Democrat Shanda Willis Files to Run in 42nd House Race

A Brighton woman with 19 years of experience in the health care field is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 42nd House Seat.

Shanda Willis filed her papers on Wednesday (April 11, 2012) with the Livingston County Clerk’s office for the seat now held by Republican Bill Rogers.

"My years in the health care field spent caring for women and babies, as well as having two children of my own, have taught me to understand and be sympathetic to the needs of families. I will bring that same sensitivity to my job in the Legislature. The first question I will ask about any bill is, 'How does this help protect our families?'" she pledged.

Willis said central issues in her campaign will include protecting the rights of workers, tax fairness for middle class families and seniors, and improved funding for Livingston County schools. If elected to the Michigan House, she would vote to repeal the pension tax on senior citizens, restore the cuts in state aid to local schools that have devastated public schools throughout Livingston County, and stand up for women’s health concerns.

"My two children currently attend Brighton Area Public Schools. I believe that we need to fund education so that identified student needs can be met at every level of student ability. Promoting and funding public education in a safe environment is crucial as the means of developing our children’s greatest abilities to ensure their future success," she said.

"As a woman and a health care professional, I am a staunch believer in the need for women to have the chance to obtain safe reproductive health care. Every woman should have the right to have personal control of her own body," she said.

Willis said she also supports collective bargaining and the right to form a union, which she said is now under attack by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

"As a former nurse and member of a nurses’ union (the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council/Michigan Nurses Association), I know how important it is for employees to have a voice in determining their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Bill Rogers has failed to stand up for working people with his support of legislation stripping teachers of many collective bargaining rights. Other workers will be next if we don’t stand up for workers now," Willis said.

Willis currently is assistant director of nursing for Omni Home Care Inc., Plymouth. She graduated from Brighton High School in 1989 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Michigan in 1994.

Willis’ nursing career has focused on pediatrics, women’s health, medical device sales, home health care, and education. She has worked at some of the area’s most outstanding health care facilities, including the University of Michigan Medical Center and Botsford General Hospital.

She is the mother of 13-year-old twins.

People wishing more information about Willis’ campaign may contact her at shandawillisforhouse@gmail.com or check out her page on Facebook at Shanda Willis for House.

The 42nd House district includes the City of Brighton and the townships of Brighton Charter, Genoa, Green Oak, Hamburg, and Putnam.

Lawmakers Should Look in the Mirror Before Decrying High Tuition

In their own way, Michigan Republicans like Sen. Joe Hune and Rep. Bill Rogers seem to agree with GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum that people who go to college are "snobs."

In an article in the Livingston Press and Argus on Sunday (March 11, 2012), both Hune and Rogers came out against a Democratic plan to eliminate $1.8 billion in business tax credits and direct the money to lowering tuition costs at state universities.

Hune found it unacceptable. Why, the very idea that businesses should pay to help educate their future employees -- the engineers, accountants, computer programers, and others who will do the work that produces their profits -- was beyond Hune's comprehension. Somebody else should pay for that, apparently, so businesses can reap the benefit at no cost to themselves.

Rogers came across as clueless as to what has happened to higher education funding in Michigan in the last decade. Decrying tuition increases, Rogers demanded to know "where is that money going."

Sad to say Bill, but it has gone to replace the funds that state government used to provide -- like the more than $800 per student cut in higher education funding you approved last year.

Ir Rogers wants to know why college tuition is up to $400 per credit hour at Michigan State University, he should look in the mirror.

Cleaning Up the Mess Denby and Rogers Left Behind

Like the pooper-scooper behind the elephants in the circus parade, the Livingston County Commission is going to try to clean up the mess that Reps. Cindy Denby and Bill Rogers left behind when they were local officials.

The two Republican officials were once Handy Township supervisor and Livingston County Commission chair, respectively. And in those capacities, the two "fiscally conservative" Republicans spearheaded an arrangement by which Handy Township borrowed millions of dollars for water and sewar improvements on behalf of private developers of new subdivisions. The county agreed to back the bonds with its full faith and credit, putting the county taxpayers on the hook if Handy Township failed to collect enough money to pay for the bonds.

