Rightwing Republican think tank continues to use FOIA for intimidation

You have to wonder if it's a case of the chicken or the egg with the use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the rightwing Republican think tank “Mackinac Center for Public Policy to intimidate and to dig up dirt on opponents.

The partisan Republican think tank, financed by right-wingers like the rightwing billionaire Koch Brothers, submitted a FOIA request last week to the labor studies departments at Wayne State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan aimed to intimidate pro-labor dissenters and stifle academic freedom.

The FOIA request is seeking emails in which the terms "Scott Walker," "Wisconsin," "Madison" or "Maddow" are being used. This is very similar to the Howell Public Schools infamous E-mail case that began four years ago, and, in fact, it has some of the same players.

In May of 2007 anti-union activist Chet Zarko, who passed away last summer, filed a massive FOIA request with the help of teabagger and former Howell School Board member Wendy Day seeking union emails in a fishing expedition to embarrass the Howell Education Association that were in tough contract negotiations with the school district. It was never determined who was paying Zarko, and he denied anyone was. But it was the Mackinac Center that ended up bankrolling his long court fight.

The district released some emails, but an injunction was issued stopping Zarko from receive any more of the 5,500 emails. However, he published the ones that put the union president in a bad light.

In January of 2010 the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the emails sent and received on Howell Public School computers between union members were not public record, and they concluded that under the FOIA statute the individual teacher’s personal emails were not rendered public records solely because they were captured in the email system’s digital memory. The three-Judge panel said it was a question that must be resolved by the Legislature.

After the death of Zarko, the Mackinac Center continued with the case, but the Michigan Supreme Court has refused to take up the case.

It begs the question if Zarko was being paid by the Mackinac Center, or if the Mackinac Center copied Zarko to use the FOIA as an intimidation tactic against teachers with their bottomless money pit. There is no reason they should get any of the emails based on this case.

It’s ironic that MSNBC host and Rhodes Scholar Rachel Maddow is a target of the rightwing think tank. The Koch Brothers bankrolled the union busting attempt in Wisconsin, and Maddow exposed the fact that they are also bankrolling the stealth union busting attempts in Michigan.

The Koch brothers are financing the Mackinac Center, and it was the Mackinac Center that basically wrote the anti-democratic and anti-union emergency financial managers (EFM) package of bills pushed and signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Rick Snyder, also a former wealthy CEO.

It’s well past the time Mackinac Center loses its non-partisan and nonprofit status so we can see who is funding them. They are not nonpartisan.

Michigan is leading the nation in job growth for July

The good news that Michigan is leading the nation in job growth, with a gain of 27,800 jobs in July, has to have state Republicans cursing the good news.

In fact, Michigan has added jobs in three of the past four months, and that hasn't happened for a long time. Any good economic news, both nationally and in Michigan, is met with dismay by Republicans, and any bad economic news is picked up by the rightwing echo chamber and celebrated because it may help them win back power. This good news is a little hard to deny because the news is coming from a fiscal policy analyst with the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Detroit Free Press columnist Tom Walsh said the Mackinac Center “…is no cheerleader for the state of Michigan. Indeed, the free-market-oriented Mackinac Center has been a frequent critic of the state's economic development and taxation policies.”

While the Governor has worked hard to diversify the economy so that a downturn in the auto industry doesn’t decimate Michigan’s economy like it has historically. However, “manufacturing was the biggest gainer in July, up 20,000 jobs. Automakers and suppliers added engineers and production workers, as vehicle sales grew modestly in the wake of the General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies.”

Granted, the state and country have a long way to go as it begins the long climb out of the Bush ditch, the worst recession since the Great Depression, but it’s a positive start.

Subscription only MIRS also reported some good news that debunks what teabaggers have been saying about Michigan taxes. “Michigan just missed landing in the top third of states for business climate, according to a ranking compiled by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

The state ranked 17th for its business climate. I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody told me how great Ohio was for business, but the fact is Ohio was near the bottom at 47th. The nonpartisan foundation used 100 variables that impact business for its rankings.

