Elections

Proposal 1 Liars Club Expands

Crushed School Bus
Not willing to be out lied by their frenemies in Michigan’s business community, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) created an entirely bogus propaganda by crushing an old school bus with a piece of bridge, complete with guard rail.  It will be a featured propaganda for their ‘Getting Schooled in Infrastructure’ tour which commenced in Flint today.  You are allowed to speculate on their altruistic motives.

Note the ‘white shirt’ law enforcement officer congratulating these union pranksters. Saginaw County Sheriff William L. Federspiel with a new dye job?  The same Sheriff who bailed on this year’s Ann Arbor Hash Bash at the last minute?  His ‘honor students’ in Saginaw took a breather so the good Sheriff could visit the only county in Michigan with a higher murder rate?  Oh, I forgot, he doesn’t want any of his sensitive deputies exposed to the horrors of Saginaw, the city.  Unless they can ride around in an MRAP.  How much damage does an MRAP do to our roads, might you ask?

You can bet dollars to donuts he won’t sic a motor carrier officer on this illegal, unsecured load.  Under any other circumstances, a trucker hauling this load around Michigan would get an impressive collection of ‘green stamps’ and an overnight stay in the crowbar hotel.  An opportunity to try on Federspiel’s natty new black and white jail attire.  Who said political convenience doesn’t tip the scales of justice in Michigan?

Favoritism never crosses the mind of our Michigan leaders. Too busy engaging in media opportunism.

You Betcha! (21)Nuh Uh.(0)

Now Where Did I See THAT Before?

Endless supplies of throwing stones used for media purposes.

snyder-roadOn the way to work yesterday morning, it dawned on me that I had seen a certain triangle shaped piece of road that was missing from the pavement somewhere else.

Then I recalled the Snyder/SafeRoads ‘rock giving tour.’  The travel business of the Governor handing out pieces of taxpayer owned property to media types around the state has been a boom.  {word has it he is negotiating a deal with rock tossers from around the world for our surplus road bits}

Given the recent photo ops given by the ‘progressive’ governor, Maybe we can get Rick to travel back up here to ‘patch’ our roads too?

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(0)

Today’s Mystery

SafeRoadsYes! Has A Phantom Contributor

Mystery Money

Today was the deadline for the last campaign finance filings with the Michigan Secretary of State before the May 5th vote on Proposal 1. SafeRoadsYes! filed five late contribution reports and a pre-special general report. Contributions supporting Proposal 1 now exceed $ 8 million and, as you might expect, the roster of SafeRoadsYes! contributors reads like a Michigan road constructors’ directory. SafeRoadsYes! expenditures now exceed $ 7.2 million, and SafeRoadsYes! still has more than $ 843,000 yet to be spent.  Of course there may be massive contributions yet to be made which would not be reported until after the election.

MGM Grand Casino and FireKeepers Casino contributed $ 50,000 each, presumably to curry favor with the Lansing power elites. BlueCross/Blue Shield and the Michigan Township Association each threw in $ 100,000 which was picked from your pockets by ObamaCare and your property taxes, respectively. Dick DeVos, after having his stooge knife Representative Gamrat for not supporting Proposal 1, got in late with a $ 50,000 contribution from his Alticor investment group.

Powering the Economy SRY Late Contribution Report 4-24-15There is one phantom entity in the SafeRoadsYes! late contribution reports which is worth investigating. An organization called ‘Powering the Economy’ gave $ 75,000 on 22 April. The problem here? ‘Powering the Economy’ doesn’t exist in either the Michigan LARA corporate database or the Secretary of State’s searchable PAC database. So who are they?

Best guess, the merry screw ups at the Detroit Regional Chamber have created a new ballot question PAC to replace their recently terminated – and heavily cited – ‘Detroit Regional Chamber PAC II‘ ballot question PAC. DRC PAC II earned eighteen citations from the SoS since 2013 for filing screw ups. DRC PAC II filed a dissolution notice on 02 April and paid the $ 875.00 dissolution fee on 07 April. ‘Powering the Economy’ has the same address as the Detroit Regional Chamber, One Woodward Avenue in Detroit – which used to be known as the MichCon or ANR Building before Dan Gilbert bought it. And DRC has trademarked ‘Powering the Economy’ as one of their signature catch phrases.