The subdivisions never filled up with homes and the money that was supposed to be collected from homeowners never came in to pay off the bonds. Several other townships did the same thing, creating special assessment districts to pay back the bonds for these improvements without waiting to see if the lots in already improved subdivisions sold.

The mad rush for development outpaced demand and the lots never sold, making Livingston County, "ground zero" in the problem of Toxic Special Assessment Districts, according to Bloomberg News.

On Monday, (March 5, 2012), the county commission will try to clean up the mess by approving the issuance of up to $8.5 million in new bonds, replacing the previous bonds, with a longer repayment period in order to stretch out the payments to a level Handy Township can afford. The item and backup materials are item number 2012-03-080 at the bottom of page 2 of the agenda posted on the Livingston County website.

This fiasco has been a major headache for the county commission over the last two years or more. How can two people who created such a mess claim to have any credibility as fiscal conservatives?

With a Wink and a Nod, Republicans Defend Emergency Manager Law

Republican Rick Snyder is falling all over himself to reassure Detroiters that race has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his administration has taken over or is about to take over the goverments of cities home to half the minorities in the state -- Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Flint, Ecorse, and possibly soon, Detroit.

His latest attempt is the interview with Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley in Sunday's paper.

Some Tea Party Republicans may not have motives that are so pure. People who attended a town hall meeting in March in Fowlerville says that Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, reassured the audience that the law was meant to apply to the "Detroits" of the state. Those who were there say that Rogers winked when he said "Detroits," which is dog-whistle speech for "minorities" in the ears of many people in Michigan.

So you can believe Snyder that taking away the elected governments of so many minority-dominated cities is absolutely pure coincidence. Or you can make sure you sign a petition repealing the draconian emergency manager law. For more information, visit Michigan Forward, the group circulating petitions to repeal PA4, the emergency manager law, for a list of petition-signing sites.

So Where Are the Ideas for Helping Children Learn?

Bill Rogers wants everybody to know that he's been working through his summer vacation. That's good, since as a state lawmaker he's paid to work year round.

He's been working hard on making sure students learn more so that they'll be prepared for all the jobs that Rick Snyder said he would create in Michigan by slashing school funding by $470 per student and giving huge tax breaks to corporations.

So after weeks of work, listening to testimony from school officials, Bill Rogers and his bipartisan working group of lawmakers thinks it would be a great idea if all school districts in the state used the same software for accounting and payroll.

Thank Heavens! This unaddressed scandal has been haunting parents throughout Michigan for years now. The nerve of school officials to select software for schools here in Livingston County that isn't the same as the software used in the UP. I feel so much better now that I know lawmakers will tell all the school districts which software to use because they are such experts on that sort of thing. What a relief that we don't have big goverment telling us what to do because that's sure not what we voted for last November. Was it?

Great Editorial, Zero Impact

The Livingston Press and Argus has published several editorials this spring ripping Rick Snyder's totally unnecessary cuts to education. All businesses that care about having educated employees should oppose these cuts, but newspapers have a special stake in good schools. After all, people who can't read and don't care about reading don't buy newspapers, not even for the pictures.

But last week, the newspaper took things up a notch when it criticized not just Snyder or Republicans in general, but a local Republican lawmaker -- Republican Rep. Bill Rogers. Rogers not only voted for the unnecessary and deep cuts to schools, but he offered the head-slappingly stupid remark that if schools would have "planned" for the cuts, they wouldn't have any problem.

In its editorial Friday, the newspaper called Rogers' remarks "mystifying" and "bereft of facts and logic." It went on to note that the school aid fund has a huge and growing surplus, and that if planning for expenses solved all problems, why didn't businesses just "plan" for the Michigan Business Tax which they hated so much?

The editorial closed with this zinger:

"It's almost as though Rogers is saying that school administrators should plan ahead for legislative incompetence.

"Maybe he would have a point."

The editorial was directly on target (and in line with a post on Living Blue BTW), but alas, as excellent as it was, it will have zero impact on Rogers or his cohorts Cindy Denby and Joe Hune.

