Friday, February 29, 2008

Fire Kevin Kabat - Now

So how is it that the day after we learn that Fifth Third Bank CEO Kevin Kabat made $10 million in 2007 that fifty 5/3 employees are fired in West Michigan?

In the words of the GR Press, the 50 workers lost their jobs "in an attempt to focus the Bank's resources". So you go home and tell your family "I was fired today - but it's OK because 5/3 needed to focus its resources on coming up with $10 million to pay Kevin Kabat."

Meanwhile I was at the post office and saw a teller I used to see at my 5/3 branch. I asked her why she left and she said 5/3 sucks as an employer and she's happier at Walgreen's.

And oh by the way, I just fired 5/3 as my company's bank and went to Chase. It wasn't because of Kabat's pay, it was because my account officer hadn't bothered to call me for 12 months, and they were basically incompetent in providing business banking services.

Way to go Kevin!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Prisions or Prisoners

Well, the story's out that Michigan is one of four states that spends more on prisons than on higher education.

To say this is pathetic is obvious. The real question is what are we going to do about it?

The state can go two ways: declare that this is a cost problem requiring privitizations or equally dubious tactics, or recognize that sentencing guidelines and procedures have gotten warped beyond recognition and that we have too many citizens in The System.

Keep in mind that Kent County had to build a dedicated mental health wing when they built a new jail. Or consider Jenn's odious recommendation last year that the state could save a lot of money by releasing elderly, sick prisoners back into the community to cut down on health care costs - as if they had some place else to go once they were tossed out.

And never mind the fact that an overwhelming majority of the people in Michigan's jails are minorities, with the resulting destruction of family structures and communities.

So what's it going to be: more of the same - or some progressive leadership that says the ways of the past have failed, and it's time to try something new.

And Where Are The Shareholder's Yachts?

Old Kent Bank was a Grand Rapids institution that was sold out by its management to an Ohio Based bank with the worst name in corporate America: Fifth Third Bank. Old Kent's CEO made a bundle (as they always do) and 5/3 has proceeded to lose a lot of Old Kent's West Michigan franchise.

Last year, 5/3's stock absolutely tanked, falling from $42 to $22 reflecting poor operating performance. Meanwhile, it was just announced that the captain of the ship received compensation of $10 million which included $28,682 in country club dues!

There is something profoundly broken in corporate governance when such pathetic performance earns a CEO $10 million. He should be fired, not rewarded.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pro-Life Democrats

In a rather obscure state senate election in upstate New York, a Democrat won a seat that has been the property of the GOP for almost 100 years.

The real story, however, may be the political heterodoxy of both these candidates. Darrel Aubertine, sixth-generation Democrat (and dairy farmer) and yesterday's winner, holds a staunchly pro-life position on abortion. William Barclay, conversely, is a lifelong Republican with a whiff of the aristocratic about him, who nonetheless supports choice. Though electing Democratic candidates is the name of the game for liberals this election year, the Aubertine pill was hard to swallow for hardcore, upscale Democrats in New York City. A friend in local politics told me that the sense of trench warfare, especially among older voters for whom abortion rights are sacrosanct, made Aubertine seem "suspect."


The relevance of this to West Michigan is fairly obvious. If a Democrat expects to win anything outside of the City Commission, he is pro-life. Yes, this includes the County Drain Commissioner.

Unlike the Michigan GOP, which expunges all pro-choicers, Democrats are open to candidates whose views reflect those of their would-be constituents. This may annoy the heck out of the Progressive Women's Alliance (our version of New York City liberals) but it's the political reality in West Michigan.

Returning to New York, the win leaves the GOP with only a one seat majority in a chamber they have controlled for decades. For my money, I'd rather have a gun-toting, pro-life progressive in the majority than someone ideologically pure going back to his day job on November 9th.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Jenn Goes to DC

Someone needs to tell the Gov that Democrats should not say nice things about the opposition. As quoted today about John McCain:

"He is appealing in Michigan," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who supports Clinton. "He does appeal to independent thinkers, at least he did in the past, and we have a lot of those in Michigan...."

Michigan Delegates

Heard the Guv on the radio this morning saying how it would be an insult to the Great State of Michigan not to seat our convention delegates (Florida too). She said you can't win the general without us.

Meanwhile, I went to a meeting explaining how the actual delegates will be elected, and it's not pretty. The 3rd CG (Kent County) gets to elect 3 delegates and one alternate for Clinton, two delegates for Uncommitted. Four to two, and the Clinton campaign gets to vet their candidates ahead of time and reject anyone they don't approve of.

