Governor Snyder's First Three Months on the Job

Snyder ignores thousands of residents to meet with aging Texas rock star

Thousands of Michigan voters have been in the Capitol to try and get their voices heard on the disastrous budget proposal by Gov. Rick Snyder and his union-busting efforts, but he can’t find the time for them. It’s seems ironic that a non-resident can then get a personal audience with him.

Draft-dodger, philanderer and Texas resident Ted Nugent got a one-on-one private meeting with Snyder to talk about hunting issues on Thursday. I suggest you call the Governor’s office at (517) 373-3400 and ask for a personal meeting with the Governor. Good luck.

Many of those people protesting his budget proposal that balances the budget on the backs of children, senior citizens and the working poor voted for him, but I guarantee they will not get an audience.

Nugent, who moved to Texas during the Bush Administration, endorsed Snyder during his campaign of little more than slick TV ads and bumper stickers. Snyder’s bumper sticker saying of “Job One is jobs” appears to be job three behind union busting and meeting with aging Texas rock stars.

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 now offers the fewest weeks of unemployment in the nation

Michigan Democrats are working on a bill to restore the six-weeks of unemployment Republicans lopped off a bill the Governor signed on Monday.

The Governor signed House Bill 4408 into law on Monday, despite every single Michigan U.S. Democratic Congressman and groups like the Michigan League for Human Services urging him to veto it. The bill was meant to reduce fraud and clear up some technical language so that unemployed Michigan workers could continue to receive federal extended benefits up to 99 weeks. But Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, slipped in an amendment cutting the state benefit period from 26 weeks to 20 weeks.

Gov. Rick Snyder blamed the decision to stiff workers on the Legislative Republicans, but he signed the bill anyway. Since he took office in January, Snyder has signed 15 bills into law, and he has held a press conference for each bill signing, except his one. He even held a press conference for the bill signing for the anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills when more than 5,000 people were just a few hundred yards away on the Capitol lawn protesting against the EFM expansion.

But there was no press conference for this bill signing.

The only good news is that 150,000 Michigan residents will continue to receive 20-weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits that will keep the economic recovery going and will allow them to put food on the table and maybe keep their homes. The bad news is that it will permanently reduce the number of weeks of state-funded unemployment benefits. As a result, workers who file as of January 15, 2012, will only be eligible for 20 weeks of state-funded benefits, instead of the current 26, before going to federal benefits. With this reduction Michigan will now offer the fewest weeks of unemployment in the nation.

What is even worse is that because federal unemployment extensions are proportional to the number of weeks the state offers, this change in the law means a Michigan resident making a claim next year could receive 22 fewer weeks of benefits than they would have this year if the drop in unemployment from the highest it has been since the Depression does not continue. In other words, unemployed workers in Michigan will also lose 16 weeks of federal unemployment benefits.

For most laid-off workers, 20 weeks provides little leeway for a decent job search, especially during recessionary periods when any work is hard to come by. But to illustrate how out of touch the Republicans really are, they actually believe people would rather collect $362 a week – the maximum – than work. In fact, Rep. Ken Yonker, R- Caledonia, said that unemployed workers would, “rather be on their unemployment (than working). So, sometimes we’ve got to have tough love.”

Unbelievable, but this is typical of Republicans. What makes it even worse is Snyder’s attitude. His campaign was nothing but slick TV ads and bumper stickers, and one of the favorite false talking points was “Job One is jobs.”

Apparently, that’s not the case.

After a speech to the Michigan Association of Counties on Tuesday, Snyder was quoted as saying, “Next year, my main issue is, let’s start the job creation process” and questioned the results of the Republican Legislative anti-middle class agenda pushed through in the first three months of 2011, stating that GOP lawmakers had done nothing to help the state’s ailing job market while creating serious concerns for workers with legislation that would allow contracts to be broken and jobs eliminated.

“What happened to ‘Job One is Jobs,’” said Senator Bert Johnson, D-Detroit. “Those same people whose unemployment benefits you just cut can’t wait until ‘next year’ for you to focus on job creation.”

To make sure workers can hold on, Rep. Jim Ananich, D-Flint, and Senate Democratic Floor Leader Tupac Hunter, D-Detroit, announced that they are working on legislation that would restore the weeks of unemployment insurance cut by HB 4408. The new law would make Michigan, which has been hardest hit by joblessness in the past decade, the only state in the country to reduce unemployment insurance for their families.

“This is not the time to cut unemployment benefits for workers who lose their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control,” Hunter said. “Restoring these six weeks of benefits will ensure that workers have all the assistance they need while they are searching for employment.”

Senate Democrats move to protect voter’s choices and the School Aid Fund

LANSING - Senate Democrats announced today at a press conference that they will be introducing a constitutional amendment to guarantee money from the state’s School Aid Fund is dedicated to K-12 education and not diverted to the general fund

The amendment comes in response to Gov. Rich Snyder’s budget proposal which would divert money from the School Aid Fund to pay for other measures of the Governor’s budget, including corporate tax giveaways.