Congressional candidate hopes stealth passage of bill silences critics

LANSING -- Election politics is playing a role in Republican efforts to break a new union and circumvent a legal election to form a collective bargaining unit to represent home-based child care workers.

Last year child care workers organized the Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM) union, a joint venture between United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) certified CCPTM as the sole bargaining unit for all home-based child care providers receiving reimbursement payments from the Michigan Child Development and Care Program. Senate Republicans have tried everything possible to kill the union, making the false claim worked were forcibly unionized.

State Sen. Jason Allen, R-Alanson, has been criticized by conservatives for sponsoring Senate Bill 731 that would have created the Michigan Quality Community Care Council. Anti-union groups like the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center falsely claims it will strengthen the union. The council would simply be responsible for working to preserve consumer selection and self-direction of providers.

Allen is running for the U.S. Congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Bartt Stupak, D-Menominee. Allen has a primary opponent, and his opponent, Dan Benishek, has called on Allen to drop his sponsorship of SB 731.

On Thursday Allen called an early morning meeting of the Committee on Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs that he chairs and usually meets on Wednesday. The published agenda just said “any business to come properly before the committee.” What the committee did was vote out a substitute for SB 731. No debate was held.

The substitute bill creates something called the Home Help Advisory Council, but it inserts anti-union language that states a “legislative intent that the proposed Act not be interpreted to allow for the unionization of home help workers.”

“Unfortunately, it has become politicized by the forced unionization of home health care workers,” Allen said.

Republicans circumvent legal election to kill union and hurt kids

LANSING – Republicans cannot stop workers from organizing and improving their lot through the legal way with an election, so they went around the election Wednesday with approval of Senate Bill 1158 that provides the budget for the Department of Human Services

The Senate budget calls for de-funding the Home-Based Child Care Council and stop the collection of union dues. You will recall that last year child care workers organized the Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM) union, a joint venture between United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) certified CCPTM as the sole bargaining unit for all home-based child care providers receiving reimbursement payments from the Michigan Child Development and Care Program.

The Michigan Quality Community Care Council is a standalone public body created by inter-local agreement under the Urban Cooperation Act of 1967 charged with the mission of improving professional development opportunities for home based child care providers, but Republicans like the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center falsely claims it will strengthen the union.

Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods, offered one of the best defenses of the union on the Senate floor I have heard since this GOP attack began.

“I stand here today to be somewhat of a truth squad because I think it is important that what has been described as questionable and forced unionization of home-based child care workers is not that at all,” she said. “The fact of the matter is that the union was ratified through an election process that was entirely proper and legal. Ninety-eight percent of the workers who voted in the election voted in favor of unionization. At no point was the validity of that election challenged through the normal procedures provided by our labor laws.”

This is just one more GOP attempt to kill unions and make Michigan a so-called “Right to work state” when the fact is anyone can opt out of the union.

“In any event, no one is forcing workers who do not want to be part of the union to join,” Jacobs said. “Both Michigan and federal law prohibit compulsory union membership. Any employee who wishes can refrain from joining the union by paying a small representation fee.”

Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, a retired Ford autoworker, also defended unions, saying unions are middle-income people and consumers, and when we lose union members the consumers in this country continue to decline.

“So unions have actually been very, very good for Michigan,” he said. “When we had more union people, we were actually above the national average when it came to income, consumers, and people with a good quality of life. I would take umbrage with the Senator from the 29th District when he starts to bash unions.”

The budget narrowly passed with a 20-18 with some Republicans – who usually vote in lockstep - crossing over to vote with the Democrats. The Governor had recommended 527 new child protective services workers to comply with the children's rights lawsuit settlement and the increased caseload, but the Senate approved just 151 new workers. The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee.

Anti-union activist says he will appeal union-busting case to the Michigan Supreme Court

Anti-union activist Chet Zarko is appealing the Howell Public School E-mail case to the Michigan Supreme Court, according to radio station WHMI and his response to me.

We're all entitled to due process and the process on this issue hasn't ended, so nothing remains to be seen,” he wrote on this blog on Jan. 28. “I'm (sic) you know the answer to whether I'll appeal.”

