Don’t you know that “Take a vote, not a vacation” doesn’t apply to the man at the top?

“It’s essential that making Michigan’s infrastructure safer remains a top priority. While voters didn’t support this particular proposal, we know they want action taken to maintain and improve our roads and bridges. The ‘relentless’ part of relentless positive action means that we start anew to find a comprehensive, long-term solution to this problem.” – Gov. Rick Snyder after the crushing defeat of Proposal 1 on May 5, 2015

Unless of course, you are on yet another “vacation” to peddle blueberries to the Chi-Comms?

Or, maybe that’s what he wants everyone to believe.

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I’ve got to give Snyder credit on this one.

He really is a master at misdirection and rope-a-doping the media reporting the happenings going on up in Lansing.

If we are to believe the bulk of what has been written this week about the Michigan House going through the motions of an actual working lawmaking body last week, the only reason why we don’t have a road funding plan in place right now is because those darn rapscallions on the democratic side of the aisle wanting far too much in return for their votes on the latest house plan (“600/600”).

Detroit Income Tax on Detroiters working outside of Detroit to now be collected by the state…done.

A 20% increase in the amount of road funding Detroit can spend on mass transit instead of actually fixing roads…done.

Putting the kibosh on the prevailing wage/prevailing wage petition and recomputing the funding formula used in Michigan to allocate more money towards S.E. Michigan roads…whoa, whoa, whoa, waitaminit here!!!

Machination by House democrats aside, the Michigan House’s road funding plan was equally as bad as the previously passed Michigan Senate’s road funding plan. Only in the Michigan House, they wanted to go with a combination of $600-million in vehicle registration and fee hikes along with to be determined at a later date tax hikes, coupled with $600-million in cuts from other areas of the budget to be redirected towards Michigan Roads, also to be determined at a later date.

The House democrats were not very keen of making cuts without knowing exactly where they would be made.

They will argue that it is part of the “social contract” that government should take from one segment of society and gives it to those they deem worthy of the government’s benevolence.

I have fun with these same democrats when I ask them to show me exactly where this “social contract” is and where it came from.

They, of course, cannot answer the question.

Typically they’ll get flustered and walk off in a huff or have their surrogates get into my face about what a cruel person I am for not caring about those “less fortunate” than I.

But you know what?

The democrats aren’t the only people who adhere to that abnormal philosophy.

Gov. Snyder shares it as well.

Let me remind everyone of what happened almost two years ago here in Michigan.

Back in September 2013, despite the backlash of opposition against bringing Obamacare here into to Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder essentially told us what we could go and do with ourselves and signed “Michigan Medicaid Expansion” into law. We were told that we could expect to see at most 323,000 able-bodied people signing up in the first year, with no more than 477,000 after that.

Well, reality didn’t mirror the governor’s optimistic forecast.

By the end of 2014, 508,000 able-bodied individuals had signed up. According to the most current figures I could pull up, that number had shot up to 582,000 as of last April (see page 3).

But how was this to be paid for?

Let me introduce everyone to another misguided law called the HICA tax (Health Insurance Claims Assessment) that was passed several years ago: SB-348 (a.k.a. PA 142 of 2011), which was extended/superseded by SB-335 (a.k.a. PA 58 of 2013) again by one Sen. Roger Kahn.

Reader’s Digest version of Sen. Kahn’s bill was to impose a tax on health insurance claims in Michigan originally set to expire to 2014, but extended out to at least 2018. There was talk of increasing the tax by a higher percentage rate this year, but the Michigan Chamber quashed that idea.

This is the revenue source used to offset Snydercaid’s cost to Michigan’s general fund.

OABTW, did I mention that based on projected increases that by 2021 Michigan will need to find at least $385-million to pay for Snydercaid? Not an easy task to fulfill when your current funding source expires and you are using  general fund revenue to pay for something more important like long overdue road maintenance.

I wonder how that will be pulled off (and by whom)?

Gov. Snyder thought that he was grown up enough to put on the big-boy pants and lead when he ran for office.

I don’t know about anyone else here, but part of being a leader involves being able to make the right choice, regardless of the consequences.

Leadership over legacy and that sort of thing.

Sneaking through a tax to ostensibly pay for one of his first term “priorities” is bad enough.

Playing childish games with Michigan Motorists/Taxpayers is even worse.