Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

Cronyism, Firearms, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Happy Deer in Michigan

by 10x25MM • February 20, 2015 • 3 Comments

Michigan Hunters Not So Happy

DNR just slyly reported that Michigan hunting license sales dropped to 729,000 in 2014, a 4.2% drop from 2013 sales and the all time low in data extending way back to 1958. This drop is even worse than the numbers suggest, since the new HB 4668 hunting license rules require base licenses for hunting activities which did not require licenses in previous years. And if you believe President Obama and his statistical mathmagicians, the U.S. economy surged at a 5% GDP growth rate in 2014Q3 just before Michigan’s traditional firearms deer season. Michigan’s population increased by 11,684 people in 2014, the third consecutive annual increase. So the number of hunters should have increased in 2014? But the number of hunters in Michigan dropped, and hunter numbers declined because license fees skyrocketed under HB 4668 of 2013.

The most popular hunting license prices increased 50 – 100 % under the new 2014 fee schedule, although a direct comparison is not possible because the licenses were restructured under HB 4668 to ‘simplify’ the license schedule. Even though the DNR has not released license sales dollar amounts yet, we can still sketch out the doleful effect of the DNR hunting license fee increases on Michigan’s staggering economy.

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Conservative News, Michigan, Michigan Politics

A Good Start

by Jason • February 19, 2015 • 2 Comments

Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform designed to restore 5th amendment protections.

The constitution laid out the responsibilities and roles of the different parts of the federal government.

However to clarify its scope and the limits, it was necessary to enact the bill of rights. And over the years, as different administrations championed their own versions of judicial conduct, even THAT became corrupted in application. Business owners and citizens have had to fight the leviathan of big government simply to retrieve confiscated property that was either improperly taken, or destroyed by overly zealous authority, even without criminal charges being filed.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Reps Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), and Scott Garrett (R-NJ) are hoping to correct this, and once again clarify the meaning of due process, and restore the value of the 5th amendment. The Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act is apparently designed to do that.

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1

Video Of The Day – Special Interest Deals

by Jason • February 16, 2015 • 0 Comments

"Oh Yeah .. You Did.."

Classic “vote No” television ad as the first salvo in the epic failure that will be Proposal 15-1

The original ‘grubering’ in Washington merely required the power hungry congress critters to stick the fork in the voters. In this new catastrophic mess, it requires full participation in the self flagellation.

Indeed, effective ads need to mock the stupidity that are presented in the proposals appropriately.

This one does the job well enough.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Because It Works So Well

by Jason • February 16, 2015 • 1 Comment

Lansing politicos promoting more racial divisiveness, and now?

Due to a groundswell of race related denial of service, access restrictions and increasing public pressure, lawmakers are going to act!

Recognizing the tongue planted firmly in cheek above, we can only speculate the reasons that State Senator Rick Jones (R) Might be the primary sponsor for such an effort as Senate Bill 90, “A bill to create an African-American affairs commission, an office of African-American affairs,” etc.. Maybe there is a trade off for something he wants, a job for a dear friend, or simple ‘white guilt?’ Perhaps he is lost in a time warp?

I mean really, doesn’t he know that ‘ghey’ is the new ‘black?’

The reality is that the last thing Michigan needs is another way to blow taxpayer resources by promoting the divisive cataloging of its citizens by race. At some point full equality means equal blindness by lawmakers and bureaucrats with regard to how public resources are used and allocated. It also demands an equal responsibility for each individual to stand on his own merit for an equal treatment under the law.

And we cannot understand why Jones and several other GOP sponsors would AGAIN want to grow government. We get the view of the Democrat sponsors, as race baiting and divisive pandering is an established platform of their party, but from the party which believes “that the best government is that which governs least?” It makes no sense to add a new department that requires new office space, full time administrative staff, and all for the express purpose of continuing to validate the absurd idea that any one racial population still needs special dispensation from the government.

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Michigan Politics

Where Did Lorence Wenke’s Votes Come From?

by Conservative First • February 11, 2015 • 2 Comments

The closest state legislative race in Michigan in 2014 was in state senate district 20, which is coterminous with Kalamazoo County. The district was vacated by Republican senator Tonya Schuitmaker, who ran for reelection in a neighboring district due to redistricting.

The Republican candidate was 61st district state rep Margaret O’Brien of Portage. The democrat candidate was 60th district state rep Sean McCann of Kalamazoo. Both are fairly typical representatives of their parties.

Aside from the closeness of the race, there was another complicating factor. Former state rep Lorence Wenke ran as a Libertarian after having originally filed to run in the Republican primary. Wenke was a moderate Republican state rep 2002-2008. He had an eclectic platform emphasizing support for gay rights and support for cutting government employee benefits. In the course of the campaign, he announced support for several tax increases and other un-libertarian policies.

