In case you’ve been hiding under a rock and didn’t know it – Election Day is coming up. This Tuesday, November 4th, is Election Day.

Did you know that you can look at your own local ballot online before you go to the polls? Yep, you can be all prepared and read up on all of the politicians and proposals so you don’t waste time in the voting booth trying to figure it all out.

Just go to www.Michigan.gov/Vote and login using either your name, birth date and zip code or your driver’s license number and birth date.

You’ll be able to see your ballot and there is even a nice little map showing you where your local polling place is. How neat is that? Print out your ballot and look it over so you’ll be well prepared come Election Day.

Yes! Not only do we get to exercise our right to vote, but we can quit seeing all of the campaign ads on television.

Seriously, there are a lot of important issues on the ballot around here and across the state. Schools need to make improvements, and officials need to be elected.

Find our where your polling place is and if you are registered at https://services2.sos.state.mi.us/mivote/.

Back in the rosy nearly-post-Engler days in Michigan back in October 2002 there was a debate between Jennifer Granholm and Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus.

When asked whether or not they would raise taxes this was Jennifer Granholm’s response –

I do not want to raise a single tax, except for one – to make sure there is parity between the diesel tax and the gas tax.

I guess Posthumus had Granholm pegged when he responded to her above statement with this –

The question was ‘will you raise taxes?’ and what my opponent said was, ‘I don’t want to raise taxes,’ not, ‘I won’t raise taxes.

Anyone surprised that our taxes are going up in Michigan?

One more thing. This is a quote on the Michigan.gov (official state website mind you) from March 30, 2006 and you can read the entire article at www.Michigan.gov –

Republicans have made their intentions clear: They intend to raise taxes for Michigan families by $800 or gut education, health care, and public safety in order to finance a tax cut for business,” Granholm said.

Our plan was revenue neutral and would not raise taxes on Michigan families nor force draconian cuts in education, health care, and public safety,” Granholm said. “The differences between us are striking.

I would say the difference between Jennifer Granholm at pre-election time and Jennifer Granholm at post-election time are striking as well. Remember when the first President George Bush said “No new taxes!” during his campaign? Just thought I would point out that this isn’t just a Democrat or Republican thing – it’s a politician thing.

I do everything I can to promote the state of Michigan. I have avoided commenting on this whole state budget crisis up to this point, but I can’t take it anymore.

If on October 1, the state of Michigan does indeed have to shutdown our government due to a lack of a workable budget we should recall the entire legislature from the Governor on down the line. Is it or is it not their jobs to avoid a situation such as this?

Did they not know this has been coming for the last several months?

Michigan is on the cusp of becoming a national laughingstock if our elected officials stick their collective heads in the sand and our government is forced to shutdown. In addition to becoming the butt of jokes across the country there are essential services that could possibly stop along with the shutdown.

Need to renew your license at the Secretary of State? Spend a weekend camping at a state park? A shutdown could potentially close numerous departments that will affect a lot of Michigan residents.

We need better answers than simply saying that a tax increase will make things better. What about in a couple of years when property tax revenue goes in the tank due to lower assessment values in the real estate sector because of Michigan’s slumping housing market and mass exodus from the state? Another tax increase?

If our elected officials cannot run the state, why should they keep their jobs? A lot of good hard workers in this state continue to lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Why should we employ legislators who do not do theirs?

I have contacted my state senator regarding this matter, perhaps we all should.

See the article on the Detroit News, Senate Spars over budget

While Gov. Granholm basically calls state legislators cowards if they don’t vote in favor of a tax hike because of the fear of being recalled.

I hope every legislator has the backbone to do what’s right for their districts and what’s right for Michigan, and not just what’s right for their political futures,” Granholm said.

State legislators in some districts are being targeted by the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance with the threat of recall if they vote in favor of raising taxes to solve (temporarily at best) the state’s budget deficit of $1.75 billion.

The real issue here (to me anyway) is the fact that Gov. Granholm and our state legislators have not seen the light and figured out that it would be better to cut back and have a smaller government that is efficient and can run at a lower cost. I can’t believe that they still haven’t figured out that people don’t want higher taxes.

I grow weary of Granholm banging on the fact that the only way to fix our state’s fiscal issues is to squeeze more money out of Michigan residents. Quit panhandling and start coming up with practical solutions please.

Finally.

State lawmakers have a new tax on the table that replaces the SBT which expires December 31, 2007. Lawmakers had to have something put together by July 1 in order for it to take effect for the new fiscal year which begins October 1.

Right now it looks like there will be a tax of just under .8% on gross profits minus purchases of tangible property (anything other than real estate or money – furniture would be tangible property) and a tax on profits just under 5%.

I can live with this. There are a lot more details to work out, but at first glance it does not appear that businesses (like ours, for example) will be hit too hard.

As a business owner, Katherine LaMont, was quoted as saying, “The devil’s going to be in the details.”

It always is.

For more information read the article at the Detroit Free Press.

State lawmakers are looking to cut $500,000 from the budget by cutting back on car washes. The current amount is $700,000 and lawmakers are looking to reduce that to a mere $200,000 for car washes.

Hmm, if they can find a half million here and another million there – maybe they can cut their way to a balanced budget instead of hitting us up for another tax increase. And it seems like only a few weeks ago that we were being told that they had explored all avenues for cutting spending.

Read all about it in the Detroit Free Press.

Daniel Howes’ article on how the Detroit Tigers have a lesson for all of us has inspired me to show what Michigan and its’ leaders could learn from the Tigers.

The Tigers suffered through 12 straight losing seasons. In 2003 they even tied the record for most losses ever in a single season with 119. The players were known throughout baseball to have horrible attitudes and a work ethic to match.