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled on Jan. 27 on the case involving a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) for some 5,500 emails sent and received on Howell Public School computers between the leaders of the Howell Education Association (HEA) and their union members were not public record and therefore subject to public disclosure.

WHMI is reporting he is being represented by the National Right to Work Foundation, a union-busting “non-profit” with the mission of “providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by abuses of compulsory unionism.” The mission of the group in this case, like Zarko’s original mission, is to bust or at least embarrass the union.

Back in the spring of 2007, Zarko in cahoots with anti-union Howell school board member Wendy Day, filed a FOIA in a fishing expedition request for the emails of union leaders on their HPS account. Zarko alleges HEA leaders have "conducted a large amount of union business on public time, including trying to retain MEA (Michigan Education Association) affiliated MESSA health-insurance, and using parent-teacher conferences to recruit parents (to) their side of a collective-bargaining debate.” Even though that was proven not to be the case, Zarko persisted in an effort just to find something embarrassing.

In October of 2008 Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Stanley Latreille determined that the e-mails written by union leaders on school computers are public record, and subject to disclosure. The HEA appealed to stop the disclosure because both the district and the union agreed that they had a “recognized right” to use the email system.

That case was appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals, and oral briefs were taken by a three-judge panel at a hearing on Jan. 5. The court issues its ruling in favor of the union on Jan. 27, saying just because the 5,500 emails were captured by the school’s servers does not mean they are public record. The ruling concluded “We believe this question is one that must be resolved by the Legislature, and we call upon the Legislature to address it, we conclude that under the FOIA statute the individual plaintiffs’ personal emails were not rendered public records solely because they were captured in the email system’s digital memory,”

This is part of Republican’s efforts to bust unions and make Michigan a “Right to Work for Less” state. Shortly after the ruling, the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center’s Legal Foundation sent out a press release saying this ruling “undermines” FOIA, but their only interest, like Zarko’s, is union busting. The rightwing think tank even filed a amicus curiae brief in the case.


During the Court of Appeals hearing on Jan. 5, HPS lawyers argued the case and Zarko sat in the back of the court room. Plus, the case is HEA Vs. “Howell Board of Education” and HPS. Zarko is listed as just a “Intervenor/Counter Plaintiff.” It’s unclear what role HPS will have in the case if it goes to the Michigan Supreme Court. I sure hope no tax dollars go to fund Zarko’s union-busting witch hunt.

Illegal cigarette smuggling is costing Michigan millions in lost revenue

LANSING -- Michigan loses $127 to $140 million in tax revenue every single year through illegal cigarette smuggling that is destined for the School Aid Fund and Medicaid, but a Michigan company has a solution to stop the bleeding and illegal activity.

Wyoming-based R.E.D. Stamp Inc. has patented and is marketing a Cigarette Tax Stamping Machine that will put a dent in smuggling and help Michigan recover 25 percent of the lost revenues and put $32 million back into Michigan’s coffers.

The problem is Michigan’s $2 a pack cigarette tax is one of the highest in the nation, and Michigan is fifth in the nation for the highest rate of cigarette smuggling. The whole system is ripe for abuse.

Michigan border states have much lower tax rates; Illinois at 98 cents a pack and Indiana at 99.5 cents a pack. People cross the border to buy cartons for personal consumption, costing border retailers sales and the state tax revenue. Some people cross the border to buy cartons by the trunk load and either sell them out of the trunk of their cars to individuals or to less than honest retailers.

It’s even done on a larger scale, and even organized crime and private entrepreneurs are involved. A truckload of 500 cartons shipped from Kentucky where the tax is just 30 cents a pack or Missouri at a mere 17 cents a pack to Michigan could net a smuggler a tidy profit of more than $8,000.

Getting away with it is also pretty easy. There are currently only four members of the Michigan State Police Tobacco Smuggling Unit to cover the entire state. Forging the tax stamp on the bottom of a package cigarette is fairly easy, as well of the theft of the stamp.

The fairly unsophisticated stamps are sold to Michigan’s 60-70 cigarette wholesalers in a roll of 30,000 stamps costing $60,000 that resembles a roll of paper towels. Organized crime has gotten involved by either buying them on the black market, stealing them off the UPS truck or even strong arm robbery from the truck. They are applied using heat transfer, similar to a cool iron on transfer for your t-shirt.

