michigan Treasury. The torrent of adverse publicity will predispose any jury they impanel to hammer the State of Michigan financially. Now a variety of self-interested parties within and without Flint are proposing an avalanche of new, State-paid goodies for the citizens of Flint. These acts of contrition will be paid for by Michigan taxpayers who played no role in the Flint water situation and will not receive any benefit from a lavish expenditure of their hard earned dollars.

Snyder’s political career is over, but he will enjoy his remaining days living in well earned obscurity akin to his mentor Bill Milliken. You can safely bet that our accountant-in-chief will use his single real world skill to avoid paying the penance for his decisions. Michigan taxpayers, Republicans, and conservatives will take the big hit here.

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Democrats, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Republicans

Seven Years Of Bad Luck

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In advance of the State of the Union address MiGOP attempts to 'rally' the team.

mirror-mirror copyI received this from the Michigan Republican party yesterday.

Fair enough, it is the standard partisan preparation used when the opposing party has the soapbox.  Tonight, the president delivering the final state of the union speech of his tenure happens to be a Democrat, thus the Republicans must attack.   The co-conspirator who the GOP identifies is not Joe Biden as you will see, but Hillary Clinton, the former Bolshevik diplomat apparatchik of Obama, and the presumptive nominee of the Democrat party.

I take some issue with the presentation of this, as Obama and Clinton, and the Democrat party have done only what they have been allowed to do by Republicans. Our state Republicans included.  It begins:

Friends,

In our ongoing effort to arm you with information, we are pleased to send you talking points on the failed policies of President Obama and Hillary Clinton in advance of the State of the Union address tomorrow. It is vital to our nation’s future that we point out of the failures of the Obama presidency and all join together to elect a Republican who can defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. As always, thanks for all that you do!

Naturally, the choir has assembled and is going to get its first sermon.

The stage is set; Obama/Clinton equal failure.  Don’t forget however, that we must elect a Republican who can defeat Hillary in 2016 (assuming she is not wearing stripes).  Of course this must be mentioned, as most certainly that person has not yet risen to the top of polling.  Yet.

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans

Hey, wait a minute…why are we doing this again?!?

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If you are gullible enough to buy into Gov. Snyder’s, along with the Michigan GOP’s (working behind the scenes, of course), hype surrounding the “saving” of Detroit through a massive Michigan Taxpayer bailout via the “Grand Bargain“, a little more than a year later you would think things were humming along wonderfully and everything in The D was just swell.

Well, let me be among the first to smash those rose-colored glasses they have been distributing to the masses, knock that cup of Kool Aid in your hands to the ground and show everyone why it all is about to come crashing down…hard…again.

{Continued after the fold}

*** Quick Note: I’ve received a few messages asking me why I referred to EX-Detroit Federation of Teachers President as being “recently reinstated“.

There is an upcoming “hearing” with the American Federation of Teachers next week to consider the matter of his reinstatement. I’ve been told that hearing is nothing really more than a formality at this point, but that he is not currently officially back in his old position.

It should also be noted that the size, scope and frequency of these “sickouts” are next to impossible to orchestrate and coordinate without significant union involvement. So take Steve Conn’s “official” status with the DFT for what you will.***

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80th District Special Election (2015), Democrats, Elections, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans, Taxes

Absentee Voter Ballot Applications Available Now

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Absent Voter Ballot Application HeaderThe standard form required to request an absentee ballot in the upcoming March 8th Michigan presidential primary is now available online as a .pdf file here.  The large print version of the application for the visually impaired as a .pdf is here.  Completing and filing this application also gets you the ballot(s) for any local candidates and/or issues also voted on in March.  Note that you have to designate your political party preference on this request form to receive the presidential primary ballot you wish to vote.  A neat way to get you into someone’s big data file.

Just download this application form, fill it out, and mail it to your clerk.  Completed applications which request an absentee ballot be mailed to you must be received by your clerk no later than 2:00 PM on Saturday, 05 March.  However, this is cutting things awful close.  You will receive your absentee ballot in the return mail, but bear in mind that U.S. Postal Service First Class mail is running slow in the age of Obama.  Late absentee ballots are not counted and this has become a significant issue as of late.

You will probably have to mail your ballot by Thursday, 03 March to be assured that your clerk receives your ballot by election day.  You can always hand deliver (or have a friend deliver) an absentee ballot to your clerk before the polls close on election day.

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80th District Special Election (2015), Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Proposal 15-1, Republicans, Taxes

RightMi.com 2015 Year In Review

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RightMi.com top stories for 2015

Year in reviewWe’ve reached the end of 2015.

Running the gamut from man eating roads to bald face lies, Michigan politics is a ‘special’ place. RightMi.com highlights certain aspects of our system by bringing certain aspects not typically examined by the mainstream to the forefront.   With writing from folks in all parts of the state, we have been able to add perspective not found elsewhere.  Please enjoy, be active, and keep coming back!

