Livingston County lawmaker again leads Senate in missed votes

Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Marion Township, again led the Senate in missed votes in 2009 with 304 missed votes out of 716 votes, according to Michigan Votes.

Garcia missed 42 percent of the votes in the past year, but he attributes his number of missed votes to his duties as a Colonel in the Michigan Army National Guard. However, that’s something that has been ridiculed by the Senate leadership. Garcia has led the Senate in missed voted every year since at least 2006.
In the House, Rep. Doug Bennett, D-Muskegon, missed the most votes of any Legislature with 311, but he suffered a brain hemorrhage this past summer. He was followed by Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Jackson, with 194 missed votes, but he missed time with a rare blood disease that led to his tragic and untimely death on Dec. 18.

Action at Saturday’s MDP convention was not just on the convention floor

DETROIT -- Not all the action at Saturday’s Michigan Democratic Party Convention in Cobo Hall was on the main convention floor, and there was plenty of action in the numerous caucuses, and even at the after party at the beautifully renovated Detroit Riverside Hotel, formerly the world-famous and historic Hotel Pontchartrain.

For a political junkie like me, conventions are a little like a family reunions. It was an opportunity to see old friends and allies, and to see people I will soon be knocking on doors and making phone calls in support of. It was also nice to see Cobo Hall so busy, and the snow did not keep anybody away. In addition to the convention, the boat show and a cheerleading competition was held at Cobo at the same time.

It was also fun for me to attend with my wife for the first time, a recent convert from the dark side. We really enjoyed a few rides on the People Mover and enjoyed a great lunch in the Renaissance Center.

The day started in the Veterans Caucus where John Freeman, the Michigan State Director of Health Care for America, was working to build political support for passing national health care legislation to give all people affordable health care.

Freeman was chairman of the ballot committee last year that tried to amend the state constitution to require the Legislature to pass laws to ensure that "every Michigan resident has affordable and comprehensive health care coverage.” Freeman said past efforts, like President Clinton’s plan failed plan in 1993, failed because it was a “top-down approach” instead of a grassroots effort.

“We want to change that by putting pressure on from the grassroots,” he said. “Democrats are on board, and we need to go after the moderate Republicans.”

Conventions are also where new candidates like to announce they are running, and Freeman, a term-limited state Representative from Madison Heights, said he plans to challenge front-runner Lt. Gov. John Cherry for the Democratic nomination for the open Governor’s seat in 2010.

Candidates also use the caucuses to speak to different groups. Newly-elected MDP Chair Mark Brewer stopped by to both campaign for the chairmanship and fire up the troops.

“We can’t be complacent in 2010,” he said. “The Republicans are meeting down the road in Lansing plotting for 2010.”

One of the most crowded caucuses was the brand new Progressive Caucus. It included lots of young people and Young Democrats, as well as older activists, even an Aldi Stevenson supporter. MDP officer Steve Pontoni was elected chair of the caucus, and bylaws were adopted. The basic tenants of the caucus are pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-labor and pro-civil rights.

“Certainly we are going to disagree, but it is those values that we are embracing,” Pontoni said.

Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing - who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Attorney General in 2010 - also spoke to the caucus.

“I hate to admit the Republicans are in my district, and I couldn’t wait to get out of town,” she said.

The Republican-controlled Senate has long been a block to meaningful legislation, even when Republications controlled the House, and it’s essential that Democrats get control of the Senate to move decent legislation. Whitmer brought news that Gov. Granholm set a date for the election to replace former Democratic Sen. Mark Schauer‘s, D-Battle Creek, who was elected to congress. The filing deadline is May 12, the primary is Aug. 4, and the General Election is Nov. 3. Reps. Martin Griffin, D-Jackson, and Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township, have been mentioned as possible candidates.

“This is an important election,” Whitmer said. “It will show if we are still fired up after the Obama landslide, or are we resting on our laurels.
“The Republicans view the Senate as the firewall, and we view it as the last bump to good, progressive legislation,” she said.

The Environmental Caucus saw both accomplishment and plenty good discussion, as plenty of lawmakers showed up, especially House members. After Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, spoke, the caucus unanimously passed a resolution against re-opening the deep-injection hazardous waste well in Romulus.