Still trying to find someone at the Uncommitted HQ to review those candidates.

The insult isn't whether the delegates should be seated, it's how Michigan Democrats got shafted in the "primary".

Monday, February 25, 2008

Cabela's in Walker: Bad Idea

Returning to my Cabela's rant, I noticed that Frank Walsh and Cathy VanderMeulen (Walker's City Planner and Manager) are appearing at a forum hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers West Michigan Alliance. The title of the Forum:

Cabela's: The Anatomy of a Deal

I don't know about you, but when I see government employees bragging about how clever they were to reclassify an apple orchard as an urban redevelopment site by annexing it to the City of Wyoming so Wyoming could issue $60 million of public bonds to lure a sporting goods store cum amusement park, I start to feel queasy.

My gut feel is that the Cabela's phenomenon has peaked and could head south as fast as Crispy Kreme. At that point, private money heads for the sidelines and only desperate government officials (playing with someone else's money) are dumb enough to keep the game going.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Wanker of the Century

I'm going off topic here, but can someone explain why the media still takes Ralph Nader seriously? Does Meet the Press have nothing better to do than give this pathetic narcissist air time?

Maybe I'll run my cat for president. She's smarter and better looking.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Proposition 2

Today the Press reveals how it is shocked, shocked! to find that Proposition 2 has decimated the participation of minority and women-owned firms in public construction.

Uh, wasn't that the whole point?

Is the Press also shocked to find minority enrollment declining at the state's elite educational institutions? Maybe they should have thought about this before endorsing this despicable ballot initiative that was driven to passage by bigoted money coming from outside the state.

Inexplicably, the Press then goes on to applaud minority favoritism offered by private contractors for projects like the Van Andel Institute.

So what's it going to be? Is it OK to help minority and women-owned firms or not? If it's OK for private firms to "discriminate" why not the Government?

Friday, February 22, 2008

Hudsonville: God's Country

This one is shaping up to be a GR Press Public Pulse classic.

The story is this: the mission statement for Hudsonville's government calls on it "to serve God". This is entirely fitting for a conservative community where mowing your lawn on Sunday is looked down upon. It's also probably illegal (at least technically).

Nevertheless, someone complained to the Freedom From Religion Forum and they have asked Husonville to remove the language. Hudsonville is consulting its lawyers but the letters are starting to pour in, including one asking the anonymous complainant to show himself.

WZZM has gotten 228 comments already.

Mortgage Cram-Downs

With Michigan having one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, it is worth getting your arms around some legislation currently moving through congress.

The proposed changes to the bankruptcy statutes would for the first time since the 1970's allow judges to change the terms of mortgages. What this means is that the judge could tell the lender that he is going to receive less each month.

There is even has a great word to describe it: the Cram-down. The judge crams the new terms down the bank's throat. Sweet.

The ability to restructure mortgages in bankruptcy proceedings was legislated away 35 years ago based on the banks' argument that this would allow them to offer more credit to home buyers at lower interest rates. Bank lobbyists are working overtime to kill the new legislation but it may be one of the few solutions that might actually help the housing situation.

You can read more at the always excellent Calculated Risk.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

State Senate Votes to Gut 2008 Budget

Apparently the State Senate voted along party lines last week to approves changes to the recently enacted Michigan Business Tax that could cost the state between $550 and $850 million in the current budget year!

Have these people completely lost their minds? Where in hell do they expect the state to come up with this money?

I though we had a deal after the excruciating ordeal in 2007 that scuttled the reviled SBT and replaced it with the MBT. Apparently the lobbyists have gotten to the GOP controlled Senate and convinced them it's time to rip out the sutures and start the bleeding all over again.

2008 was supposed to be different.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Press Weighs In on FISA

The Grand Rapids Press came out today in favor of retroactive immunity for the Telcos.

They got some things right, such as the fact that letting the current law expire has had no impact on the Government's ability to tap terrorist's phones. W threw a hissy fit on this and threatened to not go to Africa because he was so worried. Once he saw that the Democrats were calling his bluff, he got over it and got on the plane.

What the press got wrong was their contention that the suits against the Telcos were the result of "a horde of trial lawyers". This is utter, right-wing talk radio baloney. The suits have been filed by the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, two non-profits who have nothing to do with the trial bar.

This is not about money, it's about massive law breaking by the Government and corporations - who had every right (and obligation) to say no when the Bush Administration asked them to break the law.

