You probably remember the bomb that Speaker Andy Dillon dropped earlier this year with talk of consolidating the benefits for over 400,000 public employees including emergency personnel, public school employees, and current and retired state employees, in the form of House Bill 5345.
The East Lansing-based polling firm EPIC-MRA ran a poll regardless, and released the staggering results earlier this week. Only 22% of those surveyed would support such a measure if enacted.
This is in addition to an additional poll that MRG came out with in September showing virtually the same thing - opposition was strong at 57 percent to 37 percent, and within that, 72 percent of GOP voters opposed the bill. (Which is further interesting, particularly if rampant rumors of a possible Dillon gubernatorial run as an independent.)
According to Roger Martin, speaking for the group Citizens for Accountability in Reform, hearings in the state House on HB 5345 have stalled and key witnesses have been not been allowed to testify.
“House Bill 5345 is viewed as bad and risky public policy by Michigan voters, and legislators who support it will find it to be toxic in 2010 and beyond,” said Roger Martin, spokesman for Citizens for Accountability in Reform, a growing coalition representing taxpayers, police, firefighters, teachers, insurance companies and others who are concerned House Bill 5345 doesn’t provide the reform it promises at a price taxpayers can afford.
Martin noted that a House committee holding hearings on the bill has announced that today’s scheduled hearing will be the last for possibly months, even though 10 more bills were introduced late last week to implement the $4 billion to $5 billion state government health plan.
“With an election year just around the corner, given Michigan voters’ overwhelming opposition to this legislation, it’s no wonder the committee doesn’t want to hold more hearings,” Martin said. “During the hearings over the past two months, so many witnesses have either voiced opposition or raised serious concerns, opposition to the legislation among voters has skyrocketed.”
One of the tots got into a fight at school. With the teacher. About the millage proposed by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD).
Education has changed since I was a kid. My teachers talked about things like the beauty of long division and the evils of sloppy cursive. The tot related the story to me, and described the teacher as red-faced and "pissed off." Why? Because the tot argued against the not-yet-proposed city income tax and questioned whether the WISD needed the millage. Shouldn't our schools spend the money they have more carefully, my budding fiscal conservative (at least as far as others are concerned) wondered out loud to his teacher, before coming to taxpayers for a hand-out? Is it the best time to hit up taxpayers whose economic circumstances may have changed for the worse? Why not just get rid of the WISD? All valid questions.
Funding for education is, alas, more about politics than it is about educating children. It all boils down to begging, borrowing or stealing enough money make payroll, having enough cash to keep up with the crushing retiree health care and pension obligations smothering school districts around the country, and having a little left over to give the Art Teacher $500 bucks a year for supplies to use when teaching 300 kids. Education has become like the health care industry: no matter how much money taxpayers throw at it, the results don't seem to ever be as stellar as we'd like. In Ann Arbor, our District has a pronounced achievement gap. In February 2008, the Ann Arbor News published a piece that summed it up thusly, "The district has long had a gap in the test scores, grade point averages, graduation rate and suspension rate between white and minority students." In 2004, Time published a particularly gruesome exposé about the Ann Arbor School District's achievement gap. Then, in March 2009, the Ann Arbor News published a piece titled, "Achievement Gap Tackled in New Ann Arbor Schools Policy."
And we're throwing $9,490 dollars per year at each student enrolled in the AAPS. Ann Arbor School Musings blog has an interesting comparison of per pupil spending in the entire WISD here. In 2007-2008, WISD schools spent a staggering $466 million dollars to educate a total of 46,704 students. Well, kinda. You see, according to a piece posted to AnnArbor.com, "About 23.5 cents of every dollar went toward traditional central office functions like instruction coordinators, the business office, district administrators and building administrators." That's $109,000,000 every year for the nice folks to administer the WISD. The WISD spent 58 cents out of every dollar on educating those 46,704 students. So that's $270,280,000 to educate the tots. Looked at another way, WISD administration gets almost $.40 cents for every $1.00 spent on instruction.
It's all about the Money. In this case, tax dollars.
If the WISD were a mutual fund, and tried to hit investors with a 23.5 percent management and administrative fee, the scam would die a quick and deserved death. The average management and administration fee at a mutual fund is between 1 and 2 percent per year, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Of course mutual funds make money to cover overhead in other ways, but my point is this, spending $.40 cents on administration for every $1.00 spent on instruction is a sign that there is something terribly out of whack at the WISD Central Office.
