Lobbyists will have major role in Snyder Administration

For all the rhetoric about reinventing Michigan and that it won’t be politics as usual in Michigan with the election of Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder as Michigan Governor, his choices for key positions in his administration are signaling that it is politics as usual and that lobbyists will have an increased role.

He has turned the clock back 8-20 years with even more appointments of former staffers from the Engler Administration and lobbyists. On Monday he announced that former Engler staffers Michael Gadola would be his legal counsel and Geralyn Lasher his communications director. Lasher served as deputy press secretary and Gadola deputy legal counsel and director of the Office of Regulatory Reform under Engler.

The Outsourcer has shown an early preference for lobbyists, and he appointed one of the most tenured and powerful Lansing lobbyists as his Chief-of-Staff, Dennis Muchmore. That position is arguably the most important post in any administration because they control access to the Outsourcer.

Muchmore is the founder of the multi-client lobbying firm of Muchmore, Harrington, Smalley and Associates. He was also the former Executive Director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

So far, all six of Snyder's major appointments have ties to Engler or are experienced Lansing hands. In addition to the three appointed yesterday, Snyder also has named House Speaker Andy Dillon D-Redford, as treasurer, former Lt. Governor Dick Posthumus as a senior adviser on legislative affairs and Bill Rustem, president and CEO of the think tank and lobbying firm Public Sector Consultants, as director of strategy. Only the appointment of Blue Dog Democrat Dillon is an out of the box pick.

This comes on the heels of a report by the Associated Press (AP) that lobbyists will have more sway in Lansing; something that has been on the rise since term limits.

According to the AP, “lobbyists could play a bigger role next year as an especially large class of freshmen lawmakers and a governor-elect with little previous political experience take office.” It also reported the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network says Michigan lobbyists reported spending $17.8 million on public officials' meals, travel, lodging, gifts and tickets to events the first seven months of 2010. Last year, lobbyists spent at least $32.1 million. Secretary of state Figures show the state had 2,783 registered lobbyists last year, 500 more than in 1999.

Ironically, one of the first encounters the Outsourcer had with the so-called bipartisan Freshman Caucus last week was sponsored by lobbyists. The event was held at the lobbying firm of Karoub Associates and sponsored by the Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns the Ambassador Bridge and Nora Moroun, wife of bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun. The bridge company has had a very large presence in Lansing the past year as they fight to keep their monopoly on the aging 84-year-old bridge; the busiest international border crossing in North America.

Smokefree proponents push to get ban in place before election break

LANSING – With just one week left in the Michigan legislative session before the summer break, proponents of the workplace smoking ban, including bars and restaurants, are making one last big push to get a clean smoking bill to the Governor.

The Campaign for Smokefree Air placed print ads in the state’s largest circulation newspapers urging lawmakers to pass a clean smoking bill that has no exceptions or so-called "carve outs." They are also urging members to contact their legislator, as well as House Speaker Andy Dillon, to urge them to act.

As you recall, the Senate passed House Bill 4163 in May that had no exceptions. But the House punted and passed a vehicle bill, HB 5074, that banned smoking in workplaces with exceptions, including non-Native American casinos, bingo-halls and so-called “cigar bars.” The House still has 4163 to act on, and supporters are asking the House act on that bill. The Senate has also not indicated if it will act on HB 5074.

The Senate was spurred into action in May after sitting on the bill for months by a report by the leading Lansing research firm Public Sector Consultants Inc. called “Smokefree workplaces: The Impact of House Bill 4163 on the Restaurant and Bar Industry in Michigan” that concluded there is no net economic impact on bars and restaurants.

The coalition is also saying the same thing for casinos. According to statistics provided by Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, a year after Delaware implemented comprehensive smokefree legislation, state revenue from gaming increased by 3 percent to $5.7 million. According to the California Board of Equalization, California’s bars, casinos and gambling clubs continue to profit since going smoke free in 1998, and sales increased from $8.64 billon in 1997 to $11.3 billon in 2002. Since the Massachusetts smokefree law went into effect, net keno sales have increased $121,000 per year.

Casinos that are not smokefree have up to 50 times more cancer-causing particles in the air than highways and city streets jammed with diesel trucks in rush hour traffic. A recent study of 17,000 gamblers in Las Vegas found that four out of five gamblers do not smoke. No one can explain how one in five people can carry so much weight and have so much more money than the rest of us.

The decision to create the carve outs came out of fear that the three Detroit casinos will lose business to the Native Americans casinos that do not have to ban smoking. Again, no one has explained how such as small group – only 21 percent of the state’s population smokes – control so much money or why they have so much power. It also makes no sense that with gas costing more than $4 per gallon, why any sane person would drive 160 miles – the distance from the Detroit casino – to the nearest Native American casino just to smoke a cigarette. It is easier to drive to Windsor where casinos are smoke free, and many people do so, in spite of the congested Ambassador Bridge and the passport hassles.

To contact your state Representative, go to www.house.mi.gov to find your representative’s email, fax or mailing address, and a mass email to supporters are urging them to send the ad as an attachment. You can also call the American Cancer Society at 1-888-NOW-I-CAN today and ask to be transferred directly to your state Representative.

Indoor smoking ban decreases cases of heart disease

Hard evidence that indoor smoking bans are benefiting the health of people are beginning to come in, and one of the first national smoking bans is showing positive results.

In just one year after Italy enacted a national smoking ban, researchers in Rome found an 11.2 percent reduction of acute coronary events in persons 35 to 64 years and a 7.9 percent reduction in those ages 65 to 74, according to a study in, “Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.”

Researchers in Rome compared the rate of acute coronary events from 2000 to 2004 to those occurring in 2005 after the ban was enforced, and they came up with the significant numbers. This was the first study in Europe to show the long-term health benefits of smoke free legislation in public places. Other European countries that are entirely smoke-free include England, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and France Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death in Italy, and this study affirms smoking bans have a tremendous positive effect on public health.

“Smoking bans in all public and workplaces result in an important reduction of acute coronary events,” said Francesco Forastiere, M.D., Ph.D., co-author of the study and head of the Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology Unit, Department of Epidemiology, Rome E. Health Authority, Italy. “The smoking ban in Italy is working and having a real protective effect on population health.”

In Michigan, studies have primarily focused on the economic effects on bars and restaurants, such as the recent study by Public Sector Consultants that showed there is no drop in business and revenue after a smoking ban is enacted.

Although critics of smoking bans are ignoring the two reports by the U.S. Surgeon General that says there is no amount of secondhand smoke and it is killing thousands of people every year, policymakers are not. Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton, said the report is what changed his mind when he voted for the ban last month.

The Senate is currently considering House Bill 5074 that bans smoking in workplaces, with the exception of non-Native American casinos, bingo-halls and so-called “cigar bars.”