Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

Michigan, Michigan Politics

Why Schmidt???…

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Why recall Wayne...

12231453_1517169498596422_1600511783_nI posted the MIRS article on our filing of petition language to recall Senator Wayne Schmidt to a certain local talk radio host when it came out to see if he was interested in it…His response…Why???…

After Prop-1, the Senate primary campaign against MacMaster, the red light cameras, and now the gas tax, he asked WHY???!!!…

PastedGraphic-1Granted, I’ve only lived up here for a measly 24 years, but during that time I was unfortunate enough to get to know Schmidt and how he operates from his stint in House District 104…been following the guy ever since…enough to know how arrogant, condescending, and downright hypocritical the man is…  Wayne Schmidt is the establishment GOP poster boy, “groomed for leadership” and a “team player” (ask George McManus)…His campaign ads boast of his “conservative values”…his voting record screams progressive liberal!!!…Wayne Schmidt never met a tax or fee he didn’t like, vote for or actually sponsor…He thinks the State should own far more land than it already does, and that the people in Lansing know far better than the folks in CD1 how to run a railroad (pun intended)…He calls himself a Republican, but votes like a Democrat, perhaps if our effort is successful he can take the opportunity to switch parties…

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Cronyism, Detroit, Humor in Michigan, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Proposal 15-1, Republicans, Taxes

State Of The State Program Guide Contest Announced

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Pure Michigan student creativity unfolding before our eyes.

sotsprogramcoverdesigncontest_cropHey kids, get your art skillz on!

The Michigan State of the State address by governor Rick Snyder is coming soon!  You can watch him get away with breaking the law, tell little white lies (or little dark ones), and learn how much you are already in debt in under two hours!  Gosh, what a treat! (or a trick)

But wait, there is more!

From the Michigan State Department of Propaganda comes a new contest: Design The State of the State Program Cover!

“Students can submit their designs today through Jan. 3. The top five designs – judged by their creativity and originality – will be announced through social media on Jan. 5 and posted on Snyder’s Facebook page. The winning design will be determined by which one receives the most ‘Likes’ on Facebook by the end of the day on Jan. 8.”

Gosh what fun!

To make it easier for our precious snowflakes, here is what the winning entry should look like.

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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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Conservative News, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Taxes

TAKE ACTION! SB 306 could raise Federal Taxes 40%!

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It sets up an interstate compact to use YOUR taxes to force a Constitutional Convention that will raise Federal taxes 40%!!!

Signing_of_Constitution+ Hi–Blast needed on Michigan’s SB306 (again!)…it’ll be up for a vote this time…This is a bill to bind Michigan to an interstate compact to pay a staff to force other states to option in on a constitution convention supposedly to pass a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment. There are many problems.

FIRST, there is no guarantee a ConCon will be limited to one issue, or that it will be bound by the ratification. More than 600 times it has been tried and each time dropped when folks realized the risk. Sec. of State Thomas Jefferson pursued it in 1796 and when the Jay Supreme refused the opine that such a convention could be limited to one issue. James Madison was alarmed when two states were calling for and Art V ConCon just a year after the Constitution was ratified. It dawned on him that this provision slipped through and was very dangerous. If a ConCon was too dangerous when Washington was President, John Adams VP, Hamilton and Jefferson in the Cabinet, Madison in the Senate and Jay on the Court, how much more dangerous would it be now with an electorate that chose Obama twice, and a political class that puts in congressional leadership people like Pelosi and Reid and Republican capitulators like McConnell and Boehner/Ryan?  It is WAAAY too risky. The Constitution needs to enforced not gutted

SECOND, this compact allows Governors to name the delegates and binds that the delegate from first state to ratify (South Carolina) will chair the ConCon. It seeks to bind states and the Congress in ways contrary to the Constitution and Art. V and sets other criteria that will not stand up to current Constitutional authorities. Under Article V states petition but Congress calls a convention and will set criteria. The same Congress that will not limit spending.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Another Deceitful Michigan Tax Scam Exposed

