Michigan chamber funnels $5.3 million to RGA to attack Bernero and Democrats

We can expect many, many more attack ads against Lansing Mayor and Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero while Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder gets to keeps his millions and maintains the lie that he does not accept PAC money and is running a clean, positive campaign.

Rich Robinson, the director of the non-profit and non-partisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network, released a report on Tuesday that said the so far in 2010 the Michigan Chamber of Commerce has contributed more than $5.3 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA).

The RGA also received $1 million form News Corp., which owns Faux “News," and it has been very busy smearing Bernero. It has spent so much money, that it refuses to even say how much. In fact, it has been "bullying" Michigan television stations into not revealing to the public the size of their substantial ad buys. If a station dares to be honest and reveals that number, they don’t get to share in the millions in smear money and ad revenue.

The spending has been so large that the Outsourcer did not buy a single ad from the time of the primary election in August until just a few days ago.

Earlier this month Robinson tried to get Snyder to convince the RGA to reveal that information, but he claimed “he cannot stop the Republican Governors Association's efforts to push Michigan television stations not to release information about the size of the organization's ad buy.”
The Internal Revenue Service classifies the RGA as a 527 organization whose primary purpose is to support or oppose candidates for public office. Robinson only found out abut that huge donation because contributions to the RGA must be disclosed through the IRS. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce is a 501 (c)(6) nonprofit corporation that does no public disclosure of its donors. Its members’ dues payments are tax deductible as business expenses. In other words, the chamber can accept money from anywhere and from anybody, including foreign governments.

Robinson said the advertising agency for the RGA is Target Enterprises of Encino, Calf. The RGA’s third quarter report to the IRS shows $15.5 million worth of media buys through Target Enterprises. Target has asked several Michigan broadcasters to withhold records of its Michigan gubernatorial ad buys from their public files, and some broadcasters have complied with Target’s request for non-disclosure. Target was the advertising agency for the Rick Snyder’s campaign committee through the primary election. So much for Michigan first with the Outsourcer.

“The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has been aggregating contributions from anonymous donors for candidate-focused electioneering advertisements since the 2000 state election,” Robinson said. “They’ve spent millions of dollars for television advertisements that sought to define political candidates’ suitability for office, and they reported nothing about the sources whose contributions paid for those ads.”

Most people have this old fashioned image of the chamber of commerce as promoting business and the community. That is a false image.

“What is new in 2010 is that the Chamber’s primary financial purpose now appears to be aggregating contributions to give to the Republican Governors Association, an organization whose purpose is to promote the election of candidates for public office,” Robinson said. “The Chamber’s function as a business association is secondary, financially, to its role as a political fund aggregator.”

Senate Republicans use committee hearing as campaign event

There is little doubt that most of what Republicans do is to just to keep and regain power and has very little to do with actually improving things, usually using their favorite tactic of dividing and giving us other people to fear and demonize, and we saw a rare example of how the Michigan Senate Republicans do it on Tuesday in the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.
In her unsuccessful run to win the GOP nomination for Michigan Secretary of State, Sen. Michele McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, introduced two bills, Senate Bills 1371-1372, that would require public employers and personnel agencies to use the E-Verify system to make sure they're not hiring or referring illegal immigrants. In Republican’s mad dash to the right, they have demonized those of Hispanic heritage with the unconstitutional and racist show-me-your-papers law in Arizona.

Even Republican politicians in Michigan have used it to gain favor with primary voters, and McManus figured to take advantage of that demonization with the E-Verify bills. We saw some of the jockeying for the SOS race when McManus and fellow Senator and GOP SOS candidate Sen. Cameron Brown, R-Sturgis, publicly argued in committee this summer over whose identical campaign-like bills will be taken up by committee.

But now that McManus has lost the nomination to career politician Ruth Johnson, she no longer needs SBs 1371-1371, and she was angry when Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, had the committee take up her bills.

I have never heard of a Legislator being angry that their bills were being taken up, until now. In fact, subscription only MIRS that covers the Capitol said that “McManus sponsored the bills to boost her bid for Secretary of State, but she finished last at the GOP convention last month. Now sources say the senator wants to wash her hands of the issue.”

It appears that the Senate Republicans want to take advantage of some of the anger out there that illegals are taking Michigan jobs and take up this bill. McManus confirmed that when she told MIRS that was the only reason Bishop took up the bills.

