651 Days until election day.
Today we head up to Midland for our latest “Listen and Learn” session and then end the evening with the President’s State of the Union address to the American people.
We were hit with some bad news yesterday as Pfizer announced it was closing it’s research part in Ann Arbor and Michigan would be losing over 2,400 good paying jobs. Clearly there is no one specific issue, cost or policy that caused this to happen, but this Governor has continued to spend beyond our means, call for additional tax increases, support the House Democrats and Trial Lawyers desire to roll back tort reform and promotes permitting and licensing processes that are not “job provider” friendly.
Sorry Governor…you can’t blame this one on the auto industry or China?!?
Follow the rhetoric coming from the Governor’s office…she takes credit for creating any job, but all the job loses Michigan has had are not her fault or the fault of poor public policy. The election is over…the Governor is term limited out…this is not about her re-election…this is all about good public policy that will help turn Michigan around.
The amount of spending in real dollars of state government continues to go up. We spent more this last year than the year before and have continued to spend more every year under Governor Granholm. In fact, this Governor has ignored the constitutional requirement to spend within the state’s budget, secretly creating a deficit and not announcing it until after the election…now that’s pure politics. Michigan has a constitutional requirement to live within a balanced budget.
Pfizer like Google is nothing more than a symbol of what is happening in Michigan. This Governor’s policy is to provide corporate welfare and/or incentives to attract individual businesses while not addressing the core of the problem…creating a job provider business climate that can compete with Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin let alone India, China and Mexico. The Governor likes to remind us that “the world is flat” but apparently thinks Michigan can hide under some rock?
Taxes, big government, excessive spending, special deals for friendly unions, double dipping state employees and an unfriendly regulatory environment continues to leave Michigan in a single state recession and the rest of the United States enjoys some of the lowest unemployment rates ever with over 7 million new jobs created over the last 4 years.
The time has come for real leadership. The Governor was re-elected by the people of Michigan and given a Democratic House. Instead of looking for cover and/or acting surprised, let’s get going.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/BIZ/701230360
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Pfizer stuns Mich. with huge job cuts
Sofia Kosmetatos / The Detroit News
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. announced Monday it will shutter its massive research and development facility in Ann Arbor and cut 2,410 jobs in Michigan by the end of 2008 as it retrenches in the face of fierce competition from generic drug makers.
Michigan took the brunt of Pfizer's decision to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide, which will save up to $2 billion a year. Pfizer also plans to close research facilities in Plymouth Township and Kalamazoo.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION01/701230328/1069
Pfizer cuts hit state where it hurts
January 23, 2007
Michigan sure didn't need the bad news that Pfizer Corp. will shutter its Ann Arbor research lab and make cutbacks in Kalamazoo, costing the state about 2,400 jobs.
The numbers would cause shudders on their own, but job loss resonates profoundly because the state has focused on building life sciences and leveraging action among universities, corporations and entrepreneurs, and public and private investment. The biomedical field has cast one small ray of hope amid auto industry cuts and the exit of other factory jobs.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/COL06/701230400
Granholm must redouble job efforts
January 23, 2007
At 4:47 p.m. Friday, an ominous entry appeared on Gov. Jennifer Granholm's calendar.
Jeffrey Kindler, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc., wanted to schedule a phone call with her Monday morning. It was set for 10:30.
Granholm surmised that it would not be good news. She was aware that the pharmaceutical giant had whacked 20% of its U.S. sales force two months ago and was trying to cut costs by $2 billion a year. She assumed that Michigan, with a big research complex in Ann Arbor and a cluster of research and manufacturing workers in Kalamazoo, would feel some pain.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/UPDATE/701220407
Monday, January 22, 2007
Granholm: Pfizer downsizing "a punch to the gut"
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
Michigan's governor said she had no advance warning of the Pfizer downsizing that will pull some 2,400 jobs from the state's economy and called today's announcement "a punch to the gut."
"I don't think there is any sugar coating it; it's another blow to a state that's already reeling," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who held a press conference at the student union on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. She was joined by U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje and other community leaders.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/BUSINESS06/701230386/1019
THE POLITICAL EFFECT
Granholm: Nothing could've been done
She hopes to keep those who lost jobs from leaving state
January 23, 2007
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Monday that Pfizer officials told her there was nothing she or state government could have done to affect the company's decision to bail on Michigan.
Granholm said she believed them and agreed with them.
"This is still a technology state not a rust belt state," Granholm said, promising to try to convince Pfizer's talented workers to remain in Michigan. "This has nothing to do with us being an expensive place to do business."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/BUSINESS06/701230371/1069
Pfizer's 2,410 job cuts shock Michigan
January 23, 2007
Feeling ambushed by the latest blow to Michigan's economy, state and local leaders scrambled Monday to bounce back from Pfizer Inc.'s surprise decision to eliminate 2,410 jobs in Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo and Plymouth Township.
Michigan is no stranger to job loss, but this one stung particularly hard because the high-paying positions are the kind not dependent on the auto industry that the state is trying to attract. Leaders saw no easy fix but believe the pieces are in place for the life-sciences industry to rally in Michigan despite Pfizer's cuts.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/BIZ/701230359
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
BITTER PILL
Move hurts state's effort to broaden its economy
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
ANN ARBOR -- It was the last thing Michigan needed.
The blow came Monday from drug giant Pfizer Inc., supposedly a bright light in the state's staggering economy, proof that the Great Lakes State has a future beyond automobiles.
The high-tech, high-paying jobs Pfizer packed into its sprawling campus near the University of Michigan were sorely needed in a state with one of the nation's worst jobless rates. Now they'll be gone by the end of next year.
Beyond that, the credibility the blue-chip company brought to a Rust Belt state trying to go high-tech had immeasurable value -- quantified by one economist as the state's equivalent of a Macy's or Neiman Marcus anchoring a shopping mall.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/BIZ/701230361
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Pfizer loss is 'big blow' to Ann Arbor
Ripple effect will rock the region, state
Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News
For the past few years, Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County has been the oasis of Michigan's parched economy.
On Monday, the oasis got a little drier.
Pfizer Inc.'s announcement that it would close its massive research and development center in Ann Arbor was a rare dose of bad news for an area that had largely avoided the economic malaise afflicting the rest of the state.
The research center, which employs 2,100 people and is the city's biggest taxpayer, is scheduled to be shuttered within two years.
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1169480440182920.xml&coll=2
Pfizer to close here
Ann Arbor campus to be shut down within 18 months
Monday, January 22, 2007
From News staff and wire reports
Pfizer Inc. today said it plans to close its Ann Arbor facilities by the end of 2008, part of the pharmaceutical company's overall downsizing of its research and development operations.
The world's largest drug company plans to transfer "a substantial'' number of its 2,100 Ann Arbor employees to other Pfizer locations, up to 70 percent, according to David Canter, senior vice president and site director for its Michigan laboratories. Also closing is the Esperion site, which employs 60.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1169482981300670.xml&coll=7
Pfizer closes Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor research sites
Saturday, January 22, 2007
Gazette Staff and Wire Reports
Pfizer Inc. said Monday it will close its research-and-development facilities in Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor, affecting thousands of jobs.
Research facilities in Nagoya, Japan, and Amboise, France also will be shuttered as part of a plan to cut costs by up to $2 billion per year, Jeffrey B. Kindler, Pfizer's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
About 10,000 jobs will be lost.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/business/23react.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Shutting Doors Where a Drug-Making Giant Began
By ANN FARMER and NICK BUNKLEY
Published: January 23, 2007
It was far less of a relief in Michigan, where news that Pfizer will eliminate about 2,400 jobs there stunned a state already suffering through the worst stretch of the job losses since the Depression. Over the last six years, Michigan has lost more than 200,000 factory jobs, mostly in the automotive industry, and Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has been campaigning to restructure the economy around high-technology fields like life sciences.
Besides hindering that effort, Pfizer’s actions are an unexpected setback for Ann Arbor, which is less than an hour’s drive from Detroit but had managed to avoid much of the turmoil. Google recently opened an office in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, and eventually plans to employ 1,000 people.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION03/701230357
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Howes: Diversifying our economy isn't painless
N obody said moving Michigan from its manufacturing roots to the new knowledge economy would be easy.