R.E.D. Stamp has teamed up with Authentix, a leading product authentication, to produce as system that is foolproof. The stamps can be downloaded digitally, eliminating the need and risks of shipping them to the wholesaler. The machine can transfer the stamps to the cigarette packs at a speed of 90 cartons of cigarettes a minute.

Plus, the stamps are almost impossible to forge, and it makes it easier for law enforcement to spot smuggling. The officer can use a small, handheld device that resembles the device that sets your car alarm that the officer can scan the pack with it.

It will give a simple yes or no. A larger handheld unit that reads the bar code and can tell where and when the pack was purchased and other information is also available.

The problem is it will cost about $11 million to replace the 85 older machines, but because of the speed of the new machines I don’t think they will need that many. Plus, the estimated $32 million it will bring in more than pays for the new machines in just the first year. The Michigan Distributors and Venders Association supports the concept, but they want help with purchasing them. Adding a few more boots on the ground and an increase to the Tobacco Smuggling Unit should bring even more money when coupled with the machines.

But the real hang-up is from the Michigan Department of Treasury, and according to the subscription only Gongwer treasury department officials said it did not have any studies that it trusts that “show how much smuggling and counterfeiting of tax stamps is happening.” I’m not sure what world they are living in, but there are a few reports out there.

Rightwing think tank the Mackinac Center for Public Policy recently released a study that proves the smuggling and an extensive report by the Detroit Free Press on March 14, 2008 prove Treasury wrong.

In calling out Ward editorial board forgets it endorsed him

A dollar short and two years late are just a few of the descriptions that fit the editorial by the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus calling out term-limited state Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, for missing more votes than any lawmaker in the 94th Legislative session that just ended Dec. 30.

Closing the gate after the horses are gone is another way to describe it; he is term-limited. But the editorial claims "Ward owes his now-former constituents an explanation."

As you recall, Michigan Votes, maintained by the conservative think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy, keeps track of missed votes, and according to them, Ward missed more total votes for the entire session that ran from January 2007 to Dec. 20, 2008 than any lawmaker. This occurred while Ward was in a leadership role. He was the No. 2 Republican in the House; the Majority Floor Leader until the GOP lost control of the House for the 94th Legislature, and then he was the Minority Floor Leader until he was sacked for voting to increase the state income tax in October 2007 that ended a brief government shutdown.

"Prior to his maverick 2007 vote, Ward's attendance record was fine. So why did he all of a sudden start missing work 20 percent of the time during his last two years in office? Was he sulking over losing his leadership position? Was there some other explanation." Said the editorial.

Simply not true. Ward missed more votes than any lawmaker for the calendar year 2007, and that was eight months before he made the vote he was rightly praised for.

Once again, for full disclosure, I was a volunteer for Ward's Democratic opponent in the November 2006 race. We worked hard, but we got killed. During the campaign, there were clear indications of what his attendance record would be, and we saw very little of Ward in the 66th District and in Livingston County. In fact, this very same editorial board that is now calling Ward out endorsed him without the traditional endorsement interview of him or his opponent.

Being a Republican in Livingston County should not mean automatic victory, nor should an incumbent go unchallenged in the primary.

Global warming debate at MSU heats up climate change question

Despite the world’s scientific community agreeing that climate change and global warming are occurring, there are still people who claim climate change is not happening. That will be the subject of a debate set for Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Students for a Free Economy will host the debate set for 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in Room 105 of South Kedzie Hall at Michigan State University. The event is free and open to the public.

The featured speakers are Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and attorney who has represented members of Congress on environmental issues before the U.S. Supreme Court. Horner is a frequent guest on national conservative talk shows speaking about global warming, and he is also the author of the book, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism.”

On the other side is Peter Sinclair, creative director of Greenman Studio, a multimedia production company in Midland and presenter for former Vice-President Al Gore's Climate Project. The former Vice-President personally trained some 1,000 presenters in 2006 in Nashville who traveled across the country with copies of his 330-slide climate slide show customized to the state the presentation is held in based on his Academy Award wining film "Inconvenient Truth." The unpaid volunteers set up projectors in living rooms, church sanctuaries and VFW halls to show the presentation.

