A Conservative Explains His Vote

Normally, I don't print guest columns or press releases emailed to me, but Chris Ward and I go back a long ways.

A Conservative Explains his Vote by Rep. Chris Ward

Many of my friends have been scratching their heads trying understand my vote for the income tax. Let me explain why I consider my actions on the budget consistent with my beliefs and record as a conservative.

First of all let me establish my credentials as a true blue member of the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Some of the proudest votes I have taken in the House have actually been to the right of many in my own caucus. I was one of less than a dozen of members to vote against the 21st Century Jobs program that has proven itself to be a major waste of taxpayers’ money and a pork barrel bonanza that helped fund the Governor’s re-election. I was one of three members of the House to vote against the Earned Income Tax Credit which starting in 2009 will be a major welfare program with no strings attached funded by the taxpayers of this state. I have voted to cut budgets and slash spending when others would not. I voted to take on public employee unions when others would not. I supported Proposal 2 when others would not.

To be frank, there are some who feel that casting conservative votes and being vocal about conservative causes is the extent of their job in furthering our beliefs.

While those are indeed important, more important is to use our positions to achieve conservative solutions for our public policy problems. I will put my record up against any of my colleagues on this test.

In my freshman term, I pushed through Michigan’s Election Consolidation Law. This law ended stealth tax elections and increased the number of taxpayers participating in school board elections. For a dozen years this bill never mustered the votes to pass the House. In the end, Governor Granholm signed it into law despite the fact she had promised groups during the election she wouldn’t. The law isn’t perfect, a lot of compromises had to be made, but it has been a major step forward for protecting taxpayers.

In my last term, I doggedly pursued the enactment of Michigan’s Photo I.D. at the polls law. Against a lot of odds, fighting within and outside of our party I stuck to my guns on the issue and found a way to get the Michigan Supreme Court to act on this issue. Despite being ignored for over a decade, photo I.D.is now officially the law of the land in Michigan. Any member of my caucus would attest that this simply wouldn’t have happened without my work.

Now, some facts about my income tax vote. Let me say at the outset these were tradeoffs for my vote:

1.An agreement to change our school funding formula to provide for greater equity for the lowest funded schools in our state. Why should this be important to conservatives? The funding disparity has caused a major movement repeal of Proposal A. If that movement were to succeed one of the greatest protections for taxpayers in this state would be gone.

2. Major reform of our school pension program. Quite simply, the pension costs for our local schools are strangling their budgets and there is nothing school boards could do about it. Changes to years if service required for benefits and increasing participants co-pays will save taxpayers millions and put these dollars back in the classroom. This proposal fell four votes short last session because several Republicans refused to support it.

3. Breaking the stranglehold of the MEA on teacher health care. The inability for our schools to pool for benefits purchases have the data needed to competitive bid has cost our school districts hundreds of millions of dollars. This proposal passed the Senate last session but we were at least a dozen votes short in our own caucus and it had no chance of passing.

4. I used my bargaining position to keep the tax increase as low as possible, with a built in rollback and to try to defeat the services sales tax. My final decision to vote yes on the income tax was a last minute attempt to the kill the services tax. If the Senate had failed to pass it, Speaker Dillon committed to me that the service tax would be dead in the House. Working with the Detroit Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Chamber, nobody fought harder to kill the services tax than I did.

It was common knowledge in Lansing that a tax increase was imminent; that experience in other states where government shutdowns have happened has shown higher taxes with no structural reforms; and that the lack of Republicans stepping forward to take a difficult vote meant the likelihood these reforms passing was small. After all why would Democrats vote for and Governor Granholm sign these very anti-MEA bills without some tradeoff?

Serious reforms were left undone because so few Republicans were willing to come to the table. I was particularly disappointed 48-month lifetime welfare benefit cap wasn’t included. Capping the taxpayers’ exposure for the legacy cost of public employee union members was left undone. The taxes ended up higher than they needed to be and we now have a services sales tax that is amongst one of the highest in the country.

Ronald Reagan understood that sometimes feeding the Democrats short term insatiable appetite for taxes meant he could accomplish serious conservative changes. As Governor California he signed numerous tax increases in exchange for support from the Democratic legislature for his policies. As President, Reagan teamed up with Tip O’Neill to raise the social security tax in exchange for raising the eligibility age for retirement. This move gave decades of relief to taxpayers and helped avoid much greater taxes in future years.

