Whose hand is in YOUR wallet?
A few days ago, I tipped everyone off about a Michigan Republican(?) who felt that your money wasn’t your money.
Well, after reviewing the journals from this week, this shemp had some help placing this bill on the floor to be voted upon.
You’ll be disappointed at his accomplices.
{Click below for more details}
(8)Nuh Uh.
(0)Well Southeastern Michigan Taxpayers can breath a little bit easier (for 2018 at least). One potential drain on our wallets has been thwarted, but there is another one in the offing.
{More below the fold}
(4)Nuh Uh.(0)With County leaders going off-script and not following the established speaking points. When your (possible) PR-firm goes and takes a page from the Coleman A. Young (The First) Playbook and employed a time-worn (and easily recognizable) tactic which hopelessly backfired. When The Bridge Magazine (of all people), comes out and tells people that the latest iteration of mass transit, the Q-Line, over-promised its potential and hilariously underperformed when it comes to paid ridership and maintaining schedules. Now comes the Michigan Legislature throwing yet another log on the fire that is the RTA.
{You’ll need to click below to find out what that is}
(5)Nuh Uh.(0)Local leaders aren’t warming up you your schemes. The scuttlebutt is that focus group testing isn’t looking too good either (not having a real plan with real numbers didn‘t help). Lately, you have enlisted local business “leaders” to help in promoting your cockamamie strategy, but wouldn’t you know it, they aren’t getting that much traction either.
So, who are these people and why are they employing the last refuge for desperate men?
Here’s a hint: All the more reason to hold onto your wallet a little more tightly around Detroit.
{I’ll tell you who they are below the fold}
(10)Nuh Uh.(0)It’s amazing what falls under the radar in the local news.
So recently, Oakland Co. Exec. L. Brooks Patterson announced that he will not be supporting the RTA tax when it come up again on the ballot again this fall.
The response was very predictable. The leeches and parasites (aka Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne Co. Exec. Warren Evans) threw a hissy fit that a.) they weren’t notified in advance, b.) they felt that they already had an agreement in place to jam it down Southeastern Michigan Taxpayers Throats, and c.) the RTA would collapse like a house of cards because the cost to Wayne County would be too great.
The sycophants of the leeches and parasites in the local media (read: The Freep) threw an equally unimpressive temper tantrum..using the same talking points.
Well, guess what?
Macomb County got into the act as well (and it doesn’t look too good for the RTA tax).
{More below the fold}
(8)Nuh Uh.(1)While I don’t agree with Oakland County Exec. L. Brooks Patterson on some things (okay…most things), kind of like a stopped clock, he finally got something right for a change.
According to The Detroit News, during his annual address to Oakland County last night, County Exec. Patterson came out whole-heartedly and unequivocally against the RTA Tax v 2.0.
Why should ANYONE be made to pay for something that they will not use?
No, the ballot proposal hasn’t officially been announced for the ‘18 General yet. My snitches tell me that they are still working out on how to best polish this heaping, steaming pile of bull droppings, without much success.
Good luck on that.
Citing the lack of hard facts from what those pulling the levers behind the scenes will actually do with the monies collected, much like one of the laundry-list of problems with the last proposal, County Exec. Patterson said this,
“… I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” he said to a standing ovation. “And I will never, ever betray the public trust I respect and represent.”
I should stress that County Exec. Patterson received a standing ovation from those in attendance during that particular portion of his speech.
This isn’t something that you get when, according to RTA tax supporters, people overwhelming support your plan.
Pay us so that we can placate the mass transit snowflakes by driving around town empty.
This should (hopefully, anyway), have some affect here in Macomb, where Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel is also having some serious difficulty signing off on this.
And did I mention that the roads here in Southeastern Michigan look like the 107th used them for light target practice?
Fixing them takes money, too.
I’m not going to add anything more at this time due to the fact that my considerable folder on these con-artists just got a little bit bigger, and I’d like to keep my powder dry…just in case.
I will be adding more when this story unfolds.
Stay tuned.
(8)Nuh Uh.(0)Politics and corruption are practically synonymous here in Southeastern Michigan.
Recent names (for most readers here, anyways) include such notables like Coleman Young (the first), Kwame Kilpatrick, The (almost) entire Conyers Family, etc.
Excluding VERY rare circumstances, they have been allowed to go pretty much unchecked by state and local officials since there apparently is some “unwritten” rule prohibiting county prosecutors and Attorneys General from investigating fellow politicians, regardless of party affiliation.
No, I don’t get it either.
Fortunately, this hasn’t stopped the Feds though from doing the job that local and state officials have been reticent to do.
I’ve honestly lost track of the number of investigations on Coleman Young (the first). Kwame Kilpatrick will be a guest of the Texas Penal system for at least two-and-a-half decades (obviously pending the outcome of another appeal attempt). Monica Conyers got to relax for several months after spending some quality time in Camp Cupcake. John Conyers got caught literally with his pants down around his ankles.
And then there is this guy???
Now, who is it you may ask?
{Continued below the fold}
(13)Nuh Uh.(1)"And it will benefit dozens of Detroiters..."
As if last year’s defeat of the RTA tax hasn’t discouraged Penske and the rest of the pro RTA tax crowd (not to fear…it’ll be back on the ballot in less than two years), they now find themselves in the sights of the (Not So) Pure Michigan crowd!
Hmmmmm, WHY hasn’t the republican legislature repealed the law authorizing this shakedown yet?
Anyway…just a little something to bring a smile to you this afternoon.
Submitted w/o any further comment
Some of the language isn’t exactly SFW, so turn down your speakers for about a minute.
(7)Nuh Uh.(0)
The Detroit News launched a hit piece on Michael G. Ford, the CEO of the Regional Transportation Authority of Southeastern Michigan this morning. Reporters Robert Snell and Christine MacDonald breathlessly review Mr. Ford’s expense accounting and employment contract details over the 33 months since he was appointed CEO of the RTA.
The closest they get to finding any real improprieties is Mr. Ford’s car allowance and mileage reimbursement, but that does not stop them from reporting salacious details of hotel room charges and his very generous employment contract. No illegality or budget overruns are found, but the tone of the article is supremely negative. Mr. Ford’s contract happens to be up for renewal and the RTA Board tabled a $ 16,300 raise for him two weeks ago.
A special meeting of the RTA Board of Directors was held this morning, including a closed session. Public bodies operating under the Open Meetings Act are only allowed to close meetings when deliberating personnel matters and contracts. It is not much of a leap to speculate that Mr. Ford is today’s main course at the RTA Board meeting.
The Detroit News duo filed an FOIA request for Mr. Ford’s contract details and expense reimbursements shortly after Paul Hillegonds, Governor Rick Snyder’s appointee to the RTA Board, began reviewing Mr. Ford’s expenses. Coincidence? Hardly.
What is going on here?
(12)Nuh Uh.(0)"First rule in government spending: Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" - S.R. Hadden (John Hurt) "Contact"
I’m going to throw out a few hypothetical questions to the readers here at RM, and I’d like to get your candid response.
Ready?
Here we go…
{Click the red box to continue}
(5)Nuh Uh.(0)
