Michigan Emergency Manager Law Back in Spotlight

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has put Michigan's emergency manager law back into the national spotlight with a segment on her show Monday (April 2, 2012). Maddow called the law, which is the subject of a referendum attempt, evidence that Michigan had taken the hardest right turn of any state in the nation.

When you think about it, that's pretty amazing. If there is one thing that has made Americans Americans, it was supposed to be "No Taxation without Representation." The whole Boston tea party thing (the real tea party) was about a tax on tea that was imposed on the American colonies by Great Britain without any say by the residents here, after all. Discontent over that and other taxes was what sparked the American Revolution (along with other indignities such as quartering British troops in American homes).

So that's why Maddow can say the Michigan law is the farthest right of any measure enacted by Republican-led state governments in the last couple years. It strikes at the very foundation of our democracy, something Ricl Snyder thinks only people in wealthy cities deserve.

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Signing of Grad Student Union BIll Shows Need for Constitutional Amendment

Rick Snyder's comments on signing a bill that bars some graduate students at the University of Michigan from forming a union sound so pious.

It would alter the "critical relationship" between students and teachers, Snyder says.

Well that sounds good to someone who has never worked as a graduate student in a university setting, but it's meaningless for a couple of reasons.

In the first place, students hired as research assistants may not even work for anyone who teaches them in the classroom. In the years I worked as a graduate student instructor, I never once worked for a person from whom I took a course. I might conceivably have taken a course at some point from some of them, but not all of them taught graduate-level courses and not all of them were in the area in which I eventually decided to concentrate. So it just doesn't follow that once you are a graduate student anyone you work for is automatically your teacher and that your relationship with them is somehow altered.

Furthermore, if you did work for a faculty member who had control over your grades and future, isn't that even more reason for needing a union? Do we really want a faculty member to be able to say to a student that they need to work round the clock to finish a lab project, with the student knowing that they if they refuse it might affect their course grade, approval of their thesis, or some other decision crucial to finishing their studies? If issues such as wages, hours, and working conditions are taken out of the faculty's hands, that threat is removed.

Hopefully, Snyder's signing of this bill putting student employees in the same category as serfs will be undone soon. Labor organizations in Michigan are collecting signatures on an amendment to the Michigan Constitution that would protect the right to bargain collectively for conditions of employment. The aim is to put the measure on the November ballot.

Signature collectors will be out soon. Be sure to sign!

Snyder and Republicans Micro-Managing Students' Degree Choices

Rick Snyder thinks he knows what your college major should be. He's so sure of that, that he's going to tie state aid to your university to how many Michigan students major in the areas he deems important.

That's one thing that's obvious from the 2012-2013 budget Snyder is unveiling Thursday (Feb. 9, 2012). According to the Detroit Free Press article in advance of the speech,, Snyder's proposed 3 percent increase in higher education funding will be tied to: "growth in the number of undergraduate degree completions, the number of undergraduate completions in critical skills areas, the number of undergraduate Pell Grant recipients, and compliance with tuition restraint."

It's the "number of undergraduate completions in critical skills areas" that is particularly offensive. Who will determine what a "critical skills area" is? And how are universities supposed to react if students decide they aren't much interested in Snyder's favorite "critical skills areas"? Not everyone is cut out to be an accountant or engineer or nurse, or whatever the favored occupations that Snyder will select, but students may find themselves pushed in those directions.

Low Standards for Grading Snyder

Rick Snyder drew an easy grader when the Detroit Free Press recently decided to editorialize about his first year in office.

The newspaper graded Snyder in several categories regarding his performance, including "Jobs," "Kids," and "Leadership."

For some reason, the editorial writer thought Snyder deserved a "B" for his policies regarding the health and welfare of Michigan's children. That is hard to fathom when you look at the record.

The editorial has a vague reference to "strict new four-year limits on cash welfare." Translated, that means some 12,000 children in families who will lose cash assistance if a court challenge fails. That's a heartless decision that will have devastating consequences on the "health and welfare" of those children whose families suddenly will have no money for rent, few prospects for employment in a slowly-recovering economy, and few resources to fall back on.