Let the courts decide who did what - and if the President then wants to pardon the Telcos, so be it.

Call it a Draw

It's pretty clear that there are enough Hillary supporters in Lansing to prevent a do-over of the Michigan primary.

They can whine about costs and logistics and what about all those people who voted in the primary, but that's all a bunch of nothing. If they wanted a do-over we could make it happen - and I think people would be happier overall because what we did would matter.

Since it's not going to happen, the best thing is to call Michigan a draw and split the delegates between Clinton and Obama. MI delegates get to go to Denver and wear their funny hats - but there is no way they should play a role in deciding who is going to be the candidate. We blew it (or somebody blew it) and there will be a revolt in the Democratic Party if the candidate is chosen based on Michigan or Florida delegate counts.

Call it a draw and be done with it. And do it now.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Michigan - The Video Game

If there was a video game describing my drive to work, this is what it would be:

White knuckles on steering wheel, looking out of windshield partially obscured by ice. Windshield wipers make crippled swipes, leaving smeared salt and even worse vision. Road a mix of snow (good) and ice (bad) or ice concealed by thin veneer of snow, or snow polished to teflon-like sheen.

Weave around potholes - decide if better to go into suspension crushing crevasse or life threatening skid. County plow approaches in blinding cloud of snow punctuated by flying salt bits and sparks from plow. Go straight and hope cloud clears soon.

Insane, cell-phone gripping maniac in Suburban decides to pass, on hill, on ice. Look for offensive weapons to blast Suburban off road for good of mankind.

Deer on road. Multiple deer. Decide whether to hit deer or go into life threatening skid.

Break to stop at intersection. Anti-lock tries and fails. Aim for snow bank to avoid multi-car collision. Car behind fails to anticipate and is heading straight towards you - sideways.

Decompress. Repeat.

Monday, February 18, 2008

City Commission Blows It (Heartwell too)

I've been trying to avoid this issue because I really like the fact that the Grand Rapids City Commission is pretty progressive, but they really screwed up this Police Chief thing. Mayor George Heartwell is taking most of the heat but they were all in on it.

The basic story is simple: City Manager Kurt Kimball chose the boring white guy to be the Chief and then appointed the community-friendly African American as the Deputy. He said he thought the the better administrator should be the boss given all the budget problems.

The Mayor and CC freaked out, in public, after the fact, and said Kimball got it backwards - and blew an opportunity to make a positive statement with the black community.

Maybe they were right. But it was only going to work if they got into the decision before it was made. Braying about it on Tuesday makes them look lame, makes the new Chief look bad and gives the opposition two week's worth of taking points for how the progressives are nothing but a bunch of knee-jerk liberals.

Timing is everything, and being right after the fact doesn't mean spit. They should have hammered Kimball in private and kept their public mouths shut.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Steil-o-Meter

The Steil dynasty seems determined to continue gracing the 72nd (Kentwood) District house seat with their useless presences. First it was the old man, then Glen Jr. and now "the wife" is raising a campaign "war chest".

What does it mean that the GR Press Polpourri column doesn't even tell us her name? She's just "the wife of soon to term-limited Glen Steil Jr." So are we supposed call her "wife-of"? Great yard sign.

Plus it says her mighty war chest of $34 large includes a $20k loan from herself. So let's call it $14.

Detroit Does Matter

Last July there was a fascinating article in Harpers (unfortunately not available to non-subscribers) that described Detroit as the first major 20th Century American city that was disappearing. It's purpose has ceased to be so it is returning to an earlier state. Urban residents are starting to farm again, using the empty lots left after condemned houses are torn down.

It's a dark vision, more akin to the post apocalyptic scenarios of movies like I am Legend. But there hasn't been a disease or neutron bomb - the city just has no reason to exist any more, other than its essential urban culture that has given so much to America. The factories and auto giants are gone, along with the union jobs that built a formidable middle class. The teams are still there (god bless them) but they are Detroit in name only and for only a few hours a week. What is Tiger Stadium really when the snows fall in February?

There's talk of two new Casinos in Romulus and Port Huron, which can only do harm to the three in Detroit. Why should these be allowed? Unlike ballparks, the Detroit casinos create decent jobs and are there all the time. Detroit needs these magnets - and that matters to this state. I'm sure Port Huron and Romulus have their own problems but Michigan needs Detroit, and sometimes you just have to say no. Governor Granholm has said she will sign the new casino compacts but I can't understand why.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Next Comes the Horse Head in the Bed

So let me get this straight: The MI Judicial Tenure Commission sends someone to Rockford to tell Judge Steven Servaas he is being investigated, but before he goes, Servaas's boss (Chief District Court Judge Sara Smolenski) sends a state trooper to confiscate the 45 he keeps in his office.