Unfortunately, the newspaper has no leverage with local Republican office holders because they know no matter how poorly they perform in office and no matter how well qualified their opponents, the newspaper will always endorse them. If just once the newspaper would endorse a Democrat -- or even withhold an endorsement of the Republican candidate at election time -- Republican lawmakers might pay attention and work a little harder to represent all local residents instead of only business interests.

Nevertheless, it was a great editorial, and very true.

Rogers Clueless on What He Did to Public Education

Republican Rep. Bill Rogers just stole $470 from the futures of every student in Livingston County and he doesn't even understand what he has done.

As the Livingston Press and Argus notes that the county will now have not one, but two, school districts in deficit due to the Rick Snyder-Bill Rogers budget, Rogers told school districts it was basically their own fault.

They already got a $170 per pupil cut last year so they should have planned for that and therefore it's no big deal to accept another $300 per pupil cut, Rogers told the newspaper.

Huh?

Rogers was responding to the news that Pinckney Community Schools would have to lay off 26 teachers to live within the budget passed by Rogers and signed by Snyder. The school district can't offer the classes students need without those 26 teachers -- because it already cut 19 teachers last year.

How exactly would a school district plan to get by with 26 fewer teachers -- tell students they can't come to Pinckney schools? Put 100 students in a classroom? Just not teach third grade? Drop all math classes?

Pinckney is not alone. Brighton Community schools expected to be out of deficit this year, but Rogers voted to keep them in the hole with the big cuts. Fowlerville schools laid off 12 people from its classrooms.

Come on, Bill, what exactly is your solution? "Planning ahead" is not a solution. It is a meaningless phrase.

Where Is the 'No Big Government' Crowd on Rogers and 'Show Your Papers' Law?

If you fear big government, as so many people claim to do when the issue is health care reform, this should be a no-brainer. There should be a big rally down at the Brighton millpond any day now protesting the fact that Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, wants to let big government stop people and demand that they prove they are citizens.

Somehow, I don't think the big rally protesting big government intrustion is going to happen.

Rogers has jumped on the Michigan far-right's proposal to enact an Arizona-type law that allows police to stop anyone they suspect of being in this country illegally and demand that they prove they have a right to be here. This law has been grossly misrepresented as only requiring immigrants to carry documentation, but if an officer stops you because you "look" illegal, you will need to prove, somehow, that you are a citizen and not an immigrant. And nobody has defined what grounds amount to a reasonable suspicion that someone is here illegally.

I don't typically carry my passport or my birth certificate. Am I now going to be expected to do so, in the event a police officer decides I look illegal?

This law is so extreme that Republicans like Jeb Bush, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and even Karl Rove, have disavowed it, but not Bill Rogers.

How Low Will Livingston County Conservatives Go?

Even in tough times, you would think that people would be compassionate toward children.

You would think that, unless you read the Livingston County Press and Argus' comments by Republican Rep. Bill Rogers regarding the closing of a preschool for at-risk kids due to state funding cuts.

"Some things had to go and, unfortunately, that was one of them at this time," Rogers said. "When you're making any kind of cuts, someone somehow is going to get hurt."

In other words kids, suck it up. We can't ask anybody to pay a few cents more in taxes -- not the oil companies who get double the tax exemptions of other businesses in this state, nor the tobacco companies that peddle flavored tobacco to our teen-agers in hopes of getting them hooked on cigarettes later.

Not an ounce of compassion for four-year-old children.

Nor was there any compassion among the commenters on the story, who proceeded to attack the parents who sent their children to preschool in hopes that they would have a better start in life. Commenters called the program free baby-sitting and accused the mothers of not wanting to be bothered to raise their own kids.

That's the face of conservativism in Livingston County -- ugly and mean even toward children.

Bloom is Off Rose of Rogers' Freshman Caucus

Back in March, veteran political commentator Tim Skubick was all gaga over the freshman caucus in the Michigan House being co-chaired by Livingston's Republican Rep. Bill Rogers. Skubick even had Rogers on his weekly television show, during which Rogers managed to say absolutely nothing about what the caucus might do.

Skubick revisited the freshman caucus in a recent column and he is no longer impressed.

So far, he said, they've done nothing more than go bowling together.

Great leadership there, Bill.

