Blanket endorsement demonstrates conservative media bias

Livingston County Daily Press & Argus General manager Rich Perlberg erased any pretense that he is anything other than a Republican with a blanket endorsement of all the Republicans running for the Livingston County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

The editorial glosses over the mismanagement of the nine-member, all-GOP board, and it buries the financial irresponsibility brought to the attention of the paper by the Livingston County Democratic Party.

“The Republican board has done well by the issues that resonate with Livingston County voters — providing essential services in a frugal and efficient way.”

Then why, Mr. Perlberg, does Livingston County have some of the worst roads in the state. They are even worse than a place that many county Republicans love to hold up to ridicule, the City of Detroit.

A blanket endorsement might be in order if they were running as a slate, but they are not. Not only that, there is an open seat in the 5th District I live in where Democrat David Berry is running. He is running against a candidate that has lost judicial races in the county at least twice where you had to stand on your own merit and not simply rely on the R after your name in predominantly Republican Livingston County.

But the biggest example of mismanagement by the board was the more than $100 million in debt county taxpayers could be on the hook for. The county backed bonds for developers for townships to put in water and sewer infrastructure for housing developments using special assessment districts (SAD). The money would be paid back when the owner bought the house and was assessed for it through their property taxes.

But as the housing market hit bottom, developers simply walked away, leaving the townships, the county and taxpayers holding the bag. The county has done everything legally possible to hide the debt until after the election. We don’t even know which townships are in trouble.

The Democrats have asked for a townhall meeting, but Republicans have continued to stall. They were aided by the local chamber of commerce, but it was shut down after the first tough question.

The board has tried to hide it with an obscure committee that never posted its notice of meetings anywhere but on the wall of the board office and only when it was legally required to do so. Then, it never bothered to approve the meeting minutes when it met, so it did not have to post them. Only a FOIA request by Democrats led to a year’s worth of minutes being finally approved. Conveniently, the chair of that stealth committee is not running for re-election, so he will not have to answer any embarrassing questions or be held accountable. It makes you wonder if he will be the scapegoat for the chair of the Finance Committee.

The paper said:

“Democrats have largely ignored these accomplishments. Instead, they have zeroed in on the large bond payments due for water and sewer special-assessment districts in townships across the county. County officials say they have taken the lead in managing the looming payments, which are first and foremost an issue for the townships. The complaints, say county officials, are exaggerated.”

This may be the reason for the blanket endorsement. This is a huge story that could lead to receivership and an emergency financial manger, yet the newspaper was only dragged to it kicking and screaming. The national business publication Bloomberg had to break the story while the newspaper located just across the street completely missed or ignored it. I guess this is payback for the Democrats breaking the story locally and pointing out that the newspaper fell down on the job of being a watchdog on local government.

I also see Mr. Perlberg’s hand in this when he rails against mass transit. He is a longtime critic of the planned Washtenaw Livingston (WALLY) commuter rail line that will link Howell and Ann Arbor.

“Their complaints, however, may largely fall on deaf ears. Many of their programs — such as supporting the WALLY commuter train between Howell and Ann Arbor, or establishing a county-run parks program — are examples, in the eyes of traditional county voters, of unnecessary, overreaching and, ultimately, expensive government. County residents, for example, already have ample access to state and regional recreation areas.”

That’s simply not true, because it has the support of the City of Howell and the Brighton Chamber.

If you want some real accountability and an independent watchdog on the board – a role the newspaper has rejected – vote for one of the Democratic candidates next Tuesday.

District 2 – Thomn Bell of Oceola Township
District 3 – Dane Morris of Hartland Township
District 5 – Dave Berry of Conway Township
District 6 – Keith Tianen of Putnam Township
District 7 – Kelly Raskauskas of Genoa Township
District 8 – Amir Baghdadchi of Hamburg Township
District 9 – Barry McBride of Green Oak Township

Rightwing newspaper ignores the facts to fawn over GOP candidate

The continued rightwing stand of the management and editorial board of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus continues to amaze me.