I abhor taxes. I only decided to follow this course after I was convinced that the outcome would be much worse than if I didn’t. I will always believe the outcome would have been better if more of my colleagues joined me in these efforts. The reforms signed into law are a major hit to the MEA that has them reeling. These bills are now law, passed by Democratic House and signed by a Democratic Governor-something unimaginable a short time ago.

Chris Ward's editorial in the Free Press

From the Free Press

Compromise has become an ugly word in today's political arena.

In this era of the permanent campaign and instant punditry, there is little benefit for politicians to find common ground. Perhaps former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms was right when he said that the middle of the road was the surest place to get run over.

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It took a government shutdown for a bare majority of Michigan legislators to exercise their constitutional duty to pass a balanced budget. A lot has been made on both sides of the debate about courage and backbone on the part of legislators, regardless of how they voted. To me, the remarkable aspect of this debacle is that the state had to be on the brink of a constitutional crisis for us to do the jobs we were elected to do.

I abhor taxes. My voting record in the nearly five years I have served in the Michigan House has been quite clear on that point. For many of my Democratic colleagues to vote against their union friends is equally abhorrent. Yet the people of the state elected both of us to serve them.

As an elected official, the temptation was strong to keep my head low and hope someone else would clean up this mess. The safest thing to do in politics most of the time is to vote no and point at shortcomings of whatever proposal is before you. As a member of the minority party, this would have been an acceptable approach in many people's minds.

The truth is this crisis provided a rare opportunity to fix some of Michigan's long-term problems. The skyrocketing costs of public employee pensions and health care have long been breaking the bank of our public schools. Yet what has been more than clear after years of trying, Republicans alone could not muster the support to make necessary reforms happen.

The resulting compromise fell far short of what I wanted. I remain deeply opposed to the sales tax component of the deal and will do everything in my power to see that portion of it repealed. Frankly, if work had started well before the shutdown was imminent, I believe the result would have been much better. There is plenty of blame to go around. In this era of term limits, Lansing leaders were expected to accomplish the equivalent of getting engaged on their first date.

There is quite a bit of talk about recall against me and some other legislators because of our votes. If that is the price I have to pay for doing what was right in a crisis situation, then so be it. There are a lot more important things in life than being a state representative. I only caution voters to be apprehensive of full-time, paid political operators who care more about their career success than finding solutions for a troubled state.

Public Statement from Chris Ward's office

I received this in an email from Chris Ward's office. Others here may have received the same.

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We are moving closer and closer to a shutdown of the state of Michigan and wanted to take this opportunity to let you know some of what has been happening in Lansing. I understand how frustrated everyone has become with the state legislature and our inability to pass a sensible budget to keep Michigan functioning well. I appreciate all the calls and emails from you (even if you don’t agree.) It is encouraging to know citizens are paying attention and care enough to write a letter or make a phone call.


I, too, am frustrated at the lack of progress and the unwillingness of all state government officials to “step up to the plate” to reach a compromise position. This is an excellent opportunity to make long-needed cuts and reforms that we have been trying to accomplish since Governor Engler was in office. Compromise, cuts and reforms can help with the long term financial health of Michigan, as well as solve the immediate fiscal crisis.



I have been working with everyone I can to break the log jam on reforms by bringing as many from both sides together to identify what both parties can agree on and what changes can be made that will still allow legislation that is effective but amenable to both sides. I have personally met with our Speaker of the House, the Governor and several members from both sides of the Michigan House and Senate. I am still hopeful we will have solutions in place. They will most likely involve reforms, cost containment measures, concessions in new spending and a revenue increase.



There are no decisions to be made with our current budget situation that will make everyone happy. Realizing this, it became important to me to actively seek a solution. As you know, I have always been in favor of less government and less taxes. The current situation has made it impossible, even after cuts, to leave the tax rate where it has been. The reforms will not save money immediately, but will leave Michigan in a better fiscal position in the future.



The solution I support means passing several bills that are“tie-barred” including the reform bills along with restoring the income tax to its’ previous level of 4.6%. This means all the bills must pass or none of them pass, ensuring the reforms are put into place along with the increase in income tax.