“Governor Snyder recently said ‘It’s not about politics; It’s about doing the right thing,’ and his budget is far from it,” said Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D – East Lansing. “He wants to cut school funding so the state can afford corporate tax handouts that have no guarantee of creating jobs. I ask what corporation would want to locate in a state with the failing school systems his budget would surely create.”

When citizens voted in 1972 to create the Michigan Lottery and again in 1994 to pass Proposal A, they did so with the understanding that the funds generated by these measures would be dedicated to supporting public education. The Governor’s proposal to divert that money to fill a deficit in the state’s General Fund budget is a clear strike against the intent of the voters.

“The citizens of Michigan have made it clear that they expect education to come first,” said Sen. Bert Johnson, D – Detroit. “This is exactly the type of accounting gimmick Governor Snyder said he wanted to avoid, and is yet another example of this administration saying one thing and doing another.”

Senate Democrats said they would be hosting a series of town hall meetings throughout the state to seek input from Michigan’s families on their concerns and priorities for the state budget, and they have invited Snyder to attend because of his love of townhall meetings.

“The people of Michigan have to live with the consequences of the budget passed by the legislature,” said Sen. John Gleason, D – Flushing. “It is only fair that we ask them for their input and ensure that their voices are heard within the Capitol chambers as these significant decisions are being made.”

Here are the townhall meetings, and most locations are TBD at this time.

Oakland County
Thursday April 7

Western Wayne
Thursday, April 14, 6:00pm-7:30pm VFW Hall, 27345 Schoolcraft, Redford.

Saginaw
Monday, April 18

Flint
Thursday, April 21

Detroit
Monday, April 11, 6:00-8:00pm

Grand Rapids
Tuesday, April 19, 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Kalamazoo
Monday, April 11

Rightwing Koch brothers also bankrolling union busting crusade in Michigan

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to bust public sector unions and replace local control with centralized power in Lansing with this army of unelected and all-powerful emergency financial managers (EFM) has ties to the same union busting effort in Wisconsin.

Mother Jones magazine did a piece on the EFM bills Snyder signed into law earlier this month that gives an EFM, after just two days of training, the power to void union contracts, run a school district, fire the elected boards and councils, call for millage elections, disincorporate or dissolve the municipal government and kill collective bargaining.

Last month Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was pranked when he thought he was talking to conservative billionaire David Koch, one of the Koch brothers who has bankrolled teabaggers and is financing the current union-busting movement, on the phone when he was really talking to a liberal blogger that showed Walker’s so-called “budget repair bill” was just a ploy to bust unions. The Mother Jones article shows that the Koch brothers are also behind the effort in Michigan. Like Walker, Snyder is creating budget deficits by taking away money from school districts and local governments with a $1.8 billion gift to businesses, allowing more EFMs to be needed.

The article says that since 2005, the rightwing Michigan think tank “Mackinac Center for Public Policy has urged reforms to Michigan law giving more power and protection to emergency financial managers.” “…In January, the free-market-loving center published four recommendations, including granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials (such as a mayor or school board member) and toss out union contracts. All four ended up in Snyder's legislation.”

The think tank has a history of union-busting and support for privatization, especially going after teacher unions. The article goes on to say that “the Mackinac Center does not disclose its donors. But a review of tax records shows that the group's funders include the charitable foundations of the nation's largest corporations and a host of wealthy conservative and libertarian benefactors. Between 2002 and 2009, the Mackinac Center's donors included the Charles G. Koch Foundation ($69,151), founded by the chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, who, with his brother, David, is a major backer of conservative causes,” including the union busting efforts in Wisconsin and funding teabaggers.

Senate Democrats move to protect civil rights

LANSING – Senate Democrats heeded the voices of the more than 5,000 working people who jammed the Capitol on Wednesday, and on Thursday they introduced Senate Joint Resolution I that would amend Michigan’s Constitution to guarantee every worker the right to organize and collectively bargain.

The Resolution was sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, and it was co-sponsored by the entire Senate Democratic Caucus. The simple resolution reads as follows:

“Sec. 28. Every person shall have the right to form, join, or assist labor organizations and to bargain collectively through representatives chosen by the members of the labor organizations as to wages, benefits, and conditions of employment.”

The Republican-controlled Legislature has intruded a raft of anti-worker and anti-union bills, 40 to date, such as the radical anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills that were signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder, R-Ann Arbor. But, because Synder has said publicly, on the rare times he can be pinned down to a straight answer, that he does not want to bust unions, Senate Democrats hope he will support the amendment.

“Governor Snyder likes to talk about supporting the collective bargaining process, yet pushes through legislation that will strip away those rights away from Michigan’s workers one piece at a time,” said Sen. Bert Johnson, D -Detroit. “The thousands of workers that came to Lansing yesterday to voice their concerns deserve a clear answer from him on this issue.”

