MORNING UPDATE:
If it’s “structural deficits” the state is facing…let’s deal with them, open up labor contracts, require co-pays like most folks have, review lifetime taxpayer provided benefits for part-time employees and substitute teachers after 5 years?
And now the House Democrats are pushing a union backed bill to limit privatization, contracting or any other savings that might threaten union jobs?
Sheriff Mike Bouchard wrote a great guest editorial piece on state spending:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/05/bouchard_on_spe.html
Here is a great article and commentary on Michigan’s budget “crisis:”
http://www.hinzsightreport.com/dave/dave-042807.html
Listen to the “Big Show” this morning on statewide Michigan Talk Radio stations, broadcast on local stations listed below.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
The governor's job is to balance the budget mid-year, throughout the year, when the state is under-funded. As revenue-estimating conferences have taken place, we have known there is going to be a shortage. The governor is constitutionally required to make changes in spending to the budget she signed and bring it into balance- it is the legislature's job to approve the changes. Since she has failed to propose structural changes, she should stop resisting the Senate proposals that actually does her job for her. The governor controls the checkbook, proposes the budget, the Administration knows how revenues are coming in and they are responsible for managing the state budget.
It’s outrageous that the governor has put us in this position. I believe this is nothing short of blackmail, as she continues to spend our money at levels that will force a huge deficit.
The governor claims there are “structural deficits” and “structural problems” that are forcing us into this position…but she has NOT being willing to deal with any of them.
We NEED to reform the system. Benefits are too rich for society and for the taxpayers to afford. Retirement systems are out of wack with reality and the market. The idea that a custodial worker in a local school district after 5 years can get lifetime BC/BS paid for by the taxpayers is outrageous. If you are a substitute teacher for 5 years in some school districts, you too can quality for lifetime BC/BS paid for by the taxpayers.
Corrections, education and social services account for about $30 BILLION or our $40 BILLION dollar state budget. The governor has offered NO reforms or changes that will fix the “structural” problems that cause annual deficits…except to keep raising TAXES.
Michigan is over taxed, we are NOT competitive, we are losing jobs…this year Michigan will become the ONLY state in the country to have lost jobs 4 years in a row!!!
We need to do an honest review of how the state pays it’s workers, what option we have to save and do things more efficiently, require co-pays and contributions to pension systems etc.
We are creating an unsustainable system that is bankrupting our state and will make us one of the most undesirable places in the country to earn a living, hold a job and own or invest in a company.
MIRS put it well when it said: “Granholm, fresh from her resounding re-election victory in November, entered 2007 with a bit of a problem. Yes, she had won four more years in office, but now she was going to have to tell the voters "the rest of the story." She had told them during the election campaign that she had a plan, she'd been working the plan and the plan was beginning to work. What she hadn't told them was that in order to the plan to work, she'd be asking for a tax hike.”
Surprise!
Legislation that would allow school support staff to have a say in the privatization of services such as busing and maintenance garnered plenty of support from unions and some lawmakers at the House Labor Committee on Tuesday. Meanwhile, school officials oppose the bill, saying it would only delay schools that are fighting to save money through outsourcing.
HB 4533, which may see a vote as early as next week, would strike the current wording that prohibits schools from discussing plans to privatize third-party, non-instructional support services during the collective bargaining process.
This is a crazy idea and would add to the structural deficit and eliminate all kinds of options that we have to consider? This bill would be disastrous for Michigan.