Some of the reforms being negotiated are:

Corrections reforms (privatizing some services)
State and public school employee retirement and retirement health care reform
Prohibiting “double dipping” by public employees (freezing pension benefits for retired employees who become re-employed)
Reducing legislative salaries and benefits
Changes in Medicaid to reduce fraud
Equity in school funding (making sure all children in the state are valued the same)
If a shutdown does occur it is quite possible that we will end up without any desired reforms and a hike in the income tax anyway. I don’t know where we will end up with the whole package but am doing my best to use this opportunity to make sure Michigan state government is as lean and responsible as possible.



If for some reason the process breaks down and we do not have a budget by the end of this week, it is my personal opinion that it will not be the fault of the Democrats, the Republicans or the Governor. It will be the fault of the legislature as a whole and I will have to take my portion of the blame. That is why I am committing to you to continue to do everything I can to come to resolution.



Thank you for your patience with this situation. I do take my responsibilities seriously and am doing my best to make good decisions for the citizens of Michigan. We will continue to face difficult decisions in state government, so please stay in touch. I value your input.





Sincerely,



Chris

CHRIS WARD
Republican Floor Leader
State Representative
66th District

The state budget and our county's reps

The big issue right now is the budget and taxes. As we all know, Chris Ward and Valde Garcia have broke from the party on their votes. Chris on taxes, and Valde on the budget cuts. I've been getting a lot of heat from the right from both in county and non-county residents on this. I've gotten calls and emails asking me almost in a Vince Lombardi voice, "What the hell is going on out there?"

The Argus has an interesting story on this, focusing on the reps involved.

Livingston County lawmakers are emerging as high-profile participants in the scramble to come up with a budget solution before the new fiscal year starts on Monday.
State Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Marion Township, cast the only Republican vote against nearly $600 million in budget cuts on Sunday. And state Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton Township, who similarly broke with his party last week on an income-tax increase vote, has been named to an important joint conference committee tasked with tackling the revenue side of the budget stalemate.

The moves make them the only two Republicans who have publicly broken with their party to either limit the amounts of cuts that are proposed or to admit that increased taxes are necessary to cover at least part of the projected $1.7 billion shortfall.

There was the background.

Chris Ward was named to a conference committee on this. I did talk to Chris's office before his vote. I was told there was no deal at the time, and that he was working on the deal. I know there are some reforms he is after and is trying to get, particulary on school matters which has been one of his top issues. I think he's winning to compromise, but I don't think he's going to roll over and cave.

I do not consider Chris Ward a RINO (Republican in name only). Still don't. I've known him for several years, and as a rep, he's generally been solid on fiscal matters. If I had to simplify Chris's views, it is ideologicaly mainstream conservative, but pragmatic first. The number one issue he ran on is competence. The theme in all his campaign lit was "Chris Ward gets things done." This here is his biggest challenge, and he's taking the steps tacticaly he thinks needs to be done. He's looks for consensus more often than not. In my own opinion, I think he's going after some of the sacred cows of the democrats so we can get some real reform in this state. The MEA right now is scared to death of losing MESSA and it's extremely high overhead and others are scared to death about changes in government pensions. Unless these are taken care off, budgets will skyrocket for years to come.

Chris is one of the smartest people I know when it comes to politics. He's not afraid to take risks when it is necessary, but also is cautious at times when that is called for. We need to keep in mind that this is not a final vote. That is why I'm witholding judgment on Chris for now on this, and why you see this quote below.

Ward, who gave up his duties as minority floor leader when he voted for the tax increase, said he hopes to use the committee seat to advance the issue of equitable funding for school districts and benefit costs for teachers.

He said there is a proposal to bring all school districts to the same per-pupil funding level within 10 years, and another to give school boards more tools to competitively bid health-care benefit contracts.

"I've got some priorities for my state and my district I'm going to be looking for," he said.

Dan Wholihan of the Republican Michigander Web log said he thinks anti-tax sentiment is strong in Livingston County.

He withheld judgment on Ward's moves, because they were part of a tentative deal with Democrats: "I'm waiting to see the final bill before I comment."

But he would prefer an all-cuts solution to the budget.

"I don't think there is support for a tax increase in the county. I personally do not support a tax increase," he said.

As for Garcia's vote, Wholihan said he wasn't surprised.

"He does have a history of going his own way on budgetary matters," Wholihan said.

Personally, I like Valde. He's a real nice guy. On life issues and 2nd Amendment issues, I never have to worry about his vote. He always comes through there. On budget matters, I'm always holding my breath, especially ever since the "tax shift". With that combined with his recent comments, I am not surprised in the least, sad to say. He goes his own way on budgetary matters. Sometimes I agree, sometimes like now, I disagee.