Over at Concentrate, guest blogger Amy Goodson argues in favor of the WISD millage when she writes that "literacy builds sustainable communities." As much as I would love to jump on Goodson's bandwagon and attribute sustainable community to literacy, and literacy to the success of the WISD millage, I can't. I understand the point she is trying to make, but I think because she's using it to argue in favor of a millage to support the WISD, she simply uses the broadest of strokes to make her argument. In Michigan, there is a generation of people who worked at the auto companies and could move into high-paying jobs with, perhaps, Level 1 literacy skills. The Glass House in Dearborn is a monument to Henry Ford's ingenuity, but not to Ford's education; Henry Ford dropped out of school at 15. But in the 1920s and 30s when old man Ford was cranking out Tin Lizzies by the million, the literacy rate in the United States was 95 percent.
According to a piece about literacy worldwide published in The Guardian in March of this year, Washtenaw County has a literacy rate that is 11 points below the U.S. current average of 99 percent. Our County's 88 percent literacy rate is equal to that of Turkey (88 percent), and equal to that of the United States in 1890. Wayne County's Level 1 literacy rate is 70 percent, and only 69 percent of Lake County residents have Level 1 literacy skills. Washtenaw County, in fact, has one of the highest rates of Level 1 literacy in the state of Michigan.
Of course we can do better. However, a percentage of those 12 percent of Washtenaw County residents (about 27,000 individuals) classified as not having Level 1 literacy skills, are adults for whom English is not their first language. They are literate, just in a different language. More to the point still, according to the Washtenaw County Literacy Coalition all of the individuals in Washtenaw County classified as lacking Level 1 literacy skills are adults.
Thus, the proposed millage for the WISD will have little impact the literacy rate of adults in our county. It will, however, allow those who administer the WISD to continue to skim $.40 cents off of every dollar spent on educating our county's students.
Until Friday at noon, consider this post just a teaser, but a tasty one at that. Once it goes live, you can watch it online here or check your local PBS listings.
The dapper Tim Skubick was kind enough to have us back, and I was joined by Mitchell Rivard from the MSU College Dems who blogs both here and occasionally at BFM, while Wes Thorp and our very own frequent commenter, Republican Michigander represented the Right.
We discussed the underage drinking by College Republicans provided by the Mike Cox, Mike Bouchard, and Bill Schuette campaigns up at their latest conference on Mackinac Island, and Republican Michigander was able to provide us with a first-hand account since he was in attendance. It also brought up an interesting discussion about the role of bloggers vs. journalists in reporting information, which I'm sure Eric B. would have a thing or two to say about it, given his career.
Other fodder included the budget currently being held hostage by Mike Bishop (R-Hair Gel) and it inspired a lively debate about the legislative process, and the legitimacy (or not) of what Bishop was doing, and the roles that Governor Granholm and Andy Dillon play in it all.
We ended the segment with a talk about the upcoming gubernatorial race. Personally, my favorite part was the mention by both Republican Michigander and Wes that the leading Republican candidates are just one giant mess. Wes mentioned Mike Cox's well-known martial infidelities, and the problems Bouchard (and the rest of the lot) has on name identification, and Hoekstra, well he didn't even really come up.
Either way, we all had fun with the lively debate, and I hope that it entertains and informs those who watch. Many thanks to Tim Skubick for having us on once again!
On Thursday October 8th the Michigan Legislature Passed the 2009-2010 school aide budget... The budget featured a $165 per student cut from last years budget. That's $5,000 less for a 30 pupil class and $800,000 less for a school with 500 students.
Of all the Services that the state provides what is more important than education? I am not advocating increased revenue, we need to cut spending in places other than education. We could cut spending from the department of corrections by early release of non-violent offenders. We could also cut revenue sharing to Michigan counties. With our reduced population many of our local police and fire Dpts. are over staffed, so we can cut funding to Michigan counties without losing essential services.
This morning, Randy Andy and his merry band of legislators (Rep. Rick Hammel, Rep. Bert Johnson, Rep. Chuck Moss, Rep. Dudley Spade, Rep. John Proos, Rep. Shanelle Jackson, Rep. Vincent Gregory, Sen. Mark Jansen and Sen. Randy Richardville) are off touring Caesarea, the only privately owned city in Israel! We wonder if he's looking for more "big ideas" on privatizing and cutting services... maybe for Michigan cities this time? Controlled by the Rothschild family, Caesarea is one of the poshest cities in Israel. Hopefully amidst their busy lobbyist junket schedule (enquiring minds want to know.... it's Jon Smalley), Randy Andy and his band will have a chance to visit the Caesarea Golf & Country Club, Israel's only golf course!
Watch some of the economic development possibilities in Caesarea!
Meanwhile back in Michigan the budget still is left hanging. Judgment??????
