Former lawmaker’s excessive absences are a Republican joke

One of the minor badges of honor in Lansing is for lawmakers is to get the quote of the day in subscription only MIRS.

Last Thursday honor that went to Rep. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, and it was about somebody those of us who live here in Livingston County know well, former Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, who was term-limited last January.

“I think I've seen you here more this session than last session,” Rocca said on the House floor referring to Ward.

Ward, who once served as Brighton Township Clerk, is currently the deputy clerk/register of deeds for Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson, a former state Representative who served a term with Ward. Johnson and Ward were in town again to support legislation that would allow some county clerks to calculate the money someone would need to come up with to redeem foreclosed property.

The House passed that legislation, House Bill 5267, by a vote of 73-28 vote, and it would allow, but not require, the registers of deeds in Oakland, Macomb, and Kent counties to calculate the amount of money necessary to redeem a foreclosed property.

Ward was a Republican marked for greater things, and he served one of his three terms as the House Majority Floor Leader. When I knew him as the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party, the Brighton Clerk and even his first term in the House he was a really nice guy, but that seemed to change. His heavy-handed tactics as Majority Floor Leader soured relationships between the two parties and made bipartisanship impossible.
He did do the right thing while in the minority when he voted with the Democrats to raise the state income tax to avoid a brief government shutdown on October 2007.

Rocca, of course, was joking, but like good comedy, there is a grain of truth to it. Ward missed more votes and more days of work than any lawmaker during the 94th Legislative session that just ended on Dec. 30. I was volunteering for his opponent in the race, and my critics like to point out that I’m still bitter over that loss. They are, of course, right. If he was not going to show up for his last term why run?

The newest GOP lie on health care reform: five years in prison

Just when you think you have heard all the Republican lies about health care, they roll out another one to debunk.

The newest lie is that there is a provision in the historic Affordable Health Care for America Act passed earlier this month that - get this - where you will get five years in prison for not buying government approved insurance. Nothing could be further from the truth, but the rightwing echo chamber has picked up on it, and even local blogs like the Republican Michigander are pushing that lie.

They have used the lie of death panels, illegal aliens will be provided free health care at taxpayer’s expense or a government official will make medical decisions. Even Mike Rogers is making the false claim and scaring senior citizens who love Medicare by telling them the lie that they will lose Medicare if the bill passes. That contradicts the earlier lie by Michigan Republican Chair Ron Weiser that passage of the bill will cancel all private health insurance and put everyone on Medicare.

Which lie is it? How can Americans be on Medicare if Rogers said we will lose it? But the jail lie is the newest false talking point, but I somehow doubt it will be the last one.

The simple fact is that the penalty under the House health care reform bill for failure to purchase insurance is a tax, not jail time.

Section 501 of the House health care reform bill provides that an individual must be "covered by acceptable coverage at all times." If a person does not have acceptable health care coverage, Section 501 imposes a tax on that person "not to exceed the applicable national average premium."

Now, I understand that the larger the pool the cheaper the cost is, and that people who are not covered costs all of us, but I’m not sure I like the idea of mandating health insurance. It bothers me for auto insurance. This is something that needs to be debated with facts, not lies like jail time for not doing it.

Rightwing bloggers are claiming that the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation reported that the bill describes the penalties as follows:

• Section 7203 — misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 — felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

There is a slight problem with that false claim: there is no Section 7203 or 7201 in the health care bill. It is in the IRS code. Non-profit and nonpartisan Factcheck.org backs that up, and it points out it’s the maximum penalty for not paying the tax.

Fact check says, “the majority of delinquent taxes and penalties are collected through the civil process," without resort to criminal penalties. Prison terms are relatively rare. Imprisonment would require the government to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the tax evasion was "willful" and the accused had the ability to pay.”

Is there any lie the Republicans will not float to protect the huge profits of the insurance industry and keep more than 50 million of Americans without insurance coverage, millions more undercover and millions more an illness away from bankruptcy?

Republican scandals back in the headlines

Republican scandals have been absent from the headlines for the last couple of years, but a trio of Michigan Republicans have changed that.

I guess they are too busy lying about health care to continue their record of corruption, but the more obvious reason is that they are simply not in power. But last week three Republicans were charged with fraud involving a local housing development.