Check out more thoughts on this here.

Bill Rogers Shuts Public Out of His Meeting

Republican Bill Rogers is having a legislative meeting in Livingston County on job creation, but he probably doesn't want you to come.

Rogers sent out an email this week about the House Republican Jobs Taskforce meeting on Friday, August 21, at 9 a.m. at the Livingston Educational Service Agency (LESA)
Main Conference Room, at 1425 W. Grand River Ave. in Howell.

But the email stresses that the task force only wants to hear from local business owners. The invitation reads, "If you own a business and would like to join the House Republican Taskforce next Friday to share your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions on how to create more jobs here in Michigan," then you may contact Rogers.

Thinking about starting a business? Stay home. You don't count. Rogers and his Republican buddies don't want to hear from you, even though you might have some legitimate suggestions about how to make starting a business easier in Michigan.

What are the Republicans afraid of?

NOW Bill Rogers is FOR Mass Transit?

The Conservative Media has a great post about state Rep. Bill Rogers' sudden interest in mass transit, after he did absolutely nothing to further the WALLY rail line between Livingston County and Ann Arbor as head of the Livingston County Commission.

Check it out here.

Rogers Rambles in OTR Interview

Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Brighton, gave his first interview on WKAR's "Off the Record" recently and had a hard time keeping his story straight.

Rogers was on the show because he is co-chair of the "Freshman Caucus" formed by the 44 new members of the Michigan House. But under questioning from host Tim Skubick and the rest of the crew, Rogers could give no coherent reason for the existence of the caucus. He couldn't say if the first-year lawmakers will band together and vote as a block on legislation. And he claimed they haven't even discussed it, prompting Skubick to say, "Oh, come on, Mr. Rogers," adding he had talked to other first-year lawmakers who said it was discussed.

Rogers would only go so far as to say the caucus was "going to stop partisan bickering."

He waffled on a question about the pace of the Legislature, saying he thought it was too slow, but lawmakers were busy, but he didn't really disagree with Senate Majority Leader and fellow Republican Mike Bishop's desire to wait until a state revenue conference in May to work on major budget bills, except to say that's not the way they did it in Livingston County. So his answer was, "Yes, No, Maybe."

Bill Rogers -- A Man of Few Ideas

When Bill Rogers was running for state rep from Michigan's 66th District during the 2008 campaign, he was a man of few words. In a debate sponsored by the Livingston Press and Argus, for example, he answered one question by saying, "Taxes, deregulation. Fix it and they will come."

Turns out, Rogers is also a man of few ideas. When WHMI radio station asked him about his bill to make sure winners of Republican Party primaries don't have any extra competition in the general election, he responded that he had a chance to introduce only 10 bills and he introduced nine others and that one was the 10th.

So he had nine ideas to improve Michigan and this was the best he could do for the 10th -- a power-grab by local Republicans that Rogers now says was intended to help Democrats, too.

For the record, Democrats didn't ask for this bill and want nothing to do with it. Livingston County Democrats adopted a resolution against it at their Feb. 7 county convention and the resolution was unanimously adopted by the state party at its convention Saturday (Feb. 21, 2009) in Detroit.

So if Bill Rogers can't think of another idea for the state, I guess we'd better help him out by suggesting things he could have introduced.

How about a bill to ban smoking in bars and restaurants? It will save millions in health care costs by eliminating second-hand smoke from work places.

How about a measure restoring the right of Michigan citizens to sue to protect the environment, a right taken away by the Michigan Supreme Court and former Supreme Court Justice Cliff Taylor and the rest of the Gang of Four?

How about a measure supporting WALLY, the commuter train between Howell and Ann Arbor, to cut down on congestion on U.S. 23?

Or maybe a bill to tighten restrictions on using public property for political advertising?

Expanding Michigan's bottle bill to cover non-carbonated beverages such as water, juice, and energy drinks would reduce trash and encourage recycling.

Rogers could have proposed a measure to impose a moratorium on home foreclosures to keep people in their homes and try to stabilize home prices and neighborhoods. States did this during the Great Depression with farm foreclosures.

He could have suggested a ban on new coal-fired power plants. Electrical power demand is flat in the state right now so there is no need to be building more fossil-burning plants.