Smolensky says "I didn't want a gun there - period"

The Tenure Commission guy tells Servaas he should resign to avoid the embarrassment of an investigation. Servaas says it was like Luca Brasi showing up with an offer he couldn't refuse

Now could this possibly have anything to do with the fact that Smolenski wants to build a $7 million judicial palace on the Beltline and Servaas saying he doesn't want to leave his courthouse in Rockford?

He likes having a local courthouse in town and Rockford likes it too. So what's up with Smolenski - and do we really have $7 million bucks right now for a new building? How about fixing a few potholes first.

Anyhow, this sure sounds like a political hit job to me. Stay tuned.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Coming Home to Roost

What does the suspension of the Michigan Higher Education Student Loan program have to do with the Bush Administration? Everything, as it turns out.

Bush and his band of Economic Fundamentalists believe that markets are perfect. They are all knowing and all seeing. The correllary to this is that market regulations of any kind are bad.

This laissez-fair attitude allowed the banks and Wall Street firms to run amok for seven years, inventing ever more opportunities for them to make money and for their customer to take risks they never knew they were taking.

After the sub-prime mortgage debacle, the customers are waking up - and they are scared. Scared customers don't lend money (by buying bonds) and the whole credit market has screeched to a halt. No one knows where this is going to go, an no one knows what all the failure modes are.

This did not happen in a vacuum. It happened because the Bush Administration allowed it to happen

Thursday, February 14, 2008

House Rules

I am so tired of the preening prima-donnas in the Senate thinking the bloody world revolves around them.

Today the people's house showed it can stand up and fight the constitutional battle that the Senate doesn't seem to care about. Thank you John Conyers!

And, they also decided to go on winter break instead of caving into Bush's tiresome and mendacious fear mongering about the FISA expiration.

Evesdropping

So why is that warrantless wire tapping is now called "evesdropping"?

Isn't that something your sweet old aunt used to do?

"Republicans said the House was wasting its time on a partisan stunt (citing Bush aides for Contempt of Congress) while the nation’s security was being endangered by allowing legislation allowing advanced eavesdropping to expire"

When (oh, so I wish) they all go to jail, can we call it a "time-out"?

KCDP Calls for Caucus

For what it's worth, the Kent County Democratic Party Executive Committee voted last night to request a new caucus to fix the MI primary mess. The motion will go to the MDP, which will summarily reject or ignore it for a host of reasons.

Everyone understands that staging a caucus at this point will be a challenge - but it was good for the KCDP to go on record and say it doesn't accept what happened in January.

Clinton supporters opposed the move. Interesting to note the the GR Press also called for a do-over in their Editorial yesterday. Not too often that the Press and the KCDP are on the same side of anything.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Say Yes to John Conyers

Talking about righteous Michigan congressmen, John Conyers introduced contempt resolutions against Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers and urged Nancy Pelosi to file suit against the White House.

Doesn't quite make up for Debbie Stabinow voting for FISA immunity, but it helps.

Uh, oh

Everyone understands a falling stock market. The numbers go up and down and the media reports them every hour.

What is less well understood is that the debt market is vastly larger than the stock market and is in really deep trouble. It's not just the sub-prime mortgages anymore:

This from the Wall St Journal:

"Yesterday, the Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority, a state agency, said on its Web site that “due to the current and unprecedented capital-markets disruption” it will stop making loans under the state’s Michigan Alternative Student Loan, or MI-Loan, program. More than 100 Michigan colleges and universities participate in the program."

No one knows where this is heading but it is clear that the fast money guys on Wall Street, enabled by the Bush Administration and the once revered Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, have created a mess of historic proportions.

I'm with Stoopid

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox's unbelievably stupid decision to withhold drivers licenses from legal aliens made it to the NPR national broadcast today, right alongside the highest foreclosure rate in the country.

We can't do anything to stop the implosion in Detroit but I think it's fair to expect our elected officials to stop making Michigan the laughing stock of the country. How about it Mike?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Debbie Caves

Silly me to trust my elected representatives to do the right thing. Senator Stabinow joined 17 other Democrats to vote with 100% of the Republicans to give retroactive immunity to the phone companies for breaking the law. This doesn't just let the telcos off the hook, it also gives the Bush Administration a free ride.