Here is a great article and commentary on Michigan’s budget “crisis:”
http://www.hinzsightreport.com/dave/dave-042807.html
Sheriff Mike Bouchard wrote a great guest editorial piece on state spending:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/05/bouchard_on_spe.html
TODAY -- "The Big Show with Michael Patrick Shiels" from 9:05 – 10:00 am with Mark Brewer and myself on the Michigan Talk Network:
WJIM 1240 Lansing
WTRX 1330 Flint/Saginaw
WMMI 830 Mt Pleasant
WKMI 1360 Kalamazoo
WSCG 1380 Greenville
WBCH 1220 Hastings
WODJ 1490 Muskegon
WWKK 750 Petoskey
WJML 1110 Petoskey
WDJM 1320 Marquette
WIAN 1240 Ishpeming
Now Open: The Michigan Republican Party Online Store! Our secure, user-friendly site offers a variety of Republican items, including sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, travel mugs, and more! Perfect for personal use, holiday presents, or volunteer gifts, our items will allow you to confidently display your Republican pride. Visit www.migop.org/store to view, purchase, or comment on our selection of unique Republican items.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020333/1069
Break up the blame game
Try private bridge-building in place of divisive public rhetoric
May 2, 2007
As she grows increasingly strident about the state budget collapsing on her watch, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has also become counterproductive. She would better serve the state by action rather than flights of oratory.
The Democratic governor has called Republican lawmakers extremists and urged voters, even at Sunday's huge NAACP dinner, to contact legislators as part of her push for an immediate tax increase. But that indirect pressure is marginal compared to what she herself can do by sitting more of them down and listening to them in private. The louder she piles the public rhetoric, and the fewer bridges she builds, the more difficult compromise becomes.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1178048699297230.xml&coll=2
Granholm: Cut or tax
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Governor trying to pry revenue raise out of Legislature
Ann Arbor News Bureau
LANSING - Warning that the "clock is ticking,'' Gov. Jennifer Granholm intends to use $300 million in June 1 cuts to schools and hospitals to leverage a tax increase out of a reluctant Michigan Legislature.
Granholm started the 30-day clock Monday, issuing a pair of budget-cutting notices. One tells K-12 school districts that their summer state aid payments will be sliced by $122 per pupil if there is no legislative agreement to balance the 2007 budget. A similar warning to hospitals and physicians promises a 6 percent cut in Medicaid payment rates.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/11780374198960.xml&coll=6
Schools push Lansing to resolve budget impasse
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By Peter Luke and Kym Reinstadler
The Grand Rapids Press
Frank Garcia likens the budget talk out of Lansing to the old tale "Stone Soup" he used to read to students.
The Holland Public Schools superintendent said state officials' talk of remedies to chronic budget problems reminds him of the tale in which travelers persuade villagers to share items from their cupboards for a community soup.
In this case, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and legislators talk of fixing the budget comes down to taking money from schools and the sick, he pointed out.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020337/1069/OPINION
STEPHEN HENDERSON PEOPLE & POLITICS: How bad must crisis get to force compromise?
May 2, 2007
Remember Kalkaska?
That was the little school district in the northwest Lower Peninsula that crumpled back in 1993, ran plumb out of money with 10 weeks left in the school year. They shut the doors early, sent the children home, laid off the teachers. Kids were crying. Teachers wore buttons that said "Engler hates me," referring to then-Gov. John Engler's theretofore ambivalence about school finance reform.
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020301
Lawmakers can't leave schools, health care in budgetary limbo
The problem is clear: Michigan faces shortfalls of approximately $200 million in its schools budget and $500 million in its general fund for the current fiscal year. The only solutions are to raise revenues, slash allocations or a combination of both.
Unfortunately, legislators in Lansing seem incapable of doing anything. They balk at the idea of increasing taxes but are equally fearful of telling schools, health-care providers and others that they won't be getting as much state money as they expected.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020313/1069
'Pool' down health care costs, for a start
May 2, 2007
As Gov. Jennifer Granholm searches for bargaining leverage with Senate Republicans, she should take a hard look at the Public Employees Health Benefit Act.
It could be a way to defend against the monstrous health care costs that are battering so many school districts and local governments.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1178027439208060.xml&coll=5
End this charity
Officeholders should donate own money, not taxpayers'
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Taxpayers have every right to resent seeing bits of their money funneled into slush funds for use by local officials, who enjoy discretion to support their pet projects with it while promoting themselves politically.