Rep. Gabe Leland, D-Detroit, was just appointed as the chair of a new House Committee, the Committee on Urban Committee, and he talked about global warming.

“If we don’t take a stab at the global warning issue in the next couple of years we will be in trouble,” he said. “The good news is we picked up nine seats in the House to help us get something accomplished.”

Freshman Rep. Timothy Bledsoe, D-Grosse Pointe, - the first Democrat to be elected from the 1st House District - said the House plans to roll out an ethics package in the next few days that will require lawmakers to disclose their income and bars the revolving door from the Legislature to lobbying.

“We’re only one of three states in the country where you don’t even know where your representative’s money is coming from,” he said. “We are only one of three states; isn’t that crazy?”

In the 8th Congressional District Caucus, Brighton’s Kathy Carney was re-elected as the chair of the district that includes Clinton, Shiawassee, Livingston, Oakland and Ingham counties, as well executive committee members and chairs and executive members of county committees.

Rep. Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, announced she is organizing an Ingham County Young Dems Chapter to compliment the Michigan State University Young Democrats and the Lansing Young Dems.

“We sure don’t want to compete with those groups, but these are the people who knock on doors and do the hard work,” she said.

The Caucus also heard from Wayne State University law Professor Jocelyn Benson, who is planning a run at Secretary of State. She is pushing the commons sense issue of no-reason absentee voting. She was impressive, but she is even more impressive after I looked her up and saw her qualifications. She will make an excellent SOS, and for the first time in many years the campaign finance law will be applied to both parties.

Benson graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College. She subsequently earned her Masters in Sociology as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, and she received her J.D from Harvard Law School, where she was a general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Benson also worked as the Voting Rights Policy Coordinator for the Harvard Civil Rights Project, worked as a summer associate for voting rights and election law for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and she was an investigative journalist for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Griffin set to run for Schauer's Senate seat

Rep. Martin Griffin, D-Jackson, officially filed to run for the 19th District Senate seat vacated by Sen. Mark Schauer's, D-Battle Creek, election to the U.S. House.

Griffin was elected to his second term in the House earlier this month representing the 64th District, which includes the city of Jackson, Concord, Hanover, Napoleon, Parma, Pulaski, Sandstone, Spring Arbor and Summit townships. Senate District 19 covers Calhoun and Jackson counties. Griffin won his House seat (Correction) by unseating incumbent Republican Rick Baxter in 2006, and he will need that experience to win the swing 19th District.

Griffin has an impressive resume of government service at all levels. He served as mayor of Jackson from 1995 - 2006. Prior to that, he was a staffer in the Michigan Legislature for 12 years, as well as a staff member for five years with former U.S. Congressman Carl Pursell.

So far, Griffin is running against Rep. Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek, who is term limited. It's unclear if there will be a primary. Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township, has been mentioned as a possible candidate, but he has not formally announced or filed a committee.

It's unclear when the Governor will call a special election, but the already short-handed Senate Democratic caucus will be even smaller after January when Schauer officially resigns to take his new seat.

Former GOP speaker speaks out against recall attempt

Former Republican Speaker of the House Rick Johnson, R-Leroy, has published an editorial denouncing the recall attempt of Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township.

The Michigan Taxpayer Alliance, led by Republican Macomb County Commissioner and former state Representative Leon Drolet, is leading recalls against primarily Democratic lawmakers who voted for the increase of the income tax and the sales tax on some services -- since repealed -- that avoided a government shutdown and helped balanced the state budget last October.

Johnson’s editorial defending Simpson was published in the Feb. 14 edition of the Jackson Citizen Patriot, and Johnson calls Simpson “an outstanding public servant who puts the people of mid-Michigan ahead of partisan politics.”

Johnson was first elected to the House in 1998, and he served two terms as the Speaker of the House until 2004. He served with Drolet, but Johnson had some harsh words for Drolet’s effort, calling his group extremist and radical.

“Now, an extremist group wants to recall Mike — by any measure a dedicated public servant who has acted in the best interests of our citizens. This radical group wants to tear our community apart and divide our citizens through misrepresentations, distortions and deception. While Mike invests in our common future, this group wants to send Michigan backward.”