Another story which was news to me until I heard from Dan Meisler was 30 ex-republicans signing a letter supporting a mix of reforms, cuts, and taxes. I found that several (not all) of those who signed that were part of the problem in the first place. Especially Ken Sikkema, who was senate majority leader before Mike Bishop. Joe Schwarz has been pushing taxes for years. When there is Schwarz, there is also Harry Gast. Dan DeGrow has always been a squish (which is why his race for AG against Cox never got off the ground). Sikkema gets to my next point and part of quote.

Generally, Wholihan put most of the blame on the budget mess on Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, but also said Republicans haven't been as fiscally responsible as they should have been.

"There's plenty of blame to go around," he said.

Granholm's the constant in all the problems, but there is plenty of blame to go around. Sikkema in the senate (02-06) and the 2002-2004 block of about 10-15 term limited house Republicans, including former speaker Rick Johnson. Those are who I had in mind when I said that there is plenty of blame to go around. Granholm and the democrat (then) minority wanted her "fee" increases in 04 and the tax shift in 06. She got them. The gimmicks and "fee" increases, sin taxes, and higher costs in general brought us to this current clusterbleep. Granholm got all she wanted on budgetary issues so far. It got us here. The former house and former senate leadership got what they wanted. It got us democrat control of the house (after starting with 63 seats) and a narrow majority in the senate. I blame them as much as Granholm. However, they are gone, while Granholm stayed.

One other thing. I'm hearing a lot of talk about recalls, mostly aimed at the republicans who vote for takes like Garcia. If we are going to recall people, let's start at the biggest problem of them all, that being the "Matt Millen of governors" herself, Jennifer Granholm. We have elections for state reps in about a year. Granholm we're stuck with for three years unless we recall her and send her home. She helped screw over the budget every year for five years.

I have one other major concern besides policy issues. That's the brand name image of Republicans here in Livingston County. With the spending problems in both Lansing and Washington, as well as the tax increases, what is going to happen to small government? We can't be democrat-lite in our size of big government. That's a good way for democrats to start winning around here.

Chris Ward switches support to Fred Thompson

The Argus broke this today. I've heard rumors about this yesterday, but wanted to confirm it with two sources before posting. The rumor is true.

State Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton Township, has thrown his support in the Republican presidential primary race behind television actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. Ward had previously endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain, with whom he shares support for campaign-finance reform.

But now Ward said that Thompson "has shown the type of strong leadership we need in the White House. He has a proven record in the United States Senate and is the most electable Republican."

Budget Update

A little delayed, but here's the latest on the budget. I wanted to get comments from Chris Ward and Joe Hune's office before posting this. As soon as I hear back with the official explanation and not speculation, I'll update this.

Some good news. The budget deal for 07 took place without raising taxes. The bad news? It was a bit of a gimmicky budget, and the “Matt Millen of Governors”, Granholm is going to push even harder for a tax increase for 08 as she’s a quintessential tax and spender.

From the Detroit News

LANSING -- State lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm tonight came to a budget deal for the current year, breaking a 3 = -month impasse, that avoids shutting down government, cutting per-pupil state aid or enacting a major tax increase.

Legislative leaders, the governor and key aides huddled behind closed doors all day and a deal cutting $317 million from the budget was announced to lawmakers about 6 p.m. About an hour later and without debate, the Democratic House approved the pact on a 69-37 vote; the Republican Senate quickly followed suit, 26-10.

The deal also involves tapping a substantial amount of money from a lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies.

The specifics of the budget cuts and the amount of money siphoned from the tobacco suit were not immediately known. But the agreement averted a $116 per pupil reduction in promised school aid that had been threatened since May 1. School district officials said that kind of loss at the end of the school year would be devastating.

The legislative sessions scheduled for Saturday -- weekend sessions are an extreme rarity -- were canceled. Lawmakers will return to work next week to complete action on dealing with this year's $800 million shortfall. Not all of the deficit was eliminated by tonight's action.

While this year's problem will be addressed without a major tax increase, the same cannot be said for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, when spending is expected to exceed revenues by at least $1.6 billion. Chances are that an income tax and sales tax increase will be needed to close that gaping hole; economists don't expect a turnaround in Michigan's economic fortunes until sometime in 2008.