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Desperate Local Politicians Seek to Preserve Surreptitious Business Activities Tax

Tax Image 1Less noticed during this year’s roads tax furore, a roiling commercial property tax dispute has exposed a widespread, sub rosa business activities tax hidden in commercial real property taxes. A hidden tax you have been paying with every purchase at big box chain retailers who occupy stores they themselves own. Big box retailers have been exposing and successfully challenging this corrupt assessing practice through the Michigan Tax Tribunal and local units of government are howling over the loss of their ill gotten revenue.  Michael B. Shapiro of Honigman, Miller has been leading the charge against these bloated assessments.

Local units of government are demanding the Michigan Legislature overturn long standing real estate valuation principles and the Michigan court rulings which hold that assessed true cash value (i.e. fair market value) for tax purposes be based upon what a property would be sold for at arm’s length. They want true cash value to effectively incorporate the retail success of current owner-occupants. This artificially jacks up the property’s true cash value, its taxes, and the prices you pay at the store. Remember that businesses don’t pay taxes, customers of those businesses – in this case you – do.

Michigan’s nitwit media have deceitfully relabeled traditional true cash value assessment the ‘Dark Stores Loophole’. Local government organizations are screaming about lost revenues.  Even MoveOn.org is right in there with a petition to support their favorite spenders.  This is a devious effort to stampede our state’s legislators into codifying creative assessment methods solely intended to extract surreptitious revenues from shoppers. A follow on to the more blatant ‘Amazon Tax’ campaign of 2014. The State of Michigan got into your pocket last year, now it is your local government’s turn.

The term ‘Dark Stores Loophole’ was created to suggest that vacant big box stores have lower, fire sale values when compared to occupied stores. True enough, but we are discussing assessments used to determine real estate, i.e. property, taxes. Not taxes on business activity. The two creative assessment methods used most often to loot shoppers are ‘construction cost‘ and ‘imputed lease‘ calculations. Each might be valid under some very limited circumstances, but both are entirely invalid when assessing big box retailers.

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Michigan Politics

HB 5074-5076 (Supernap Tax Carveout House Bills) to be heard 1 December

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Folks,

As a quick heads up, House Bills 5074-5076, which provide the tax carveouts for datacenter operators, will be heard in the Tax Policy committee on 1 December at Edit: 1030 (previously Noon).

I plan on being there, and if you want to crash the party, you should too.

I still haven’t seen any traffic for the Senate Bills (Senate Bills 616-618) – which are an identical match.

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80th District Special Election (2015), Conservative News, Elections, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Proposal 15-1, Republicans, Taxes

You Don’t Say?

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Inside Michigan Politics ranks its most conservative and most liberal legislators, and guess what?

HB4736Susan Demas, not exactly known for sympathy to conservative causes must be having fun.

Recently editing the Inside Michigan Politics scoring of conservative and liberal state representatives, she gets to shame Republicans with their own rhetoric, and as a bonus, can gloat over the self inflicted loss of true conservative voting in the Michigan house. Her report:

Inside Michigan Politics has compiled the definitive rankings of the “Most Liberal and Most Conservative” members of the House of Representatives for 2015. The rankings are based on 28 litmus test roll-call votes this year.

“Most Conservative” winners Courser and Gamrat both notched 4.8% liberal voting records. Following them is Rep. Gary Glenn (R-Midland) with a 7.1% liberal record. Reps. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) and Lana Theis (R-Brighton) tied for third by posting 10.7% liberal voting records.

Snap.

A reminder BTW, that such ‘diehard’ conservatives Glenn, Runestad, and Theis all voted yea on the expulsion of Gamrat, and the expected expulsion of Courser prompted him to resign prior to expulsion.  Gosh, they could have used a vote or two of support on HB4736, as each voted correctly to deny the government beast more of our kibble.

Hello Birthday Tax.