It's now up to the House to remedy the perfidy of 18 Democrats. Say Yes to Michigan Representatives John Dingel and Bart Stupak.

FISA and the Lame Ass Democratic Senate

This is not strictly a Michigan issue except for the fact that some of our senior congressmen are standing up to the failure of the senate to stop warrantless wiretapping. As quoted yesterday in Glenn Greenwald's blog:

"A trio of Democratic House Committee Chairmen [Dingell, Markey and Stupak] are stepping up the fight against President Bush's surveillance bill this week, vowing to beat back a controversial proposal to grant retroactive amnesty to companies accused of illegally spying on Americans . . . circulating a letter urging their colleagues to stand firm and keep amnesty out of the final spying bill."

I trust Senators Levin and Stabinow will not join a dozen other Democratic senators voting today to give Bush and the telcos retroactive immunity. Nevertheless, it is going to pass, and it will then be up to the House to stop this travesty.

Michigan has some outstanding congressmen in senior positions and that is no small deal. Maybe the House can wag the Senate dog for a change.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Pressure Down

The pressure builds on the MDP to back away from the aborted Michigan primary.

Jack Lessenberry weighed in today on NPR with an interview of MDP head Mark Brewer and a pretty good description of how this mess happened. It's becoming increasingly clear that people are not happy with how this is playing out in Hillary's favor. Stay tuned.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Cabela's Bubble

Michigan has a very sensible policy of not using pubic incentives to lure retailers. They contribute to urban sprawl, don't generate very good jobs and inevitably take business away from existing stores.

But here comes Cabela's and suddenly everything is different. Cabela's runs stores that ostensibly sell sporting goods but are better known for their stuffed animals and indoor waterfalls. As a business, Cabela's is nothing but a subsidy mill. The company only makes money because of the giveaways that local governments are willing to lavish on it.

So to work around Michigan's policy, Walker developers are arguing that the proposed site is a Brownfield eligible for redevelopment subsidies. The site is an orchard, and first has to be annexed to the city of Walker to qualify. If they are allowed to get away with this fake transaction, there is no end to the abuse that developers are going to be able to foist on this state.

But the final stupidity is that it appears that the Cabela's bubble is fully inflated and the desirability of their stores may be about to fall hard. The Cabela's game is based on scarcity and the more stores they plop down the less they are worth.

If a developer wants to make a stupid decision, so be it. It's not up to the state and local governments to use our money to help them.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Steal my Vote

If I understand correctly, the MI Democratic establishment has squelched the idea of a do-over for the aborted primary.

This was the primary where we got to chose between Hillary and "undeclared". And what a surprise that Hillary "won" and it wasn't supposed to matter anyhow because the delegates weren't going to be seated at the convention.

So now that H is becoming desperate for votes, she wants the Michigan primary counted and the delegates seated so she can pick up 70 votes. And what a surprise, the MDP is willing to go along.

Michigan Democrats have now been screwed twice. First we get a sham primary and then they decide to count it anyhow.

This really, really sucks.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

GR Press goes Green?

Today the Press comes out in favor of reusable shopping bags.

What has happened to the editorial board? Isn't there something more conservative to write about?

The Other Endless War

The GR Press ran an editorial yesterday discussing how much Michigan spends on its prison system, and that maybe there might be some savings available?

The basic problem is that Michigan has a lot of people in jail - way more per-capita that the other Great Lakes states. Political pandering to the Get Tough on Crime set is mostly responsible and the solution is expensive. And never mind the miserable, heartbreaking impact on the minority community.

So how many people in the system are there for non-violent drug crimes? I don't have a statistic in front of my but I'll bet it's a lot, certainly more than 25%. The long and short of it is that Michigan can no longer afford the War On Drugs. It's been going on for 25 years and is a failure.

It's time for politicians to stop pandering and come up with a real solution to the drug problem, and maybe save some money at the same time.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Conservatives for Conservatism

Why is it that all the Republican presidential candidates talk about is who is the True Conservative? Are they running for the president of the Conservative Party - or does the good of the nation enter into this somewhere?

We've had a True Conservative for seven years, and if anybody thinks they are better off, I'd like to know why.

License for Stupidity

Is there a contest going on in Lansing to see how stupid we can make Michigan look to the rest of the world? Didn't we win last year? - and maybe it's time to let another state compete?