In fact, on Thursday a spokesperson for Snyder said that he has no intentions of getting rid of collective bargaining, and Whitmer said if that is truly the case, then Snyder should have no problem protecting that right within the state constitution.

“This amendment isn’t complex policy requiring weeks of review, it is one sentence that guarantees a fundamental right to our workers,” Whitmer said. “It’s time for the Governor to move past the carefully crafted talking points and tell us where he really stands on this.”

It’s obvious the GOP-controlled Senate has no intention of moving it because it was referred to the Committee on Government Operations, the place where bills go to die in committee. There are only two other items in that committee that never meets, and they are both sponsored by Democrats; one to creating an independent redistricting commission and the other to require a fiscal impact of every bill.

Barring the governor’s support and the Republics leadership in the House and Senate listening to the Governor to give it the required two-thirds approval, it will take a petition drive. Judging by the enthusiastic crowds in the Capitol the last couple of days, it will not be hard to get the more than 322,000 signatures to place it on the ballot.

A constitutional amendment to protect a civil right is proposed

LANSING –The most popular thing that came from Wednesday’s pro-working family rally at the Capitol aimed, primarily, at the anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills was the announcement that House and Senate Democrats plan to be introduce an amendment to the Michigan Constitution to guarantee the right of Michigan workers to collectively bargain.

Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D - East Lansing, and House Democratic Leader Rick Hammel, D - Mt. Morris, made the announcement to more than 5,000 people who jammed the Capitol on Wednesday to voice their displeasure with the EFM bills that will give an appointed czar the power to suspend union contracts and the civil right of collective bargain and the ability to disincorporate or dissolve the municipal government.

“It’s time that politicians stop telling our working families what they want to hear, then pass bills that weaken their rights and threaten the wages and benefits of men and women who actually work for a living,” Whitmer. “This amendment would secure in Michigan’s Constitution the basic right for every individual to have a seat at the negotiating table. They say we’re not Wisconsin, well then let’s prove it.”

It was impossible to ignore the roar of the loud but peaceful crowd that spent the entire day in the Capitol on Wednesday, but Governor Rick Snyder, in his office just across the street from the Capitol, managed to do so. On Wednesday he signed the EFM bills into law.

Snyder has said he is not interested in busting unions, but his actions are saying otherwise. If he is not the Legislature sure is, and, that’s the only thing this Legislature has been doing since it convened in January.

A letter signed by the two Democratic leaders was delivered to Snyder’s office on Wednesday that thanked the Governor for his comments in support of collective bargaining in recent weeks and asked for his support on their effort. The letter stated, “Together, we can make it clear that developing a balanced budget can, and must, be done without sacrificing our state’s long held tradition of supporting our tremendous workforce.”

“They should not be using the excuse of balancing the budget to justify breaking their promise to the people who teach our kids and keep us safe,” Hammel said. “That approach will cost us jobs and worsen our economy, not save it.”

The resolution would require a two-thirds approval of both the House and Senate to be placed on the 2012 election ballot, but that appears very unlikely with the anti-worker bent of this current Legislature. It will take a petition drive, and it will require more than 322,000 signatures to place it on the ballot.

Republicans going after school districts that have been prudent with funds

LANSING -- With the final approval of the anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills in the House on Tuesday it’s not much of a stretch to believe there is a conspiracy afloat to bust public sector unions.

Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts $100 million in state revenue sharing to local counties, townships, cities and villages already struggling to balance their budgets because of declining property values, and he proposes a $420 per-pupil cut in public education funding. These cuts will mean more communities and school districts will require an EFM. Now, the news breaks that one of the more conservative members of the Michigan Senate, Sen. Jack Brandenburg, R-Harrison Township, is floating a proposal to cap a school “ districts' fund balance at 15 percent to prevent districts from stashing away too much money from year to year,” according to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

The ending fund balance is money kept in reserve to make sure the budget is balanced in case of an emergency or an unexpected cut. It is also known as a rainy day fund. I wish I had a dollar for every time I sat in a school board meeting or municipal board meeting and heard the auditor say they recommend they keep the ending fund balance at least 15 percent of the total budget.

So, for those school districts that have been good stewards of the money, Republicans want to take it back. It seems Republicans are doing what they can to promote financial insolvency to the locals.

Because the fiscal years for school districts, as well as most municipalities, differs from the state – the budget year for schools starts July 1, for the state it’s Oct. 1 – districts need that fund balance to meet payroll and other necessities because districts do not receive their first school aid checks until Oct. 20 when teachers start work in July. With the safety of the fund balance they will be forced to borrow money to meet payroll, incurring more costs in interest payments.

Brandenburg has not yet introduced the bill. In fact, despite the fact that he is a member of the majority party and session has been underway for more than three months, he has not introduced a single bill or resolution.