And if they did, Pfizer Inc.'s announcement Monday that the global pharmaceutical maker would close research facilities in Ann Arbor, Plymouth and Kalamazoo, eliminating 2,410 jobs, exposes the boast as one big, fat lie.
There are no guarantees anymore -- not in the life sciences and high-tech biz targeted by Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 21st-Century Jobs Fund, not in landing the likes of Google, and certainly not in the massive employment machine that was Detroit's automotive stronghold.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/OPINION01/701220314/1008
Monday, January 22, 2007
Attack on drug companies will send jobs out of state
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow has long had the pharmaceutical industry in her sights and, with the shift in power in Congress, now has the support she needs to attack.
That doesn't bode well for the more than 12,000 people who work for the pharmaceutical industry in Michigan.
As a member of the Finance Committee, Stabenow can wield influence over Medicare and Medicaid policies and help shape regulations that affect everything from the research and development of new drugs to how companies advertise and sell their products.
http://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-8/116949480988800.xml&coll=1
Craftworkers carve growing niche in state's economy
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
By Meegan Holland
Lansing Bureau
Dave Kober carves extraordinary fish decoys. Edmund Whitepigeon passes on his basket-making technique to his daughter-in-law. And Edna Harbison sells her hand-sewn quilts at her Ontonagon store.
What do these people have in common? They are part of the rich heritage of an under-the-radar group of Michiganians: craftworkers.
From the state's 35 weaving guilds to an East Lansing-based store that is the nation's leading seller of a high-end Swedish sewing machine, craft production is big business, according to a study released today by Michigan State University Museum and the state Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL). Study authors think there could be tens of thousands of crafters in Michigan.
http://www.sturgisjournal.com/articles/2007/01/21/news/doc45b41d46467e6619676084.txt
Business leaders review SBT replacement
By Maribeth Holtz
Sturgis Journal
Published: Sunday, January 21, 2007 8:07 PM CST
Michigan’s hot economic debate was brought close to home for local business owners and city officials Friday.
The St. Joseph County Economic Development Corporation’s annual meeting featured a panel discussion by local politicians and state-wide economic analysts. The top discussion: replacing Michigan’s single business tax.
“With its elimination set for Dec. 31, we’ve got to come up with some business tax that will improve Michigan’s climate,” said moderator Michael Chevy Castranova, editor of “Business Review.”
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS06/701230340/1008
House Dems focus on education, health care
January 23, 2007
LANSING -- The new Democratic majority in the Michigan House of Representatives pledged a commitment to educational opportunity, affordable and accessible health care and environmental protection in a 2007 agenda announced Monday at the Capitol.
But members of the 58-member caucus, the first Democratic majority in the House since 1998, offered scant details on how they'd achieve the goals or who would pay for them.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/UPDATE/701220409
Monday, January 22, 2007
State Dems seek health care, garbage, campaign reforms
Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News
LANSING -- House Democrats said Monday they plan to push for a catastrophic health care fund, a moratorium on landfill expansions and personal financial disclosure rules for state candidates as part of their new plan for Michigan.
Democrats, who seized control of the state House by a 58-52 majority in November's election, unveiled their legislative agenda in a series of announcements in major cities.
Their priority list is laced with measures Democrats had been unable to pass while both legislative chambers were under Republican control. Prospects for most of the measures still are uncertain, since Republicans hold a 21-17 Senate majority.
Dems don't ignore budget, but discuss other priorities
1/22/2007, 6:44 p.m. ET
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democrats in the state House, while acknowledging the state's budget concerns, swung across the state Monday to try and build momentum for some of their other 2007-08 legislative priorities.
Among them: health care costs, increasing access to education and addressing the state's energy supply.
Democrats have a 58-52 edge over Republicans in the state House, the first time Democrats have been in power in the chamber since the late 1990s. Republicans remain in the majority in the state Senate.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION01/701230312/1008
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Editorial: Leadership, better teaching lead to impressive results
Michigan's seventh- and eighth-graders' math and reading achievement leapt ahead this year, according to new test scores released over the weekend. It's sunny news in an otherwise gloomy educational outlook. The results show that appropriate teaching can lead to significant improvement.
The percentage of seventh- and eight-graders passing math rose by almost five points from last year, the new Michigan Educational Assessment Program test results show. In reading, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders posted gains of nearly four points.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS08/701230405/1003/NEWS01
Barbara Wilson: Retired Detroit educator inspired students to excel
January 23, 2007
Barbara Wilson, a longtime educator and administrator with Detroit Public Schools, died last week at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit of complications from a stroke. A lifelong resident of Detroit, she was 78.
During a career that spanned more than three decades, Ms. Wilson was an art instructor at the elementary and high school levels, served as assistant director of educational broadcasting and was instrumental in establishing the media center at the Golightly Education Center. She retired in 1988.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS05/701230355/1007
Wayne Co. kids gain on MEAP
Math teachers' changes credited for better scores
January 23, 2007
They typically score below their peers around the state, but this year, Wayne County students narrowed the gap on the MEAP math test, thanks to improved teaching methods.
"This is good news for us. We've got some districts that are working really hard," said Libby Trenkle, a math consultant for Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency, the county's intermediate school district.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-34/1169480712204430.xml&coll=6
Area MEAP scores jump
Monday, January 22, 2007
By Dave Murray and Beth Loechler
The Grand Rapids Press
Area educators say they are cheering today's release of MEAP scores, with districts including Grand Rapids, Wyoming and Holland reporting rising scores.
The state Education Department posted results for reading, writing and math tests for third- through eighth-graders.
Statewide, math scores improved at every grade level, ranging from 88 percent of students passing in third grade to 64 percent in seventh grade.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/SCHOOLS/701230356
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
MEAP writing scores lag: Why can't kids do better?
Jennifer Mrozowski, Mike Wilkinson and Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News
The state plans to lengthen the writing portion of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test this fall to better gauge student performance in an area that seems to give them the most trouble.
Nearly every school district in the state saw elementary writing scores -- already well below math and reading scores -- drop even more on the just-released fall MEAP results.
The poor pass rate in writing in many districts may reveal an education blind spot that has worried some education experts for years. They caution that students who never learn to write well will have limited job opportunities.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/701230417/1003
School closings plan worries parents
January 23, 2007
Nearly 400 parents, teachers and residents turned out at King High School in Detroit on Monday night for the first scheduled community forum about the Detroit Public Schools' plan to close more than 40 schools during the next two years.
DPS officials, including Superintendent William F. Coleman III and school board member Carla Scott, explained the plan they said could save $19 million a year.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS05/701230380/1007
closer look
No surprise: Mich. roads in bad shape
January 23, 2007
This will come as no surprise to Michigan drivers, but the state doesn't fare well nationally when it comes to the conditions of its freeways and major roads, according to a study released Monday.
While the national average of urban interstates in good condition was 56%, only 41% of Michigan's urban interstates got a good rating in the study by the East Lansing-based consulting firm Anderson Economic Group.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1169480744204270.xml&coll=8
Surprise! Michigan gas prices lowest
Monday, January 22, 2007
Maybe it's a secret plot to boost lagging sales of Detroit's big-engine trucks and SUVs.
Maybe not.
But Detroit led the nation in something positive over the weekend: Low gas prices. The average price of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.897.
Statewide, the average was $1.95 statewide Sunday, according to AAA Michigan. It's the lowest statewide average since March 2005.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/COL03/701230315/1003/NEWS01
Let's not forget war on poverty
January 23, 2007
Earlier this month, an estimated 5,000 demonstrators marched in New Orleans, calling attention to nine homicides in the first 10 days of the new year. Mayor Ray Nagin has offered a plan to address the crime wave by putting more cops on the streets, but that's too late for Detroiter Thomas Rogan, 28, who was killed there in October.
"We saw Tommy for two weeks at a family reunion in July," said his mother, Helen Hill. "It felt like God was saying to us, 'Enjoy him, he'll be with me soon.' "
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION01/701230363/1008
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Opinion: Let's forgive Abraham and then stand up to prevent violent crime
Ron Stefanski
T en years have come and gone, and Nathaniel Abraham has grown up. His release from custody last week prompts us to ask questions again.