Both the Genesee County Board of Commissioners and Flint City Council take advantage, the former to the tune of $2,000 per commissioner per year and the City Council $1,500 per member. From those funds officials drop tidy sums on church groups, sports teams, senior activities, festivals, parties, Christmas events and a wide swath of nonprofit agencies, most of which enjoy close ties to the officeholders.In many cases the donations amount to poorly veiled opportunities to advance their profiles and/or pay back favors.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1178048667297230.xml&coll=2
Does Michigan really need all those judges?
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Where budget cuts are concerned, government officials often follow the creed known in development circles as NIMBY: Not in My Back Yard.
The officials want the budget cut. They just don't want their budgets cut. So it was refreshing when Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor last week offered to put himself and the courts he administers on the chopping block. After promising to give up his state-leased car and urging other judges to do the same, Taylor suggested reducing the total number of judges on the Court of Appeals and lower courts.
The judge-reduction proposal deserves a serious hearing from Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Legislature, who together must authorize any decreases. Michigan has to cut where it can, including the bench.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-23/117803833375310.xml&coll=7
Appointment fills vacant judge seat
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By Bryce Hoekenga
Special to the Gazette
Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday appointed a magistrate from the Kalamazoo Workers' Compensation Bureau to the judge's seat in the 48th Circuit Court in Allegan County.
On May 8, William Baillargeon will take over the seat vacated by Harry Beach, who retired Jan. 31. Baillargeon will serve the remainder of Beach's six-year term, which expires on Jan. 1, 2009.
Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for Granholm, said the governor chose Baillargeon, who lives in Saugatuck, in part because he has been active in his community, including serving as a lector at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Douglas.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/SCHOOLS/705020412/1022/POLITICS
Districts fear costs as state weighs requiring all-day kindergarden
Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News
REDFORD TOWNSHIP -- A typical school day for Zoe Lassen includes reading, writing, mathematics -- and a 45-minute nap.
The hazel-eyed 6-year-old is among the thousands in Michigan attending full-day kindergarten. An oddity five years ago, it's now offered at two-thirds of Metro Detroit districts, upping the ante in the competition for students and the state-aid money they bring.
"It seemed like they'd just get started into their routine, and they'd be done and have to come home," said Zoe's mother, Noelle, whose son, Zachary, 7, attended kindergarten at Addams Elementary before full days were implemented in 2005.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/POLITICS/705020394/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Dems' tax plan helps Ford
A bill that eases levies on equipment may also end feud over replacing the Single Business Tax.
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Ford Motor Co. will be more competitive and inclined to keep its operations in Michigan should a House Democratic business tax plan become law, the automaker told lawmakers Tuesday.
Charlie Pryde, government affairs manager at Ford, told the House Tax Policy Committee that Ford backs a proposal that would dramatically cut state taxes on business equipment, shift part of the business tax burden to out-of-state firms and offer credits for hiring and investing in Michigan.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/BUSINESS06/705020421
Financial headlines
May 2, 2007
TECHNOLOGY: Dow Corning may expand Hemlock plant
Dow Corning Corp. might announce a major expansion of a Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. subsidiary silicon manufacturing plant today. Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to attend the morning press conference.
Midland-based Dow Corning has proposed expanding its polycrystalline silicon manufacturing plant near Hemlock, west of Saginaw. The potential deal could cost as much as $900 million and create as many as 270 jobs. The expansion could be operating in 2009.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020334/1008
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Detroit cannot afford to write off manufacturing
John E. Mogk
Detroit appears to be writing off manufacturing from its future economic development plans because it has no available industrial sites. Recently, it failed to compete for Chrysler's new axle plant and it does not appear to be a candidate for any of the other manufacturing facilities that the state is seeking to land.
That is a mistake.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/news-43/1178057529112080.xml&storylist=
GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda report sales declines, Chrysler rises
5/1/2007, 5:57 p.m. ET
By TOM KRISHER
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — April was such a lousy auto sales month that every major manufacturer but Chrysler reported a decrease from the same month last year.