Just three years after their 119 loss season the Detroit Tigers won 95 games in the regular season and made it to the World Series.

How did they rise from the depths of despair and what lesson(s) can Michigan learn from them?

1. Leadership – Owner Mike Ilitch, GM Dave Dombrowski, Manager Jim Leyland, and the players themselves all exhibited excellent leadership skills.
2. Management – Jim Leyland’s no nonsense, grind it out day-to-day, forget yesterday and focus on today management attitude was a large part of their renaissance.
3. Performance – Jim Leyland and the Detroit Tigers players performed well above anyone’s wildest expectations.
4. Jim Leyland’s Mantra – There are NO short cuts – you have to work at it.
5. From the Detroit News (regarding Jim Leyland and his leadership) – “when things go right it’s not all about him and when they don’t, he doesn’t look for the five closest people to throw under the proverbial bus. Sound like any leaders you know — or not?”

Lets compare the 5 winning examples from the Detroit Tigers to Michigan. The part of Jim Leyland will be played by our governor, Jennifer Granholm. The players will be played by our elected legislature.

1. Leadership – Our bipartisan legislature (the players) does their own thing. Our Governor says one thing and then does another. No one wants to put politics aside and create a winning plan for the residents (the fans – sticking with the baseball analogy here). Is it any wonder why the fans (Michigan residents) are leaving the ballpark (Michigan)?
2. Management – Jennifer Granholm could take a lesson from Jim Leyland (whom Tiger fans wanted to vote in for governor last year) and develop a no nonsense “buck stops here” attitude. No more passing the buck and blaming our state’s failures on the Engler administration. You are in your 5th year as Governor of Michigan. Show us something.
3. Performance – We are facing a multi-billion dollar budget deficit in the coming years. Businesses continue to leave and layoff. Here we are at the end of April and the Democrats and Republicans just don’t seem to have a sense of urgency about stopping the bleeding and creating a workable plan that won’t have the burden (tax increases) placed on Michigan residents.
4. No Short Cuts – Rather than really trying to find areas to cut, state lawmakers are proposing tax increases to plug the holes in the budget deficit.
5. “When things go right it’s not all about him and when they don’t, he doesn’t look for the five closest people to throw under the proverbial bus. Sound like any leaders you know — or not?” – No Comment.

The Detroit News is reporting that the two legislators who had at least part of their California trip paid for by Apple are planning on paying Apple back. They want to “end this public perception that something is misguided,” said Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills.”

Um yeah, why did it take public outcry to make you realize how foolish this makes you and the state of Michigan look? I just read in the news today that Gov. Granholm will cut school aid funding as much as $125 per pupil if the legislature doesn’t come up with a way to balance the state budget soon.

Hmm, that’s funny that Granholm is threatening school aid cuts. Look at what she said 2 1/2 weeks ago.

An article in the Detroit Free Press dated March 27, 2007 quotes Granholm as saying -

“I urge you to suit up, jump in, fight like the future of Michigan depends on you,” she said. “They need to hear how it’s going to affect local schools.”

This was in response to state Republicans wanting to cut school aid funding by $34 per pupil to help erase the state’s budget deficit.

She further said –

“For those of you who have already looked your legislators in the eye, I need you to do it again,” she told a group of more than 200 educators gathered at the Lansing Center. “Write letters, send e-mails. The kids need you, the state needs you.”

Where is the anger from Granholm about slashing state aid by up to $125 per pupil?

Still want to spend that $38 million on iPods?

Perhaps we should all write our governor.

Over the weekend I came across an editorial at the Detroit News with the following title – “An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?” That made me curious so I clicked the headline to read the full article.

What I read made me wonder if this was a late April Fool’s joke or something.

From the Detroit News:

We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

The $38 million dollar proposal to outfit “all Michigan students” with iPods or other similar MP3 players is absurd. We are currently facing a $600 million budget deficit this year and a $2.1 Billion deficit next year.

Here is what Michigan Democrats want to do:

• Increase our taxes
• Cut business taxes
• Release 2,400 inmates from our prison system
• Tax businesses that do business in Michigan but do not have a location in Michigan
• Spend $100 million to improve downtowns
• Spend $38 million so kids can have iPods

Now I don’t know about all of the school systems in Michigan, but a couple of the local ones here have leaky roofs, 30+ year old heating systems, 20 year old textbooks, and have overcrowded classrooms.

Do you think those kids would rather have textbooks that are current and decent classroom space that you don’t freeze or get soaked in or snazzy iPods that can be used for “educational” purposes. Sure some of the kids will choose the iPod, but you would have a hard time convincing me that it would be filled with “educational” items.

I am tired of hearing about how our state government has to raise taxes to balance the budget because they have cut everything they can only to see that they want to do the same old “tax and spend” garbage as always. If Michigan is ever going to make it out of this recession we need to let our legislature know what we do or don’t want and have them listen to us or elect representatives who have a better handle on how to fix our broke state.

We are selling the t-shirts below for $16 with 50% of the profits being donated to the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Make a statement and raise some funds so that the hungry in Michigan can be fed even if they don’t have an iPod.

To buy a shirt just click the t-shirt image to arrive at our Goodstorm store.

UPDATE:

My jaw still smarts from when it hit my desk the other day after reading the article mentioned above. Then, I was browsing over at the Detroit Free Press and I see that Apple, maker of the iPod, paid for at least part of a trip for the two Michigan lawmakers sponsoring the bill to come visit Apple in northern California.

The lawmakers visited other sites and hit other topics such as the wine industry. It just seems interesting that they made this trip and visited with Apple earlier this year and now they are sponsoring a bill to put $36 million in Apple’s bank account so kids in Michigan can use iPods to help their learning experience.