Highlights:
No loss of school aid
No tax increase for this fiscal year
No cutbacks in Medicaid reimbursements
Money will be borrowed from tobacco settlement
Additional cuts likely next week

Our County was split on the budget. Valde Garcia voted for it, while both Chris Ward and Joe Hune opposed it. I looked at the votes and it wasn’t a normal split.

The senate was more party line than the house, but even there you had the most conservative (Sanborn) and one of the most leftist (Gilda Jacobs) state senators both voting for it. Most of the nay votes were from hardline liberals with the exception of Barcia and Prusi.

Roll Call No.151 Yeas--26
Jason Allen (R)
Valde Garcia (R)
Roger Kahn (R)
Randy Richardville (R)
Glenn Anderson (D)
Tom George (R)
Wayne Kuipers (R)
Alan Sanborn (R)
Patricia Birkholz (R)
Jud Gilbert (R)
Michelle McManus (R)
Tony Stamas (R)
Mike Bishop (R)
John Gleason (D)
Dennis Olshove (D)
Mickey Switalski (D)
Cameron Brown (R)
Bill Hardiman (R)
John Pappageorge (R)
Samuel Buzz Thomas (D)
Deb Cherry (D)
Gilda Jacobs (D)
Bruce Patterson (R)
Gerry Van Woerkom (R)
Alan Cropsey (R)
Ron Jelinek (R)

Nays--10 (All Dems)
Jim Barcia
Irma Clark-Coleman
Michael Prusi
Martha Scott
Raymond Basham
Hansen Clarke
Mark Schauer
Gretchen Whitmer
Liz Brater
Tupac Hunter

Excused--2
Nancy Cassis (R)
Mark Jansen (R)

Not Voting--0

Some comments in the record from Bill Hardiman and Roger Kahn:

Senator Hardiman's statement is as follows:

Mr.President, I just want to say that I really appreciate all the work that has gone into negotiating this bill and this agreement. There are many wonderful aspects about it, and I will support it. I do have a problem with the higher ed component of the bill. I think it treats those universities that are bringing in more students very unfairly, and the Governor has stated that she wants to double the number of college graduates. The universities that are working to do that are penalized under this bill, but there are so many other wonderful aspects and I do believe we need to come to some conclusion. I will support the bill. I, once again, appreciate those who have negotiated this.


Senator Kahn's statement is as follows:

It has been a long and tough day, tough for our people, tough for us here. This bill has flaws in it. I think we all recognize that. In my community, it, too, is tough on higher education. I've talked to the people in my education community and they are sorely disappointed. I've also talked to the chair of higher ed who I'm grateful to say will work hard to preserve the ability of each of our universities to have a floor under which will fund all students.

On the other hand, this bill preserves and protects revenue sharing. It preserves and protects fees paid to medical care providers, and I can tell you that the medical care providers have suffered long for many years. I will vote for this bill so that the process moves forward to providing us a balanced budget in 2007 and allows us to discuss where we are going to be for Michigan in 2008.

On the house side, the vote was 69-37

Roll Call No. 173 Yeas--69

Frank Accavitti (D)
Mark Corriveau (D)
Bill Huizenga (R)
John Proos (R)
Dan Acciavatti (R)
Craig DeRoche (R)
Rick Jones (R)
Dave Robertson (R)
Dave Agema (R)
Andy Dillon (D)
Michael Lahti (D)
Tory Rocca (R)
Kathy Angerer (D)
Marie Donigan (D)
Phil LaJoy (R)
Bettie Scott (D)
Richard Ball (R)
Kate Ebli (D)
Davie Law (R)
Rick Shaffer (R)
Steve Bieda (D)
John Espinoza (D)
Gary McDowell (D)
Fulton Sheen (R)
Darwin Booher (R)
Barbara Farrah (D)
Arlen Meekhof (R)
Joel Sheltrown (D)
Jack Brandenburg (R)
Ed Gaffney (R)
Kim Meltzer (R)
Mike Simpson (D)
Terry Brown (D)
Lee Gonzales (D)
Fred Miller (D)
Dudley Spade (D)
Pam Byrnes (D)
Kevin Green (R)
Tim Moore (R)
John Stahl (R)
Barb Byrum (D)
Martin Griffin (D)
Mike Nofs (R)
Glenn Steil (R)
Tom Casperson (R)
Richard Hammel (D)
Paul Opsommer (R)
Steve Tobocman (D)
Bruce Caswell (R)
Ted Hammon (D)
David Palsrok (R)
Aldo Vagnozzi (D)
Bill Caul (R)
Goeff Hansen (R)
John Pastor (R)
Mary Valentine (D)
Brenda Clack (D)
Dave Hildenbrand (R)
Phil Pavlov (R)
Howard Walker (R)
Ed Clemente (D)
Jack Hoogendyk (R)
Tom Pearce (R)
Lisa Wojno (D)
Paul Condino (D)
Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D)
Gino Polidori (D)
Coleman Young (D)
Bob Constan (D)