Even Toyota.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Corp. all showed declines as automakers released their monthly U.S. sales numbers on Tuesday, but the drop for Toyota Motor Corp. countered a nearly two-year trend of rising sales, sometimes in double digits.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS06/705020404
Political calls irk lawmakers
Some want automated pitches hung up
May 2, 2007
Michigan was awash in recorded calls from candidates and their supporters last year. Some were straightforward, touting a candidate and asking for support.
Others were anonymous, questioning a candidate's sexual orientation or whether there was a communist taint in an office seeker's background.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020336/1008
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
End Detroit water war by giving suburbs a voice
John P. McCulloch
The city of Detroit and the suburban communities it serves have debated the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's water and sewer rates for more than 30 years. There is a solution for ending the disagreements and giving the suburbs a voice in the rate-setting process while letting Detroit maintain control over the system.
At the heart of this debate are four central issues. Detroit wants to retain ownership of its system and retain majority control of the governing body over the system. The suburban communities want a greater voice in the decision-making process and more transparency in Detroit's water and sewerage operations.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020339/1008
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Suburbs should put up or shut up on water plan
The Detroit News
Proposals that please no one completely often are the ones that make the most sense. That's the case with a plan to revise the operational structure of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
Although a formal proposal has yet to be presented, there are enough details being offered by U.S. District Judge John Feikens and others that warrant support for the plan. Getting the water system out of the hands of the judge and giving access and some control to Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties makes sense.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS01/705020330/1003
Schools will hire person to watch cash
Official is accused of misusing funds
May 2, 2007
A well-paid investigator may be the answer to the Detroit Public Schools' problems with internal theft and misspending.
Recent allegations that the chief financial officer used her district credit card to pay for plane tickets for her children during a trip to California last fall are more proof that the district needs an inspector general, officials said Tuesday.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/117803829775250.xml&coll=5
4 to be interviewed for interim school chief job
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By Melissa Burden
mburden@flintjournal.com
FLINT - The Board of Education tonight will interview four candidates - two from within the district and two from outside - for the post of acting school superintendent.
Each candidate will be interviewed for about 45 minutes beginning at 6 p.m. at the Sarvis Center, 1231 E. Kearsley St.
The board selected the four from among eight applicants during a board retreat Saturday at Michigan State University, board President Stephanie Robb Martin said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS06/705020378/1008
DETROIT FREE PRESS/LOCAL 4 | THE MICHIGAN POLL
Students make Collegeville USA sound like Sin City
May 2, 2007
Listen up, parents.
College students don't think you want to know how much gambling happens on campus. They really don't think you want to know about all the drinking or drug use. And more than anything, they say you'd be stunned to find out what goes on behind dorm room doors.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020337/1008
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Editorial: May 8 elections
Be wary of Macomb school tax increases
Voters should support renewals, but be skeptical of millage hikes
The Detroit News
Times are tough throughout Michigan, and Macomb County is no exception. Local governments and schools districts should have to take account of this reality and adjust their spending accordingly. With state per-capita income now below the national average, this is not the time to be imposing new taxes on Macomb County residents.
· In St. Clair Shores, the South Lake School District has two bond proposals. One will not increase the district's tax rate because prior bonds have been refinanced at a lower cost. The second one would be an increase of about a mill. (One mill equals one dollar for every $1,000 of a home's taxable value, roughly one half of its market value.) The school district has wisely divided the proposals into what it "must have" and "wants to have."
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-9/117803804650780.xml&coll=4
Three townships are asking voters to pass tax issues on May 8
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By TOM GILCHRIST
TIMES WRITER
Bangor Township residents who want to keep around-the-clock police patrols will have to put in some time at the polls themselves on May 8.
Township leaders propose a tax increase to keep four Bay County Sheriff's Department deputies specifically assigned to Bangor streets.