After two straight days of trashing the Democratic Gubernatorial candidates, today Rich Perlberg and company are singing the praises of long-shot Republicans Gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, with an editorial called “Senator running for gov. deserves seat at policy table.”

“People such as George, who have seen the inside of both operating rooms and legislative chambers, are well-positioned to suggest meaningful changes. Regardless of the outcome of this year's race, there needs to be a way to get him a seat at the policy table.”

Well, considering George is the chair of the Senate Health Policy Committee and his party controls the Senate, he has more than a seat at the table, he has the head seat.

The editorial grudgingly acknowledges George is a long-shot, but it praises him without acknowledging his actions or doing a single bit of research on George. The editorial also says, “The four other announced Republican candidates have leads over him in both name recognition and campaign funds.”

That is not for a lack of trying on the part of Republicans. He has in the past given the GOP response to the Governor’s State of the State address, and he toured the state in 2008 speaking out against the successful Ballot Proposal 2 that allowed embryonic stem cell research.
He lost that battle, so he is currently trying to circumvent the will of the voters, and he has introduced and guided through his committee a package of bills – Senate bills 647-652 - that place so many restrictions on stem cells research that it will effectively kill it.

George, like all Republicans, is anti-worker, but it appears the newspaper supports that stance. Last year George introduced a resolution that urged “the Governor to work with the Civil Service Commission to require that state employees either work on President's Day or take the day off as an unpaid holiday.” The good news is that there were enough level heads in the Senate to defeat it.

But looking at the P & A’s online poll on Tuesday, we perhaps we see why the editorial board is fawning over George and ignoring the facts. The poll asks, “Yesterday, state employees had the day off for President's Day. Did you notice?”

Newspaper editor continuers to display his ignorance of the legislative process with opinion on smoking ban

An Open Letter to Rich Perlberg, the general manager and executive editor of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, on his latest column on the workplace smoking ban.

Your column and the paper’s editorial stand on the smoking ban demonstrated a disturbing lack of understanding of both the issue and the legislative process. The column is especially disturbing considering it is coming from someone who has been in journalism for some 20 years.

First, secondhand smoke is deadly, and it’s far from a mere annoyance. The U.S. Surgeon General has been saying that since 1986. Now, you may choose not to go to your favorite place for a beer and a burger because of a small minority of people who still smoke, but what about the employees who have to choose between health and a needed job? Where is their choice?

You keep blaming Andy Dillon and the House Democrats for the failure, but you ignore Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop‘s role. The House passed a smoking ban way back in December 2007 after taking testimony in committee. Prior to the 10 previous years the ban had been pending, it never got so much as a committee hearing. Detroit lawmakers wanted the casino exception because they are under the mistaken belief the Detroit area casinos will lose business to the Native American casinos. They weighed the short-term jobs issue in an already depressed area against the long term health effects.

Once the bill was sent to the Senate, Bishop tried to bury it by sending it to the committee he chaired. This committee has never met, and it’s where bills go to die. He publicly said he would never allow a vote because he’s against it. Only the pressure from the public forced his hand and he allowed the bill to be discharged to the full Senate floor without a hearing. The sponsor of the Senate smoking ban, Sen. Ray Basham, introduced a substitute to the House version with no exceptions. That passed the Senate with bipartisan support.

The House balked, and instead of concurring in the Senate sub, they sent back a substitute to another bill with the same exceptions. Bishop declined to allow a vote on that bill. Finally in September, Dillon allowed a vote on the total ban, but it failed 50-49. It needed a majority of the 110 members to pass.

Dillon then took the bull by the horns a few weeks ago and assigned a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate passed version. The two Democratic members of the committee voted for both versions of the bill. It took Bishop almost a week to assign his three members to the committee as the clock ticked down to Sine Die. The two Republicans members he assigned to the committee were two of the most conservative Senators in the Senate, and they both voted against the bill.

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning as a possible compromise was reached, the Republican members of the conference committee never even bothered to show up.