The event will begin with the two speakers' opening statements, followed by questions from the audience, and then the two speakers will give closing remarks.

Students for a Free Economy is a “nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of free markets, civil society and individual liberty” sponsored by the conservative Michigan think tank, The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, also located in Midland.

Ward and Garcia have the worst 2007 voting records

Two of Livingston County’s three state lawmakers boasted the worst voting records in Lansing, and the pair led their respective bodies with the most missed votes in 2007, according to an annul report by Michigan Votes, maintained by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, led the hit parade by missing the most votes of any Legislator with 133 missed votes. Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Marion Township, led the Senate in missed votes and was second overall with 120 missed votes.

Garcia may have some mitigating circumstances for the missed votes because he was a member of the majority party in the Senate, and he was involved in the budget negotiations that helped end the brief state government shutdown in October. But that does not account for 120 missed votes. However, that was not the case for Ward in the House controlled by the Democrats.

On a positive note, the third Livingston County lawmaker – Rep. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township - was one of 22 lawmakers with a perfect voting record, and did not miss a single vote in 2007. All three lawmakers are term-limited.

MIS is more lucrative to Michigan than the Super Bowl

BROOKLYN - A report released Tuesday by Gary Wolfram, an adjunct scholar at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, says the Michigan International Speedway in Jackson County has an economic impact greater than the Super Bowl, bringing in more than $400 million to Michigan’s economy.

NASCAR racing has become a huge American sport, and the two premier NASCAR races held at the two-mile oval in scenic Irish Hills generates more than $400 million in total economic activity, with more than $260 million of that in direct economic benefit, according to the report. The track employs more than 5,000 people at its events, generating an annual payroll of about $5 million, and it pays $2.1 million in annual property taxes.

In contrast, Super Bowl XL in Detroit in 2006 only generated an estimated $302 million, according to a study commissioned by the Detroit Super Bowl Host Committee.

Vendors, fans and race teams at the weekend NASCAR races buy many items from local suppliers from spray paint equipment and auto parts to beer and ice. On race weekends the track hosts more than 60,000 fans — 60 percent of them from the other 49 states and more than a dozen nations.

“For me, the two races are the highlight of my summer, and we save all year for the tickets, the food and other necessities,” said race fan Jason Elliott of Fowlerville in Livingston County. “We load up the NASCAR bus and camp in the infield all weekend.”

The track is so important to Michigan’s tourism industry and has become such an economic engine that State Senator Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, and Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township, recently founded the Michigan Auto Racing Caucus (MARC), which they will co-chair. The bipartisan caucus aims to increase awareness of auto racing entertainment in Michigan and promote its positive impact on the state’s economy.

“The Michigan International Speedway has a dynamic impact on the Jackson area, both economically and culturally,” Schauer said in a press release announcing the formation of the caucus. “Despite the economic and budget crises we currently face, auto racing continues to fuel our economy.”

Caucuses are informal organizations of members who share common interests and come together to push or influence a favorable agenda. Perhaps the most well known national caucus is the Congressional Black Caucus, but in Michigan the many caucuses include the Hunting and Fishing Caucus, the Veterans Caucus and the Greek Caucus.

MIS has not only had a tremendous effect on the local economy, but it has benefited many of the area’s non-profit agencies, service clubs, churches and school organizations. More than 200 service groups used MIS as a fundraiser for their organization in 2006, and by selling concessions, parking cars and other activities they collectively raised almost $500,000 in 2006 alone.

Story attempts to put positive spin on privatization

In an attempt to put a positive face on the recent firing of 40 employees, privatizing the custodial services and killing the custodial union at Howell Public Schools, the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus took an uncritical look at privatization.

The story uses a report called "Survey 2007: More Growth in School Support Service Privatization” from the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy as the entire basis for the story. It takes six paragraphs before the author of the report is even revealed, and nowhere does it even talk about the rightwing ties of the source.