Also on the recall effort, the leaders of the Republican caucus in the Michigan House and Senate - House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester - called for no state party to take action to issue a recall at the Michigan Republican Party convention in Lansing on Friday. The Michigan Democratic Party is pushing a - some say - token recall against DeRoche in retaliation for the recall launched against Democratic Speaker of the House Andy Dillon.

Although the Michigan Republican Party is not officially involved in the recalls, party officials have been hauling a prop around the state called the “Michigan Taxpayers' Check” to the districts of Democratic lawmakers where recalls are going on.

Earlier this month the MTA filed new recall language against Simpson after the Jackson County Elections Commission rejected six previous petitions for not having clear language. Also earlier this month the Oakland County Election Commission filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals after a Circuit Court Judge ruled that the recall petition language against Rep. Marie Donigan, D-Royal Oak, was unclear. In other recall attempts, the same Oakland County Commission rejected the petition language for DeRoche, and Rep. Aldo Vagnozzi, D-Farmington Hills, is appealing his approved language to circuit court.

Recall language has already been approved in the recalls against Rep. Marty Griffin, D-Jackson; House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township; Rep. Marc Corriveau, D-Northville; Rep. Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms; Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren; Rep. Robert Dean, D-Grand Rapids; and Vagnozzi. Recalls pending against lawmakers who had recall language rejected include Simpson, Donigan, DeRoche, Sen. Jerry Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores; Rep. Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch; and Rep. Mary Valentine, D-Muskegon.

Recall efforts continue to take twists and turns

The old saying that “you need a scorecard to know the players” can apply to the recall efforts against primarily Democratic lawmakers.

Developments occur almost daily over the attempt to recall lawmakers who voted for the increase of the income tax and the sales tax on some services – since repealed - that avoided a government shutdown and helped balanced the state budget on Oct. 1., and all of it is going on as the clock ticks toward the November General Election when all recall efforts – at least for state Representative – will become moot.

The Michigan Recalls Organization, another recall effort headed by Republican Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, helped file new recall petitions against Rep. Mike Simpson, D-Liberty Township, after the Jackson County Elections Commission rejected six previous petitions for not having clear language.

However, the Jackson County commission did approve recall language against Rep. Marty Griffin, D-Jackson, last week.

The Oakland County Election Commission was also busy last week. Just the day after an Oakland County Circuit Court Judge ruled that the recall petition language against Rep. Marie Donigan, D-Royal Oak, was unclear, the commission, led by clerk and former Republican state Representative Ruth Johnson, filed an appeal of that decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The same Commission rejected the petition language for House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche, R-Novi. The recall cites his vote against repealing the state's pharmaceutical company immunity law that allows consumers to sue drug companies who cause death and injury through negligence. Additionally, another Oakland County lawmaker, Rep. Aldo Vagnozzi, D-Farmington Hills, is appealing his approved language to circuit court.

According to Michigan election law, the petition circulator must collect only those signatures of voters registered in the House District of the lawmaker being recalled, and the person collecting the signatures must also be a registered voter in that district. The petitions must contain the signatures equal to at least 25 percent for all the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in the district of the lawmaker being recalled. That comes out to 7,627 signatures to force a recall vote for Griffin and 8,700 signatures for Simpson.

The clock may even be a bigger factor in the recall effort. Michigan Election Law says that a recall petition cannot be filed against an elected official during the last six months of the officer's term of office, and that puts the drop-dead date in May for the November ballot Additionally, the language is good for 180 days, but the actual petition drive for signatures must be within 90 days. In other words, there must be 90 days between the first and last signature.

Recall language has already been approved in the recalls against Griffin; House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township; Rep. Marc Corriveau, D-Northville; Rep. Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms; Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren; Rep. Robert Dean, D-Grand Rapids; and Vagnozzi. Recalls pending against lawmakers who had recall language rejected include Simpson, Donigan, DeRoche, Sen. Jerry Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores; Rep. Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch; and Rep. Mary Valentine, D-Muskegon.

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.