''We want to continue having one deputy patrolling our neighborhoods 24 hours a day, seven days a week,'' said Bangor Township Supervisor Terry L. Watson.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1178027434208060.xml&coll=5
Genesee Library tax
County voters outside Flint should renew essential millage
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
With the Internet seemingly putting the sum total of mankind's knowledge at our fingertips, one might anticipate that library usage would diminish.
Not true, both because of the inherent value of libraries to every advancing civilization and institutions like the Genesee District Library keeping services in step with changing needs. In fact, patronage at the district's 19 facilities has increased over the past decade, with circulation doubling in this period. And as all library users know, there are few more helpful places to research online than at their local branch.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-9/117803802650780.xml&coll=4
Consumers moves to build plant, maybe here
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By JEFF KART
TIMES WRITER
Consumers Energy plans to ask state regulators today to build a new ''clean coal'' power plant in Michigan, and the Karn-Weadock complex in Hampton Township is one of four sites on the list.
Building a new 750-megawatt plant here, adding to coal and other generators already operating at Karn-Weadock along Saginaw Bay, would represent an investment of up to $2 billion in the local economy - twice as much as when a smaller plant was proposed, said Jeff Holyfield, a Consumers Energy spokesman in Jackson.
A new plant at the Hampton Township complex also would create 2,000 jobs during construction, several hundred ongoing operations jobs after the new plant is online and an increased tax base, Holyfield said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/POLITICS/705020400/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Debate reopens on lake access
Legislation seeks to reverse 2006 court ruling that barred seasonal docks at end of public roads.
Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News
LANSING -- State lawmakers are reopening the contentious argument over public access versus private property rights on Michigan lakes.
A two-bill package, whose long-range legislative prospects are uncertain, would require the state to issue permits allowing seasonal docks or marinas where public roads end at the water's edge -- provided local governments want them there. Townships would have to pass ordinances regulating them.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1178048733297230.xml&coll=2
Ban oceangoing ships from Lakes
Drawbacks exceed benefit of allowing them access
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
As non-native species continue to threaten the economic and ecological health of the Great Lakes, efforts to outright ban oceangoing freighters are gaining steam. It's about time.
Environmentalists have been sounding the alarm since the 1980s, warning of the dangers of the zebra mussel and other creatures that have been dumped into the lakes along with ships' ballast water. Until recently, most politicians turned a deaf ear. As a result, at least 183 foreign organisms now call the Great Lakes and connected waterways home.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/1178021103262090.xml&coll=6
Environmental leaders defend state ballast law
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By Ken Kolker
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- State environmental leaders say they cannot fathom why the shipping industry is fighting a new state law meant to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species carried by ocean-going vessels.
The law regulates the release of ballast water into the big lakes by ocean-going ships, which can bring in species that wipe out native wildlife.
But shipping industry leaders have told state officials that only four cargo ships are known to empty their ballast in Michigan waters.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/METRO/705020406/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Thousands of Metro Detroiters protest for immigration reform
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Thousands of Detroiters donned red clothing Tuesday and took to the streets as part of a nationwide protest of U.S. immigration policies.
Beginning at Patton Park, the protesters marched about three miles along West Vernor to Clark Park, waving Mexican and American flags and chanting "Yes we can" in Spanish.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS05/705020359/1007
Immigrants' cry: Don't split families
They call for a path to citizenship and end to deportations
May 2, 2007
Waving U.S. and Mexican flags, thousands of immigrants and their supporters marched through the streets of Detroit on Tuesday in a vivid call for immigration reform they said is needed to lift them out of an underground world of fear and uncertainty.
Many came as families: toddlers and grandparents, moms and dads, uncles and aunts, all walking together to call for an end to deportations that are dividing families across metro Detroit.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/BUSINESS06/705020360/1007
Business closures for rally are so-so
May 2, 2007
If support for Tuesday's rally were measured by the number of businesses shutting their doors, it had some success.