Rogers might have banned utility shutoffs in the winter time to keep elderly people from freezing to death in their homes.

He could have suggested a bill requiring lawmakers to make personal financial disclosures while in office.

Why not a measure cracking down on steroid abuse, or one giving Michigan workers preference on state-funded projects?

None of these made the grade with Rogers. Only the bill that says Republicans get to veto anybody running as an independent.

NOW He Wants to Cut Lawmakers' Health Care

When Bill Rogers presided as chair of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, he happily allowed the commissioners to soak taxpayers for the cost of generous health insurance benefits for their part-time jobs.

Despite tightening budgets a year ago, the commissioners never cut their own health insurance benefits even as they expected county departments to get by with fewer employees. Rogers and his fellow Republicans, who held every seat on the board, could easily have done away with these benefits for themselves had they so chosen.

But now that Rogers is in the state House, where he is not a chairman of anything, Rogers has seen the light. He has decided that public servants do not need health insurance and has introduced a measure to end health care benefits for retired lawmakers.

Fine. But the problem is, Rogers is in the minority party. Nothing he introduces is likely to go anywhere. It's not even a new idea.

My problem is, if Rogers thought doing away with health insurance is such a good idea, why didn't he do it when he had the chance, when he was chair of the county commission, when all it would have taken was a simple vote of the commission he chaired?

Could it be that Rogers only wants to look like he wants to cut his future health care (when he wouldn't cut his existing health care when he actually had the power to do so)? It's the best of both worlds -- he looks like he's against waste but still gets the benefit of receiving the waste he ostensibly wants to cut.

Re-fighting the Hamburg Township War in the Michigan Legislature

It's not bad enough that Republicans in Hamburg Township are still fighting among themselves over the township clerk position.

Now our brand new, still wet-behind-the-ears state representative wants to take the fight to the Michigan Legislature.

Rep. Bill Rogers has introduced a measure that would ban someone from running as a write-in candidate after losing a primary for the same position.

That's exactly what Hamburg Township Clerk JoAnna Hardesty did in November after she lost the GOP primary to Matt Skiba. She came in third, behind Skiba and Democrat Debby Buckland, who would have been a better clerk than the two Republicans put together.

Rogers claims that running as a write-in after losing a primary subverts the will of the people.

This is a totally unnecessary law. Voters are quite capable of asserting their own will in an election, which is exactly what they did in the Hamburg case. They said no to Hardesty.

This measure is really about making the will of the Livingston County Republican Party supreme in Livingston County.

Someone might lose the GOP primary because they are more moderate than the right-wing Republicans can put up with. This measure would prevent him or her from challenging the Republican-annointed candidate. Such a candidate should have the option of offering themselves as a candidate to people who don't vote in GOP primaries. Apparently, Rogers is worried that such a scenario would split the Republican vote and allow a Democrat to win. Horrors!

This measure is anti-democratic (with a small "d") and an attempted Republican power-grab.

Commissioners Look At Buying New Toy

Remember those billboards before the election? The ones the Republicans put up to tell us all how fortunate we are to have one-party rule in Livingston County because the Republicans are so good at saving the taxpayers money?

Well, the election is over and the same Commissioners who said we couldn’t possibly afford a commuter system between Howell and Ann Arbor, one which would bring us new business and jobs, now want to buy a $1.7 million Central Dispatch system that will not do much more than the existing system.

According to the Press & Argus, November 26, 2008, the new system will help with record keeping.

“Obviously, it’s a more advanced system than what we have,” said Dick Winsett, director of Central Dispatch. “It would provide more information and newer technology to public safety for their record management concerns.”

There are numerous software systems that will keep records efficiently for the jail and prosecutor’s office. Some of them can probably be integrated into the existing Dispatch system. The County Commissioners should look at how other counties handle their records.

“The downside of this, of course, is our existing system with CLEMIS is very cost-effective,” said Commissioner Dave Domas, also chairman of the PublicSafety/Judiciary Committee. “We only pay $41,000 a year for the system that we’ve got, and it works.“It doesn’t do everything that we want,” Domas added.