You and the editorial board have called this important health care issue trivial, saying things like “Why doesn't the Legislature balance the budget, provide fair and equitable funding for public education, and eliminate odious business taxes?”

There are 148 lawmakers. How many people can get in a room and negotiate over tax policy, the budget and education funding?

That’s why the Legislature is broken down into committees of five to nine people. It’s much easier for that small group to negotiate and then make a recommendation to the full House and Senate to debate and vote on. Could you imagine the din and confusion if 110 people tried to negotiate?

There are 18 standing committees in the Senate and 24 in the House dealing with specific areas, from Agriculture to Transportation, and it’s much easier to work in small groups and present the result to the larger group to vote on. As for the budget, it’s so important that the appropriations committee is broken down into even smaller subcommittees - 16 in the Senate and 19 in the House - that deals with each state department.

Articles attempt to whitewash Rep. Chris Ward’s House record

As the six-year term of Michigan Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, comes to a merciful end, some glowing articles are beginning to appear that are attempting to rewrite history.

The former House Majority Leader was going to be stripped of his leadership position before he resigned after daring to vote with the Democrats and raise the state income tax to avoid a brief government shutdown last October. He has been praised for his courageous vote, and rightfully so, in such places like Dome Magazine and the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. But it ignored the rest of his dismal time in the Legislature.

The recent opinion column by Press & Argus General Manager Rich Perlberg is really over the top. The piece bemoans the lack of cooperation and bickering between the two political parties, but it completely ignored Ward’s role in it.

As the person who set the agenda on the House floor when the GOP controlled the House prior to 2006, Ward was so heavy-handed that the Republicans did away with debate on the House floor, and the Republican majority even refused the simple courtesy of providing an agenda of the day’s bills in session. Ward’s actions were similar in committee, and as the chair of the Oversight, Elections and Ethics Committee he threatened to forcibly remove and arrest a Priest.

He was also notorious for bending over backward to help lobbyists, such as the developers of the Green Oak Village Place mall, and the wine bill that earned him the scorn of veteran journalist Jack Lessenberry. You could also rest assured the bills Ward pushed were designed to benefit the Republicans first and not the state or its residents.

When he ran for reelection in 2006 he was as scarce in the 66th House District and Livingston County as snow in July, and we don’t know where he spent the majority of his last term, but it wasn’t at work. He had the worst voting record in 2007, missing more votes of any Legislator with 133 missed votes. I don’t know if that contributed to his personal problems or losing his home to foreclosure, but he was not working full time. In light of the number of missed votes in 2007, the remarkable thing is he actually showed up to cast his vote for the budget bills.

Now, this may be called sour grapes because I volunteered for the person Ward beat in 2006, and there may be a grain of truth to that. What it did was make me pay attention to his actions, or lack of action, and it was frustrating to work hard to only see Ward win because he was an incumbent with an R after his name. It’s even more frustrating to be correct about something, and have people ignore it. I do know Mike McGonegal would have been responsive to voters and better represented them.

Perlberg’s column really goes over the top when he tries to compare Ward with former Republican Gov. William Milliken. That is outrageous, to say the least.

“If there is no room in our government for politicians such as Ward and Milliken, then can we really be surprised by the end product that we are getting?”

Please. The GOP has not had room for moderates like Milliken for many years with its hard swerve to the right, but Ward has contributed to that right turn.

I have no idea if Ward’s tax vote was his mea culpa for all the wrong things he did in office prior to Oct. 1, 2007. The fact is that’s the most nonpolitical vote he made in six years and perhaps the only vote he made where he put the state and its residents first. It’s wrong his political career is over because of that vote.

If people choose not to support him or vote for him again, do so because of his actions prior to the Oct. 1, 2007 vote to keep Michigan government open. Maybe when this term is over he will return to the guy I liked and admired before he left here in 2002.