Senate Republicans approve anti-union and anti-Democratic EFM package of bills

LANSING – The only jobs the Michigan Republicans have created since taking office in January are those for Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) after the Senate Republicans passed the anti-union and anti-Democratic EFM package of bills on Wednesday

The package will make it easier for financially troubled municipalities and school districts to be taken over by an emergency financial manager, and the bills give the EFM almost dictatorial like powers. The bills take the power and authority out of the hands of the people legally elected by the voters and places it in the hands of a person appointed by the governor and the Legislature, and it allows the EFM - which is why Republicans have placed the bills on the fast track - to terminate contracts negotiated with labor unions in good faith.

Rick Snyder’s proposed budget has deep cuts in school aid and revenue sharing, and that, combined, with falling property values, will guarantee more school districts and municipalities are in finical trouble and ripe for takeover and government expansion.

“This bill, along with the Governor’s proposed cuts to revenue sharing and to our schools, is going to create a race to the bottom, which guarantees many of our cities and schools are going to head into bankruptcy,” said Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer.” How does this fit into the primary objective of jobs as job?”

The vote came on the very day that the Michigan Department of Treasury announced that more than 150 “student" are expected for the next Emergency Financial Manager training seminar slated for some time next month. Subscription only MIRS said “the course content in the two-day seminar will be expanded to include school districts along with local governments that might need what will be known simply as an "emergency manager" down the road.” Last month the two-day seminar graduated 65 people to go forth and shred union contr5ats and fire elected officials.

Like on Tuesday in the debate over third reading, a Democratic amendment to limit the salary of the EFM to that of the highest paid elected official in the state, the Governor at $172,000, failed. Seven Republicans crossed over to vote with the Democrats, resulting in a 19-19 tie, but the Lt. Governor broke the tie.

So far, the only job Republicans have created is that of dictator.

“I would ask the Governor and the Republican members of the Senate: Why are you okay with attacking the secretary who makes $35,000 compared—I would ask you, Governor, and the Governor you work for, and the members of your party: Why is it okay to challenge a secretary’s $35,000 a year job and have members in your cabinet who make $250,000 a year,” Whitmer said. “Why are you okay with attacking the firefighter who runs into a burning house, making $44,000 a year, risking their lives, and having a budget director making $250,000 a year? Why is it okay to attack a cop who ensures our community’s safety, making $46,000 a year, and not the emergency financial manager who can make upwards of $159,000 a year? Why is that okay?”

Yesterday saw 29 amendments floated, but the only ones passed were introduced by Republicans. After the defeat of the amendment limiting the pay of the EFM, Sen. Tupac Hunter, D-Detroit, introduced an amendment saying that if the state is going to appoint an EFM and not limit the salary, the state should pay for the EFM. It only makes sense for struggling municipalities or school districts cutting the pay and firing trusted employees that live in the local community that the dictator from Lansing should be paid from Lansing. Predictably, it failed.

Many Democrats supported the idea of the early triggers that identifies early that a community may be in financial trouble and head off trouble early, but not the broad powers of an EFM. Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, introduced a substitute that retained all of the good points and got rid of the union-busting crap. But in the end, Republicans, like in Wisconsin, are more concerned with busting the unions.

“My concern is that, I think, we may be opening a can of worms, and we need to be very careful about these expansive powers that we are granting to emergency managers,” Hopgood said. “With this bill, as well as the budget and the laws and the stress that local communities and schools are experiencing currently, there is the concern that we are really balancing our budget through this bill on the backs of our employees, on the backs of our citizens who rely on the services for protection; in terms of our kids who are going to experience increased class sizes and schools that are closed.”

Because amendments were added to the main bill, it must now go back to the House for their concurrence.

Senate Republicans give Snyder appointees a free pass

LANSING – Michigan Senate Republicans completely neglected their statutory duty of advise and consent, and none of Gov. Rick Snyder’s department heads will face a confirmation hearing.

The 60-day window expired on Monday, and not a single Snyder appointee had to face a Senate hearing. It’s even worse when you consider Snyder wants to give more power to the Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) who can suspend union contracts and fire elected officials. That EFM, which can also be a corporation, is appointed by the State Treasurer, and the EFM has almost zero oversight.

That advise and consent duty was not ignored by the Republican controlled Senate when we had a Democratic Governor. In fact, Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s appointees had a full public hearing, and at times faced some uncomfortable questions.

The Republican Senate did basically the same thing when Republican John Engler was the Governor, but they at least made an attempt, holding hearings in the first two years of his 12-year tenure. This Senate is not even pretending it’s being fair and doing their job.

Bob McCann, Senate Democratic communications director told subscription only Gongwer that the Senate's handling of the advice and consent hearing during Ms. Granholm's tenure was thorough and quick.

"It's disappointing that they would break with that tradition and essentially ignore one of the most basic components of a system of checks and balances that we have," McCann said in Gongwer. "Certainly background checks can give you cursory information about an individual. ... We need to be able to hear what their qualifications are and what direction they're looking to go in."

Rally on Tuesday to protest anti-worker and anti-voter bills

The Michigan AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers of Michigan (UAW) are organizing a pro-worker rally in Lansing on Tuesday March 8 to peacefully protest the anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) package of bills.