STOP-167Coming out of 2014, that session’s legislative knuckleheads carved out a wonderful political battle extending right up to a special vote May 5, which was soundly defeated 80 to 20.  Add to this the cost of the special election that could be as high as $10,000,000, and the resources necessary on both sides to fight it.

In RightMi.com’s opening salvo for 2015, KG One says

“But, I’ve also heard that very same sales pitch before (going back at least several decades, in fact), and have been very disappointed by the outcome each and every time.”

And he was hardly wrong in hedging his optimism as disappointment has once again begat the theme with the political class we have learned to trust so implicitly. <sarc=off>

The ‘safe roads’ nonsense was replete with payoffs to just about every single constituency, and the majority GOP legislature made sure that those ‘po folk’ would get their due if the tax hikes would pass.

The PowWow happened, and we promoted, then reported on it.  The Mackinac Center made an unexpected decision to withdraw from the opportunity to reach 400 or so Michigan activists.  Apparently, Dave Agema, a white haired old veteran ‘racist’ (seen on the right with one of his ‘mortal enemies,’ Pastor Phil Smith) was too overwhelming and politically incorrect that he might rub off in some way.  We gave them a “bad doggie” award and moved on. (I still love you guys..  just don’t do that again, OK?)

A shame they didn’t show up.  One guy who did however, was Lt. General William G Boykin.

Now that guy was the real deal. He offered an inspirational speech (click the link above), and was later used as an example of concern about the lack of will by a couple of ‘tea soldiers’ to fight in Michigan’s legislature.  Though with a couple of highlights, the powwow takeaway in the end, was less than stellar from the perspectives of attendees and some organizers.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Proposal 15-1, Republicans, Taxes

2015: Year Of The Big Lie

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The Etiquette of Lying Evolved in Michigan This Year

hcedhbcaThomas Sowell just dismissed 2015 as the “Year of the Big Lie”. His view is national, but his observation certainly applies to Michigan politics this year as well.

MDEQ Director Dan Wyant resigned yesterday in an act of contrition over his department’s prevarications about Flint water processing and quality.  The Flint Water Advisory Task Force found the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality failed to ensure safe drinking water in the City of Flint.  He was followed out the door yesterday evening by his mouthpiece, MDEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel. The really egregious MDEQ lies were actually formulated by Stephen Busch, a civil service classified ‘engineer’ in the MDEQ Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance Office. No word on his fate, but don’t hold your breath; he is a classified civil servant.

By contrast, MDoT Director Kirk Steudle gets to spend a gusher of new taxpayer dollars gulled from our State Legislature, after his blizzard of lies supporting Proposal 2015-01 failed to impress Michigan voters. Our legislators were far less discerning than their constituents. Director Steudle was all over Michigan in the first quarter poor mouthing MDoT’s resources. He relentlessly promoted an entirely bogus assessment methodology to portray Michigan road conditions in the worst possible light. All the while, the Michigan Auditor General was having a field day revealing MDoT nonfeasance, misfeasance, and waste.

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80th District Special Election (2015), Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Proposal 15-1, Republicans, Taxes

Omertà: The New Code of Michigan Campaign Finance Reporting

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You Are Going to Know A Whole Lot Less The Next Time You Vote

Michael Kowall Image 2The Michigan House and Senate sent a much revised and dramatically expanded Senate Bill 571 H-3 to Governor Snyder last Wednesday. Introduced by Senator Kowall as a 12 page bill establishing some esoteric campaign finance rules for various types of PACs in Michigan, this bill morphed into a 53 page political grab bag incorporating SB 638 S-2 at the very last minute. It creates a whole new way to conceal political expenditures from public scrutiny until long after an election is over. Think of it as the mafia’s code of omertà applied to Michigan campaign finance.

Michigan’s nitwit news media are decrying the limits placed upon a ‘public body’ in Section 57(3), which prevents them from using public funds to propagandize voters on local ballot questions. This limitation doesn’t go far enough. Remember how the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Association of Counties, and the county road commissions pulled out all the stops for Proposal 2015-01? No prohibition against this in SB 571 H-3, but there should be. Citizens should not have to fight their tax dollars in the political arena. Section 57(3) would be a real benefit to Michigan politics if it had been extended to state ballot questions, but it wasn’t.

Now to the really devious aspect of SB 571 H-3, which our nitwit media missed. MCL 169.233(3)(a) currently requires ‘independent committees’ to report their financial expenditures on behalf of candidates and ballot questions four times a year. ‘Independent committees’ currently have to file reports on their campaign finance activities during February, April, July, and October. This is not quite a quarterly basis, but it is fairly well spaced out through the year. MCL 169.233(1) already exempts ‘independent committees’ from the regular election campaign statement reporting schedule – immediately before and after elections – required of most other committees. MCL 169.233(5) requires ‘independent committees’ to file reports of expenditures made within 45 days before a special election, but it is easy to use prepayments and accounts payable to avoid this window during most special elections. And this 45 day reporting window does not exist for regular elections. So you are only going to get quarterly reports from ‘independent committees, except in rare circumstances.