Newspaper editor ridicules campaign volunteers

As somebody who has spent countless hours phone banking and knocking on doors for political candidates over the last four years, I was both disturbed and offended at a recent opinion column by the General Manager of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

At the end of an opinion column by Rich Perlberg that covered a number of different topics, he tells us how he handles political volunteers who call his home advocating for their candidate:

The family gets a kick when a telemarketer calls our house, especially when its for a political family. Lately, I interrupt the scripted sales pitch to tell the caller how much we appreciate having our dinner conversation disrupted. It's not like we were talking about anything important.
Then I tell the caller that his or her boss (or political party) supported a law that makes it illegal for my company to make the very call that they are still allowed to make. If they are still listening, I tell them how I feel about politicians who make laws that they don't have to follow.
They generally hang up before I can tell them that their call has persuaded me to vote for their opponent.
It always breaks my family up. We are easily entertained.

Now, for full disclosure and before I am called a disgruntled former employee, I once worked for this company for six years, but I was let go four years ago.

But this really bothered me. I have been on the receiving end of those calls, I have made them and I have been a journalist covering politics. In 2006 I spent two days a week in Monroe, a battleground county, calling people for eight hours a day and then knocking on doors in the evening for another four hours. So I know how it feels to be insulted and called names on the phone. It’s not as bad at people’s doors, but it does happen. It takes an enormous amount of patience and self-control, but there is no better way to get your candidate elected than personal contact.

Here’s the difference, Rich, between a volunteer advocating for their favorite candidate and an out-of-state telemarketer you hire and pay to make more money for the corporation that happens to own the newspaper at the time.

The person calling on behalf of the political candidate is giving up their time to volunteer - unless it’s a robo call or push poll - to become involved in their community and wants a better place to live for them and their children. That goes for both political parties. Republicans are wrong on 99 percent of the issues and I question their tactics, but I know they love their country just as much as I and other liberals do. I will never be rude to a campaign volunteer who calls my home or come to my door, no matter who the candidate is.

I would suggest to Mr. Perlberg that if in the future a dedicated campaign volunteer calls his home, just politely say no thank you before they go into their “scripted sales pitch” so they can go on to the next person. Why waste your time and theirs if you are not interested? I would also suggest that if a paid telemarketer calls to do the same, so they can go on to the next person. After all, they are just trying to make a living.

Your family will have to find some different entertainment.

Livingston County favorite sons get by with too much help from their friends

Anyone trying to beat a Rogers in Livingston County has an uphill battle on their hands.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, is running for his fifth term in the U.S. Congress after wining his first term by a less than 1 percent of the vote with a mere 111 votes in 2000 back in the days when the 8th District was actually a competitive swing district. This is the same district than produced Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and it was her election to the Senate that opened the seat for Rogers. He is again running against Lansing resident Bob Alexander.

After Republican gerrymandering in 2002, Rogers needs little help in keeping the seat, but he is getting plenty of it anyway. So I was a little surprised to see this notice about the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce’s membership breakfast on Sept. 15. In the middle of election season, it is featuring Mike Rogers.

The blurb says he will present something called "Energy, Economy and Jobs." “Congressman Rogers will delve into his plans to help the United States develop diverse and clean sources of energy with his Energy Independence Plan, lower gas prices and share ways to bring jobs to Michigan.”

I don’t know what else we are going to hear from Rogers, other than drill here drill now. Rogers has been a extremely close alley of oilman George Bush, and anything he says beside drill, drill, drill is just rhetoric from him.

But the most glaring thing for me was: how can they allow him to give basically a campaign stump speech less than two month before the election and not extend the same courtesy to his opponent? This is even advertised on the Livingston County Republican Party’s web site.

I understand his mother was the director of the chamber for many years and the building that houses the chamber offices are named in honor of her, but there are still standards.

We need to call the chamber at (810) 227-5086 and ask for some fairness.

As you know, his older brother, Livingston County Commissioner Bill Rogers, is running for the open seat in the state House for the 66th District against Democrat Donna Anderson.

Last month the hometown Livingston County Press & Argus, long friendly to the Rogers family, did a puff piece on the Rogers family last month. The general manager of the paper has even contributed to Mike Rogers campaign. When supporters of Donna Anderson complained about the piece and not giving equal time, they were told it was not a political piece.