The Senate is expected to take up Senate Bills 153-158 that will make it easier for financially troubled municipalities and school districts to be taken over by an emergency financial manager, and the bills give the EFM almost dictatorial like powers. The bills take the power and authority out of the hands of the people legally elected by the voters and places it in the hands of a person appointed by the governor and the Legislature, and it allows the EFM - which is why Republicans have placed the bills on the fast track - to terminate contracts negotiated with labor unions in good faith.

The package is moving at breakneck speed. Just two weeks ago the House approved House Bills 4214-4218 and 4246 along party lines, 62-47 with one Republican voting no on the House version of the bills. This appears to be a stealth way to accomplish the union busting that is going on in in Ohio and Wisconsin and end collective bargaining for public sector unions.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal that raises taxes on the most vulnerable and shifts taxes from corporations to kids and seniors will also place more school districts and municipalities into financial trouble.

It also includes deep cuts to revenue sharing to cities, villages and towns, and it will trim the fund from nearly $300 million to $200 million. It will surely cause local governments to lay off police and firefighters, and it will mean more municipalities will need an EFM.

The budget also calls for cutting some $420 per-pupil in public education funding. That will devastate school districts, sending many into deficit districts, meaning they will need an EFM.

The rally will begin at 9 a.m. at the Capitol steps, and the Senate will meet to take up the bills at 10 a.m. The rally is expected to last until 1 p.m.

Prank call shows Walker wants to bring union busting to Michigan

It was pretty clear to most people that extremist Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin was trying to bust the public sector unions by trying to take away their collective bargaining rights by creating a financial emergency, but he confirmed his goal was union busting on Tuesday after he was phone pranked by a liberal blogger.

Besides proving he wasn’t very smart and easily duped, the call proves this is just a union busting ploy because unions tend to support Democrats in elections. Walker thought he was talking to David Koch, one of the Koch brothers who has bankrolled teabaggers and is financing the current union-busting movement.

The transcript of the call is just hilarious and reveling, and Walker never knew he was being pranked. It did prove that this is not about balancing the budget but killing the unions. Walker tries to make the claim that the huge crowds that have jammed the capitol in Wisconsin in support of collective bargaining rights are paid, saying, “…they’re probably putting hobos in suits.”

Then they joked about trying to trick the Democratic Senators who left Madison so the Legislature does not have a quorum by tricking them into returning by thinking that Walker was actually going to negotiate in good faith, and Koch/blogger Ian Murphy joked Walker should bring a baseball bat to the meeting.

“I have one in my office; you’d be happy with that,” Walker said. “I got a Slugger with my name on it.”

Walker is obviously enjoying all the attention he is getting, and his ego is growing along with his infamy. He even compared himself to GOP saint Ronald Reagan, and he tried to equate union-busting with the fall of Communism. Someone should tell him about the Solidarity union movement and Lech Wałęsa.

"I pulled out a picture of Ronald Reagan, and I said, you know, this may seem a little melodramatic, but 30 years ago, Ronald Reagan, whose 100th birthday we just celebrated the day before, had one of the most defining moments of his political career, not just his presidency, when he fired the air-traffic controllers,” Walker said. “And, uh, I said, to me that moment was more important than just for labor relations or even the federal budget, that was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism because from that point forward, the Soviets and the Communists knew that Ronald Reagan wasn’t a pushover"

Walker also made it clear that Wisconsin is ground zero for busting public sector unions, and he wants to import the union-busting to other states, including Michigan.

“I talk to Kasich every day; John’s gotta stand firm in Ohio,” he said. “I think we could do the same thing with Vic Scott in Florida. I think, uh, [Rick] Snyder-if he got a little more support-probably could do that in Michigan.”

The good news is that Snyder is saying, at least publicly, that he is not interested in union busting. But the Republican-controlled Legislature is another story, and they are doing nothing but union busting. I have no idea how this creates jobs.

Veteran Capitol correspondent Tim Skubick is reporting that Snyder went so far as to meet with Legislative Republicans on Tuesday to talk about their union-busting agenda over his agenda of reforming the tax system and the budget. Apparently, the Speaker of the House told him they were more interested in union busting than jobs.

Republicans vote for big state government to usurp local democratically elected officials

LANSING -- House Republicans struck a blow for bigger government, against local control and disenfranchising voters when they approved a package of bills that gives dictatorial like powers to state-appointed emergency financial managers (EFM).

On Wednesday House Bills 4214-4218 and 4246 were approved almost along party lines, 62-47 with one Republican voting no because it makes it easier to appoint an EFM and they give the unelected EFM much more broader powers with no oversight while giving them the power to dissolve elected board and commissions.

“Proponents of this bill have argued for years that more big government is the wrong path to economic recovery,” said Rep. Kate Segal, D-Battle Creek. “This legislation paves the way for big state government to come in and completely usurp local democratically elected governmental functions.”