Facing charges are Joel Westrom, a failed GOP House candidate and the former chair of the Marquette County Democratic Party and the First Congressional District; Brian Swift, former Gov. John Engler's northern Michigan representative for seven years from 1994-2001; and Michael Gokey, Engler's deputy northern Michigan representative.

Two other businessman are charged with the GOP three in the alleged fraud, and each defendant is charged with four counts including fraud, fraudulent use of building contractor funds and conspiracy.

Guys like this give all politicians a bad name. If convicted, I hope they pay the price like former Louisiana Democratic congressman William Jefferson, who was convicted of taking bribes on 11 of 16 counts by a federal jury last week.

Westrom was elected as the First Congressional District GOP Chair in February 2007. To quote former GOP sugar daddy Dick DeVos on Mr. Westrom, “that young man is going places.” Too bad it’s jail.

'Twitter’ Pete commits another security breach

There’s one thing for certain: if you want to keep a secret, don’t tell it to Pete Hoekstra.

Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, has a history of loose lips. Last February “Twitter” Pete revealed a secret congressional trip to Iraq on Twitter, and the breach of security put the aircraft and the people on it in danger. Putting the words intelligence and Hoekstra together in the same sentence is an oxymoron. But the latest breach of security by “Beadwindow” Pete was a major one. He compromised a sensitive National Security Agency collection program when he blabbed to the Washington Post that Ft. Hood shooting suspect Nidal Malik Hasan had been in e-mail contact with radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

MSNBC host and Rhodes Scholar Rachel Maddow really did a great job calling out Twitter Pete. She has been all over his miscues. I don’t know if this guy is just stupid, he’s trying to make a name for himself to win the Michigan GOP primary for governor or his ego is so large he revels in the knowledge he knows something we don‘t.

What’s amazing it that this guy still has a security clearance. This guy wants to be the Governor of Michigan?

The Michigan Republican Teabagger Party trying to disrupt Schauer townhall meeting

The wind has gone out of the sails of the Astroturf teabaggers riled up by rightwing Washington, D.C. lobbying groups paid for by the insurance industry, but Republicans are trying to get it going again.

U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, will be in the Lansing area tomorrow for a health care townhall meeting following the historic vote on the Affordable Health Care for America Act last week.

As predicted, the Michigan Republican Teabagger Party has sent out an email blast to get the lunatic fringe that is their base to come out and disrupt the event like they did at town hall meetings of Democratic Congressman last summer. The email uses the regular false, talking point: “We need your help in PROTESTING Schauer’s "YES" vote of the radical government takeover of health care!”

Apparently, since Republican Congressman continue to duck townhall meetings, teabaggers have to disrupt ones put on by Democrats. They certainly don’t want people to hear the truth.

They are pulling out all the stops because they know the majority of Americans support health care reform, and we need to be there to show our support.

The town hall meeting will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow - Friday Nov. 13 - at the Days Inn - formerly the Best Western - 7711 W Saginaw Hwy in Delta Township, 48917.

Schauer will share information about what’s in the bill for Michigan, and he will answer questions from local residents of the 7th Congressional District. Also appearing will be Eric J. Schneidewind, President of Michigan AARP; Erin Knott, Assistant Director of Michigan Citizen Action; and Jeff Breslin, President, Michigan Nurses Association.

Come show your support for health care reform, and get there early to get a seat.

Scared GOP launches early false smear against SOS candidate

I am impressed with the qualifications of Wayne State University law Professor Jocelyn Benson, a Democratic candidate for Michigan Secretary of State, but I have been reluctant to support her 100 percent until I see what other Democrats enter the race. But, a screechy press release by the Michigan Republican Party (MRP) raised her stock in my eyes.

The press release took her to task for “holding a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, with ACORN-endorsed, and Communist Party U.S.A. approved Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.”

We know ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the nation's largest community organization of low-and moderate-income families working for social justice - is the biggest boogieman to right-wingers. They dare to empower the poor by registering them to vote, and we know how Republicans hate to see people vote because they know they are the minority party in this country. The charge is voter fraud, but that is simply not true.

Individual ACORN employees have been accused of fraudulent voter registrations, which has nothing to do with voter fraud, and that was caused by hiring people to collect voter registrations and paying them for each one. Those employees who submitted fraudulent voter registrations have been let go.

But accusing a Democrat of voter suppression and the unwarranted attacks on Ritchie are unbelievable and confusing.