Now, I will agree it was a puff piece in that no tough questions were asked, but to paint it as not a political piece is disingenuous at best. None of the three are new to public office, so you have to question the timing of this article.

Then a quick check of Bill Rogers campaign finance report reveals an interesting tidbit. On July 29 there is an expenditure to the Press & Argus for $2,207 in advertising . Now, there was once a time when the best way to reach voters was through the local newspaper, and if you went through back issues from 15-20 years ago you would see lots of political advertising in the local newspaper. However, that has gone the way of kids on bicycles delivering the local newspaper.

As a support of newspapers and a former print journalist that’s a sad fact, but you cannot deny that readership has fallen off. Newspaper advertising is not the best way to reach voters anymore, unfortunately.

He spent $1,340 on the local radio station, but a mere $180 on the Ann Arbor News weekly product that covers Livingston County with an office in downtown Brighton.

It seems funny that less than a month after spending more than $2,000 with the paper, we get this puff piece.

Just asking.

Editorial continues to misrepresent the facts in defense of lawmaker’s tax giveaway

I try hard not to be cynical, but when I see another attempt by the local newspaper to defend sate Rep. Chris Ward and his attempt to give $9 million of taxpayer money to Quadrants, the developer of the Green Oak Village Place mall, for necessary road improvements it’s quite easy. The latest attempt to defend the indefensible appeared in today’s paper, and it makes you wonder why now? Why are you still getting the facts wrong?

We know that the executive editor of this newspaper contributes to the Ward campaign, but this piece is worth more than the cash he gives to the campaign. All it really costs is the integrity of the editorial board, and we know that’s long been compromised.

Here’s some background. The DDA law was established in 1975 to halt the decline of property tax values and deterioration in downtowns. It was also intended to give downtowns a weapon to fight huge shopping malls, like the $100 million Village Place Mall, that were just coming on line in 1975 that had uniform hours, lots of free parking and everything within walking distance. In other words, the law was made to combat the very thing Mr. Ward wanted to pervert the law to benefit.

In 2004 Mr. Ward changed the law – for just one person mind you – that allowed a DDA to expand its boundaries if it was a $100 million project and it did away with the requirement that the property had to have declining property values.

Only when the ruse was called, and it was clear that Livingston County Board of Commissioner would not approve this tax giveaway to a rich developer, did Ward rescind the law made for just one person.

The newspaper got the facts completely wrong, and they should talk to Livingston Country Commissioner Jack LaBelle for the facts. The chair of the Commission and a member for more than 30 years also saw it for what it was, a tax giveaway.

The road, the roundabouts and the bridge would have looked exactly the same if the con had gone forward. The only difference would be the taxpayers would have paid for the improvements that would have benefited the developer instead of the person who would see the profit paying for it. In most other states of the union they have what are called “developer impact fees.” That means the developer must pay fees for the infrastructure and other improvements his development will cause and require. Apparently, here in Michigan the exact opposite is true, and we have taxpayer impact fees, meaning we have to pay for the improvements the developer’s project will require.

Although both the city and county voiced legitimate concerns, the fact remains that the loss of the DDA option did not stop the mall construction. But it does mean that the traffic system is not as good — or as safe — as it could have been.
That's too bad. Despite some misconceptions voiced in the last political campaign, the DDA was not a scheme to cut taxes for the developers of the mall. The developer pays exactly the same property taxes with or without the DDA.

That’s completely untrue. Mike McGonegal, Ward’s opponent in the last election, made it a campaign issue. However, he never once said it was a “scheme to cut taxes for the developers of the mall.” It was a scheme to have the taxpayers pay for something the developer should pay for. There was never any intention from the developer to pay for anything or pledge any money for improvements.

We are still not sure why it's OK to use a DDA to build an expressway ramp in the city of Brighton, but it's somehow not appropriate to use the same funding mechanism to improve the road system just outside the city limits.

