Updates (Primaries, budgets, debates)

I was sick as a dog, so I missed some developments. Here's a brief summary.

First off - the debates. I missed them. I'm not all that sorry I did outside of the fact that it took place in Michigan. I saw two debates already and was up at Mackinac so I already know the basics of the candidates. I'm still undecided and have not made a decision on who I am backing. I'm looking for specifics and am balancing out my ideological side and my pragmatic side. I don't care about the soundbytes, and did not feel like spending 100 minutes listening to politispeak for 20 minutes of meat and potatoes stuff I'm waiting to see.

Secondly - Our senator Valde Garcia had a town hall meeting about his tax votes. I'll give him credit for showing up and explaining himself. It's gutsy decision to do so. I'm sure he thought that tax increase was the right thing to do. I happen to disagree with him on that. One common saying is that "Good policy is good politics." I agree with that, and it's flip side is true as well. "Bad policy is bad politics." Let's not forget why the tax increase is so unpopular. It's bad policy. With businesses closing, lost jobs, high gas prices, and tigher budgets, a tax increase is not what our state needs.

Thirdly - The DNC and democrat candidates for president have all flipped Michigan the bird. "No guts" Barack Obama, John Deadwards, gun grabber Joe Biden, and Bill Richardson all requested to be withdrawn from the January primary ballot. Dennis Kucinich said he wanted to remove his name from the ballot but missed the deadline. Hillary Clinton said she wasn't going to campaign here (woo hoo!) but she's remaining on the ballot. Chris Dodd's also going to be on the ballot, as is Mike Gravel. So what does that mean for this state. If this stays the way it is, here are the winners and losers.

Winners:
Hillary Clinton - Cements her status as a frontrunner in Michigan. Even though she wants it both ways and isn't campaigning here, just not taking her name off the ballot here helped her. It's a win by default
Chris Dodd and Mike Gravel - Lesser knowns are now the "Anti-Hillary" candidates here in Michigan.
Rudy Giuliani - A pro-abortion candidate may siphon off moderate democrats who don't like Hillary and are irked at this move by the democrats.
Mike Huckabee and Duncan Hunter - Will organized labor members look at those two candidates, particulary Hunter on trade?
Ron Paul - The War in Iraq. He opposed it from the beginning. The Patriot Act. However, he's pro-life and supports the 2nd Amendment, something that many democrats despise.



Losers:
John Edwards - For someone who is trying so hard for union support, this is the worst move possible. What the hell is he thinking? Organized labor was born here.
Barack Obama - The four most democrat counties in the state have two of his main targets - blacks and academia. Wayne County is 42% black and home of Wayne State University. Washtenaw County is the home of U-M and EMU. Genessee County is 20% black. Ingham County is the home of MSU. Michigan itself is 15% black, and that vote swung the last two presidential elections here, as well as the 02 gubenatorial election.
Joe Biden and Bill Richardson. I'm glad Richardson isn't here, since I think he's their strongest candidate in a general election. Biden and Richardson are lesser knowns, and with Edwards and Obama sitting out, this gave them a chance to exploit a chance for momentum.
Democrats in Michigan in general - obvious reasons.

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.

Valde Garcia threatened with recall on upcoming tax votes

Leon Drolet and the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance are sending a message to BOTH parties on taxes. Vote for tax increases and you will be recalled. Valde Garcia is one of the targets. From the Argus.

State Sen. Valde Garcia said he’s being targeted in a recall of legislators who may vote for tax increases because of his refusal to sign “no-tax” pledges.
Garcia, R-Marion Township, was one of several state Republican and Democratic representatives and senators named in recall papers filed on Monday by Leon Drolet, a former Republican state representative and leader of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance.

Drolet said anti-tax organizers on Monday filed or intended to file with local clerks nine statements of organization setting up potential recall efforts, with another one against Garcia to come later this week.

The moves will take care of paperwork so recall language can be proposed quickly if lawmakers vote to raise taxes, Drolet said.

Valde Garcia is a good man. More often than not, I agree with him. He does need to be watched closely on tax votes however, and is oftentimes a fencesitter on those votes. He usually goes our way in the end, but did vote for the "tax shift" a few years back.

The rest of the targets? In the House:
Andy Dillon, D-Redford
Marc Corriveau, D-Northville
Mary Valentine, D-Muskegon
Gino Polidori, D-Dearborn
Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms
Richard Ball, R-Laingsburg.

The Senate:
Glenn Anderson, D-Westland
Dennis Olshove, D-Warren
Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores
Valde Garcia, R-Howell

Bipartisan targeting.

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.

Valde Garcia on the fence?

Apparently that's the word from Nick at RightMichigan.com It also coincides with what I have heard from several sources.

Things are moving fast in Lansing right now folks with all sorts of discussion and conversation.
I understand State Senator Valde Garcia is being courted heavily right now by the Governor and her staff. They're trying to get him to go along to get along and hoping he'll forget who he works for in his zeal to cut a deal.

Please email and call Senator Garcia right away:

Email: SenVGarcia@senate.michigan.gov
Office: 517-373-2420

Tell him to vote NO on new taxes and yes on Michigan's future. Tell him to support real substantive reform and that Lansing has a spending problem, not a taxing problem.

Tell him to remember his conservative principles and not to sell out.