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All Things Michigan

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Filtering by Category: Political News

Hey, Michigan lawmakers are searching for other areas to cut

Andrew Norton

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.

The state of Michigan should learn from the Detroit Tigers

Andrew Norton

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.

Michigan legislators will pay Apple back for 'free' ride

Andrew Norton

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.

You won't believe what Michigan Democrats want to do now!

Andrew Norton

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. Just Fix it

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.

Granholm faces angry audience at Southfield town hall meeting

Andrew Norton

In case you didn't know, Jennifer Granholm is touring the state this week holding town hall meetings so she can find out what Michigan residents are saying and thinking about our state's economy. Just as she is kicking off the town hall meeting week Comerica announces that they are moving their headquarters out of Michigan and down to Texas. Ouch. Talk about unlucky timing.

Well, it is no surprise that Granholm faced some angry (and justifiably so) folks in Southfield. She can expect plenty more of those at all of her other stops across the state.

Here are some of the comments dealt to her (via the Detroit Free Press):

"Why don't you use your emergency powers to declare a state of economic disaster?" asked Jerry Goldberg, 56, a Detroiter who belongs to an activist group that wants the state to step in to stop foreclosures, utility shutoffs and other bad news for residents.

Leticia Hall, a 30-year-old mother of two from Detroit who said she has been out of work for six months, said she wants a job or at least some help when her unemployment checks end next month.

It is also no surprise that most people are not happy about Governor Granholm's proposal of fixing Michigan's budget crisis - raising taxes. Who wants more taken out of their pocket when they are already feeling pinched?

Don't forget that you can vent your frustrations and place your vote on Jennifer Granholm's job performance as Governor of Michigan at www.squidoo.com/bestofmichigan/. So far a few votes have been cast and the overwhelming majority is "Throw her out before things get worse."

Place your vote on Governor Jennifer Granholm's job performance

Andrew Norton

I have added a new poll to my Squidoo Lens - Best of Michigan that asks a simple question. Has Jennifer Granholm done a good job running our state? You have two choices - either yes or no. None of that "undecided" garbage that a typical poll contains.

Vote today at www.squidoo.com/bestofmichigan.