Tag Archive for Michigan

Michigan, Michigan Politics

$257K Per Legislator

by  •  • 2 Comments

With all the box seats are sold out, Michigan taxpayers are all in the peanut gallery.

Money Transfer ImageFor each of the 148 State Senators, and State Representatives in Michigan, lobbyists spend about a quarter Million bucks each year.

According to Craig Mauger at the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, this year they are on track to keep it going.

Over the first seven months of 2016, January through July, lobbyists reported $21.7 million in spending, according to disclosures filed with the state at the end of August. That total, $21.7 million, is the most spent on lobbying over the first seven months of a year in Michigan’s history.

Its all innocent ..of course.

But please remember, your guy is in Lansing, and is outnumbered by trained agenda wielding operatives by a factor of 20 to 1.

Not only is there more money trying to influence Michigan’s elected officials, there are more lobbyists as well. There were 2,998 lobbyists and lobbyist agents registered in Michigan in 2015, up from the previous record of 2,959 in 2012.

And that means “20 to 1” is just the average.

But rest assured, all that money is only spent on positive outcomes, AM I RIGHT?

 

You Betcha! (4)Nuh Uh.(0)

Michigan, Michigan Politics

It’s The Supreme Court Stupid

by  •  • 3 Comments

Rock beats scissors. SCOTUS surely MUST beat smug moral discontent.

Hello #NeverTrump folks.

Repeat after me: “I want the United States Supreme Court to actually follow the constitution.  Argue all you want that Trump is not a conservative, and is a loose cannon, etc., but when the rubber hits the road, it cannot be Hillary who names the next SCOTUS nominee.

Just ONE more supreme from the likes of the current left would be a disaster for Michigan. On the basis of the EPA’s effect in Michigan, as well as others, Hugh Hewitt has a point or two to make:

With hardly any effort at all I summoned up a dozen major cases where the switch on the court from 4-4-1 to 5-3-1 would be disastrous, beginning with Michigan v. Environmental Protection Agency, which was last year’s court ruling that reined in the EPA from imposing massive costs on the states without proper rule-making procedure and oversight and the Rapanos decision of 2006 which only gently (and barely) rebuked the Army Corps of Engineers from playing havoc with property rights. The prospect of a massive regulatory state with no meaningful judicial oversight at all did not deter the professor.

The EPA vehicle to property right losses might have been created by Nixon, but it will be nearly any administration as out of control as the current one that will drive it over us.

A second Clinton administration will repeatedly hit reverse to finish the job.

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(9)

Conservative News, Elections, Michigan, Republicans, Research & Analysis

The Winner of “Survivor: Cuyahoga” is . . .

by  •  • 2 Comments

Donald Trump isn’t the republican nominee, and Ted Cruz hasn’t been mathematically eliminated . . . yet.

At roughly noon on May 4th, after running fourth in a three-man race for seven consecutive weeks, John Kasich finally suspended his presidential nomination campaign (raising the obvious question of, “What the hell took so long?”), leaving Donald Trump as the “sole survivor” of what was originally an eighteen-candidate republican field. And, go figure, before Cinco de Mayo was in the books, various talking heads and keyboard pundits were acknowledging, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, that The Donald was now the presumptive republican nominee. However, to channel L. P. Berra, this campaign ain’t over ‘til it’s over, and despite a certain well-circulated AP report, a certain critical milestone hasn’t yet been tallied into Trump’s column, and so June 7th is still going to matter . . . very much.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (7)Nuh Uh.(5)

Detroit, Michigan

They’ll Find the Money

by  •  • 4 Comments

Lawmakers will come up with enough dough to settle this temporary matter.

Somewhere.

There is a $460 Million unexpected shortfall in the Michigan Budget.  The Free Press reports:

The budget gap is the combined result of a revenue shortfall of about $330 million for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, plus higher Medicaid caseloads that are expected to cost the state about $130 million more than estimated, Budget Director John Roberts told journalists after the conference at the Capitol.

The added strain comes as the Legislature is already grappling with tens of millions of dollars in extra spending requests related to the Flint drinking water crisis and a major financial rescue that’s proposed for the Detroit Public Schools.

Oh yeah..

The Detroit Public Schools.

Gee, we never saw that coming.

 

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(0)

Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy

Pressure.

by  •  • 6 Comments

When folks around the state know what is going on, they are better prepared to act.

Gary Glenn knows that pressure from those back home can bring about action when bills are slowed down in the committee process.  Recently, he sends this out in an email blast:

glenn“Dear Friends,

The purpose for this email is to bring to your attention House Bill 4847, which would restore Michigan citizens’ constitutionally-guaranteed right to a jury trial, including on lawsuits filed against the state.

Specifically, HB 4847 would allow any citizen of Michigan to sue the state on any matter and demand a trial by jury in their district of residence.

As provided by our state constitution, Michigan residents already have a right to have any lawsuit brought by them to be heard by a jury of their peers. However, that right has not been upheld by the current system in which lawsuits against the state are currently heard by the Court of Claims, which provides no trial by jury.

HB 4847 would right this wrong and put in statute what is already in our state constitution.