"I had requested that they not be added to the committee's agenda, but it is my understanding that over my objections the Senate Majority Leader has personally instructed the Chair to hold a hearing on them,” McManus told MIRS. “I sympathize with the Chair," McManus said in her testimony. "These bills are not ready for consideration by the committee. They are being considered today due to a desire by the Majority Leader to cater to certain members of the public."

The bills were opposed by both the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), two organizations that are strong supporters of Republicans. Representatives from those organizations testified that E-Verify fails to detect 54 percent of illegal workers according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report, and that would add red tape for employers.

Charlie Owens of NFIB said that immigration needs to be handled by Congress instead of setting up a "patchwork system."

Protest planned against rightwing whacko Beck

Rightwing whacko Glenn Beck will be the keynote speaker at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 15 at the Kellogg Center on the campus at Michigan State University, 55 South Harrison in East Lansing, and the MSU College Democrats are sponsoring a protest of his appearance.

Faux “news” host Beck is becoming more and more unhinged, and he made the ridiculous claim that President Obama has “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” That means he hates his mother and his maternal grandparents who helped raise him. The good news is people are starting to see through him, and to date some 50 advertisers have chosen not to advertise on Beck’s show.

But that didn’t stop the chamber from paying Beck $25,000 to spew his hatred.

Beck is cut out of the same cloth as hatemonger Ann Coulter, but only worse. He has been one of the prime promoters of the fake, Astroturf “tea parties.” His heated anti-government rhetoric has already led to violence, and it reminds of the mid-1990s when the same anti-government rhetoric led to the worst case of domestic terrorism.

It’s not by accident that the Michigan Militia has made a resurgence, and all you need to do is exchange Obama for Clinton and it‘s 1995. But it’s even uglier, and we have white supremacists groups in the mix now. The Michigan Militia went underground after August 10, 1995 with the indictment of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. But they are back, and Beck is a major reason.

If you choose not to attend the protest or are unable to make it, remember this when the chamber endorses Republicans candidates next year, Is this is the kind of racist, rhetoric the chamber supports?

Tell Beck to get off of your phone.

Laughable chamber attack ad against Hathaway reads like a bad parody

Here’s a surprise. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce is endorsing extremist rightwing activist judge Cliff Taylor over Judge Diane Marie Hathaway in the race for Michigan Supreme Court.

Not only that, they are running commercials statewide for Taylor to the tune of $2.5 million. The chamber endorsement is not surprising when you consider no individual has won a case against an insurance company or corporation in a decade in the court ran by the “Gang of Four.”

These ads are such a cliché they seem like almost an SNL parody, right down to the voice at the end that tells you to call the candidate and tell them to stop abusing puppies, stop pulling tags off of mattresses, stop stealing candy from babies or fill in the blank. The only difference in this ad is it has a woman narrating instead of a deep-voiced man trying to scare you.

The gist of the ad is Hathaway allegedly gave a sexual predator a light sentence. The last line is hilarious:
“Tell Diane Hathaway don’t give sexual predators light sentences.”
Brilliant.

Apparently, the chamber missed the endorsement of the Michigan Association of Police Organizations who did so because of Hathaway's record on drug and sex crimes. She also has the endorsement of the Detroit Police Officers Association, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans, Wayne County Prosecutor, Kym Worthy, Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel and Marquette County Prosecutor Gary Walk.

Republican lawmaker introduces resolution supporting Andy Dillon

Sane people of all political stripes continue to line up behind House Speaker Andy Dillon to denounce the ridiculous and illegal recall against him for his vote for the increase of the income tax - and the since repealed sales tax on some services - that avoided a government shutdown and helped balanced the state budget on Oct. 1.

Both the subscription only MIRS and Gongwer reported that Rep. Dick Ball, R-Bennington Twp, introduced House Resolution 358 Thursday that would "express the sense of the House that recalls should be based on specific misconduct, criminal activity, or abuse of office and should not be based on a single vote and to denounce the effort to recall Speaker Andy Dillon." That’s also what the majority of voters think, and most state newspapers have editorialized that position. Both nonpartisan groups, like the Michigan Townships Association, and more partisan groups, like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, have also taken the same position.

Some of the political posturing by some other Republicans was laughable. Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Bellaire - who is running to be the minority leader or for the Michigan Court of Appeals, depending on what day it is – said, according to Gongwer, that the supporters of the resolution were “…engaging the chamber in a political issue.” What, the House of Representatives is a political organization that engages in politics? Why, I never.

Even more funny was the reaction of Republican Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, who launched the illegal and unethical recall that used faked signatures, paid petition collectors who lied to get signatures and used out-of-district petition gathers to collect signatures. He said in MIRS that “he felt he could get some public relations traction just on the basis that the House was considering taking the resolution up.” With Drolet, that’s exactly what this witch-hunt is all about.

