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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Oh, you gotta have Art...


    By KG One, Section News
    Posted on Tue Apr 24, 2012 at 10:59:58 PM EST
    Tags: Detroit Institute of Arts, How do you circumvent Headlee and raise taxes? Create an authority...that's how, Art Tax, PA 296 of 2010, Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County, Detroit, Anyone want to take a wild guess whose going to pay for this boondoggle? (all tags)

    ♪All you really need is Art...♪

    ♪But those of us who really like to go, are really cheap you know...♪

    ♪We want to see some van Gogh (so you better cough up some dough)...right now!♪

    ♫All we really need is Art! ♫

    {Story Continues After the Fold}

    For those of you old enough to remember, that little ditty above was from an old TV commercial promoting the Detroit Institute of Arts way back in the 1970's.

    For some reason, it came back to me on the way home from a County Commission meeting this evening, after a vote to create a Macomb County Art Institute Authority, which ostensibly will create a tax to go on the earliest ballot possible.

    Now, you may be asking yourself: What does Macomb County have even remotely to do with an Art Museum in another county.

    That's the gag!

    Most of us were asking that very same question just one week ago.

    But the makings of this were way earlier than that.

    Let's jump into the DMC-12 and go back to the waning days of the last session of the Michigan Legislature.

    Jennifer Granholm was packing her bags and dreaming happy thoughts about returning to Berkley.

    Rick Snyder was busy thinking about how he can relentlessly and positively ram an income and pension tax hike down Michiganian's throats (Hmmmmmmm...use a pejorative term and call us Michigander's to throw us off?).

    Senate Republicans were <strike>selling their souls</strike> capitulating their last shred of integrity (Thank you, Mike Bishop!), by indulging democrats, especially one Sen. Samuel Thomas of Detroit.

    One important bill to note of his from that time was Senate Bill 1578 of 2010 creating a revenue generating authority that directly benefited a Detroit-based entity, specifically the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was signed into law by Gov. Granholm during the last days of her reign and promptly forgotten.

    Or, so we thought.

    Democrats eager to take and spend other people's money (much like children and criminals) copy and pasted P.A. 296 of 2010 into their respective county hoppers and got the ball rolling to bring in some more dough.

    How much, you may ask?

    Well, in Macomb County, it's projected to collect approximately $3-million. In Oakland County (which strangely has L. Brooks Patterson's support): $11-million. And finally, in Wayne County (home of the DIA): $9-million.

    That's per year, by the way.

    So the DIA gets at least $230-million to play around with no strings attached.

    Must be nice.

    The real kicker here is that this almost fell by the wayside.

    Even though the bill passed at the Wayne County Board of Commissioners Meeting last month, the original bill in Macomb County died in committee 4-4 several days ago.

    Then, after some MAJOR, industrial-strength arm-twisting by the DIA and its supporters, one of the "no" votes, Commissioner Smith, changed his vote to a "yes".

    As if the DIA bumper stickers on the cars in the parking lot and lapel pins wasn't a dead giveaway, those same supporters packed the board room again tonight and stumped even more in support of the tax, er I mean, Macomb Art Authority.

    So, in the end, how did they fare?

    Here's the breakdown:

    Toni Moceri (D)/District 1 - Yes
    Marvin E. Sauger (D)/District 2 - Yes
    Phillip A. DiMaria (D)/District 3 - Yes
    David Flynn (D)/District 4 - Yes
    Ray Gralewski (R)/District 5 - No
    James L. Carabelli (R)/District 6 - No
    Don Brown (R)/District 7 - No
    Kathy D. Vosburg (R)/District 8 - Yes
    Fred Miller (D)/District 9 - Yes
    Roland Fraschetti (R)/District 10 - No
    Kathy Tocco (D)/District 11 - Yes
    Bob Smith (D)/District 12 - Yes
    Joe Sabatini (R)/District 13 - No

    8-5 Motion passed.

    Now the fun really begins...

    < Stabenow Porks Up Farm Bill Adds Entitlement | Can I Borrow A Hammer >


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    Display: Sort:
    Well personally (none / 0) (#1)
    by JGillman on Wed Apr 25, 2012 at 07:03:17 AM EST
    I LIKE 'Michiganders'

    I should note, if a measure we vote on winds up in a tie or otherwise loses, there is no turn around in a couple days unless it was a committee vote originally.  Just curious if that was where the original loss was?

    • Yes, it was. by KG One, 04/25/2012 12:09:17 PM EST (none / 0)
    Ah, the trusty 'ol online dictionary... (none / 0) (#2)
    by Corinthian Scales on Wed Apr 25, 2012 at 11:11:29 AM EST
    ...covers this issue rather well.

    Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy)
    noun (pl. -cies)
    a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

    Southeast Michigan: it's a good place to be .. from!

    lol (none / 0) (#4)
    by Corinthian Scales on Fri May 18, 2012 at 04:45:35 PM EST
    Yup.  Am just tickled pink that I no longer am part of the SE Michigan dunghole.

    A millage to benefit the Detroit Institute of Arts will go before Oakland County voters, the county Board of Commissioners decided Thursday.

    The commissioners voted 15-9 to create an arts authority, which will craft ballot language for the proposed 10-year, 0.2 mill tax, which also will go before voters in Wayne and Macomb counties.

    Seven Republicans joined all eight Democrats who were present in voting yes. All nine no votes were from Republicans.

    Oakland County's support is the final piece of the plan, though officials face a May 29 deadline to finalize language to get the issue on the August ballot.

    "The DIA is a cultural institution of irreplaceable benefit," said the Rev. Robert Hart of St. James Episcopal Church in Birmingham.

    And, it's precisely liberal morons like that infesting most churches these days as reason why I don't p!ss away my time with them either.

    Update. (none / 0) (#5)
    by KG One on Sat May 19, 2012 at 10:04:28 AM EST
    And things are just humming right along here in Macomb County.

    The DIA-tax authority had its members appointed this week by the Macomb County BoC.

    In a stunning display of hubris, this is what a rep from the DIA had to say to the local paper regarding the huge salaries of its employees:

    "In the Macomb Daily interview, DIA board Chairman Eugene Gargaro defended the $380,000 annual salary for museum Director Graham Beal. According to figures compiled by the DIA, Beal's salary ranks 17th among the nation's highest paid museum directors while the DIA's art collection ranks among the top six in the United States.

    Gargaro said top museums pay large sums as they seek prime talent, much like in the world of business or professional sports."

    Well, hey! Would you look at that?

    Can anybody out there name me a business that is able to directly tax an entire region to pay for itself?

    How about any sports team?

    Well?

    Anybody?

    Bueller? Bueller?

    If Mr. Beal is afraid of "getting lost in the noise", he obviously hasn't seen the list of candidates on ballot this fall.

    And I don't even have anything near a complete listing of any ballot issues yet.


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