Organizers of the march -- which drew about 15,000 workers and supporters to the streets of southwest Detroit -- asked businesses to close in protest of a new immigration policy that is speeding up the deportation of illegal immigrants.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION03/705020384/1322
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Daniel Howes
Economy enriched by Arab Americans
In a nation whose immigration debate routinely centers on what so-called "illegals" are taking and why that should or should not be OK -- witness Tuesday's rallies in Detroit and elsewhere -- what about what the legals are contributing?
It ain't chicken feed.
A landmark study to be released today shows southeastern Michigan's fast-growing Arab-American community accounts for more than 141,500 jobs, $7.7 billion in wages and benefits and $544 million in state tax revenue, according to 2005 data from the American Community Surveys. Census Bureau data from 2000 pegs the Arab-American economic contribution at $5.4 billion.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/COL04/705020327/1007/NEWS05
Stemming the tide that can lift us
May 2, 2007
One of the few things I remember from my Boy Scout lifesaving course is the instructor's warning that drowning swimmers will sometimes, in their panic, fight off would-be rescuers.
So perhaps it is not so strange that, as Michigan and its largest city fight for economic survival, Michiganders seem especially antagonistic toward one likely source of redemption -- the moderate but steady increase in the number of foreigners seeking to establish residency here.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/POLITICS/705020410/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Marlinga: Was case political?
He wonders now if politics played a part in his prosecution; current U.S. attorney denies it.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga says congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys should subpoena internal Justice Department records related to the government's unsuccessful prosecution of him on corruption charges.
Marlinga said Tuesday he now wonders if the case against him was politically motivated, given the recent furor over alleged partisan considerations in the dismissal by the Republican Bush administration of eight U.S. attorneys.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/POLITICS/705020413/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Congress mulls bird kills by wind turbines
Deb Price / The Detroit News
WASHINGTON -- In a high-stakes issue for Michigan, Congress took its first look Tuesday at the killing of birds and bats by huge wind turbines.
U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W. Va., warned that wind turbines in the Appalachian mountains of his home state have killed so many bats that they could become an endangered species.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWS06/70501063/1008
Western Michigan to offer veterans deal on tuition
May 1, 2007
Western Michigan University announced today that it will offer a semester of free tuition to military veterans from across the country who are leaving active duty and want to enroll in college.
Mark Delorey, director of financial aid and scholarships, said new veterans often are discharged from the military and ready to begin their studies but, because their Veterans Administration benefits have not yet begun or they are in the first month or two of receiving such benefits, they are not able to afford both tuition and living expenses.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1616298,00.html
Will the Dems Let Florida Cut in Line?
Ever since its 2000 recount debacle, Florida has been America's butt of election jokes. But its politicians are determined to have the last laugh next year: they want to move the state's Presidential primary balloting to January 29 — a full week before the February 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries that will include heavyweights like California and New York as well as more than a dozen other states.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION03/705020312/1008/OPINION01
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Eugene Robinson
Opinion: South Carolina town wins in Democratic debate
ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- Right near the elementary school playground where we used to chase each other in circles, spinning of a different sort was being done Thursday night.
In the "spin room" at the South Carolina State University student center, Hillary Clinton's people were trying to convince journalists that their candidate had won the first Democratic presidential debate. Barack Obama's people were trying to convince us that he was the winner. John Edwards' people were explaining how the Clinton and Obama people had it all wrong.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020313/1008
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Opinion: Democrats' 'Orangeburg 8' leave huge carbon footprints
Scott Stanley
South Carolina's recent Democratic presidential primary debate may not have narrowed the field, but it did provide voters with a good idea about why the Dems bill themselves as the "people's party." Their leaders want the people to make all of the sacrifices that they suggest are urgently needed, but somehow don't want to make themselves.
The issue of global warming is a prime example. All the candidates who turned up at South Carolina State University April 26 came strongly down on the side of taking forceful actions against this pending catastrophe -- actions that would require huge tax increases for all Americans.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NATION/705020349/1022/POLITICS
Immigrants taking it to the streets
Fearing raids, fewer march for rights across U.S.