He also, of course, brought up Dillon’s long planned week of vacation with his family. Ironically, the bill that Republicans used to embarrass Dillon and illustrate the fact that he was gone, passed by a vote of 60-44 on Thursday. You will recall that on Wednesday, the Capital Outlay Budget – Senate Bill 511 – failed by just one vote. Drolet and company used that to try and say that if Dillon had been in the chamber it would have passed. They ignored, of course, that eight members were not at session yesterday and three Republicans did not even cast a vote in order to embarrass him.

Somebody better tell Elsenheimer about this politics thing in the chamber. I fail to see how introducing a bill or a resolution is political, but refusing to do what you were sent to Lansing to do is not political. To me, the actions by the three Republicans in refusing to vote might be more of a reason to recall a politician; for not doing what they were elected to do, instead of for doing what we sent them to do.

Gongwer also reported that the Department of State said on Thursday that it has conducted its initial review of the recall petition signatures found they have the required 8,724 signatures. Now if the SOS does its job properly, the fraud will begin to surface even more. The department will now proceed in matching the signatures to the qualified voter file to determine if there are enough to put the measure on the ballot.

Book says term limits are partly to blame for Michigan's budget mess

Wayne State University Professor Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson blames the inexperience of Michigan’s 148 legislators, caused by term limits, for the state government shutdown and failure of the Michigan Legislature to pass a balanced budget on time this fall.

“This is a perfect example of the lack of experience," said Sarbaugh-Thompson, author of the book “The Political and Institutional Effects of Term Limits.” “An experienced legislature would not have let this get so far down the road.”

Sarbaugh-Thompson is a professor of public administration, public policy and American politics. She has spent the last 10 years researching the effects of term limits in Michigan that limit legislators to serve six years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The limits went into effect in 1998. Her book, published in 2004 with four other professors, looks at the effects of term limits in other states as well as Michigan.

She said the inexperience of the House and Senate leadership are also to blame for the shutdown and not being able to get a budget done on time. Sarbaugh-Thompson pointed to the fact that both House and Senate members on both sides of the aisle conceded they needed a tax increase to balance the budget, but no one was willing to work a deal or compromise. She said it takes at least two terms to be comfortable in the House, but there are freshman representatives chairing important committees.

“If you think of it in terms of the business community, why would you make a junior executive the CEO,” she said. “They spend so much of their time just trying to get up to speed and understand what’s going on.”

Sarbaugh-Thompson said the issue of taxes is another example of the problems with term limits. She points at the tax cuts for 15 straight years as an example and former Gov. John Engler's role in that. A strong, long-serving executive was able to ramrod harmful tax cuts by an inexperienced Legislature with no real decrease in spending, showing how term limits can have a negative effect on the separation of powers.

“The real mistake was the Engler tax cuts,” Sarbaugh-Thompson said. “He drained the rainy day fund and did not cut spending.
“He did not have a strong legislature that could ride herd on him. ”

Sarbaugh-Thompson said the race to cut taxes has forced cuts on the very things that attract people and companies to Michigan. She pointed to the Infrastructure Report Card put out by the American Society of Civil Engineers that gives Michigan's infrastructure a grade of D-minus. Many state roads are so bad it costs auto owners an average of $300 a year in extra maintenance costs, and road congestion in the Detroit area costs commuters $939 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

“The thing that people do not understand is that when you cut taxes it costs people more,” she said. “The roads are the perfect example.”

She said term limits have not accomplished anything its backers claimed it would accomplish when it was sold to Michigan voters, who approved the constitutional amendment in 1992.

It was said more people would run for office, and voter turnout would increase because of the increased competition for more open seats. That has not happened, and her research shows voter turnout remains low. There is more competition for open seats in the primary, but traditionally primaries have always had low voter turnout. There is less competition in the general election because Republicans who controlled both the House and Senate in 2001 drew the district boundaries to make safe Republicans districts, making the general election less important than the primary in many districts, she maintains. It has worked so well that in the last election in 2006 more people voted for Democratic Senate candidates, but Republicans still maintained their 21-17 seat advantage.

The inexperience caused by term limits has also given lobbyists much more influence over legislators as they try to figure out complex issues and bills. Lobbyists have always assisted with drafting legislation, but that role has expanded under term limits. Sarbaugh-Thompson said a lobbyist pushing an important piece of legislation can safely mislead a lawmaker, and by the time the legislator catches on they have been term-limited.