Somebody is ignoring Michigan’s campaign finance laws. Not just ignoring them, trampling them. But this has been a routine practice during the Proposal 1 proponents’ campaign. Our Attorney General is supposed to enforce these laws, but he hasn’t been exactly active on this front despite Schuette ostensibly opposing Proposal 1. So all we can do at this late date is tell you about another scam behind Proposal 1 and let you spike this dragon at the ballot box. Sweet revenge is $ 9 million of your opponents’ money down the drain. Vote May 5th.

You Betcha! (20)Nuh Uh.(0)

Whoo Whoooooot!

Found on the side of some possible MDoT leased passenger cars in Cadillac today.

Vote-no-Train

I guess they need this proposal to pass so that Rick Snyder can get his train set built from Ann Arbor to Traverse City after all!  All he needs are a few transportation ‘Ho’-Scale helpers to really push this thing over the rails and onto voters.

Waiting to be ‘tagged.’

I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..  I think I can..

You Betcha! (15)Nuh Uh.(0)

Are you suffering from lawn envy?

Admit it. Your front lawn is bland.

It needs something to “jazz it up”  a little.

Lawn Gnomes won’t do the trick.

Neither will gazing spheres, solar powered lawn lights or tiny banners displaying the upcoming holiday.

Why not try this?

{Find out about the wonder item that everyone will be clamoring for below the fold}

You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(0)

MDoT Train Wreck Still Emptying Michigan Wallets

Michigan Department of Transportation passing even more cost through to taxpayers.

Train Wreck ImageThe failure that is Kirk Steudle and the Michigan Department of Transportation continues to demonstrate that it cannot plan nor manage taxpayer funds efficiently.

RightMi.com readers might recall that the MDoT has been spending taxpayer dollars to babysit equipment that other people own. In the last few years, it has amounted to a drop in the bucket when compared to what is a bloated state budget of 52+ billion smackers, right?  But buckets eventually fill from all the droplets as we all know, and the spigot in this case is opening more.  From the Lansing State Journal:

At the current lease rates, that means MDOT would have to sink about another $4.4 million into lease charges before it is able to put the cars into service.

That line is sufficient to point out that Steudle’s comment earlier in the year was nothing more than lip service.

“These cars are costing us money right now and we’ve got to figure out how are we going to … stop the bleeding,”

As the old joke goes .. “Whats this ‘we’ s##t Kemosabe?”

 

 

 

You Betcha! (17)Nuh Uh.(0)

Another One Bites The Dust

Good news from Northern Michigan Republicans.

STOP-167About a week ago, someone told me that first congressional district Republicans were considering passing a resolution in support of Proposal 15-1.

I thought it strange, and frankly I had my doubts on how long I could tolerate such craziness if it was true.  Especially given the resolutions saying “NO” to 15-1 by delegates for most of the county parties which make up the first district. In fact, Grand Traverse County passed a resolution that was voted on by delegates and passed unanimously Feb 5.

My first instinct was spot on.

No worries in the first district.  Following the lead by the county parties within, and several other Republican districts without, the passing of a “NO” statement on 15-1 was easy at a 21 to 2 vote count.  Well done first district Republicans.

The resolution as passed is below the fold.

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

Troy City Hall Tax Day Protest – NO to Proposal 15-1

TAX DAY PROTEST AGAINST SALES TAX HIKE!

Will you let Michigan’s sales tax increase this spring? Join fellow taxpayers on April 15th to protest the tax hike!

 taxday

Who: YOU & fellow taxpayers who think taxes on your family are high enough already!

What: A public protest against the May 5th vote to raise the state sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents (a 17% increase) that will cost the average MI family $500 in new taxes next year if passed.

Where: 500 W. Big Beaver Road (Metro Parkway) In front of the Troy City Hall (just east of I-75 & Big Beaver Road intersection in Troy).

Park at Troy City Hall.

Why: Tax hike supporters are spending millions to pass this increase at the May election.  This rally is the best way for you to say, “No way!” .

When: Wednesday, April 15th from 5:00PM – 7:00PM.

You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(0)