The election results, after a recount, were

O’Brien 36645 (45.6%)
McCann 36584 (45.5%)
Wenke 7171 (8.9%)

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

Another Glitch in the ‘Road’ Tax Package

by 10x25MM • February 10, 2015 • 7 Comments

Legislative Craftsmanship at its Finest

A week ago we found out that the new road tax package vehicle registration fee system would end its Federal tax deductibility. Now Gongwer News Service is reporting another glitch, this time in the gasoline sales tax provisions of the road tax package:

Fix Planned to Correct Sales Tax Problem in Roads Plan

The administration of Governor Rick Snyder will seek legislation to correct a potential problem in the road funding plan that as written would lift the sales tax off of gasoline only for motor vehicles, but not for boats, snowmobiles and other non-road purposes like generators and gasoline-powered equipment.

As currently constructed, that would create a mess for retailers who theoretically would have to determine whether or not to charge the sales tax and even ask customers filling up a gasoline can what the intended use of the purchase is. The Citizens Research Council of Michigan, as part of a broad analysis it is conducting on the road funding plan, noted the quirk and provided the information to Gongwer News Service.

It will be interesting to see how Governor Snyder fixes this. Purchasing gasoline for your boat or ORV could become a really entertaining bureaucratic exercise. Ready for the ‘Gasoline Police’? Think of the new forms to be filled out.

CRCoM is a collection of the usual corporate interests orbiting Michigan government. Not certain why they would have ratted out this bungle to Gongwer, but it does suggest a certain degree of unease among the establishment.

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1

Northern Resistance

by Jason • February 10, 2015 • 9 Comments

Two Northern County parties on record in opposition to proposal 15-1.

Antrim and Grand Traverse County Republicans have said “nope.”

Last Thursday (February 5, 2015), a couple of Northern Michigan county conventions had the opportunity to vote on a resolution in opposition to the 17% sales tax increase. With only ONE dissenting in the Antrim County convention, and NO vocalized dissent in the Grand Traverse County convention, both county Republican parties made it clear that the tax increase was unacceptable.

The GTGOP event had about 70 voting delegates present. Antrim had 43 signed in

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Michigan Politics

Unity???…

by Tom Backers • February 9, 2015 • 3 Comments

Ever get the feeling things are being 'manipulated'???

I’ve been following THIS soap opera…

What is going on with Alan Arcand? Can anyone shed some light on this? This is literally all I know.
Iron County, Michigan Elected Precinct Delegate Fights Back!
Heading to the Iron County, Michigan Republican Convention on February 5, 2015 I was talking with Alan Arcand who won the August 2014 Primary and was elected…

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Tom Backers Here ya go!!! MICHIGAN ELECTION LAW (EXCERPT)
Act 116 of 1954
168.608 Certifying and recording names of delegates; filing; notification of delegates; certification of delegates to county conventions; definition.
Sec. 608.
(1) The board of primary election inspectors shall certify to the county clerk the names of the electors elected as delegates, naming the political party upon whose ballot the delegates were elected.
(2) The county clerk shall record the names of the delegates elected in a book kept for that purpose and shall file the book among the records of the clerk’s office.
(3) No later than 7 days following the primary election, the clerk shall notify each delegate elected of his or her election as delegate.
(4) The county clerk shall certify the following to the chairperson of the committee of each political party of the county:
(a) The delegates elected by the political party as delegates to the county conventions.
(b) The names of all persons nominated as candidates of a political party for county office and for state legislative office who are delegates at large under section 599(5), when those names become available to the county clerk.
(5) As used in this section, “persons nominated as candidates of a political party for county office and for state legislative office who are delegates at large under section 599(5)” means incumbent county officials, incumbent state legislators, and unsuccessful candidates for county offices and state legislative offices who were candidates at the last prior regular or special election held for the respective office.

NOTE:
“and unsuccessful candidates for county offices and state legislative offices who were candidates at the last prior regular or special election held for the respective office.”

Tom Backers You ARE an “at large” delegate to the convention in any case…Why not press this issue with your County Chair, who is in violation of State Election law on several levels…

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Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Proposal 15-1, Republicans

The King Says Vote Yes On May 5th

by Jason • February 7, 2015 • 17 Comments

No level of protection for the taxpayer is left, as any defining lines to cross are swept away like sand.

That’s right, ‘the king’ dictates a yes vote.

Enjoy the commercial Rick Snyder has made with taxpayer dollars. All we did was add the funk for all the junk in Lansing’s trunk.

When the bureaucracy cannot (or WILL NOT) tell the difference between an opinion and a directive (express advocacy), no citizen protections are left in play. The Bureau of Elections had already tipped its hand that a denial of my complaint was coming prior to receiving it. The spokesguy Fred Woodhams made that announcement even admitting they had not yet seen it.

How could it possibly be doing its job if it had already made the decision without review of the facts? How could the process be properly run, if the denial of the complaint had to be crafted and spun to fit a predetermined outcome? Strangely enough, Woodhams himself has previously said that no statements about such things should happen prior to review. In 2012:

“Secretary of State Spokesman Fred Woodhams said that the office had received the complaint as of Friday. Woodhams said the Secretary of State’s office does not comment on allegations until they have an opportunity to review it.”

Pretty FUNKY, yes?

Indeed. Something stinks in Lansing, and it ain’t the Red Cedar Drain.

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