So, Dave, why are you wasting time looking at a new system if it’s not cost-efficient? What do you want the system to do, Dave? Serve coffee and snacks at the Board meetings? Or did SunGard’s slick salespeople cause you to “need” a new system.

Put this one on the ballot, Dave. I guarantee you will lose. Or go ahead and buy the system and lose in 2010. People are hurting, Dave. They want something that will bring jobs and business here – something like the WALLY or spending money on our crumbling infrastructure.

What is it with our County Commissioners? After the 2006 election, they suddenly found $1.5 million for a new jail. After the 2008 election, after all the budget crunching and downsizing, we suddenly have the funds for a new Dispatch system? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark and the county of Livingston and the stink is coming from the Commissioners Board Room.

POVERTY BY THE NUMBERS IN AFFLUENT LIVINGSTON COUNTY

What do numbers mean? What do dollars mean? In the recent election campaign, the Livingston Republicans put up billboards and ran TV ads boasting about how they kept taxes low and attained an AA bond rating by their one-party rule. But all is not well in Livingston County
.
In the Press & Argus, Rich Perlberg: By the Numbers Your Help Is Needed, Nov. 16, 2008, the General Manager of the P&A gives numerous statistics that prove the existence of grueling, awful poverty in this affluent county.

This is not news to those of us who understand that poverty exists along with affluence. It can be seen by those who open their eyes. If those of us who ran for the State House didn’t know it, we heard about it when we attended the Livingston County Human Services Collaborative Body forum last September 24. That is, we heard about it if we bothered to attend. Bill Rogers was evidently too busy counting tax monies to make it.

Perlberg writes:

“Those are some of the harsh numbers. They put into perspective the personal stories most of you hear — the neighbor who got laid off, the co-worker whose home is in foreclosure, the family that moved because there was no work here.
“The agencies that produced this report stressed how they are working together by seeking efficiencies, leveraging efforts for state grants and publicizing services, especially for those who have never before found themselves needing financial help.
“But they need your help, your money and your time. Look at it this way. If 3,000 homes were in foreclosure, that means 50,000 or more were not. Now more than ever, those are the folks who need to look past the numbers and help their neighbors — even, and perhaps especially, those they have never met.”

So what Rich is saying is what we saved on taxes, we should give to charity to feed the hungry, care for children’s medical needs and shelter the homeless. We should even give a little bit more to cover for the people who don’t contribute. Then we can feel good about ourselves playing Lord and Lady Bountiful. Yes, we can be generous and compassionate. What we are not is fair and just. Justice demands that we share resources with others. If we follow justice, the County may even borrow some money to help citizens of Livingston County – I think borrowing is one of the uses of an AA bond rating. Or we may even go so far as to allow our taxes to be raised a mill or two so that we can provide health insurance for the impoverished as well as the County Commissioners.

A new day is coming, a new political climate is blowing in the wind but we still don’t get it in Livingston County. Values are changing. Good government and low taxes are not synonymous.

Wake up! Livingston!

Anderson Stars in Detroit Public Television Forum

Bill Rogers ran away from a debate with Democrat Donna Anderson in the race for Michigan's 66th House seat, refusing to appear with her in the Center for Michigan's Great Debates series on Detroit Public Television.

Anderson's performance in a DPTV forum for candidates shows why Rogers refused to show up for a debate with her.

Check out the videos of the forum, sans Rogers, here and here.

It also will be broadcast on Detroit Public Television on Sunday (Oct. 19, 2008) at 3 p.m.

Anderson Lays Out Full Agenda for House

It's common knowledge that Bill Rogers is avoiding a debate with Democrat Donna Anderson in the race for Michigan's 66th House seat. He recently backed out of a debate on Detroit Public Television sponsored by the Center for Michigan on the grounds that he was too busy because he does not have the "luxury" of being unemployed.

But he did have time to show up at WLNS in Lansing to tape a message to the voters, at the invitation of the television station. At least, he had a little time. He taped only a 30-second message.

Anderson, on the other hand, spoke for five minutes about her priorities as a future lawmaker -- education, the environment, job creation, health care, and stem cell research.

You can view Anderson here.