“Proponents of term limits promised they would sever the cozy relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers, but it has not happened,” she said. “You have to ask someone for answers.”

Term limits has also caused serious partisan polarization in Lansing. Because the only real races are in the primary, candidates have had to play to the extreme base of their party. The leaders are more extreme than in the past, and it has led to legislators having to signs inflexible things like anti-tax pledges that ties their hands in working toward good government. Often, party loyalty has taken over for loyalty to the state and the residents. That tends to disenfranchise at least half the residents at all times, she believes.

“The state should be governed from the middle,” Sarbaugh-Thompson said. “You really need to be in the middle to govern for the commonwealth of the people.”

Term limits also have politicians looking for their next political office before they even have a proper understanding of their current job. Often, decisions and floor votes are made more based on how they will play in their next primary election than how they will help Michigan. Many people believe this is the reason it has taken so long to get a budget completed in October, a process that’s usually done by June.

“They are more politically ambitious than ever,” Sarbaugh-Thompson said. “Future elections are playing a huge role in what is going on today.”

Of the 15 states that have term limits, Michigan, Arkansas and California have the shortest. Sarbaugh-Thompson supports at a minimum lengthening the time legislators can serve, giving them 12 years in each body. But she prefers getting rid of the limits altogether.

“You can vote for a convicted felon after 20 years, but you can’t vote for your state representative after six years,” she said. “My philosophy is that voters are smart enough to know who isn’t doing the job, but that doesn’t poll well.”

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has proposed a term-limits change that allows the lawmaker to serve 14 years, all in one chamber or in combination. The Senate Campaign and Election Oversight Committee is expected to hold hearings soon on a proposal that would cut the number of years a lawmaker can serve from the current 14 to 12, but they could serve it all in one chamber.

New Michigan sales tax on services could hurt Britt and Paris

The businesses that have gotten away for years without paying for the public services they consume are up in arms over Gov. Granholm’s proposed 2-percent tax on services, and they are using the lame excuse that the tax is extremely complicated for businesses and consumers with increased paperwork, according to an article in the Detroit News business section Friday.

But at lest one group, the 884-member Independent Accountants Association of Michigan, says the tax is needed and won't be too much hassle.

As part of a plan to make-up a $3 billon shortfall in the state budget without even deeper cuts in essential services that residents depend on, the Governor proposed her budget that calls for a combination of spending cuts and a 2 percent levy on services. For the average family that will mean an increase of about $65 a year, or a cup of coffee a week. But business groups like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the State Bar of Michigan are opposing the investment in the state’s future because for the first time many of their members will be taxed.

They are obviously ignoring the fact we are moving from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy, and they are only worried about protecting their bottom line at the expense of the rest of the state. Some of the reasoning they are floating for opposing the tax that calls for 2 cents on the dollar is laughable.

Henry Cooney, president of the Metro Detroit Bar Association, is quoted in the article as basically saying attorney’s fess are so expensive they should not be taxed. "A legal service is not discretionary. When you have to hire an attorney for a divorce or a bankruptcy, it's unfair to ask your client to pay tax on top of a service that is not inexpensive."

Many groups, including the Michigan Institute of Laundering & Drycleaning, will inform members the cost will be "much higher," said Kelly Johnston, the institute's director of government relations. It doesn’t really matter if it’s not true.

But this is perhaps the most ludicrous excuse so far:

The cost increase will cause customers to think twice, said John Lieberman, owner of the Bark Busters Home Dog Training franchise in Oakland County. "It increases the effective price of our service, and it's a disincentive for people to have their dogs trained."
With basic dog training starting at $495, the sales tax would add at least $10 to his services, Lieberman said. "If you're providing a premium service that costs more to begin with, people need to build a case that it's worth the extra cost."

If you can afford to pay $495 to have someone else train your pooch for you then I seriously doubt $10 is going to break the bank. Maybe we can call it the Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears tax because if we enact it they will not be able to carry those little French Poodles into nightclubs and premiers with them.

The Michigan Chamber Commerce - that represents more than 7,000 employers, trade associations and local chambers of commerce in the state – is obviously against the tax. Has this group ever endorsed a Democrat? This group is perhaps the biggest hypocrites of all. They are in the process of lobbying state Legislators for a business tax reduction of $500 million. Where to make that up? This farsighted group is saying cut it from education. Great idea. Not.

They are also advocating a 3-cent increase in the gas tax. Apparently they do not represent gas stations.