Is it possible to forgive someone who doesn't express remorse? Are juveniles who are messed up enough to rape or murder ever rehabilitated?
We must remember that forgiveness is the grace we accord the victims left behind. It is a conscious act to preserve our lost loved one's memory and rebuilds our lives. It is not intended for the perpetrator.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION01/701230310/1008
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Editorial: It's time to reform state sex offender list
People shouldn't be placed on registry through 'catchall' phrase
T here are real questions about whether Michigan's sex offender registry is either fair or effective. But at the very least, being placed on the registry for 25 years ought to require a conviction of a sex crime.
A former Benton Harbor school teacher has had his name placed on the state's sex offender list even though he hasn't been convicted of a sex crime.
Teacher Thomas Golba was charged with unauthorized use of a school computer and receiving child abusive materials. He denied the charges. He was convicted of unauthorized use of a computer, but the jury couldn't reach a verdict on the sex crime, resulting in a mistrial.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS05/701230376/1007
MICHIGAN CASE
Highest court allows inmates to sue
January 23, 2007
Three prisoners who sued the Michigan Department of Corrections for alleged mistreatment will get another day in court, thanks to a ruling Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a unanimous decision, the court reversed lower court rulings that dismissed the prisoners' suits because they hadn't used all the prison administrative grievance procedures.
Granholm names 2 to Board of State Canvassers
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday named a new Republican to the Board of State Canvassers and reappointed a Democrat who has been on the board the past six months.
Shelly Edgerton of Plainwell will represent Republicans on the bipartisan board starting Feb. 1. She replaces Katherine DeGrow, whose term expires at the end of this month. Edgerton is deputy Senate majority counsel for the Michigan Senate Majority Policy Office.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION03/701230351/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Laura Berman
Power of sister's love helps pass new law
S heryl Silver remembers this week in January, 10 years ago. Her older sister, Johanna Silver Gordon, a Southfield teacher, then 54, had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Silver, a freelance editor and writer, was baffled, angry and astonished by the decline of her sister -- playing tennis on Saturday, hospitalized and terminally ill three days later.
Something could have been done, she believed. And then, doing research, she knew.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS06/701230419/1008
2 from Band of Brothers die in Iraq
January 23, 2007
Two Marines in the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, profiled by the Free Press as Michigan's Band of Brothers, have died in fighting in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday.
Lance Cpl. Luis J. Castillo of Lawton in Van Buren County died Saturday from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Anbar province. Lawton is about 25 miles southwest of Kalamazoo.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200236.html
Bush To Face Skeptical Congress
Iraq Overshadows Domestic Outreach
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A01
President Bush plans to reach out to the opposition in his State of the Union address tonight with new and recycled proposals on health care, energy, immigration and education, but the uproar over his decision to send more U.S. troops to Iraq has eclipsed potential consensus on domestic policy.
As he addresses a Congress controlled entirely by Democrats for the first time since he took office, Bush faces deep skepticism inside the chamber, even within the House Republican leadership, which yesterday made proposals intended "to hold the Bush administration . . . accountable" for the progress of his latest Iraq plan.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STATE_OF_UNION?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 23, 5:58 AM EST
Bush speech to showcase domestic issues
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Delivering his first State of the Union address to a Democratic-controlled Congress, President Bush hopes to balance a rebuke of his Iraq policy already promised by lawmakers with a high-profile invitation to cooperate on vexing domestic problems.
In Tuesday night's speech before a joint session of Congress, Bush plans to dangle ideas - some new, some recycled - on reducing America's oil dependence and making health care more available, among others. Aware that 2008 presidential contenders and new Democratic leaders present fierce competition for headlines, the president has a much-abbreviated topic list in an attempt to capture the public's attention.
Jan 23, 3:06 AM EST
Democrats frame State of Union response
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Emboldened congressional Democrats are doing their best to drown out President Bush's State of the Union speech with two themes: Sending more troops to Iraq is not a new strategy, and the president and his Republican allies are no longer solely in charge of national policy.
"I don't particularly view this surge program as a change in strategy at all," said freshman Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, the Vietnam veteran chosen to deliver his party's response to Bush's speech Tuesday night.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009564
'Words That Work'
Democrats would love to have Republican pollster Frank Luntz on their side. Now we can see why.
BY CLARK S. JUDGE
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
A few weeks after President Reagan delivered his 1988 State of the Union address, Dick Wirthlin, the president's pollster, met with the White House speechwriting staff, of which I was a member. In the first and only presentation of its kind to Reagan's writers, Dick shared the results of a new polling technique: pulse, or dial, testing.
Forty or 50 randomly selected voters had been assembled to watch the State of the Union address. Each was given an electronic response device. Twisting the dial to zero meant that the listener hated what was being said and 10 that he couldn't get enough of it, with the numbers in between registering gradations of response. Results were averaged and appeared as a temperature chart line over a linear printout of the text.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/16520634.htm
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
Brownback finds plenty of supporters at march against abortion
By Matt Stearns
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Thousands of people marched against abortion here Monday. More than a few of them also marched for Sam Brownback.
Brownback, the conservative Kansas Republican senator, announced his bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination Saturday in his home state. Monday's march was his first major public appearance since.
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=32082
MITT ROMNEY IN ISRAEL
Monday, January 22, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com
Mitt Romney is attending a conference in Herzliya Israel, the topic of discussion will be Israel’s national security. Also in attendance will be former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former CIA director James Woolsey, and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. -Flame Of Freedom
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/22/activist_rains_on_romneys_parade/
Activist rains on Romney's parade
Says the candidate is not conservative
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | January 22, 2007
It was 4 a.m. Brian Camenker , 53, a computer programmer, sat at his kitchen table in Newton, hunched over his Toshiba laptop. Strewn around him were papers detailing former governor Mitt Romney's alleged ties to gay youth conferences, gay judges, and abortion rights activists.
The documents, mostly printouts of news stories, represented weeks of work by Camenker and a few volunteers who had searched the Internet for material to disprove Romney's assertions that he is a conservative. Now, the results glowed on the screen in front of him, compiled into a 10,000-word dossier, "The Mitt Romney Deception."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201303.html
Clinton Dives in Media Waters
Effort to 'Humanize' Presidential Hopeful Fast Underway
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A02
With a call to "let the conversation begin," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) fielded a handful of pre-selected questions from voters on her presidential campaign's Web site last night, speaking into a video camera as she held forth on movies ("Out of Africa" makes her top three), her football-fanatic brothers and her "nice middle-class upbringing in a suburb of Chicago."
The effort to "humanize" Clinton, as her advisers have put it, was in full swing just two days into her presidential campaign.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/elections/16520168.htm
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
Clinton to bypass public funds for bid
MARC HUMBERT
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. - White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will not accept public campaign financing for either the Democratic primaries or, if she wins the nomination, the general election campaign.
Clinton's decision had been widely expected given her and her husband's proven ability to raise vast sums of money quickly. Her advisers have not disputed estimates that she will raise $100 million or more before the year is out.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009565
Hillary Takes a Pass
How campaign finance spending limits help the rich and famous.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
Congratulations to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for acknowledging right from the start that she won't accept public money for her White House bid. Now if she'd only admit how much the current fund-raising rules hurt her competitors.
Top-tier or wealthy candidates have been forgoing public financing for the Presidential primaries for some time because it limits their spending ability. Steve Forbes shunned it in 1996, as did he and George W. Bush in 2000. Howard Dean, John Kerry and President Bush all refused public funds in the 2004 primaries. But now Senator Clinton says that if she wins the Democratic nomination, she will be the first to forgo taxpayer funding in the general election as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201304.html
Clinton Bid Heralds Demise of Public Financing
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A01
The public financing system designed to clean up presidential campaigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal may have died on Saturday when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced her bid for the White House.
Little noticed amid the announcement rollout was a page on her Web site in which she asked potential contributors to give her campaign checks of up to $4,200. That figure signaled not only that she plans to forgo public funds for primary season but also that, if she becomes the nominee, she will not take public money for the general election.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/01/22/BL2007012200260.html
Hillary, Obama and Anonymous Sources
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 22, 2007; 7:38 AM
Days after Barack Obama jumped into the presidential sweepstakes, he was hit with a thinly sourced story from his past--39 years in his past, to be exact.