Peter Prengaman / Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Immigration rallies held across the country Tuesday produced only a fraction of the million-plus protesters who turned out last year, as fear about raids and frustration that the marches haven't pushed Congress to pass reform kept many at home.
In Los Angeles, where several hundred thousand turned out last year, about 25,000 attended the first of two scheduled rallies, said police Capt. Andrew Smith, an incident commander. In Chicago, where more than 400,000 swarmed the streets a year earlier, police officials put initial estimates at 150,000.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NATION/705020350/1022
Rio Grande fence riles officials
They had anticipated 'virtual' border, not a physical one, saying barrier will hurt farmers.
Lynn Brezosky / Associated Press
McALLEN, Texas -- A new map showing President Bush's planned border fence has riled Rio Grande Valley officials, who say the proposed barrier reneges on assurances that the river would remain accessible to farmers, wildlife and recreation.
City officials in the heavily populated valley had anticipated a "virtual" fence of cameras and border patrols.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/NEWS07/705020361/1007
Turnout lower across U.S.
May 2, 2007
LOS ANGELES -- Immigration rallies across the country Tuesday produced only a fraction of the million-plus protesters who turned out last year, as fear about raids and frustration that the marches haven't pushed Congress to legislate change kept many home.
In Los Angeles, where several hundred thousand turned out last year, about 25,000 people attended the first of two scheduled rallies, said Police Capt. Andrew Smith, an incident commander. In Chicago, where more than 400,000 swarmed the streets a year earlier, police officials put initial estimates at about 150,000.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010015
Immigration Spring
No deal is better than one that ignores labor realities.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Yesterday's May Day immigration demonstrations dominated cable TV, but they were more sound than substance. The bigger news is the recent Wall Street Journal report that illegal border crossings have slowed by more than 10% this year. The Bush Administration credits stepped-up enforcement, but our guess is that the cause is mostly labor supply and demand.
A slump in the housing market has resulted in fewer jobs in the building trades, which are increasingly filled by Latino immigrants. With fewer jobs available, fewer immigrants are headed north. It's another example of the market's ability to determine how much foreign labor our economy needs. It also indicates that immigrants come here primarily to work, not to idle and collect welfare.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/POLITICS/705020338/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Did Catholicism influence ruling?
Critics note 5 justices in the majority on recent partial-birth decision share religious beliefs.
Robert Barnes / Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- Is it significant that the five Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold the federal ban on a controversial abortion procedure also happen to be the court's Roman Catholics?
It is to Tony Auth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He drew Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wearing bishop's miters, and labeled his cartoon "Church and State."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GUN_SALES_CONGRESS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 3:24 AM EDT
Lawmakers ask feds to share data on guns
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When handguns with bullets that can pierce body armor showed up on the streets of New Jersey, Sen. Frank Lautenberg asked federal regulators to share data that could help local police figure out where the weapons were coming from.
That information, the New Jersey Democrat was told, is off-limits.
The amendment that bars such sharing of gun trace data has now touched off a feud between its sponsor, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., and a coalition of more than 200 mayors led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/OPINION01/705020335/1008
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Bureaucracy defeats collegiality
Colleges were better off when government didn't rule them
Larry P. Arnn
Plans are unfolding for yet more government funding and regulation of colleges. The Department of Education has poured money upon colleges in recent years at unprecedented rates, while imposing rules of ever greater complexity. It is now proposing to regulate standards at colleges across the land through the accreditation process.
The Virginia Tech shootings will probably result in more of this. It ought to result in less.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed3.html
Loopholes and More Loopholes
Published: May 2, 2007
Virginia claims that it has closed a loophole that put guns in the hands of a deranged student who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. But there’s always the next loophole to worry about when it comes to the lack of gun control in this country.