House Speaker Andy Dillon dropped a policy bomb Wednesday on Lansing to cut the cost of public employee health care and help the state address a whopping $1.7-billion deficit.
'Bomb' about sums it up. Dillon's plan may sound good, but once you get past the sparkle and glamor of the term 'statewide health plan' it's apparent that this just another case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, or is it robbing Peter to help Andy get elected? *cough, cough*
Regardless, Dillon announced his plan yesterday with a full court press, pulling out the stops in the usual fanfare that we've all come to expect. The fact that some of the state's largest unions were barred from the press conference and had to wait to find out from the media themselves after the conference, is if nothing else, disconcerting.
Under Dillon's plan, public service employees, everyone from teachers to firefighters to police officers, to legislators and even the Governor, and their retirees, all told more than 400,000, would be swept into one massive health plan. He claims that it would save the state $900 million.
Well that sounds all fine and dandy, except when you consider that a move like this would essentially neuter any of these groups, particularly the unions, from being able to effectively engage in collective bargaining, a backbone that has ensured fair pay and labor practices, all things that these deserving folks might normally be blocked from.
Also worth mentioning are the very strange bedfellows of the plan. Starting with the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) who's clashed with the teachers unions more than once, and ending with the very guy who tried to recall Dillon not that long ago - Leon Drolet.
Ah, predictions about the economy. I've yet to see one that seems based on reality. But here goes:
University of Michigan economists say the state's hard times will stick around for the rest of the year and into 2010.
They go on to say that unemployment will peak at 15.8% that year. But the good news is that after 2010 it's clear sailing!
This also means that next year's state budget will have an even bigger hole that will require yet more inventive one-time gimmicks and financial trickery in order to fill it.
With the entire state seemingly up in arms after last week's flipping of the bird by the Republican U.S. Senate, the fallout got me thinking about what lies ahead for the coming electoral cycle.
Never before have I seen such a complete and total unified reaction from Democrats, independents, media, and even Republicans on one singular state issue. Sure there were a couple exceptions, like those being fed the GOP talking points like mother's milk, but as we so quickly learn in politics, rational logic doesn't necessarily have to apply to all of us.
With the news this morning that Pete 'Turtlegate' Hoekstra won't seek re-election in two years in the 2nd Congressional District and is still mulling a run for governor (how many years has he been mulling that?) and Markos' thoughts on the subject, it got me thinking.
How might the ramifications of the Senate Republican vote play out electorally for our state over the next two years?
There aren't any major elections for another two years, but a vote this large that affects essentially an entire state is not likely to be forgotten anytime soon. And the case was cut and dried, so there's no mistaking precisely who the perpetrators are.
Will we see local Republican candidates run against the actions of their congressional party members, or will we see them delicately two-stepping their way through a messy minefield? How are Republican gubernatorial candidates going to handle it without jumping party ship?
Ladies and Gentlemen, from the man that Michigan Republicans selected in this year's presidential primary, with this very telling title for his opinion column in today's New York Times -
Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
Apparently 'Our Man Mitt' as some prominent Michigan Republicans liked to refer to him as (including MI Republican Party spokesman, Bill Nowling) feels qualified to weigh in with his two cents because his dad, former Governor George Romney, had some experience turning around American Motors starting in 1954.
Before large clouds of smoke come pouring out my ears in frustration and anger, let's clear up a couple quick things shall we?
The Fifties were a very long time ago, following years of successful leadership by two of America's most respected presidents, FDR and Harry Truman, both Democrats. Post-war America was a period where just about everything prospered.
I'm no history expert, but I doubt you can find a time in our country's history as a-typical and influx as what we're going through, thanks to the fast-paced competitiveness of a rapidly changing global market, led by 8 years of poor, misguided economic leadership in DC.
Isn't that why nearly every supposed economic and automotive forecaster/expert is left scratching their heads? We've never really seen anything like this, and while it feels to some like the 1920's and 1930's, other than a poor economy, there's not too much you can compare today to.
Thank goodness Michigan has our own auto-industry expert Emptywheel, to counter Mitt's fantasies with a little rational logic...
We hear about it in every medium from every news outlet and discussed as we stand in line to pay for groceries, as we make plans for the holidays, and as we meet friends for lunch or drinks after work.
I'm no economist, and I'll never pretend to be one, but I have had a heck of a lot of questions swirling around in my head unanswered. Everyday brings new announcements, new forecasts if A happens or if B shuts down, and every day we seem to hear of one more person who's gotten laid off. Just this past week, I had another family laid off from their automotive-supplier employer.
Frankly, I'm getting dizzy just trying to ascertain which end is up.
Thankfully, I ran across this from CNN Money, and it sems to be the Dummies version (you know those big yellow and black books on nearly every topic known to man?) and it's helped me, and perhaps it will help you too.