That was precisely why at least one Republicans voted against the package.

“I voted against House Bills 4214-18 and HB 4246, the package to expand the powers of emergency managers, because it gives these appointed managers total control over local boards who are elected by the people,” said Rep. Dale Zorn, R-Monroe. “Local elected officials, such as city or village council members and school board members, deserve a voice in the process. It is the local elected official, and not an appointed manager with no connection to the community, who knows what is best for their home town or school district. “

Despite thousands of people invading Lansing to protest against passage of the bills, Republicans ignored them and voted to disenfranchise voters. The reason that it is so popular with Republicans is because it allows the manger to terminate contracts negotiated with labor unions in good faith.

This is about union-busting pure and simple.

“One is that this legislation is being rushed through without a proper understanding of all of the issues surrounding it,” Segal said. “A number of very suitable amendments were turned down in committee and on the floor without an actual vote. To my knowledge, there are few, if any, examples in Michigan that this concept has really worked to any degree of satisfaction.”

Some Democrats commented on the fact that Gov. Rick Snyder wants to expand the scope and reasons for the EFM, holds a two-day class for EFM candidates and cuts revenue sharing to local municipalities already reeling from falling property taxes.

“Another aspect of this is that, at the same time the current administration is rushing this legislation through, it is also on a parallel track of drastically cutting revenue sharing to cities, counties, and other municipalities at the same time they are cutting $470 per pupil from schools,” Segal said. “Both of these actions will further serve to push additional school districts and municipalities already on the brink into receivership and be subject to these ‘emergency’ financial managers. It would seem they are artificially creating the ‘emergency.’”

The bills now go to the Senate, but the Senate Education Committee approved along party lines their version.

Snyder’s budget shifts taxes from corporations to kids, senior citizens and workers

LANSING -- Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget he presented to the legislature on Thursday raises taxes on the most vulnerable and shifts taxes from corporations to kids, senior citizens and workers.

Reaction to the budget proposal was negative and widespread, with one Senate Republican saying Snyder’s proposal to tax pensions was a “non-starter.” Gilda Jacobs, the President o of the Michigan League for Human Services, said Snyder and Lt. Gov. Calley clearly broke their own rule when they said reforming the state's tax system should not pick winners and losers. The executive budget reduces business taxes by $1.8 billion but increases taxes on seniors and families by $1.7 billion.

"We have missed a great opportunity to modernize Michigan's outdated tax system,“ she said. “Instead, the administration has proposed one that simply shifts taxes from businesses to vulnerable kids, families and seniors.”

Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, also said Snyder failed to follow through on his previous pledge of moving all of Michigan forward instead of the same old politics of putting corporate tax breaks ahead of the people.

“Governor Snyder’s idea of shared sacrifice seems to mean that working families will do most of the sacrificing while companies continue to reap the rewards,” she said. “He is balancing this budget on the backs of our kids, working families, and our seniors. Contrary to his rhetoric about ‘moving all of Michigan forward’, this budget picks out who he’s willing to leave behind.”

Among the cuts proposed include making all public and private pensions subject to state income tax, with the exception of Social Security income. This was discussed last legislative session because Michigan is only one of thee states that do not tax pensions, but the discussion included exempting a large portion of the pension income.

Among the many personal income tax credits eliminated or reduced including a reduction in the homestead property tax credit.

It also includes deep cuts to revenue sharing to cities, villages and towns, and it will trim the fund from nearly $300 million to $200 million. It will surely cause local governments to lay off police and firefighters. It will also push some municipalities into bankruptcy.

It comes at a time when Michigan Republicans are putting bills on the fast track that places dictator-like powers in the hands of unelected officials appointed from Lansing with no oversight. House Bills 4214-4218, approved out of committee on Wednesday, will repeal Public Act 72, the current law governing emergency financial managers (EFM), and give them more power and make it even easier for one to be appointed.

The Michigan State Police will have to pick up more patrols because of the loss of officers and entire departments, but the budget proposal calls for closure of Michigan State Police posts to save $3.2 million.

The campaign rhetoric of jobs, jobs, jobs is just that. He wants to eliminate business credits for brownfield redevelopment, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, Next Energy, advanced battery, film and renaissance zones. Already, films are looking elsewhere to film, and advanced battery manufacturing has huge growth positional in Michigan. He is actually killing jobs.

He is also mortgaging the future at a time when high-tech jobs are the wave of the future, and he is calling for cutting some $420 per-pupil in public education funding. That will devastate school districts, sending many into deficit districts.

He is also calling for concessions of $180 million from state employees. He also plans to eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit, GOP Saint Ronald Reagan called the “best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.” That move will raise taxes on some 800,000 Michigan low-income workers.

The various appropriations sub-committees will now start meeting to dissect the budget.

Bills will make state-appointed emergency financial managers virtual dictators

The next time you hear the Republicans talking about how they want less government and prefer local control, don’t buy it.