The allegation, by a conservative magazine, raised questions about whether the Illinois senator had been schooled in Islamic radicalism when he was all of 6 years old.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14469
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Hillary Could Defeat McCain, Giuliani in 2008
January 23, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton leads two prospective Republican presidential nominees in the United States, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 50 per cent of respondents would vote for the New York senator in 2008, while 45 per cent would support Arizona senator John McCain.
In a contest pitting Rodham Clinton against former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Democrat holds a two-point advantage. Illinois senator Barack Obama leads McCain by two points, but trails Giuliani by four points.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0123/p09s02-codc.html
January 23, 2007
Obama-mania may backfire
He holds the promise of being able to shake up Washington. But key tests loom.
By Dante ChinniWASHINGTON - Unless you were stranded on a desert island last week, you probably know that Sen. Barack Obama (D) of Illinois announced he is officially considering possibly running for president in an election almost two years away.
It wasn't exactly a shocking development, but it made big headlines. Last Tuesday, the day Senator Obama posted the video on his website announcing that he had created an exploratory committee – his intention to consider his intentions – cable news spent much of the day discussing the announcement.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-1/116948375212800.xml&coll=3
The stem-cell debate
Monday, January 22, 2007
Just as U.S. House members prepared to debate and approve broad federal funding of stem-cell research, the White House issued a position paper reiterating -- and updating -- its opposition. But no new compilation of data changes two critical facts in the matter: President Bush has curbed the most promising avenue of this critically important research, and he has done so by drawing a moral line in the sand that most Americans -- nearly three-quarters of them -- reject.
Not that the Domestic Policy Council's paper doesn't try. It assumes that Bush's 2001 funding limitations and subsequent veto of a bill to reverse them somehow created a "balanced" policy -- i.e., that it avoids supporting the destruction of embryos for research, which it deems morally wrong, and yet allows funding for research on a few lines of cells that existed in 2001, plus research on other types of stem cells. Bush's policy, however, is anything but balanced; it is both radical and disingenuous.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200559.html
Abortion Foes to Renew Efforts
Activists Rally on Mall, Vow to Keep Pressure on Congress
By Michael Alison Chandler and Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A10
Tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched through melting snow on the Mall yesterday and vowed to work harder -- since Democrats have taken control of the Capitol -- to overturn the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973.
Demonstrators' hopes were buoyed a year ago at the annual March for Life by two new appointments to the Supreme Court. Now, with Democrats in power in both houses of Congress, abortion foes find themselves without allies in some key positions for the first time in more than a decade.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201648.html
President to Propose Shifting Health Funds to States
By Christopher Lee and Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 22, 2007; 11:58 PM
The best solutions to the problem of nearly 47 million Americans lacking health insurance are to be found in states across the country, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Monday.
President Bush will propose in his State of the Union address tonight, Leavitt said, that the federal government redirect some money from programs such as Medicaid and Medicare into a new grant program to help states devise and implement plans ensuring access to affordable health insurance.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_HEALTH_TAXES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 22, 9:50 PM EST
Bush insurance plan gets cold reception
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's proposed tax deduction for health insurance appears to be shaping up as a tough sell in the Democratic Congress.
Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., said Monday that the tax changes, which Bush will promote in Tuesday night's State of the Union address, would encourage employers to stop providing health insurance.
"Under the guise of tax breaks, the president is pursuing a policy designed to destroy the employer-based health care system through which 160 million people receive coverage," the lawmaker said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201229.html
A Healthy Initiative
Tax the rich to help others buy health insurance? That's what Mr. Bush proposes.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A16
THIS TIME last year, President Bush's main health policy proposal was to expand tax-sheltered health savings accounts. In the days leading up to tonight's State of the Union address, he has signaled a welcome shift in policy. Expanded tax shelters for health savings accounts would have drained billions of dollars from the budget, and the shelters would have mainly benefited the affluent. Their legitimate goals -- to correct the tax bias against people who don't work for big companies and to discipline health costs -- would be far better advanced by Mr. Bush's new initiative, which is budget-neutral and progressive.
At present, people who get health insurance from employers pay no tax on the value of the benefit. Someone with a marginal tax rate of 35 percent and a generous insurance policy worth $20,000 a year gets a $7,000 tax break. But people who buy insurance on the individual market must usually do so with post-tax dollars, so their tax break is normally zero. The administration proposes to eliminate that unfairness by giving salaried workers and freelancers the same tax deduction.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-1/116948374212800.xml&coll=3
Conrad right on target
Monday, January 22, 2007
Federal budget deficits have dipped in recent years, but an aging population and rising health-care costs could bankrupt the government in another generation unless Congress makes fundamental changes soon to federal policies.
Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad deserves credit for coming to grips with this politically thankless imperative when most members of Congress won't.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LINE_ITEM_VETO?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 22, 9:52 PM EST
Analysis: Dems oppose modest veto plan
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is moving toward its first vote in more than a decade on the line-item veto, and it's remarkable how much has changed - particularly the positions of many of the major players.
At issue is a watered-down GOP measure that would allow a president to scrutinize spending bills he signs into law for questionable items and then submit cuts, or rescissions, to Congress for a vote. Unlike the current system, Congress couldn't simply ignore the cuts - if both Houses voted to approve them, they'd go into effect.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201508.html
Internal Rifts Cloud Democrats' Opportunity on Warming
By Juliet Eilperin and Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A01
The House Democrats had not quite finished their "100 hours" agenda when they met in the Capitol basement Thursday morning, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was already looking ahead. As her colleagues ate bagels and turkey sausage, she warned that their next challenge would be a lot tougher than popular issues such as student loans and ethics reforms. For her next act, she planned to take on global warming.
Democrats, she explained, had to show a sense of urgency about the carbon emissions that threaten the planet, and so she was creating a select committee on energy independence and climate change to communicate that urgency. The new committee, she said, would help the caucus speak with one voice -- even if it trampled the turf of existing committees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201306.html
Ethanol Production Booming on Demand
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A06
The energy agenda in Washington has been long dominated by oil interests, but in a reversal of political fortunes, these days it is Big Oil fighting to preserve its tax incentives and the ethanol industry that is adding new ones.
President Bush may up the ante tonight in his State of the Union address, many analysts think, by setting new targets for ethanol use or encouraging automakers to shift to engines capable of handling E85, a fuel that is 85 percent ethanol.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK_TRIAL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 23, 4:43 AM EST
Prosecutors set out to prove Libby's guilt
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal prosecutors have said for more than a year that former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to a grand jury. Now, they have to prove it.
Opening statements begin Tuesday in the CIA leak case and Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald plans to take an hour telling jurors about mid-2003, when Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief of staff, Libby, were scrambling to deflect criticism on Iraq from former ambassador Joseph Wilson.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200504.html
Libby Jury Is Chosen; Arguments Set to Start
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A04
A federal judge empaneled a jury yesterday in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, seating a largely apolitical, educated group of D.C. residents to decide whether Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff lied to investigators about his role in divulging the identity of a covert CIA officer.
The nine women and three men selected for the jury -- as well as four alternates -- are scheduled to hear Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald and one of Libby's attorneys, Theodore V. Wells Jr., lay out opposing portrayals of the celebrated case in opening statements today. Over the next four to six weeks, testimony in the case will expose the inner workings of the Bush White House shortly after the Iraq war began and confidential conversations between well-known journalists and their sources in the administration.
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1169480565182920.xml&coll=2
Blogger to provide Libby trial play-by-play Local consultant expert on the scandal
Monday, January 22, 2007
BY ART AISNER
News Staff Reporter
When Assistant U.S. Attorney General Patrick Fitzgerald delivers opening arguments today in the perjury trial of former White House staffer I. Lewis "Scooter'' Libby, Internet users globally will be able to read about it as it's happening for the first time in history.