For children in working families, Snyder slashed the Earned Income Tax Credit from 20 percent of the federal amount to 6 percent. Those dollars helped families get by when paychecks just won't stretch to cover everything and Snyder's action raised taxes by $330 million on nearly 800,000 working families, including many with children. The tax credit meant an average of $432 for working families who were on the edge of poverty even with a job. Without the tax credit, some 14,000 children may cross the line into poverty, despite having parents who are working. And businesses will lose customers, since ever $1 spent on the Earned Income Tax Credit generated $1.67 of economic activity in Michigan.

Snyder also tried to make it harder for people to qualify for food stamps by trying to force families to sell their cars. That counterproductive policy would have made it harder for people to get to work, look for work, or go to school so they can find a better job and not need food stamps.

And for this Snyder gets a "B." What does a guy have to do to earn a failing grade?

Blank Slate Governor Filling in Some Spots

Let's face it. Michigan voters didn't know much about Republican Rick Snyder when he was elected governor. He didn't reveal much about what his political views were, relying on commercials about being a nerd. The result was that people projected their own hopes for what they wanted him to be onto essentially a blank slate.

Take for example, his views on gays. People took a Snyder comment about gay marriage and expanded that to believe that he was a "moderate."

As the months have gone on, Snyder has signed legislation that would warm the heart of any conservative -- virtually stripping people of their right to vote for local elected officials, gutting funding for local schools, slashing funding for public universities, eliminating taxes for businesses and shifting the burden to the elderly.

But the legislation that finally brought Snyder into focus for a lot of people was his signing the bill banning governments from giving benefits to domestic partners of their employees. In effect, Snyder was willing to tell the world that gay people are not welcome here.

Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson wrote that the "good governor" had sided with the bigots in signing the legislation. Dickerson understated the matter. If Snyder had signed legislation banning domestic partner benefits for interracial couples, would anyone have doubted that he was a racist? If he had signed legislation banning domestic partner benefits for Christians married to Muslims, would anyone have doubted that he was a religious bigot?

How many pieces of similar legislation does Snyder have to sign before people recognize that Snyder didn't just side with the bigots against gays. He is one.

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.

Snyder Out of Options on Detroit? Hardly

Pity poor Rick Snyder. According to the Detroit Free Press, the poor governor has no good options when it comes to the city of Detroit. Why, he is just going to be forced to name an emergency manager and he just can't help it.

Leave aside that he didn't have to push for the draconian law in the first place. Let's go right to the point that he and his fellow Republicans have helped create the budget deficit that is the cause of the city's financial problem.

The State of Michigan owes the city of Detroit $220 million in revenue sharing, enough to eliminate the city's structural deficit. That's according to another article in the Detroit Free Press. And if the Legislature claims it doesn't have the money, it could still help by allowing the city to raise its income taxes by $155 million, reversing a decline in income tax rates put in place a decade ago.

Why aren't those options for Snyder? Why isn't he pushing the Legislature to allow Detroit to raise its income tax and collect the money it needs to run the city? Why isn't Snyder asking the Legislature to pay the revenue sharing that is owed to the city of Detroit? The Free Press's crack Lansing staff didn't bother to pose those questions to Bing's staff, instead going with the "there aren't any other options" line that casts the governor in a sympathetic light.

It's hard not to conclude that the Snyder administration is helping push the city of Detroit into bankruptcy by withholding state aid and authority to raise taxes. The Free Press buries this information in a separate story, separating Snyder from options that aren't being used. This way, the focus is being kept on the so-called greedy unions who can be blamed for not giving more and more concessions that will result in fewer firefighters, fewer police officers, and more corporations taking over city services and milking them for profit.

That emergency manager law needs to be repealed so games like this stop.

So Many Reasons to Celebrate!

Election Day gave Democrats around the country many reasons to celebrate. Let's list them, just to savor the moment a little longer.

1. The crushing defeat of Republican John Kasich's bill to strip the rights of public employee unions in Ohio.

2. The sound thrashing by voters of Mississippi's proposal to declare a fertilized egg to be a "person," not only outlawing all abortions but potentially preventing the use of many forms of birth control as well as invitro-fertilization.

3. The recall of Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce, the author of the state's anti-immigrant law that allows police to demand papers from anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally.

4. The rejection by Maine voters of a Republican-passed bill to do-away with same-day voter registration, a tradition in the state for 38 years.

5. And in Michigan, the recall of Republican Rep. Paul Scott. The Genesee County lawmaker and chair of the House Education Committee was a staunch supporter of Republican Rick Snyder's anti-public school, anti-teacher, anti-middle class agenda.