Michigan House Republicans are debating legislation they introduced last month that could lead to earlier intervention by the state in financially troubled communities school districts and almost dictatorial like powers for state-appointed emergency financial managers.

Rep. Al Pscholka, R, Stevensville, sponsored House Bills 4214-4218. The EFM law already takes the power and authority out of the hands of the people legally elected by the voters and places it in the hands of a person appointed by the governor ad the Legislature.

The new package of bills repeals the current law governing emergency financial managers, Public Act 72. The new proposal will make it easier to appoint an emergency financial manager with several more triggers that allow the state to review local finances, including missed paydays, a creditor with an undisputed claim or simply a resolution from a simple majority in the Michigan Legislature.

The bill also gives the financial manager much more broader powers, and that may be the reason it is so popular with Republicans; it allows the manger to terminate contracts negotiated with labor unions in good faith. It also gives emergency financial managers the ability to appoint people to committees and exclude elected officials from city business.

It also allows them to make academic decisions in the case of school districts taken over by the state.

Currently, only the Detroit Public Schools and the cities of Benton Harbor, Ecorse and Pontiac have emergency financial managers in place, but with the constant reductions of revenue sharing to municipalities and the lower threshold there will be more.

It appears Gov. Rick Snyder wants to trash the constitution and be a dictator. There is a huge push in Lansing, as well as nationwide, to bust public sector unions, and this is just one more attempt.

The bills are currently in the House Local, Intergovernmental and Regional Affairs Committee, and they are up for a hearing on both Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 15 and 16. The committee meets at 2 p.m. in room 519 in the House Office Building, 121 N. Capitol on both days, and the meetings are open to the public.

Snyder caught cooking the books

Many people are aware of Gov. Rick Snyder’s questionable past business practices, but he is apparently bringing some of those practices with him to the public sector when he was busted last week for cooking the books to try and make it look like public employees are overpaid.

The only plan Snyder has let out of the bag on how he plans to make up an estimated $1 billion budget deficit is on the backs of public employees, despite his constant talking point about “shared sacrifice” while he gives his cabinet large raises. To that end, Snyder released a report last week that said public employees are compensated more than double private sector workers.

But the fact is that study after study says when educational level is taken account, public employees are underpaid, like the report last August by respected Michigan State University professor of economics Charles Ballard that said state employees earn less than their private-sector counterparts with comparable educational attainment. The Ballad report also confirmed what we already know: state government is smaller now than it was in 1973. Doing more with less would seem to meet another of Snyder’s meaningless corporate buzz words, “value-based budgeting”

To reinforced and confirm Ballard’s work and debunk Snyder’s cooked study, a study released Thursday by Citizens for Accountability and Reform and the Economic Policy Institute found that public employees in the state are generally paid about market wages, but most state employees are below those market rates. The report showed that after correcting for education levels, state workers have total compensation 9.67 percent less than their private sector counterparts.

According to subscription only Gongwer, Jeffrey Keefe, a Rutgers University economics professor and author of the study, and of several others recently showing public employees around the nation are paid on par with or less than private sector, said the key failing of most studies showing otherwise is not correcting for education level.

"The single most important factor in determining somebody's level of earning in the U.S. is their level of education," he said. For Michigan public employees, 53 percent have at least a bachelor's degree and 17 percent have no more than a high school diploma. Among private sector workers, only 31 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher and 37 percent have no more than a high school diploma.

Republicans want only the middle class and the working poor to sacrifice

The “shared sacrifice” new Gov. Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder talks about and budget cuts national Republicans want will only come from the middle class and the working poor.

National Republicans will continue the polices that are making the U.S. a banana republic and ushering in a new “Gilded Age,” and Snyder wants to kill the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the most effective anti-poverty tool ever invented.

The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. In 1965 the average CEO was earning 24 times what the average worker was making. But by 2001 the C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 531 times as much as the average worker.

Despite that huge gap that continues to grow, Republicans forced an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the richest 2 percent in exchange for a 13-month extension of unemployment insurance benefits for people just trying to survive. That move will add more than $36 billon to the federal budget deficit.

In Michigan, while giving his cabinet large raises, Snyder proposed killing Michigan’s Earned Income Tax Credit for working people.

The Michigan EITC is a refundable tax credit given to working families. People apply for it when they fill out their state income tax forms. All families who are eligible for the federal credit are eligible for the state credit. The tax credit puts money into the pockets of hundreds of thousands of Michigan working families. The EITC brought $338 million into local communities throughout Michigan last year. That’s money spent directly into the local community on goods and services, not invested in offshore ventures.

“The Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit is a successful anti-poverty tool that helps low- and moderate-income families and small businesses in Michigan,” said Gilda Z. Jacobs, the President and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. “Eliminating this credit amounts to a tax increase on our most vulnerable families and will tax working people into poverty.”

The Michigan EITC is based on the federal EITC created by Republicans President Gerald Ford and expanded by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush. In fact, patron saint Reagan called the EITC “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.”