Many segments of the blogosphere will be reading Marcy Wheeler's take on the action.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBI_FOLEY?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 22, 9:50 PM EST
Justice report faults FBI in Foley case
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI should have acted to protect teenage House pages when it initially learned last July that Rep. Mark Foley had sent disturbing e-mails to a former page, a Justice Department report concluded Monday.
The bureau, which at the time declined to investigate, also made inaccurate statements to the news media about its decision, the report said. It said that bureau spokesmen wrongly asserted that the decision was influenced by a congressional watchdog group's failure to provide information missing from the e-mails.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200633.html
FBI Faulted for Inaction in Foley Scandal
Justice IG Also Says Officials Misled Media About Group That Provided Messages
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A04
The FBI should have acted last summer to protect underage congressional pages after it was given "troubling" electronic messages sent by then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), according to a report released yesterday.
The review by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine also found that FBI and Justice officials misled the news media last fall when they asserted that an activist group that first provided the FBI with Foley's messages had not been cooperative and had withheld vital information from investigators.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_RAID?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 22, 9:51 PM EST
Senators meet on recent immigration raid
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is taking heat from lawmakers for the harm done to a company during last month's largest-ever immigration raid.
Immigration officials on Dec. 12 arrested 1,297 illegal workers at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Utah.
After a closed-door meeting Monday with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, senators from the affected states said the raid exposed flaws in the federal government and in a program designed to help employers screen for illegal immigrants.
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/012307/detainee.html
January 23, 2007
Detainee debate rages at Pentagon, Justice and on Capitol Hill
The Pentagon’s release of the military commission rules is fueling renewed debate over the treatment of military detainees and raising questions about the administration’s approach toward both sides of the aisle.
The Pentagon quietly handed over its manual to the Department of Justice (DoJ) for review before releasing the document publicly, even though the congressionally approved Military Commissions Act focused mainly on military lawyers.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 23, 6:03 AM EST
GOP opposition to troop increase grows
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq evoked increasing Republican opposition as a Democratic-led Senate panel prepared tough questioning for the man who would carry out the plan as the new war commander.
Lt. Gen. David Petraeus was to testify Tuesday in a bid for his fourth star and command of the Iraq war. Petraeus would replace Gen. George Casey, who has been tapped to become the next Army chief of staff.
Petraeus, a former division commander and once the head of the Iraqi training mission, is considered a shoo-in for the position. Devoted early in the war to trying to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis, Petraeus later wrote the Pentagon manual on how to tackle insurgencies. He also previously supported expanding U.S. forces in the region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200999.html
Warner Backs Resolution Opposing Troop Increase
House GOP Seeks Monthly Accounting of Results in Iraq
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; Page A06
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, yesterday endorsed a new resolution opposing President Bush's buildup of troops in Baghdad, as even some of the most loyal Republicans scrambled to register their concerns and distance themselves from an unpopular policy.
The resolution, unveiled the day before the president's State of the Union address, is expected to garner the support of many Senate Republicans -- especially those facing reelection next year. The measure appeals to many rank-and-file Republicans because it allows them to voice their differences with the administration without embracing the highly critical language of another bipartisan resolution co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), one of the sharpest critics of the administration's Iraq policy.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SENATE_INTELLIGENCE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jan 22, 9:54 PM EST
Rockefeller: Iraq drains security funds
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said he fears the government will not have enough money for homeland security and other domestic priorities because of President Bush's "Iraq adventure."
In an interview on Monday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., criticized almost every major facet of the Bush administration's national security course since Sept. 11, 2001. "The president has in a sense walked away from the war on terror," Rockefeller said.
Jan 22, 9:51 PM EST
Militants claim U.S. helicopter crash
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Investigators probing the scene of an Army helicopter crash in Iraq that killed a dozen U.S. soldiers have found evidence it may have been shot down, a senior military official said Monday.
Searchers at the scene found a tube that could be part of a shoulder-fired weapon that may have been used to shoot down the aircraft, said the official, who requested anonymity because the investigation was still continuing.
Col. David Sutherland, commander of U.S. forces in the Iraqi province of Diyala, has said the crash is still under investigation.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110009563
Last Chance Defeatism
Iraq's future doesn't rest on the outcome of a coin flip.
BY MOHAMMED FADHIL
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
BAGHDAD--"The last chance." I hear these words a lot. So often, in fact, that it seems to be the common description for the new security plan. It's become so pervasive that I hear now that it's the last chance for Prime Minister Maliki, the last chance for President Bush, the last chance for Iraq to succeed as a democracy. It's almost as if the new plan was a coin that can be flipped only once and which carries victory on one face and doom on the other.
MIRS Capitol Capsule, Monday, January 22, 2007
John Reurink (517) 482-2125
Pfizer Announcement A Blow To MI Life Sciences Efforts
As Michigan struggles to diversify it's economy away from the automotive sector, it suffered a major blow today as drug giant Pfizer announced that it would be shuttering two research related facilities in state.
The decision represents some 2,300 direct jobs at the Pfizer, home to such consumer drugs as Celebrex, Viagra and dozens of others. Closing the research facility in Ann Arbor represents the biggest job slice. Pfizer Global Research and Development will close the Ann Arbor site and the Esperion operation by the end of 2008.
Republicans claimed the news was an indictment of the governor's lackluster performance on the economic front, but one source today told MIRS that Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM talked one-on-one with the Pfizer CEO, who told her that the business decision had everything to do with the failure of a particular drug and nothing to do with Michigan.
"While this is a devastating blow to so many Michigan families, the state's economic plan and our 21st Century Jobs Fund are already at work positioning the state as a leader in life sciences, alternative energy, homeland security and defense, and advanced manufacturing," Granholm said. "Our plan will help ensure there are diverse jobs in this state to keep Pfizer employees here, provide opportunity for all of Michigan's people, and attract the talent needed to keep the best companies in the new economy."
The Ann Arbor site has been charged with research and development in anti-bacterials, central nervous system diseases, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, dermatological conditions, drug formulations and commercial scale-up.
The company's R&D efforts will transition from the Ann Arbor facility to Pfizer sites in Groton, Conn.; St. Louis; LaJolla, Calif.; and Sandwich, UK. The Esperion facility, also in Ann Arbor, is a biotech operation specializing in potential cardiovascular compounds that Pfizer obtained in 1994.
The two Ann Arbor facilities combined involve 2,100 Pfizer jobs. Employees who do not transfer will be offered assistance including other internal job postings, job search resources, career and retirement counseling, and if necessary, severance (including health care) based on years of service.
Pfizer also announced it will be exiting a downtown Kalamazoo facility by the end of 2008. That site had been responsible for drug safety and metabolism research. The company will explore options for this function including out-sourcing, sale or spin-off. The Kalamazoo closing will impact some 250 jobs.
The combined Pfizer closings represent the closing of 2,750,000 square feet of laboratory space. The company asserts that Michigan remains home to one of Pfizer's largest locations worldwide, hosting more than 4,000 jobs. In addition, the firm asserts that its largest and most product diverse manufacturing plant is in Portage.
"There's not a simple answer," said Rick CHAMBERS, spokesman for Pfizer. "The decision came after six months of looking at every site and every factor. We knew we needed to simplify our R&D structure. It was a complex and very difficult decision making process."
According to Jeffrey B. KINDLER, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, who made the announcement during a 1 p.m. investors and analysts meeting, the firm is facing issues that must be dealt with.
"We are facing significant challenges, however, in a profoundly changing business environment. I believe we must change the way we run our company to meet these challenges and to take advantage of the diverse and attractive opportunities that we see in the marketplace," Kindler said. "We must reduce our absolute costs and put in place a more flexible cost structure."
The announcement was soon followed by comments Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul ANUZIS fired at Granholm.
"This is yet another reminder of the dire situation that Michigan's economy is in," Anuzis said. "Gov. Granholm has done nothing to stop Michigan's economic bleeding and has no plan to stop the hemorrhage. This is also another reminder that tax increases are not the answer Michigan needs. Even the slightest mention of tax increases might send more Michigan businesses packing and curb future investment in our state."
Sen. Michelle McMANUS (R-Lake Leelanau) also took square aim at the governor in her reaction.