Nays--37
Fran Amos (R)
Morris Hood (D)
Gabe Leland (D)
Neal Nitz (R)
Joan Bauer (D)
Ken Horn (R)
Lamar Lemmons (D)
Michael Sak (D)
Doug Bennett (D)
Joe Hune (R)
Steven Lindberg (D)
Tonya Schuitmaker (R)
Brian Calley (R)
Shanelle Jackson (D)
Jim Marleau (R)
Alma Smith (D)
Andy Coulouris (D)
Bert Johnson (D)
Jeff Mayes (D)
Virgil Smith (D)
George Cushingberry (D)
Robert Jones (D)
Mark Meadows (D)
John Stakoe (R)
Robert Dean (D)
Marty Knollenberg (D)
Andy Meisner (D)
Chris Ward (R)
Kevin Elsenheimer (R)
Kathleen Law (D)
Tim Melton (D)
Rebekah Warren (D)
Judy Emmons (R)
Richard LeBlanc (D)
John Moolenaar (R)
Lorence Wenke (R)
Matt Gillard (D)

Comments:

Rep. Kathleen Law, having reserved the right to explain her protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I voted no on SB436 because of the lack of a tie bar to revenue. While SB 436 does not cut medicade funding and funding for medical providers it does cut into the bone and sinew of the states citizens. Continued administrative shifts and deferrals will not solve our current crisis."

Rep. Elsenheimer, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I would vote for this bill if it did not include the cut to the Bovine TB fund. I have spent a great deal of time working to move toward several northern Michigan counties acquiring TB free status, and the loss of this line item will make that almost impossible. The resulting disruption to the sale and movement of beef cattle has the potential to affect millions of dollars in transactions in this industry, and will set back the advances being made to fight this devastating disease. There were several other areas inn the budget where cuts could have been made without raiding this fund.

Beyond the Bovine TB issue, I am not pleased that the bill was distributed to the minority only minutes before a vote was taken on the bill."


Rep. Leland, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I voted no on SB 436 because of the cuts to services that are critical to the most vulnerable citizens in my district and the state of Michigan as a whole. In particular, cuts to the Healthy Michigan Fund, which funds the Morris Hood Diabetes Outreach program, and minority health initiatives. Additionally, cuts to Arts & Cultural grants will cause devastation to important cultural tourism and local arts programs that are essential to the development and revitalization of our communities. Furthermore, because this bill is not tie-barred to a bill that provides additional revenues, it still leaves our state in a budget deficit after these draconian cuts."


Rep. Hood, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I voted no on SB436 because of the reductions and elimination of programs that are critical to the most vulnerable of our citizens. The cut to Community Colleges, where people go when they are unable to attend a University, is crucial. The institutions of higher learning provide a service when people have limited choices, because of finances, transportation, or health issues. The reduction in Community Health (61million plus) hits many of the programs that are needed. These cuts will cost us more in the long run because of the lose of prevent ional measures. When we talk about being Environmentally responsible, but turn around and cut over 310,000 dollars in our Environmental Quality budget, which is used for contamination cleanup, are we as really worried about our environment. When programs are cut out of this budget such as the Morris Hood diabetes center, located on the campus of Wayne State University, which serves people with diabetes, which is one of our leading contributors of death, all across this state with treatment and prevention is a disgrace."

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Overall, I'm glad there's no tax increase, but I don't like the gimmicks. This is a pass the buck stopgap measure delaying the hard decisions until later. I still would have voted for this as it was the least worst solution considering the time constraints with the schools cuts. However, a real long term solution needs to be made, and it needs to be made without a tax increase to bail out the fiscal mismanagement by government.

There's a lot more work to do.