I’m surprised that the editorial board is that misinformed, or is that they just think the readers are stupid. DDA’s were developed to keep downtowns healthy, and the law was introduced because many downtown storefronts were being boarded up and abandoned in favor of suburban shopping malls. The law was approved to fight the very thing that the new bastardized DDA law would have helped, huge suburban shopping malls. The fact is townships can form DDA’s, they just have to do it under the law instead of having some friendly lawmaker pervert the law just for them. To form a DDA all you really need is to have some kind of central business district, and property values must be falling. That’s the rub here. They did not have the latter. Enter Mr. Ward.

Perhaps when you are in downtown Howell tonight watching the Fantasy of Lights parade or in downtown Brighton watching the Holiday Glow you will be thankful that things like the DDA Act was passed to protect these jewels we call downtowns. If not, you will be watching parades in some huge, ugly strip mall.

Editor that contributes to Republican majority in Livingston County crows about the numbers

It seems ironic that Rich Perlberg, executive editor of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, writes a column in today’s edition saying that Democrats have as much chance as getting elected in Livingston County as Kevin Federline has of becoming a successful rapper. Mr. Perlberg is part of that problem, and it makes you wonder why an alleged unbiased journalist would prefer people just vote straight Republican ticket instead of reading newspapers and other sources to individually examine the candidates and their views.

I was the Communications Director for Mike McGoneal, Democratic candidate for the 66th District House seat, and the newspaper endorsed our opponent without even the courtesy of an endorsement interview. I would like to know if that decision came from Gannett HQ in Virginia or further down the chain of command, but we know it was not a local decision. The lack of critical coverage of our opponent’s ethically challenged record did not help our cause either. The numerous press releases we sent to the newspaper were filed in the circular file, but when Chris Ward sends out a ridiculous press release chiding the governor for signing a bill that his party, the majority party, introduced and passed is front-page news.

When we endorsed the Brighton Republican for his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, we got some e-mails from people who said we were crazy to say he represented Livingston County values.
But look at the results. Rogers took about 55 percent of the total vote, which was his closest race in six years. But he dominated in Livingston County, with a 48,000-26,000 advantage over Jim Marcinkowski.

Again, a lack of critical coverage of the Gannett paper did not help, and we saw from the endorsement decision from the Lansing State Journal, another Gannett product, that the decision to endorse Rogers did apparently come from Gannett HQ.
It’s sad that because of gerrymandering our politicians are no longer held accountable by anyone, and it is next to impossible to unseat an incumbent, at least in Michigan, unless you have a ton of money and your opponent is a child molester. Only one of the 15 Michigan incumbents in the U.S. House were beaten, despite an anti-incumbency and anti-Republican feeling sweeping the nation, and that was a Republican defeated in the primary. The only instrument that can at least try to hold them accountable is the media, but it’s a little disturbing to see Perlberg's name show up in the campaign finance reports of both Rogers and Chris Ward.
The 8th was once a swing district that had Democrat Debbie Stabenow representing us. While she was our Congresswoman she kept a district office in Genoa Township on Grand River Avenue, and she was responsive and accessible to constituents because she had to be. Why would Rogers bother? The little constituent work he does is only the kind that gets publicity and his photo in the official Mike Rogers news, AKA the Daily Press & Argus. After Livingston County helped Rogers win the this seat in 2000 with a paper thin margin of just 111 votes he promised to open a district office in the county. We’re still waiting, and the P & A again gives him a pass.

Some folks are trying to say that the county is becoming more liberal and more receptive to Democrats. I've heard that argument for more than 30 years, but the numbers still don't support it.
In fact, Democrats in Livingston County have about as much chance for success as a Britney Spears marriage.
Republicans took more than 62 percent of the votes across the county and more than doubled their opponent's totals in some races. The closest race I could find was a county commissioner race in Hamburg Township where the winner, incumbent Republican Dennis Dolan (who never campaigns), took 55 percent of the vote from challenger Dave Buckland.

Again, someone has to hold politicians accountable, and so far the voters have not and the P & A will not. There is one guaranteed time that politicians pay attention to the voters and that’s at election time. Not in Livingston County.