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

Switch SuperNAP Michigan Data Center: Chaos in the Offing

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A Few Details Michigan's Legislators Might Want to Consider

Steelcase Pyramid Image 3
Michigan’s nitwit media have been gushing over the announcement last Thursday that Switch, LLC will purchase the erstwhile Steelcase Pyramid southwest of Grand Rapids and convert the site into one of their state-of-the-art SuperNAP cloud computing data centers. The ‘information economy’ has been touted as Michigan’s future by no less than Michael Dell. He was in Detroit to address the Economic Club after his company purchased EMC Corporation, another major data center operator with three facilities in Michigan, in a blow out $ 67 billion buyout. Switch SuperNAP promoters, notably The Right Place, Incorporated, are touting 1,000 new jobs in Gaines Township, but this should be regarded wth the same skepticism as any other MEDC clone employment prediction. No one has said anything about financing, but there is good reason to believe that Michigan will be asked to ‘participate’ here as well.

Steelcase vacated their distinctive Corporate Development Center in 2012 and sold it to to Norman Properties in May. Norman Properties, in turn, has agreed to sell this property to Switch LLC, pending the approval of State tax breaks. Those tax breaks have been introduced in the Michigan House by Representatives VerHeulin, Yonker, and Schor. Identical tax break legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Hildenbrand, Schuitmaker, and MacGregor. These legislators are targeting quick passage in the legislative session which convenes after their Thanksgiving break. They might want to consider a few details before they lunge further forward.

This being RightMI, you might think this post is about those tax breaks. You would be wrong. There is actually a critical flaw in this project which will injure Consumer’s Energy electricity customers all across West Michigan. A couple of other issues exist as well, but they pale in comparison to the electricity consumption of this project.  Those tax breaks are a lost cause in American politics today – not even worth protesting.

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Conservative News, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy

Humpday Around Michigan – Islamic Invasion Edition

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Don't hold your breath on Rick Snyder's commitment to protecting Michigan citizens.

Paris happened, but it is not spectacularly unique as has been chronicled since 911.

These are some takes from around the state on the federally assisted invasion of high risk into our state.

The Shekel –  The Governerd Begins To Get A Clue  “That he thought it was a good idea in the first place shows rather terrible judgment on his part .. ”  Indeed.

The Michigan Review (April 02) – From One Direction to ISIS: The Zayn Malik Story  Boy band to propaganist recruiting tool.

Muskegon Pundit – The Way Black Lives Matter Responded to Paris Attack Will Boil Your Blood – Comparing Paris to Mizzou? yeesh.  Remember CMU too!

Muskegon Pundit #2 – Is his plan national suicide?—–Obama sticks to his plan for at least 10,000 Syrian refugees — unvetted! Unlikely to change really.

Muskegon Pundit #3 – This entire “refugee resettlement” scam is ALL ABOUT MONEY and MUSLIMS. Not compassion!—–Must see! (only 4 min) Ann Corcoran on Refugee Resettlement Truth. must see then call our governor.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Say no to Syrian Refugees

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Is allowing the refugees worth the risk to our Michigan friends and families?

Michigan’s governor has expressed an interest in opening the gates for refugees from Syria.

As seen in the tragic Paris attack, vetting those who would settle in our nation, and particularly in our state is of utmost importance.  France has discovered at least two of the Islamic terrorists perpetrating the attack in Paris were part of the refugee movement, which would also send high risk refugees here as well.

I must first question the governor’s desire to put Michigan at-risk for the same sort of extremist violence. By ignoring normal immigration procedure and fast-tracking of settlements from such unstable parts of the world, he undermines our citizens’ safety.  By admitting the large number of demographically high risk candidates for entry is asking for trouble in my view.

Will the current representatives offer any legislative warning or interference with the governor’s design? What about my own representative Larry Inman? Has he made a statement in opposition to a broad acceptance of those who carry a higher probability of future violence than those who have gone through a normal vetting process?  No?

Call his office at  517-373-1766 and ask him why not.

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