“Holding a vote suppression fundraiser in Washington, D.C. seems almost fitting with all the corruption in that city,” said MRP Chief of Staff Josh Venable in the PR. “Mark Ritchie embodies everything that is un-American about our electoral process—communism and cheating. Michigan does not need the Ritchie/Benson ACRON/Communist-style politics.”

We know Republicans know all about corruption, but Communism? Perhaps Mr. Venable has not watched the news in the lat couple of days and seen all the coverage of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Communism? Please. No where in the press release does it even make a case for that false smear.

The PR claims “Benson is known for partisan electioneering. During the 2004 campaigns she developed the Democratic National Committee (DNC) vote suppression program.”

Say what?

Republicans have opposed every single move to increase voter turnout. The Michigan House has passed no reason absentee voting, allowing 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote and early voting that the current GOP SOS supports, but GOP leadership in the Senate refuses to even hold hearings or allow a vote.

I thought the communism charge may have had something to do with the fact that Ritchie is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), a major party in Minnesota. The party was created in 1944 when the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party merged. Former Vice-President Hubert Humphrey was instrumental in this merger. The party boasts some of the most respected liberals in the country, including Humphrey, Vice-President Walter Mondale, Sen. Eugene McCarthy and Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Obviously, the Republicans are scared, and this was the reason for this early, false smear. Benson Spokesman T.J. Bucholz had the best quote in calling out the GOP lies.

"I've watched a lot of Lions' football, so I'm used to seeing desperate plays by losing teams," Bucholz said. "You've got an actual, legitimate party that's resorting to lies in a race that's almost a year away."

Happy Veterans Day to my fellow Veterans

Happy Veterans Day to my fellow Veterans, even to Eric B. over at Michigan Liberal. The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) said it best in its Veterans Day message. Clearly, the Democratic Party has done more for the veterans who have served after they hung up their uniform and re-entered civilian life.

A Day for Honoring Men and Women Who Fought to Protect Us and Preserve Freedom

LANSING – The Michigan Democratic Party is honoring our veterans on this Veterans Day and thanking them for their service and sacrifice.

“Today the Michigan Democratic Party joins the people of Michigan and citizens across the United States in celebrating Veterans Day by recognizing our veterans for their invaluable contribution to our country,” MDP Chair Mark Brewer said. “From the courageous men and women who fought in World War I to the young men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Michigan Democrats and all Americans are proud and grateful for all that they do.”

“There is no greater service or sacrifice one can make for their country than to put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms we all enjoy,” continued Brewer. “We need to take the time today to thank our veterans and our troops for protecting us.”

The fight for fair auto insurance rates is taken up by the people

All too often, Michigan residents have to go around the obstructionist Michigan Senate to get good legislation passed, and that is the case with legislation dealing the high cost of insurance redlining.

The Michigan Board of Canvassers approved ballot language on Monday for a petition brought forward by the group Fair Affordable Insurance Rates (FAIR) that will require insurance companies to base the rate they charge you for insurance on the type of car you own and your driving record, not where you live, your credit history, education level and the type of job you have.

Consumers in Michigan pay the 12th highest auto insurances rates in the nation, but the problem in Detroit is even more acute. Drivers in Detroit pay an average of more than $5,000 a year, yet the national average annual car insurance rate is only $949.

Predictably, insurance industry representatives oppose the initiative, and they are making the usual false and hysterical claim that it will put them out of business.

Sen. Martha G. Scott, D-Highland Park, has been championing this issue for almost seven years, and in a cynical attempt to kill the bill last month, the Senate discharged it from committee without a single hearing and no notice. This Senate’s steadfast inability to act appears to have promoted the petition drive.

The also played the old standby game of pitting Detroit against the rest of the state and the suburbs, making the false claim that if Detroit drivers have to pay less, then the rest of the state will have to pay more.

The petition would require 304,000 signatures before it can go before the Legislature, which would then have 40 days to take action if approved. If they do not or disapprove of the petition, it would be added to the Nov. 2, 2010 ballot.

According to the Detroit News, Kim Bowman, the Chief of Staff for Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, who is backing the proposal, said she did not know when the petition drive will start. State law says the language is good for 180 days, and there can be no more than 90 days between the first and last signature.

Let’s do this for Sen. Martha Scott.