In Michigan, the EITC went into effect for Tax Year 2008, and, ironically, the bill creating it was sponsored by one of the most rightwing lawmakers, former Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi.

“As this debate continues, let’s remember the faces of those in our economy who are helped by this tool: janitors, housekeepers, restaurant workers, daycare and home health aides, cashiers and retail clerks,” Jacobs said. “These are the very people who often are in charge of our loved ones, or who make our days easier.”

DRIC bridge is the highlight of a SOS filled with vague generalities

We waited a year for this?

New Michigan Gov. Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder has been very vague on how he plans to reinvent Michigan since he launched his campaign last year with an expensive Superbowl ad, and people were hoping they would finally hear some actual details when he gave his first State of the State address Wednesday night. Instead, we got very few details and a very general plan that included more corporate buzz words like “dashboards,” “road maps” and “gardening.”

The speech was so general that lawmakers from his own party were wondering and wanting more specifics. Still, it was nice to hear he appears to be a moderate Republican instead of the nasty extremists who hijacked the party, and there may be some common ground to keep the recovery moving in Michigan. There were some great things in the speech, and the most hearting was his support for entering into a public-private partnership with Canada to build the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge. That move drew praise from both sides of the aisle.

“This is the right move for Michigan," said Republican Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson. “If we all don't stand together behind the DRIC project now, we will all be standing in Buffalo in a few years watching them cut a ribbon on their new bridge to Canada."

The bridge will bring more than 10,000 new jobs to the state. The only cloud on the horizon is that every single Republicans voted to kill it last session, and a camera shot of the crowd when Snyder spoke about DRIC showed the right aside of the House chamber sitting on their hands while Democrats stood and cheered. That could mean a major campaign funding source for state Republicans could be lost in the form of Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun.

More disturbing was in lack of detail on how he plans to close the estimated $1 billon General Fund budget deficit. Senate Republicans are floating a plan to close it on the backs of state workers, but we have heard nothing from Snyder. Even more disturbing was his plan to kill the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) and replace it with a flat 6 percent corporate tax. That will increase the deficit to $3 billon.

Also unsettling for consumers was the proposal to gut Michigan’s item pricing law. Retailers would no longer have to place the price of the item on each individual item. That will require consumers to place their trust in the scanner at the retail outlet and cost consumers millions of dollars.

It will be an interesting year in Lansing.

First SOS will be another pep talk filled with platitude and no details

Like his campaign and his inaugural speech, new Michigan Gov. Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder’s first State of the State address tonight will be void of any details.

Like the AP said, “Michigan teachers, state workers, business groups and others eager to hear what new Gov. Rick Snyder plans to do are waiting for his first State of the State address” will get a pep talk filled with more buzz words and platitudes like “shared sacrifice” and he will “reinvent Michigan,” but no details, as usual, on how he will do that.

The press has let him get away with it since the last Superbowl when he launched his campaign, but I think their patients may be getting a little thin and want some actual details and answers on how he plans to reinvent Michigan. We already have an idea what "shared sacrifice" means to Snyder: state workers sacrifice but Snyder and his upper management sacrifice nothing.

The Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference took place last Friday, and according to the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency, “a slowly improving economy in the state and nationally will lead to increased revenue, but the loss of ARRA funding and one time revenue sources combined with revenue lost due to tax policy is expected to lead to a General Fund budget deficit of $1.8 billion.”

The only plan we have ever heard from Snyder on how to balance the budget is that he plans to make it up on backs of state workers alone, and a pair of Republican Senators have crystalized that plan.

Sens. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, and Mark Jansen, R-Gaines Twp., told subscription only Gongwer that “they have a plan that solves the state's $1.8 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget deficit without raising a dime of taxes.” Their grand plan includes “saving more than $700 million from employee benefit cuts and $1 billion from a 5-percent public employee pay cut.” Never mind that it takes a Constitutional amendment for some parts of the plan, or that it violates the collective bargaining rights.

Now, here is Snyder’s sacrifice. We already knew that Snyder appointed Michael Finney as president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation a few weeks ago. Finney will be paid $250,000 a year, and he will also receive deferred compensation equal to 18 percent of his salary in lieu of a retirement plan. The person who held the job under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and was only paid $200,000 a year. After pressure from the media, Snyder finally released the salaries of his cabinet members, and of the 12 members of his cabinet he's appointed Snyder has given raises to five. The rest make what they were making under Granholm.

John Nixon, the new director for the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) imported from Utah, will join Finney as the highest-paid officials in state government.

Just to make sure the middle class is not the only ones hurting and sacrificing, Republicans plan to go after the working poor too. The new Speaker of the House, Rep. James Bolger, R- Marshall, want to go after the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The EITC is an effective anti-poverty tool in the form of a refundable tax credit given to working families. People apply for it when they fill out their state income tax forms. The tax credit, in its third year of existence, will pump over $1.50 back into the economy for every $1 that is sent to working families.

So much for shared sacrifices; enjoy the show tonight.