Tag: BAD Behavior

Yessirree.  Article V, Section 18 is merely PLPD coverage on the family car.  Out of pocket repair bills is exactly the exposure that every Michigan family faces with handing the keys to their little darlings behind the Lansing wheel.  What's that?  A smart family should know to also carry collision, or, Full Coverage if entrusting others with risks to the family vehicle?  Well, with just checking the old inbox, that is the message that the good folks over at the Michigan Capitol Confidential are driving home on Prop 5.

The idea behind a Tax Limitation Amendment is to make it more difficult for the political class to pilfer the pockets of taxpayers. Research -- most notably by scholar Mancur Olson -- has shown time and again that in democratic nations the wishes of an electorate are often ignored by narrow special interests that seek costly "favors" from the government. Politicians all too frequently accommodate those favors (be they subsidies or tariffs or spending hikes or other items) in part because their contributors and powerful constituents support them. Increasing taxes also is often a path of least resistance.

Constitutional restrictions are an effective way to handcuff politicians and stymie the special interests who lobby them for more money. Academic research on balance seems to show that such restrictions do check the growth of government and tax burdens, too.

Amen!  So, the natural question must be asked, why is it that the biggest opponent of Prop 5, Rick Snyder, a CEO, and CPA mind you, is behaving like a teenager who incessantly tells dumb 'ol mom and dad who are liable for his actions that he can text and drive?

CPMC just cut loose with their latest ad titled "Dangerous," featuring metro Detroit police officer Terry Fortuna exposing the truth about Proposal 2.  The state's Attorney General and law enforcement leaders from across Michigan have been educating residents about the devastating effect Proposal 2 would have on 170 laws that voters, parents, Sheriffs and police count on to protect Michiganders.

Officer Fortuna says:

"I'm pro-union, its just that I'm not pro Proposal 2.  They are trying to sell this as collective bargaining, but collective bargaining is already protected by federal law.  You don't have to know anything about Proposal 2 except that its dangerous.  Vote NO on Proposal 2."

According to Proposal 2's own language, the proposed constitutional amendment would give union contracts veto power over state laws, by "invalidat(ing) existing or future state or local laws" and will "override state laws that regulate...conditions of employment to the extent that those laws conflict with collective bargaining agreements," giving government union contracts veto power over the laws that keep Michigan kids and families safe.

AG Schuette found that this language would invalidate over 170 different laws and reforms, including many that keep Michigan kids safe at school like laws establishing minimum safety training standards for bus drivers and empowering school districts to immediately remove teachers from the classroom who have been caught under the influence or selling drugs at school.

The Michigan Education Association, the state's largest teachers union and one of the most prominent financial backers of Proposal 2, concurred with Schuette's findings earlier this year when they issued a confidential legal memo that claimed passage of Proposal 2 would "immediately" overturn the law that gives public schools the right to immediately remove teachers caught selling drugs in the classroom or under the influence of drugs or alcohol at school, among others.

Putting the dot on the 'i', the Bay City teachers union wrote a $40,000 check to the ballot committee behind Proposal 2 shortly after receiving an internal legal memo from the Michigan Education Association. (MEA) The memo that claimed Prop 2 would reinstate controversial Bay City contract provisions that prevent the school district from firing teachers caught selling drugs or under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the classroom, according to campaign finance reports.

The Bay City Education Association wrote the $40,000 check, one of the single largest contributions by any local teachers union in the state, to the "Protect Our Jobs" ballot committee on May 23rd, only a month after an MEA circulated legal memo declaring Proposal 2 would overturn the law identified in the local union's contract that barred provisions requiring a teacher to be caught drunk five times or under the influence of drugs three times before being fired.

The same contract had provisions where a teacher could be caught selling drugs on school property in some circumstances not once, but twice before the teacher could be terminated. (Contract pages 92-93.)

"The more parents learn about Proposal 2 the less they like it," said Nick De Leeuw, Spokesman for Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution. "The possible consequences in Bay City prove that Proposal 2 is not just bad policy, it is not worth the risk to Michigan children."

Lawmakers and the governor teamed in 2011 to enact Public Act 103, which legally overturned the kind of shocking contract provisions found in the Bay City teachers' contract but the contract itself explicitly states (contract page 87) that should Public Act 103 be struck down, the protections for teachers who abuse drugs and alcohol on school property or sell drugs in class would go back into effect.

According to an internal memo from the MEA's Legal Department (see attachment) delivered to the Bay City teachers union only weeks before their massive contribution, passage of Proposal 2 would "immediately" overturn Public Act 103.  The MEA is also one of Proposal 2's most prominent financial backers.

The MEA's leaked memo states in part: "The new prohibited bargaining topics created by 2011 PA 103 and included in Section 15(3) of PERA would NO LONGER exist. This law currently prohibits bargaining over...Teacher discipline policies..."