Section 33(3) of SB 571 H-3 completely eliminates the February campaign finance report for all types of committees, including independents. This creates a bastard reporting schedule consisting of two quarterly reports and one semiannual report five months after November elections.. Most political committees have to file pre and post election statements, so their campaign expenditures and sources of funds will continue to be known on a timely basis, regardless of this change. But independent committees are not required to file pre and post campaign reports for regular elections, so they will now have a six month interval after their October reports before they have to report their finances – on April 25th of the following year.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Philosophy, Republicans

Enabling Is Bad M’K?

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We reward the spoiled attitudes that have destroyed Detroit.

bailoutsBlame game.

From Capcon:

“The Democratic-controlled State Board of Education recently released a statement that appears to blame Michigan’s state government for the Detroit school district’s crippling debt. “

Full stop.

That’s a little like the stories of parent blaming McDonalds for their fat kids.  Below, are just a few of RightMi.com stories covering the incredible generosity of Michigan’s taxpayers under current GOP control.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Fees, Fees, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Fast and Loose in the Michigan Senate

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Switch Subsidy Bill Passage Was A Senate Rules Violation

David Knezek ImageIn their slobbering rush to deliver tax breaks for one very specific data center last Thursday, the Michigan Senate violated its own rules regarding the consideration of appropriations bills. The Knezek amendment to SB 616, S-1:

Enacting section 1. The legislature shall annually appropriate sufficient funds from the state general fund to the state school aid fund created in section 11 of article IX of the state constitution of 1963 to fully compensate for any loss of revenue to the state school aid fund resulting from the enactment of this amendatory act.

converted SB 616 into an appropriations bill according to the definition in Michigan’s 1963 Constitution, in its Article IV, Section 31.

Michigan Senate Rule 3.602 requires:

“Any bill requiring an appropriation to carry out its intended purpose shall be considered an appropriation bill (See Constitution Article IV, Section 31). Appropriations bills, when reported back to the Senate favorably by a committee other than the Committee on Appropriations, shall, together with amendments proposed by that committee, be referred to the Committee on Appropriations for consideration.

Michael Kowall Image 2Senator Kowall moved a suspension of the Senate Rules after the noon recess on Thursday to bring nine bills on to Third Reading, including SB 616. From Senate Journal 106, page 1910: “be placed on their immediate passage at the head of the Third Reading of the Bills calendar.” was his motion. Senate Journal 106 indicates that his request was passed by a majority. This allowed final action and passage on SB 616 in the Senate that day.

Reading the record, it would appear that Senator Kowall was suspending Rule 3.207 to consider SB 616 and the eight other bills which had been placed on to ‘General Orders’ that morning for final passage under ‘Third Reading’, out of normal order. Senate Rule 3.207 requires a one day delay between the ‘Second Reading’ (‘General Orders’), and the ‘Third Reading’ (‘Final Action’). Suspending this prescribed one day delay is a common practice when time is of the essence.

Senator Kowall had already moved that morning, before recess, to place SB 616 and the same eight other bills then under ‘Committee Reports’ (‘First Reading’) under ‘General Orders’ (‘Second Reading’), so they could be on that day’s calendar. Also out of normal order, but again a common practice when time is of the essence.

But did either of Senator Kowall’s two suspension motions suspend Michigan Senate Rule 3.602?

Is Michigan Senate Rule 3.602 a fundamental rule as defined by Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure? Mason’s is the underlying body of rules adopted by the Michigan Senate when their own rules are mute on an issue.  Fundamental rules cannot be suspended according to Mason’s and all the other accepted bodies of parliamentary rules.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Lie of the Month: “We’re talking about introducing an entirely new industry to Michigan”

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Pandora's Box Has Been Opened

Pandoras Box Image 2Actually, no. There are at least 28 third party data centers already up and operating in Michigan. The House Fiscal Agency thinks there are 40, but didn’t specify them. None of these 28+ existing data centers required the tax breaks just reported out of the Michigan House Committee on Tax Policy to get up and running.  But Switch SuperNAP does? Why?

The promoters of Switch SuperNAP’s tax break package launched their campaign back in November with a heavy emphasis on the ‘new industry’ angle. This whopper seems to have been originated by Switch’s spokesman Roger Martin:

“It is a tough issue,” Switch spokesman Roger Martin said. “There’s no question about it. We’re talking about introducing an entirely new industry to Michigan, something that is the future of this country and of this world. It’s a good, vigorous debate.”

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