Democrats didn't win everything on Tuesday, but they won a lot. Snyder, who campaigned for Scott, lost big. Is the recall enough to force him to reconsider the radical Republican policies lawmakers are pushing? I doubt it. But the wins may be enough to energize Democratic voters, who learned again the lesson of 2008. When Democrats vote, Democrats win. When they don't, we get stuff like the Ohio union-stripping bill, taxes on pensions, and attacks on the middle class. Let's remember that in 2012.

Taking a Hammer or Chisel to Workers' Rights

The full frontal assault on working people's rights to form unions and have a say in their wages and working conditions is poised to go down to defeat in Ohio on Tuesday (Nov. 8, 2011), according to polling in advance of the vote. If the union-busting measure does go down to defeat, it will be a tribute to the hard-work of union people all over the state.

Meanwhile, the undermining of the middle class continues apace in Michigan. Republicans in the Legislature have used less of Ohio Gov. John Kasich's sledgehammer and more of a chisel to take apart laws guaranteeing workers' dignity.

The state is undermining public employee unions by outsourcing jobs, even if it jeopardizes services being delivered and could end up meaning taxpayers have to pay more by providing food stamps and other benefits to the new low-paid workers.

The Legislature passed and Republican Rick Snyder signed bills attacking teachers' rights to have unions, as well. In the guise of tenure "reform," school districts don't have to go by seniority in laying off personnel. Who will be the first laid off now? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it most likely will be union leaders who will be the first to go.

Bigger battles lie ahead, for sure. And at some point Republicans may bring out the sledgehammer after all.

Why Didn't Snyder Figure This Out Earlier?

Millionaire Rick Snyder really has forgotten how real people live, hasn't he?

How else can you explain his administration's decision to throw people off food stamps if they own vehicles worth $15,000?

Apparently, it never occurred to Snyder that people on food stamps don't just sit home. They go to job interviews, job training, even to work. They take their kids to school and doctor's appointments. They need a car to do that. And they may have a fairly decent car if they suddenly lost a job. Or the family may have two cars, not an uncommon situation in the state that put the world on wheels. And together they may be worth more than $15,000.

Snyder's administration has finally reconsidered the policy. Now, food stamp recipients will be able to exempt one vehicle from the $15,000 limit so that a family can keep two cars and can get where they need to go.

So why couldn't somebody as supposedly bright as Snyder is figure this out before? Why couldn't he figure out that it might be counter-productive to getting people off welfare if forced them to get rid of every tool they might need to get to work?

Maybe Rick Snyder Can Back This Occupy Wall Street Demand Now

Republican Rick Snyder may not have much in common with the Occupy Wall Street protestors but after his fellow Republicans defeated his plan to build a new bridge across the Detroit River he might want to re-think that.

Outside the Occupy Ann Arbor encampment recently there has been a sign that reads, "Get $ Out of Politics." After the piles of cash that were spent by opponents of the proposed bridge, Snyder might agree with that sentiment.

Livingston County residents received multiple mailings asking Republican Sen. Joe Hune to vote against the bridge, and they had to endure countless television commercials, paid for by the owner of the private Ambassador Bridge, as well. Americans for Prosperity even posted fake eviction notices on homes in the vicinity of the proposed new bridge to scare people into opposing it. Backers of the bridge had nothing similar.

Construction of the bridge would have meant jobs for Michigan workers and was backed by businesses as well. Ford Motor Co. has complained that delays at Matty Moroun's privately-owned Ambassador Bridge cost it hundreds of dollars per car. But because Moroun is a billionaire, he will maintain his stranglehold on bridge traffic, at least for now. His money makes the un-elected Moroun more powerful than the governor.

Time to get money out of politics, for sure.

Is County's Economic Development Director Getting the Heave-Ho?

You know something is wrong when people start talking about your replacement even though you don't have any plans to leave.

That's what is happening with Fred Dillingham, executive director of the Economic Development Council. Dillingham has held that post since 1997 and has no plans to retire. But all of a sudden, the Livingston County Commission is talking about who will replace him when he retires.

The all-Republican county commission already has its eyes on having an Ann Arbor group, Ann Arbor SPARK, take over the job of marketing Livingston County. Now, why would Livingston County want a group from another, more urban county to take over economic development for us? Did I mention that the group is tied in with Republican Rick Snyder?