The Mackinac Center has been a major proponent of privatization, right to work for less laws and doing away with the prevailing wage in Michigan, and all of their reports seems to reach those same conclusions time after time. The largest conservative think tank in Michigan, and one of the largest in the nation, is financed by such rightwing sources as the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, the Jay and Betty Van Andel Foundation and the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation.

This slanted article does make a slight concession to the other side and says there are some critics of privatizations saying; Opponents of privatization — such as the Michigan Education Association school employees union and its constituents, “ but there are many more critics than that. The revealing thing is the reporter could not find one opponent or counter to quote in the story. After the packed school board meeting just last month where the 40 employees were fired it seems funny there is not one quote from an opponent of privatization. Believe me, they are not hard to find.

The only people quoted in the story are two people from the Mackinac Center, and the superintendent at Hartland Consolidated Schools who says what a great job the private company there is doing. Considering the Superintendent recommended the move, do we expect her to admit anything other than they are doing a great job?

The numbers quoted in the story are also interesting. “Of the 222 districts that contract for support services, nearly 78 percent report saving money.” First, how near to 78 percent is it? That number seems a little odd. The main reason, hell the entire reason, to privatize is to save money, and if those more than 22 percent of the districts are not saving money they why did they privatize and why are they staying that way? Nowhere is service, reliability or safety of privatization ever mentioned.

The only negative note sounded at all against privatization in the story is a brief mention that some districts found privatization wasn’t the rosy picture the Mackinac Center painted and went back to previous way.

“According to the survey, districts such as Madison in Oakland County, Napoleon in Jackson County, Owosso in Shiawassee County and Tawas in Iosco County all brought food services back in-house because officials believed it would be less expensive.”

Conservatives open even another front on the war on the middle class

The Republicans war on the middle class and unions with the right to work for less law is opening a new front with an assault on the Prevailing Wage Law.

The GOP is engaged in a race to the bottom, and the loser will be the middle class and the country. According to a story in the Detroit News, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has released a study that says Michigan could save $250 million a year by repealing the prevailing wage law that requires union pay for all state-supported projects.

The Michigan Prevailing Wage Law, PA 166 of 1965, provide rates of pay for workers on construction projects for which the state or a school district is the contracting agent and financed or financially supported by the state.

“Paul Kersey, a senior labor policy analyst with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the current prevailing wage law adds 10 to 15 percent to the cost of every construction job.” He further claims it “effectively boosts construction wages by 40 to 60 percent.”

But like anything else, you get what you pay for. Marty Mulcathy, editor of the Building Tradesman, the official publication of the Michigan Building and Construction Trade Council in Lansing, said that prevailing wages don't provide for any significant increase in the price tag of a construction project.

“When you're paying $8 or $10 or $12 an hour, you don't know what skill level you're getting and frequently (you) are getting illegal immigrants or people of questionable citizenship,” Mulcathy said. "You may be paying the unionized people a little bit more but you're getting a more skilled worker who pays taxes and contributes to the community.”

What do you think is done with that extra wage? It’s pumped right back into the local economy. If we win the race to the bottom the Republicans are engaged in, who are the winners?

The Republicans have bills in both the House and Senate to make Michigan a right to work for less state, and if that fails, and it will, there is a group poised to launch a petition drive to put it on the ballot. Some people from this group are the same people who ran the deceptive petition drive that that put the deceptive titled “Michigan Civil Eights Initiative” on the ballot last November. In fact, just yesterday Gongwer reported the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out appeals against the law, saying, “the plaintiffs have proven that the signature process to get the issue before voters was skewed.”

"By all accounts, Proposal 2 found its way on the ballot though methods that undermine the integrity and fairness our democratic processes," the decision said. "Nevertheless, we must be guided by law, not outrage, and it to the law we now turn."

This is what we can expect if this ballot proposal for right to work for less is launched.

It’s ironic that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy is behind this assault on the Prevailing Wage Law. Another front on the war against the middle class and unions is privatization, and we saw a recent example of the damage it can cause in Howell Public Schools with the firing of its custodial staff. If the Mackinac Center has its way every school and government function would be privatized.