"Ten years ago, John ENGLER created business incentives to bring Pfizer to Michigan. Today, Governor Granholm is watching them leave," said McManus. "If this is the governor's 21st Century Jobs Fund at work, I'd say the plan needs some serious tweaking. What action did the governor take to prevent this devastating loss of high-tech jobs? At a time when Michigan's economy is faltering, I would hope her office tried every means possible to bring Pfizer to the table and come up with a plan to keep these 2,500 workers and their families in Michigan — but so far, I'm not convinced that is the case."
Dem Agenda, Old And New
Michigan's new House Democratic majority today highlighted its new agenda, which hits on six broad areas.
For the newly elected majority, it marked the first Capitol news conference of the session. House Speaker Andy DILLON (D-Redford) opened the event by explaining to reporters that, although the estimated $800 million budget deficit is clearly the issue of the hour, the purpose of today's House Democratic news conference was to highlight other topics.
"We're going to hit the issues head on," Dillon said. "We are focused on the budget and the fiscal situation. In fact, after this press conference we'll be going into session to hear a budget presentation from House Fiscal Agency (HFA) Director Mitch BEAN. So I don't want you (the reporters) to think we're not focused on that. But this is about our six-point plan."
House Majority Floor Leader Steve TOBOCMAN (D-Detroit) said the "first and foremost" item on the agenda is to restore integrity to the institution.
Tobocman called for an end to the "revolving door" of lawmakers becoming lobbyists immediately after leaving the Legislature. He also called for legislation to require full financial disclosure by candidates and legislation prohibiting a state legislator from seeking state grants that help their own interest."
The financial disclosure measure is a hold over from Dick DeVOS' gubernatorial campaign and the state grant idea is a hold over from the campaign against then Rep.-Leslie MORTIMER.
Following the news conference, MIRS asked the Speaker if the House should take up the issue of turmoil on the state Supreme Court, in which Justice Elizabeth [WEAVER] claims her Republican colleagues have acted unethically and unprofessionally.
"You know I did watch Off-the Record just yesterday," Dillon responded. "I do plan on checking out Elizabeth Weaver's Web site (in which she discusses her complaints.)
Sources have told MIRS it may be better than an even money bet that a House committee does pursue the issue at least to some extent.
During today's news conference, upcoming legislation to temporarily suspend so-called mortgage pop-ups (property tax levels that increase when a house is sold) for a period of time was mentioned. Similar legislation, to help awaken a sluggish real estate market, was introduced by Dillon last session. At the time, sources told MIRS that Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM wasn't on board with the idea unless the transfer tax was increased to make up for the lost revenue.
MIRS asked Dillon if the Governor was onboard with the latest version of the legislation.
"She has recognized it as an issue," Dillon responded in a manner than elicited chuckles (which he also participated in) from the press corps. "She's very open . . . she's encouraged me to pursue it."
Dillon added that the latest legislation would have a very small negative impact on local revenues.
Other agenda items the Democratic Caucus discussed today included:
- Protecting the Great Lakes
This would apparently include legislation to label the sale outside of the Great Lakes basin of water bottled from Michigan as a water diversion and, in addition, it will also include legislation to raise tipping fees and place a moratorium on new landfills as measures aimed at slowing down the flow of out-of-state trash into Michigan.)
- Strengthening schools
- Fighting high health care costs
"Anywhere, anyway," the Democrats said.
- Addressing future energy needs
- Strengthening consumer protections
This would include moving to end Michigan's ban on suing drug companies and passing measures to require that customers who may be victims of identity theft to be notified immediately. In addition it will include legislation to try to prevent insurance red lining).
Dillon was asked if talking about ending the drug company liability ban was out-of-step with the announcement earlier today that Pfizer had announced closings in Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, causing the loss 2,350 jobs.
"It demonstrates that the Michigan law banning liability lawsuits (against drug companies) isn't keeping them here," Dillon said. "They're going anyway. There are less people employed (in Michigan's pharmaceutical industry) now than there were in 1996 when the drug immunity law passed."
Later in the afternoon, House Minority Leader Craig DeROCHE (R-Novi) had exactly the opposite take, claiming it was ironic that House Democrats were talking about ending the drug immunity law on the same day the Pfizer closings were announced. DeRoche argued that ending the ban would be just one more signal to businesses that Michigan government isn't interested in creating a business-friendly economic climate.
Up To 500 Shipping Jobs At Risk In DEQ Flap
Up to 500 shipping-related jobs and $700 million a year in investment may be at risk as part of a flap involving the shipping industry and a new state law that requires the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to ban ships from releasing their untreated ballast water at Michigan ports without a permit.
John JAMIAN, representing the Seaway Great Lakes Trade Association, told MIRS today in response to a story run Friday (See "Shippers Say No To DEQ Compromise," 1/19/07) that between 300-500 jobs are at stake if the shipping industry chooses to ignore Michigan's new permitting process and dock their cargo of mostly steel and grains elsewhere.
Unsatisfied with their talks with the DEQ, Jamian is asking for a meeting with the industry's top officials and Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM to try to work out a compromise, but Granholm Press Secretary Liz BOYD said the matter should to be resolved with the DEQ.
"I'm tired of going though the DEQ," Jamian said. "I respect their opinion. I just don't agree with it. We're in such a separate economy, you'd think she'd want to meet. We're leaking jobs out the backdoor."
Last week, the DEQ and the shippers failed to reach a compromise on a plan that would require around a 100 ocean-bound vessels to obtain a $150 permit in order to dock in Michigan. Under a new state law, the DEQ is asking that any ocean-bound vessel docking in Michigan kill any foreign aquatic species in their ballast water. The DEQ lists several treatment options.
Lawmakers and the governor, tired of Michigan's water being ravished by zebra mussels and other foreign species that hitch rides in ship ballast water are now cracking down on the issue by requiring the permit and the installation of treatment systems by 2008. Michigan is the first state in the Great Lakes to do so, although California is getting tough on the issue, as well.
But shippers are retaliating by saying that Ohio and Indiana aren't talking about treatment options and so they'll just dock their vessels there as opposed to getting the permits, costing Michigan jobs and forcing the state's auto producers to have their steel trucked to their plants from out-of-state, meaning an estimated 40,000 more trucks a year, more damage to Michigan's roads and more fuel exhaust into Michigan's air.
"As far as the DEQ is concerned, it's either their way or the highway, literally," Jamian said.
Grand Valley State University (GVSU) told MIRS last Friday that the jobs at risk are "minimal" and not "high-end." His comments came in reference to declining ocean-bound ship traffic through Michigan ports and the sporadic business the ports see from this business.
But Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark GAFFNEY disagreed, saying that there are currently 100 ship unloaders living off $40,000-a-year salaries working at Michigan's port terminals and these numbers will grow as the marine freight business increases. These unloaders have full health care and pensions, he said.
"There are also currently hundreds of truck drivers as part of this marine port business," Gaffney said. "I learned this with one phone call. It is unfortunate that Professor Taylor was so sloppy in his analysis of what is actually an important issue concerning good Michigan jobs."
Anuzis Hits Dillon On Cushingberry
Today, Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul ANUZIS lashed out at House Speaker Andy DILLON for appointing Rep. George CUSHINGBERRY (D-Detroit) chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Cushingberry has been charged with two counts of felony perjury and a misdemeanor of in connection with his 2004 campaign finance reports. The case is currently in the courts. His trial is expected to be scheduled for late February. (See related story)
Anuzis apparently picked today to fire his rhetorical salvo based on reports (See "Cushingberry Lands Approps Chair," 1/19/07) that Dillon is poised to name Cushingberry to the Appropriations post. As has been previously reported by MIRS, Dillon garnered the votes that put him over the top in his caucus election for Speaker by promising he would give the appointment to Cushingberry.
In recent weeks there was speculation that Dillon might draw back from naming Cushingberry to the post, but last week his appointment was unofficially confirmed.
However, in response to the Anuzis statement, Dillon pointed out that, as of today, none of the committee assignments have officially been announced. House Democratic Spokesman Dan FAROUGH said today that committees are expected to be named Wednesday.
"At this point, none of the committee positions have officially been published," the Speaker told MIRS. "I would also like to point out that George Cushingberry has more experience with the appropriations process than any one else in the House and that people are considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law."