And did I mention that Dillingham was less than enthusiastic earlier this year when Snyder ditched all of the state's economic development incentives in favor of cutting taxes for businesses by $1.7 billion?

Here's what Dillingham said last spring:

"Dillingham said the county's manufacturing base could face a 'double whammy' with Snyder's corporate income tax and the governor's call to end all business-tax incentives. Dillingham previously said tax incentives are responsible for several manufacturing companies setting up shop in the county."

Could that be the reason Dillingham will be feeling some of Rick Snyder's shared sacrifice and Livingston County will have its economic development efforts farmed out to another county?

More of Snyder's 'Shared Sacrifice' for School Head

Rick Snyder has delivered yet another lesson in what his "shared sacrifice" looks like with the hiring of the head of the statewide district for low performing schools.

The superintendent, John Covington, could earn up to $1.5 million over the next four years, according to the Detroit Free Press.

This level of pay, of course, is necessary to attract top talent, according to the governor's spokesperson.

Teachers across the state, meanwhile, are taking pay cuts and being forced to pay more for their health insurance, another form of a pay cut. Snyder isn't worried about whether top talent is attracted into the teaching positions, only into the jobs at the top.

So again, it's sacrifice for the people who do the work so that the people at the top can share in the savings. That's shared sacrifice.

No Jobs, But Poor Can Get Day Care Subsidies

you really have to wonder what is going on the brain of Rick Snyder. Apparently, being a millionaire divorces someone so completely from reality that they say really stupid things, or they hire people to do it for them.

Such is the case with the news that Snyder was expected to sign a bill that kicks 11,000 poor people off welfare in the middle of a weak economic recovery because Snyder thinks four years is enough.

Says Snyder's Department of Human Services spokeswoman, Sheryl Thompson, there's nothing to worry about. The poor people can still get food stamps and day care subsidies. Food stamps won't pay the rent, but the state makes up for that by providing two months of rental assistance. Two whole months. Why, everything will be fine by then.

They'll also get day care subsidies. But those don't pay the rent either, and people without jobs may have little use for day care.

Oh, but the department has an answer for that. The people being kicked off welfare will get "intensive aid" in looking for work. Guess the Snyder administration hasn't checked what has happened to the unemployment rate since it gave business $1.7 billion in tax cuts to create jobs. The jobless rate went up.

But Thompson says, "We will be providing every tool necessary" to enter the work force, except of course, an actual job. If they had so many tools to help these people find work, why haven't they been employing them since they took office in January?

She added that that "Michigan can no longer afford to provide lifetime assistance."

Federal law has a five-year cap for benefits. That's hardly a lifetime.

But being Snyder's DHS spokeswoman doesn't require facts, just meaningless sound bites.

Recall Rick Now Has Hotline

Want to know where to go to sign a petition recalling Rick Snyder as governor?

The Recall Rick folks are making it easier to find out with a new hotline. Just call
1-855-SO-FIRED to find out the location nearest you.

The Recall Rick volunteers have gotten none of the respect that the media poured all over the extremist right-wing groups now dominating the Republican Party. Lansing media representatives on Off the Record over the weekend smugly dismissed the effort, saying that it was an utter failure. They seemed to be unaware that the recall signature collection is continuing, aiming now at a February election rather than a November one. But the recall effort is alive and well, thanks to the tireless work of real grass-roots volunteers.

If You Don't Need Democracy, Why Do You Need Courts?

Is there any limit to the power that Rick Snyder wants to grab? If there is, we haven't reached it yet.

It was bad enough that Snyder rammed through the Legislature a bill taking away the right of people living in financially troubled areas to elect their own representatives, the Emergency Manager Law. That law is now the subject of a petition drive seeking to halt its implementation until the public has a chance to vote on it.

But it also is the subject of a court challenge brought by public employees. Ordinarily, such lawsuits are heard in circuit courts, the losing party appeals to the Court of Appeals, and then the losing party asks the Michigan Supreme Court to hear an appeal from that ruling. But all that takes time and who wants to waste time on court cases and appeals, especially when you know there will be press coverage laying out the problems with the law? On top of that, there is the chance you will lose the case or the appeal and that would look bad for the governor.

Why not just short-circuit all that and ask the Michigan Supreme Court to decide the case itself, skipping all the bad publicity which would let the public know what the law really does? Especially when the Supreme Court has a Republican majority that you know in advance will decide the case the way you want?