I urge you to take action today by contacting the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, as well as all members on the committee, to ask them to allow HB 4847 to be taken up for a hearing and subsequent vote. This could be accomplished via a phone call as well as an email. The contact information for committee members are as follows:

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (14)Nuh Uh.(0)

Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Republicans, Taxes

The Dismal Science Confutes Emergency Management in Flint

by  •  • 2 Comments

The entire world now knows what crass bureaucratic stupidity, feeble political direction, and witless press coverage did to Flint. We have demonstrated that Flint’s politicians and financial managers made terrible decisions in an effort to replace plunging tax revenue, which had reached statutory and constitutional rate limitations.

Flint Water Bill 1The foremost source of revenue expanded was Flint’s water & sewerage charges. Annual free cash flow from water & sewerage charges was increased from nil to $ 28.7 million (bottoms of page 3-13) over the decade from 2004 [FY2005 CAFR, large file] to 2014 [FY2015 CAFR, large file]. The big jump in free cash flow from water & sewerage charges occurred in 2014 as a consequence of Flint River sourcing. Flint only had to pay the DW&SD pirates for water up to April 25th in 2014. Annual free cash flow from water & sewerage charges in 2013 [FY 2014 CAFR, large file] was only $ 9.4 million when they paid DW&SD all year. Why Flint resourced to the Flint River in one number: $ 19.3 million more in cash flow. And most of this $ 19.3 million is now gone with the return to DW&SD water. We will know how much gone later this year.

That $ 28.7 million in free cash flow during 2014 was a 77% markup on actual Flint water & sewerage costs. Only $ 7 million of it was used for infrastructure, mostly to prepare for the now abandoned Flint River sourcing. Only $ 2 million of it was used to pay off water & sewerage debt. The remaining $ 18.5 million was used by other Flint city departments and applied to other Flint obligations. That $ 18.5 million dollars became 22% of all Flint City revenues. Greater than any other source of revenue, greater than income tax revenue, greater than property tax revenue, greater than State revenue sharing, greater than Federal revenue sharing. That $ 28.7 million dollars was the only reason Flint was able to exit emergency management. That and a $ 65.3 million theft from restatement of Flint’s water and sewerage enterprise fund net positions, from their 2014 CAFR to their 2015 CAFR (compare ending 2014 to beginning 2015 net positions on the bottom of pages 3-13).

Let’s consider a counterfactual. Suppose that Michigan’s bureaucrats and political leaders were actually competent and, under the unrelenting scrutiny of a watchful press, arranged for proper chemistry controls of Flint River sourced water. No Flint residents were exposed to lead, no one died from legionella pneumophila, and Flint residents sang the praises of their new water. Its tough to ignore recent history, but do so for a moment so we can explore a very important question:

Would the financial reorganization of Flint under its popularly elected politicians and emergency managers have worked?

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(1)

Firearms, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

A Close Call

by  •  • 6 Comments

Shunned former 'Republican' representative joins anti gun lobbying efforts

fosterIn 2014, voters of the northern Michigan 107th house district did the rest of Michigan ‘a solid.’.

It was becoming clear that the incumbent Republican for that district was in no way representative of the conservative values he had pretended in his initial bid. From accepting tens of thousands for his upcoming campaign loss from pro-homosexual lobbying interests, added to an otherwise liberal voting record, Frank Foster had completely alienated the very (tea party) base he had enchanted in 2010.

Foster lost to Lee Chatfield in the primary of 2014, marking a rare incumbency defeat in the Michigan house races. Voters turned him out in a 6 point rout:

“In Northern Michigan, a good thing happened Tuesday.  Frank Foster, a man who by virtue of his lunch dates in Lansing alone, should not be representing the 107th district was voted off the animal farm.  Voted most desirable date to go to the Capitol prom by lobbyists, he was a top recipient of food and drink topping Randy Richardville the Senate majority leader in 2013.”

His departure has hardly left him out in the cold however. He is apparently remaining in the political scene as a gun grabber.

An examination of the minutes from a recent hearing on preemption bill (HB 4795)  before the committee on local government reveal Foster is still active, and has apparently gone completely to the dark side.  His time there was to represent opposition to legislation which provides further 2A protections for gun owners from abusive local government.

READ MORE ►

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(2)

Cronyism, Fees, Michigan, Taxes

Speaking Of Headlee

by  •  • 3 Comments

Asked often enough about government: "Is this even legal? "

pig-collieOne might question the way in which money can be transferred to ‘cover’ other expenses.

We know that pensions are untouchable, but in times of financial distress, some governmental entities are finding out that health care is NOT off the table.  However, others are developing more abusive ways to maintain the ‘status-quo.’  From Bloomfield TWP:

Bloomfield Township taxpayers have been receiving higher and higher bills for water and sewer each year.  Yet in a controversial 5-2 vote in late 2015, Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees transferred  $2.76 million of the fees collected from the citizens water/sewer bills and deposited those millions into a Retired Employees Health Care Trust.

Can you say “turning a fee into a tax?”

Is there any wonder why some might say that creativity in government can be a bad thing?

You Betcha! (15)Nuh Uh.(0)