In his news release today Anuzis called the appointment of Cushingberry "inappropriate," particularly in light of the fact that the Democrats campaigned on ethics reform.
"The Democrats campaigned on ethics reform," Anuzis said. "Clearly, Speaker Dillon meant none of it. The message that Dillon is sending is that political favors are more important than ethics. There ought to be a simple standard — if you are on trial for a felony, you should not be able to chair a committee, and certainly not the most powerful committee in the House."
Whether the link Anuzis attempted to make between Cushingberry and the Democrats' statements on ethics was just a fortunate guess, or the result of inside information is a matter for speculation. Dillon did open his House caucus news conference today by stating that the Democrats were putting the restoration of integrity and ethics at the top of their agenda.
Meanwhile, Cushingberry was not present today for House session, which featured a presentation on the budget situation, because he was sitting in Ingham County Circuit Court. House Republicans weren't slow to comment.
"So … the new Appropriations Chair missed the special budget presentation," said Matt RESCH, spokesman for House Republican Leader Craig DeROCHE (R-Novi).
GONGWER- Volume #46, Report #14 --Monday, January 22, 2007
Larry Lee (517) 482-3500
PFIZER ANNOUNCEMENTS MAJOR BLOW TO STATE HIGH TECH
Michigan's long history of corporate pharmaceutical research and development was staggered Monday when Pfizer Incorporated announced it is closing its major research center in Ann Arbor and a research center in Kalamazoo.
When the facilities are closed by the end of 2008 more than 2,400 jobs - many involving highly paid scientists - will be lost to the state. Pfizer's top executive in Ann Arbor said up to 1,000 workers there will be offered jobs in other locations. The Ann Arbor operations employ about 2,100 workers.
The R&D operation being closed in Kalamazoo employs about 250 people. Pfizer will maintain a major manufacturing center in the city that employs about 4,200 people.
The moves are part of a massive restructuring of the company, which announced it was eliminating 10,000 jobs as it closes manufacturing plants in Brooklyn, Nebraska and Germany (meaning by 2008 it will have reduced to 48 the number of manufacturing plants it operates from 93 plants in 2003), along with research and development operations in Japan and France.
R&D operations are being consolidated in Connecticut, where the company is headquartered.
Governor Jennifer Granholm held a press conference in Ann Arbor with University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman following the announcement to discuss the effect the move will have on the city that has been Michigan's best-known attraction for high-tech companies.
The announcement is certainly the psychological opposite to the huge lift the state got back in July 2006 when Google announced it was launching a major center in Ann Arbor.
Ms. Granholm called the decision a "devastating blow" to the state and Pfizer families.
But she also said the state was continuing to position itself to attract more high tech companies through the 21st Century Jobs Fund and other programs. Since 2000, more than 120 high tech companies have located in Michigan, she said.
Ms. Granholm also said the state would do all that it could to keep as many Pfizer workers in Michigan as possible.
Pfizer's CEO Jeffrey Kindler spoke with Ms. Granholm Monday morning before the decision was public and assured her that nothing the state had done or not done in terms of policies had anything to do with the decision.
Michigan Republican Chair Saul Anuzis said the announcement was another example of the state's "dire" circumstances, and blasted Ms. Granholm, who he charged was doing nothing to reverse the state's fortunes.
He also said the announcement should be a wake-up call to Ms. Granholm to not propose any tax increase as part of her budget solutions. Any move to boost taxes would result in more companies leaving, he said.
House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford) said it was unfortunate that Pfizer chose to consolidate its business out of state, but said that he understood that to be more related to the expiration of some of the company's patents than anything else. He said the news reinforces the need for the policymakers to invest in the citizens of Michigan and be proactive.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) said the announcement means the state has to focus on why the company was moving jobs from Michigan. The state's current strategies are not working to promote development, he said.
"We need bold leadership to ensure this bloodletting stops," Mr. Bishop said.
In Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, the reaction was more focused and immediate.
"I'm in shock," said Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce President Jesse Bernstein. He had been informed by Pfizer of its intentions about a half-hour before the company went public with the announcement.
Pfizer is the largest taxpayer in Ann Arbor, and its 2 million square-foot facility occupies more than 177 acres in the city.
Mr. Bernstein said Pfizer expanded the facility a few years ago, and he hoped, if nothing else, that the state-of-the-art research center would attract some corporation.
"We have to get over the shock, help those families affected and start looking for someone to come into that center," Mr. Bernstein said.
Ms. Coleman said the university would work with Ms. Granholm and city officials to help boost development in the area.
Officials in Kalamazoo were thankful not to have to suffered the same fate as Ann Arbor. But City Manager Ken Collard said officials were still grim over the news. "We're anxious what the analysis is going to show" in terms of city revenues and the overall economic impact to the area, he said.
Economists said that while the job loss impact was not as large as those reported by the auto industry, the R&D jobs the state will lose are high-paid jobs and the kind of jobs the state has worked in the last years to attract.
In addition, the Ann Arbor facility is one of the state's oldest drug research centers, first built by Parke Davis when it moved operations from Detroit to be closer to the University of Michigan medical center. The facility was expanded when Warner Lambert bought Parke Davis and then again when Pfizer bought Warner Lambert.
The Kalamazoo center dates back to when Upjohn was headquartered in the city.
In 2001, the state offered more than $80 million to Pfizer to secure a $600 million expansion of the Ann Arbor facility.
In 2003, when Pfizer was acquiring Pharmacia, the company that had bought Upjohn, the state offered more than $600 million in incentives over a 20-year period to encourage expansion of their facilities. That year, the Legislature also passed some specific tax breaks for Pfizer.
Top Pfizer officials said nothing about Michigan's economic situation when they held a video meeting with Wall Street analysts about the announcement. Instead, they said they had to be prepared for when several of its top brands, like cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor and the arthritis drug Celebrex, become available as generic drugs, and had to begin producing new drugs. Executives said they wanted to produce at least four major drugs a year by 2010.
With the cuts, the executives also said they wanted Pfizer to have the best attributes of both a small company and a large one.
HOUSE DEMS LAYOUT 'NEW MICHIGAN' PLAN
It will likely take longer than 100 hours, but House Democrats laid out their own plan for moving the state forward that includes increasing access to affordable healthcare, implementing new ethics guidelines and bettering consumer protection.
In unveiling the plan that includes no recommendations for how to fix the state's fiscal crisis, House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford) said he planned on having lawmakers break out into groups of 10-12 to come up with ideas on just that during session on January 29. During the chamber's first Monday session, House Fiscal Agency Director Mitch Bean gave a presentation on the state budget (see related story).
"We came here to make change," Mr. Dillon said. "We're going to go forward and be bold and bipartisan. Part of Michigan's future has to be investment in our citizens."
The Democratic-agenda is a mixed bag of previous legislation, campaign promises and continued policy planning.
They want to see a new landfill moratorium enacted, along with increased tipping fees comparable to those in nearby states; revision of a provision that allows water bottling operations to be exempt from the definition of diversion; more affordable healthcare that includes receiving a federal waiver and implementing a better prescription drug bulk buying program and catastrophic fund; quick notification to people who are the victim of identity theft and penalties those who traffic the identity of others; car insurance costs fair across the state by basing them on a person's driving record; and affordable home insurance.
Democrats also announced that they would like to see an 18-month moratorium placed on the pop-up tax, though Mr. Dillon, who introduced similar legislation last session (See Gongwer Michigan Report, June 8, 2006) said a long-term solution being worked on by the Michigan Association of Realtors could be adopted instead.
The proposal circulated by the Realtors would essentially cap the increase in property taxes on a home when it is sold to the difference between taxable value and state equalized value in a given community. So where the taxable value represents 75 percent of the SEV, taxes on a new purchase could increase no more than 75 percent, said Brad Ward, spokesperson for the Realtors.
But he said the group had not, and as yet had no plans to, endorse that or any other plan to address the pop-up tax.
"You won't get consistent voice among our membership whether the pop-up tax is a problem," Mr. Ward said, though he noted the association at the time Proposal A of 1994 was being discussed has warned it could become a problem. The proposal included the cap on property tax increases as part of a restructuring of education funding.