So for the second time in his not even eight months in office, Snyder has used a special provision in the Michigan Constitution and asked the high court to address the issues in the case.

The provision has been in the constitution since 1967 and has only been used by governors 26 times, and two of them have come under Snyder -- two dozen times in 44 years, and now twice in less than eight monnths, the first being his unpopular tax on pensions. But Snyder thinks any challenge to any law he supports is of such importance that we have to dispense with due process.

Snyder's contempt for the messy aspects of democracy -- elected government, court battles, and who knows what next -- apparently has no bounds.

Yet people who claim to be so frightened about unlimited government on the national level have no problems with Snyder, who uses the constitution to manipulate the public's ability to scrutinize the laws he supports.

The Michigan Supreme Court should reject this power grab. If it doesn't, future goverors will use the power with the same reckless abandon as Snyder to avoid bad publicity and public scrutiny of their actions.

10,000 Jobs Created in Michigan, But Not by Rick

Michigan Messenger has reported that 10,000 jobs were created in Michigan, but Rick Snyder's $1.7 billion tax cut for businesses had nothing to do with it.

Instead, it was Gov. Jennifer Granholm's spending on the Pure Michigan ad campaign that did the trick.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association found out-of-state leisure travel jumped 21 percent in 2010, the second year of the Pure Michigan national advertising campaign. THe $6.4 billion in spending allowed the travel industry to add 10,000 jobs.

The study also found that in the first year of the national advertising campaign, spending by out-of-state visitors brought $138 billion into the state's coffers. That was more than three times what the state spent on the program.

Pretty good rate of return.

And Don't Forget Their Pensions Are Taxed Now

Senior citizens in Michigan are struggling with poverty, with one-third of them "economically insecure."

That's according to a report from Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology published Thursday (July 21, 2011) in the Detroit Free Press.

The study found that the median income for those hosueholds with someone 65 and older is $32,392. Matching that with an index that measures the costs of items essential to the elderly, such as health care premiums and prescription drug copayments, the report found many seniors struggling.

Unmentioned, of course, is that on top of all their other bills, many of those seniors now will pay higher taxes, thanks to Rick Snyder's taxes on pensions that paid for tax cuts for businesses. During the debate on that pension tax this spring, the focus was on senior citizens living the good life with fat, untaxed pensions.

Where was this report when we needed it?

A Little More Juice for the Recall Rick Campaign

The popular liberal blog Daily Kos appears to be throwing its considerable weight behind the Recall Rick campaign, according to an email to supporters on Friday (July 8, 2011).

The email, from Chris Bowers, campaign director at Daily Kos, says Daily Kos is paying for a field organizing firm to work with the 4,000 grassroots volunteers and 80 county captains leading the Recall Rick effort.

"Field Works will be with us for the rest of the campaign, and Daily Kos is picking up the tab," Bowers' email said. By late afternoon, nothing had been posted on the Daily Kos site regarding that development, however.

The Michigan Education Association has recently joined the recall effort and has set up an action page for its members to get involved.

The recall effort is holding a statewide recall petition signing event Saturday, according to the email.

You can follow recall events on Facebook or at FireRickSnyder.org.

Would Tri-Corner Hats Help?

The effort to recall Rick Snyder doesn't get much respect from the news media.The Detroit Free Press finally did a story on the grassroots effort, which mainly was dismissive of the campaign.

With the campaign half over, the amount of ink Michigan media have devoted to the campaign is a fraction of that spilled over the tea bagger groups in the last two years.

I'm beginning to think that any grassroots group needs costumes -- knee breeches and tri-corner hats with tea bags stapled to the brim -- in order to get attention. And racist photos of the president probably would help, too.

But the Recall Rick campaign can't show photos of the harm Snyder already has done to our state -- the deep cuts to education at a time when the school aid fund has a half billion dollar surplus, higher taxes for senior citizens and the poor to pay for $1.7 billion in tax cuts to businesses without any promise of jobs, ending tax credit for the film industry that really were creating jobs that are now disappearing. They just don't make good visuals.

The Recall Rick volunteers are ignoring the skeptics and steadily gathering signatures.

If you haven't signed yet, you'll have a chance to sign Wednesday at the Fowlerville Farmers Market, which is open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.