I'm sure it's not the full kit and caboodle, so feel free to add your own two cents to the debate. The following piece details seven key points/questions about the debate.
Free-market enthusiasts, from the Mackinac Center to President Bush have long justified their pro-business politics by evoking Milton Friedman's notion that unfettered markets provide society with the best outcomes.
It's a pretty appropriate title for what happened late morning in Oakland County. Recall lanaguage was approved by an Oakland County Board for State Representative Aldo Vagnozzi, a Democratic member from Farmington Hills.
Aldo, as everyone affectionately knows him, is one of the best-loved legislators in all of Lansing by Democrats and Republicans alike. But still, the Recall Grinch/aka The Pig Man/aka Leon Drolet, an ultra-conservative extremist funded with out-of-state monies, would like nothing more than to send the dear man packing, simply because he voted to save Michigan during the great Budget Crisis of 2007.
Some people truly know no shame. Stay tuned as we bring you information on how you can help Aldo.
(Rep. Vagnozzi is pictured above greeting friends as he escorts Gov. Granholm into the State House during Tuesday's State of the State.)
Recall language has been approved by judges in Wayne County and Macomb County. This means that signatures can now be gathered in an attempt to recall House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) and House members Marc Corriveau (D-Northville), Ed Gaffney (R-Grosse Pointe Farms) and Steven Bieda (D-Warren). The recall language against Bieda was approved on Thursday.
Leon Drolet, Chair of the Michigan Taxpayers Union, said that Speaker Dillon is full of "bad ideas," therefore he deserves to be recalled. Dillon's Big Bad Idea? Insisting on keeping our state government funded.
We don't know yet whether Drolet's signature gatherers will be dragging the Pink Floyd-sized pig around with them. No cool laser light show complete with fog machine is expected, if the pig does make the rounds.
As many of you know, Drolet hates taxes. The only thing he hates more than taxes are actual votes for tax increases, regardless of the necessity of the programs the taxes actually fund. His goal is lower taxes for the sake of lower taxes.
Just yesterday, it was reported in the Lansing State Journal that it's a myth that our taxes are too high and that the state spends too much money.
The report looked at state spending between fiscal year 2001 and the current fiscal year. It found that:
• State funding for universities declined by 10.5 percent.
• Revenue-sharing to local governments fell by 31 percent.
• Funding for Community Health jumped 62 percent, almost entirely because of increased Medicaid caseloads and costs.
...as waxed today by Sen. Mickey Switalski of Roseville. Quite fitting for the season if I may so myself.
Enjoy the video here, or read the pretty prose below -
Annus Mirabilis, A Fiscal Odyssey
Sing, Goddess, the Wrath of Constituencies displeased, As Solons took budgets in both hands and squeezed. Then, weary with cuts, dropped the red budget axe And seized its hated rival, the increase in tax.
Heroes searched for a cure to the Plague economic Hit on Revenue, Cuts and Reforms as the tonic-- That many brave Pols to the Fate of Recalls sent While their bodies by Perks the Pig were rent.
Say then, What Cause first locked the parties in strife? Some say it was term limits that shortened our life. Or exuberant tax cuts. Or government waste. Whatever it was, we Chronic Deficits faced.
Granholm threw down the Gauntlet at her State of the State. Said she "Sales Tax on Services will be Structurally Great." The blown away 'Crats cast their votes for fair Jenny Even Fiscal Conservatives, like two-penny Denny.
But with just sixteen votes, it was never enough. Lawmakers decided to chew on this stuff. Insurmountable problems, an abundance of critics. Tempting solutions that hid pitfalls and gimmicks.
The state Legislature early Saturday started the process of repealing and replacing an unpopular tax on services.
The Senate voted 33-4 to approve a tentative agreement ditching the tax shortly before adjourning at about 5 a.m. The House was expected to convene at about 3:30 p.m. and vote later in the day.
Since the service tax technically went into effect at midnight, the replacement tax will reportedly include a provision that will protect businesses from having to collect service taxes for one day (or whatever it ultimately winds up being). This has also been agreed to be the Governor and Speaker Dillon.
21.95% surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax to replace lost state revenue.
$6 million is the largest surcharge any company would pay.
2017 is when the surcharge is to expire.
That last one ticks me off, but I guess kicking the can 10 years down the road is better than 4 years. Judging by the wide margin in the Senate, I'd be surprised if it faced any real challenges - immediate effect or otherwise - in the House. Assuming everything works out, can we finally move on to other things? There's plenty of work to do that's piled up in the Legislature while all of this has dragged on.
