Michigan's House Approves Minimum Wage Hike

The minimum wage hike that the state Senate passed last week is now on its way to Governor Granholm's desk waiting for a signature. The bill was approved with about half of the votes against it coming from Republicans. The votes against it were most likely those who were speaking out against the bill for small businesses. Small businesses are those who have been the most vocal agains the $1.80 hike in the minimum wage that will go into effect October 1, 2006. This wage hike is long overdue and in the end, the pluses will far outweigh any negatives that are currently being perceived.

Read the full story in the Lansing State Journal.

Beware of the Coast Guard's Big Guns

Due to its absorption into the Department of Homeland Security the U.S. Coast Guard has additional responsibilities these days. No longer just involved in search and rescue missions or ice-breaking duties, the Coast Guard must now protect our water-lined borders from terrorists and drug/migrant smuggling. To enforce their position the Coast Guard has added M240 mounted machine guns that are capable of firing 600 rounds per minute. Read all about it in the Traverse City Record Eagle.

Why is Our State Legislature so Expensive?

I read this article over the weekend in the Detroit News and I specifically declined to comment on it. I just did not want to get everyone upset on a Monday morning. The problem, is that since I first read the article it has blitzed across the AP Wire and keeps popping up in every paper or website I visit. The main point of the article is that our state legislature is extremely expensive when you look at the number of members versus the annual cost of $100.4 million. 21 states have a larger legislative body than Michigan yet we are No. 6 in the nation as far as cost. Legislators have not increased their pay since 2001-2002 (how kind of them) and their salaries are currently $79,650. In addition to that base pay they also receive $12,000 for meals, lodging, and other expenses because, hey, you can't afford to pay for stuff like that when you only make $79,650 a year.

Our state lawmakers are regarded as a full-time legislature, but the House only met 110 times last year and the Senate met 113. A quick calculation of an average work year for an employee came up with 250 working days in a year. That is 50 weeks (figuring two weeks vacation) times 5 days per week (a lot of folks work more than just 5 days a week) to come up with a ballpark figure of 250 working days per year. Our state legislature works less than half of that and makes full-time money.

Anyone getting angry yet? Just like any good infomercial - wait there's more! Lawmakers say that a lot of work gets done outside of the actual legislative sessions. Well, a lot of time is spent on raising campaign funds anyway. The House and Senate members raised about $5.3 million last year.

So, while the state's economy bumbles along and companies (that want to stay in business) cut costs and employees, our state legislature works part-time at passing legislation for much more than they should be paid. Thank goodness that any future pay raises must be put before the residents of Michigan in a general election. If the legislature is ever stupid enough to put that on the ballot they ought to be ridden out of town on a rail.

Well, that is about all of the politics I can stand this morning. I just want to ask one more question. Does our state government exist to serve the people or do “we the people” serve the government?

Detroit Receives Invitation to Bid for 2008 GOP Convention

Detroit was among 31 cities that received invitations to bid for the GOP Convention in 2008. Detroit last played host to the GOP Convention in 1980 when it saw Ronald Reagan become nominated as the Republican candidate for president. So, if you are thinking that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will not place a bid simply because he is a Democrat, think again. It was Democratic Mayor Coleman Young who helped host Ronald Reagan and the GOP Convention in 1980. It will be interesting to see what (if any) response Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will give.

The Democrats also have Detroit on their short list of about a dozen cities to host their 2008 convention. Hopefully this is a sign that after hosting the recent Super Bowl and baseball All-Star game the nation is realizing what a great place Detroit and Michigan is to host major events. I hope that it is not a political maneuver from both parties to play to the large number of African-American voters residing in Detroit and instead because they know that Detroit can host major events without a glich.

Catch the Detroit News article - GOP invites Detroit bid for '08 convention - 02/16/06 - The Detroit News

Granholm Leads DeVos in Recent Poll

Governor Jennifer Granholm currently leads her challenger Dick DeVos in a recent poll. Granholm garnered 53% to Devos' 36% with the remaining 11% undecided. The survey of 600 likely Michigan voters occurred Jan. 15-25 and has an error rate of +/- 4%. AP News from the Traverse City Record-Eagle