In terms of energy policy, Mr. Dillon also said that Democrats are looking at changing a provision that occurred during the partial deregulation of the utility sector that made it harder to finance new power plants. While Michigan's energy supply is stable now, it will not be shortly, and lawmakers need to forge a path that provides for that incentive, he said.
While nearly every member of the House Democratic Caucus was present for the press conference in Lansing (others were held around the state earlier in the day), Rep. Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) also outlined a proposal that would expand the Michigan Promise Scholarship to include loans.
The state needs to be a magnet for high-skilled job creation, she said, and to do so will require that lawmakers address the cost barriers to higher education as well as investment in K-12 schools.
Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman (D-Detroit) said Democrats will also be working on lobbying and financial disclosure proposals that include a one-year revolving door provision, requirement that all state officeholders disclose their personal finances, prohibition on elected officeholders seeking state grants and heightened conflict of interest rules.
"We have to restore our own integrity," he said. "It's time to put the people of Michigan first."
Earlier in the day, state Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis had questioned the hypocrisy of Democrats campaigning and proposing ethics reforms when the apparent chair of the House Appropriations Committee is Rep. George Cushingberry (D-Detroit), who has been charged with felony perjury and a misdemeanor regarding his campaign finance statements from 2004.
The committees have not been formally announced, but Gongwer News Service confirmed Friday that Mr. Cushingberry is expected to be named chair.
Democrats also are expected to move forward with a bill repealing the state's product liability immunity for pharmaceutical companies, though that was not outlined specifically in their plan.
In reacting to that proposal, House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) said that could mean Pfizer, which announced it would shed jobs in the state on Monday (see related story), would do more of the same because of the potential lawsuits they could be confronted with.
And Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) said his caucus is focused on three items: "jobs, jobs, jobs," and he looked forward to working with Democrats to helping improve the economy.
DEROCHE: GOVERNOR SHOULD REFLECT ON PAST BEFORE TAXING FUTURE
After all House members were briefed on the chamber floor about the fiscal situation facing the state, House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) held an impromptu discussion in which he argued the governor should review all of her decisions, including increasing pay to state employees and funding the 21st Century Jobs Fund, before asking citizens or businesses to pay more in taxes.
"I want the books closed out and see some real numbers," he said. "They managed their way to zero out of $13 billion (in funding from school aid),"
Mr. DeRoche was in the Thatcher Room, along with Republican members who are likely to serve on the Appropriations Committee, to ask House Fiscal Agency Director Mitch Beans questions about the budget after Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford) had told members that HFA staff was available for any questions.
On top of the three departments that overspent their budgets (See Gongwer Michigan Report, December 11, 2006), Mr. DeRoche argued that lawmakers were not informed of litigation involving the state's tobacco settlement revenue that in effect reduces state revenue by $84.6 million in fiscal year 2006-07 when they were approving the 21st Century Jobs Fund. Mr. DeRoche said that as talks about a tax increase circulate, people should question why state government is bankrolling entities that couldn't qualify for a bank loan.
He also took aim at the $100 million in savings built into the Medicaid budget that have not been realized, according to HFA analysis. Mr. DeRoche also took issue with savings that didn't come through with the Jobs, Education and Training program (JET) to the tune of $10 to $20 million.
But the biggest complaint about government spending Mr. DeRoche had was in the state employee wage increases. Mr. DeRoche said workers at companies like Ford and Delphi aren't receiving $400 million in total wage increases and that state government should review why it is implementing such at this juncture.
"We should budget for what we want to become," he said.
Gongwer News Service asked Mr. DeRoche how he could make that argument given that he and the rest of the Legislature approved budget bills last session implementing those wage hikes, to which he said that employee contracts including the concession and wage increase provisions were negotiated before he was leader of the House.
In total, Mr. DeRoche estimated that $700 million in policy and appropriation decisions made by the governor should be reviewed. Rep. Bruce Caswell (R-Hillsdale) also argued that a study in 2004 showed that the state could save at least $30 million by privatizing day care eligibility.
A spokesperson for Governor Jennifer Granholm said she would be outlining her solution to the state's budget on February 8.
But Liz Boyd also said that the 21st Century Jobs Fund is an important way to grow the state's economy through diversification. She also said that cutting state services at a time when people need them the most is not what the governor has in mind.
STUDIES SAY STATE ROADS POOR, REVENUES CONSTRAINED
Two studies have raised questions about the ability of Michigan's roads to attract business development and whether transportation revenues are increasing and keeping up with the costs of building and maintaining roads.
House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) released the final study by the Anderson Economic Group in a three-part series Monday, this time benchmarking the state's transportation, utilities, telecommunications and green infrastructures.
Meanwhile, the Senate Fiscal Agency, in its latest state notes, said overall transportation revenues do not increase as the cost of fuel increases because motorists purchase less fuel. The SFA study also said revenues from vehicle registration fees may decline as motorists switch from expensive vehicles to less expensive, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
In terms of transportation, the Anderson report found that Michigan roads were in poor condition overall, perhaps because the state has heavier truck limits and different ways of financing improvements. In urban areas, the state's freeways and expressways faired the best in the comparisons to Midwestern and United States' averages, but interstates and other principal arterial roadways were ranked below those averages.
In the state's rural areas, interstate surface conditions were fine, but other principal and minor arterial roadways were ranked below average, according to data from Federal Highway Administration.
Interstates were also the only kind of roadway that passed the congested test in both urban and rural areas according to U.S. averages compiled by the federal government.
The study also found that the state has poor public transit and what it does have doesn't bring in much ridership, especially in areas like Detroit compared to its counterparts across the nation like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.
Mike Nystrom of the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association said the Anderson study confirmed the "dire state" of state highways. Michigan has "chronically underfunded our own transportation network," Mr. Nystrom said.
The SFA report, meanwhile, said that as purchases of gasoline and diesel fuel decrease in reaction to high prices, total revenues paid to the state remain static. In 2005-06. revenues from fuel sources were essentially the same as revenues paid in 2001-02, when fuel costs were as much as $2 a gallon cheaper.
In addition the SFA report also said that overall costs for road and bridge construction have increased by 21.8 percent from 2001 to 2005.
In terms of utility infrastructure, the Anderson report found that the state has adequate energy supply for the time being, but that would change in a growing economy. Michigan ranked 12th in 2005 for net electricity generation with its supply broken out evenly amongst coal, natural gas and nuclear/renewable/hydroelectric and petroleum sources.
Residential consumers pay about 8.4 cents per kilowatt-hour in Michigan, which is below the 9.45 cents it costs nationally. While industrial consumers in the state pay 15 cents more per kilowatt-hour compared to national numbers by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The study also found that Michigan has the largest natural resource capacity of any state in the nation and already has 45 active fields amounting to 12.4 percent of the U.S. stockpile.
However, in terms of green infrastructure, the study found that there was no systematic way to analyze what each state can qualify as green infrastructure, but noted that Michigan has an abundance of parks and lakes along with 3,000 miles of shoreline.
The study also looked at the area of telecommunication and found that high-speed Internet usage is low in the state because in 2005, 32 percent of households and 43 percent of businesses had high-speed Internet, which is below state averages. Every zip code in the state has at least one high-speed Internet line and competition is apparent - 68 percent of zip codes have five or more providers while 23 percent have 10 or more.
Michigan has 1.56 million lines to end-users, according to reports from the Federal Communications Commission report from December 31, 2005 to June 30, 2005, which represents 3.1 percent of the total lines in the country.
"Michigan prides itself on being the automobile capital of the world, yet our highways are in poor condition and congested," Mr. DeRoche. "If we want to compete in the 21st Century and attract high-tech employers we need to make sure we have an infrastructure in this state that can support those job providers."
In saying that the state has already been hurt by the lack of adequate infrastructure in the example of the Ford Wixom plant closure, Mr. DeRoche said he hoped that policymakers would use the information as they moved forward.
"Our goal is a nonpartisan one: make Michigan a Top 10 state. We have some strengths and weaknesses when it comes to our infrastructure, and I want this information to help leaders in both parties as we work to make Michigan a stronger state."