(Go below the fold to read the Governor's press release...)
First off, I have an MSM beef. All this morning, our local Lansing-area
NPR affiliate has been repeating stories over and over about the
stalemate on fixing the "widely despised" and "much-hated" service tax.
That's pretty much been the trend across all of Michigan's media, who
now seem to be perfectly comfortable using all sorts of unequivocal
qualifers like "despised" and "hated" in front of "service tax." (Just
like Dick DeVos always used to insert the words "jobs-killing" in front
of "Single Business Tax")
Yes, OK, the serivce tax is pretty durned unpopular with business
owners. No doubt about that. Especially ones who will have to start
collecting it Saturday unless something changes right quick. But to me
loaded words like "despised" and "hated" suggest there are legions of
angry citizens outside the statehouse carrying buckets of stones, tar
and deer rifles and getting ready to break the door with a
battering ram.
Let's be clear: they're not. In spite of whatever spin the Detroit
Chamber might try to attach to it - an
EPIC-MRA poll from a couple of weeks ago shows 55% of
respondents opposed to applying the sales tax to certain services. A
majority sure, but really, what taxes do people like? The
"widely-popular income tax?" Or the "much-beloved property tax?"
If 55% is all that's required for the MSM to unequivoically start
labeling things "despised" or "hated", I suppose we can at least exepct
them to start inserting the words "widely despised" before
"President Bush" or "Congressman Tim Walberg." Any day now...
Anyway, the MSM's opinioneering aside, the sad thing about this whole
service tax stalemate is that on the major issue, there is
actually genuine consensus!
Before you grab your knife and fork tomorrow, consider giving Republican out-of-state special-interest groups a different kind of bird to eat, like a little crow.
Thanks to the miracles of these Intertubes, now you can help stop the Pig Man from the comfort of your keyboard. By donating online to the campaigns of two the Democratic representatives whom have already had recall language passed, Marie Donigan of Royal Oak and Robert Dean of Grand Rapids, you can help halt these extremist measures.
As it stands right now, you'll donate to each individual on a separate site. Be sure to tack on an extra 37 cents to your donation to let them know you're a member of the Michigan Liberal community.
Remember, these dedicated public servants really need your support for all of the different facets required to fight these turkeys, and you can rest assured that your donation will go to fight to take Michigan back from the extremists who wish to destroy it.
Halloween is over, but Mike Rogers is still wearing his Fiscal Responsibility costume.
He's written another fact-free letter on budget policy targeting Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Displaying a shaky grasp of the Michigan Constitution, federal tax policy and how Congress enacts laws, Rogers writes
On the heels of Democrat Governor Granholm raising income taxes on every Michigan family by 12% and adding a new 6 percent tax on services, Representative Charlie Rangel, the Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means committee and the man in charge of writing all tax laws, recently introduced a plan that will further hurt Michigan’s economy and families.
As with most of Mr. Rogers’ oh-so-scary pronouncements, there isn’t much “there” there when you strip away the partisan rhetoric. Rogers is actually referring to H.R. 3970, The Tax Reduction and Reform Act of 2007. The opening paragraph from the Ways and Means Committee summary reads:
The combination of the general tax reductions below and full repeal of the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) would result in tax relief for approximately 91 million families. Even with offsets, virtually all families with income under $500,000 will see a net tax reduction.
(emphasis mine; please note that the phrase “except for Michiganders” does not appear in this description.)
Without making everyone’s eyes glaze over – including mine – here’s a quick overview of H.R. 3970:
Once there was a man from humble beginnings who became very successful. He had served in the Marines, then put himself through Michigan State University while working the night shift at the Oldsmobile assembly line in Lansing. He would later be the first African-American man elected to the Lansing city council and to serve on the Ingham County Board. He would become a successful real estate developer and TV station owner. All along he would grow as a power broker for the state Democratic Party, sitting on various boards, and eventually becoming Chairman of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees.
This highly accomplished man, Joel I. Ferguson, would offer to build a new headquarters for the Michigan State Police (MSP) on a triangular piece of land next to the Grand River. This he would do because the current headquarters, in a building owned by Michigan State University, was deemed too old and decrepit. Afterall, it needed a new roof, which was estimated to cost $2.3 million to redo, and yearly maintenance costs were running up to $340,000. Repairs and upgrades to the current facilities were estimated to be as high as $16 million. Even though MSU was only charging the state $1 per year to lease the facilities, surely the Michigan State Police deserved a brand new, state-of-the-art facility.
The state Republican and Democratic parties don’t have pension or retirement plans for longtime supporters. So they have to go about things a little differently; they use government money for projects that will benefit their most loyal supporters.