Today's winner is the decision to not allow legal foreign residents to get a driver's license. On one side you have Atty General Mike Cox, who is working hard to further his political career by being the most reactionary, hard-right conservative in the state. He passed a ruling saying no to foreigners getting licenses.

Secretary of State Terry Land stops issuing licenses and then Cox says he really didn't mean it that way. Land says hers legal staff says "no way", and that the legislature should take care of it.

That brilliant decision throws a political hot potato into a legislature that will now have to wade through the choice of making the obviously correct decision (grant the licenses) or pander to the anti-immigrant, there's a terrorist on every corner faction.

Meanwhile, foreign students, professionals, business people have to either drive illegally or starve, because you can't survive in this state without a car.

Give me a break.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Let em die in the streets!

It's not the purpose of this blog to comment on President Bush (rats!) but there's a part of his recently proposed budget that's relevant to Michigan and Michigan politics.

When W (or any politician) pledges to balance the budget by cutting Medicaid spending, all he is doing is saying that reimbursements to hospitals and health care providers will be cut. The actual cost of providing care for the poor won't go away, it will just be shifted somewhere else. Either the hospitals go broke or they increase the charges to insured patients, which ends up on the back of employers (or workers) in the form of rising premiums.

Unless the U.S. is willing to let indigent citizens die in the streets, cutting Medicaid to save money is a sham, and whoever proposes it is a fraud.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Fascists for Tax Reform

Talking about people who have a basic problem with representative democracy, we have Rep. Fulton Sheen and his Michigan Fair Tax movement.

Sheen can't get the duly elected legislature to enact his impossibly regressive tax scheme so it's time to see if he can fool the dumb voters by turning it into a ballot proposal. The so-called Fair Tax eliminates all business and income taxes and replaces them with a massive sales tax. Fair to plutocrats perhaps.

Whether this is a joke or not, it's not right to try to set tax policy with misleading names and 30 second ads on TV. This is why we have representatives who are supposed to understand this stuff (OK, shakey ground here with our term-limited legislature).

Nevertheless, legislation by referendum has crippled California and is not where we want to go in Michigan.

Total Recall

OK, It's time to say something nice about Governor Granholm. Today she came out in favor of a moratorium on recall petitions, which is a good thing. Unfortunately it's not going to happen because Leon Drolet and his gang of political terrorists don't give a damn about anything but pushing their extremist views.

Michigan house reps are elected every two years, which means they get 18 months to do their jobs before they have to start campaigning again. Drolet is trying to recall eight legislators because they voted for tax increases to balance the budget. This means they have to spend the entire second year of their two year term fighting off the recall.

And what does a successful recall petition drive get you? An election in August instead of November. Three months and a runt election where no one shows up and the radicals can try to pack the crowd. This is not good for the state and it's not good for the districts involved. It is a nasty partisan stunt and an ego trip for people like Drolet who have a fundamental problem with representative democracy.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

bye Jen

The more Jennifer Granhlom says she wants to stay in Lansing, the more obvious it is that she doesn't. She might as well hang a sign up on the governor's mansion saying "take me!"

It hasn't been any fun being governor of a one state recession for five years. Granted she was dealt a miserable hand by departing weasel-in-chief John Engler, but it's not like she was forced to take the job.

Look on the bright side: failed senator Spencer Abrahams went on to become Secretary of Energy (irony x 1) and John the Man is now raking in the big dough as head lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers (irony squared). So Jen's prospects are probably pretty good. She helped hand the Michigan primary to Hillary so the only thing standing between her and D.C. is an impertinent Hawaiian.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Done with Jennifer

As a committed Democrat it's hard for me to admit in public that I'm fed up with Governor Granholm. The woman just does not have the guts to win against a bunch of retrograde conservatives in the State Senate. She was so traumatized by the 2007 budget fight that she has caved entirely and announced that there will no new taxes or fees in 2008.

Meanwhile you have situations like the DNR, which does not have enough money to keep all the state parks open this year. A creative solution has been proposed where the daily entrance fees would be dropped in favor of a $9 fee charged on all Michigan license plates.

It's not mandatory because people can opt out of the fee, but since it's a new charge it doesn't meet Granholm's pledge. An then there's Rep. Joel Sheltrown, chairman of the committee responsible for the DNR who thinks $9 is just way out of line (ignoring the opt out provision.) He would rather play games with allocating sales taxes on sporting goods, as if this money is not already being used elsewhere in the budget.

So it's only February and already we are looking for ways to patch up the state budget, since Lansing didn't get the job done in 2007. This is pathetic