In this case, Gov. Tim Kaine issued an executive order on Monday that would theoretically have barred Seung-Hui Cho from buying the weapons for his campus massacre. Months before, Mr. Cho had been forced by a judge to undergo psychological treatment. But because his care was as an outpatient, Mr. Cho was not on the federal list of people who are barred from buying guns for reasons of mental illness. The governor’s order ends the outpatient-inpatient distinction, but it hardly solves the basic problem of supremely porous laws that enable tens of thousands of handgun deaths year after year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02white.html
Making a Killing
By MIKE WHITE
Published: May 2, 2007
THE first movie I ever made was called “Death Creek Camp.” It told the age-old story of a group of teenage guys who set out on a fun-filled wilderness excursion only to be stalked and murdered by a psychopath disguised in a hockey mask and a blue kimono. It was no masterpiece of cinema.
Most of the scenes played out the same way — one of the fresh-faced hikers would get separated from the group. He would hear a noise in the bushes. “Bob? Jerry, is that you? Charlie?” Suddenly, from behind a tree, the stalker would pounce and blood would fly.
http://thehill.com/david-keene/feinsteins-cardinal-shenanigans-2007-04-30.html
Feinstein’s Cardinal shenanigans
April 30, 2007
Anyone who knows much about real power in Congress knows that almost every member of the House and Senate lusts after a seat on the Appropriations Committee and hopes one day to achieve the status of Cardinal. The Cardinals, of course, are the folks who chair the various Appropriations Committee subcommittees and literally control the billions of dollars that pass through their hands.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) chairs the Senate Rules Committee, but she’s also a Cardinal. She is currently chairwoman of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies subcommittee, but until last year was for six years the top Democrat on the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (or “Milcon”) sub-committee, where she may have directed more than $1 billion to companies controlled by her husband.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_BANK_WOLFOWITZ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 1, 10:56 PM EDT
Bank pledges decision soon on Wolfowitz
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The World Bank's board expressed fresh concern Tuesday over bank president Paul Wolfowitz's handling of a hefty pay package for his girlfriend and promised a decision soon in a controversy that has led to calls for his resignation.
The 24-member board met several hours with a special bank panel that over the past two days had heard from Wolfowitz, his girlfriend and bank employee Shaha Riza and other present and former bank officials about Riza's promotion and pay raise to $193,590.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010014
The Case for the Strong Executive
Under some circumstances, the rule of law must yield to the need for energy.
BY HARVEY C. MANSFIELD
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Complaints against the "imperial presidency" are back in vogue. With a view to President Bush, the late Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. expanded and reissued the book of the same name he wrote against Richard Nixon, and Bush critics have taken up the phrase in a chorus. In response John Yoo and Richard Posner (and others) have defended the war powers of the president.
This is not the first time that a strong executive has been attacked and defended, and it will not be the last. Our Constitution, as long as it continues, will suffer this debate--I would say, give rise to it, preside over and encourage it. Though I want to defend the strong executive, I mainly intend to step back from that defense to show why the debate between the strong executive and its adversary, the rule of law, is necessary, good and--under the Constitution--never-ending.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DOMESTIC_SPYING?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 4:41 AM EDT
Senators wary of Bush's wiretap proposal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citing FBI abuses and the attorney general's troubles, senators peppered top Justice and intelligence officials Tuesday with skeptical questions about their proposal to revise the rules for spying on Americans.
Senate Intelligence Committee members said the Bush administration must provide more information about its earlier domestic spying before it can hope to gain additional powers for the future.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Spying on Americans
Published: May 2, 2007
For more than five years, President Bush authorized government spying on phone calls and e-mail to and from the United States without warrants. He rejected offers from Congress to update the electronic eavesdropping law, and stonewalled every attempt to investigate his spying program.
Suddenly, Mr. Bush is in a hurry. He has submitted a bill that would enact enormous, and enormously dangerous, changes to the 1978 law on eavesdropping. It would undermine the fundamental constitutional principle — over which there can be no negotiation or compromise — that the government must seek an individual warrant before spying on an American or someone living here legally.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070502/POLITICS/705020407/1022
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Bush vetoes Iraq pullout
He calls Dem-backed bill 'a prescription for chaos and confusion.'
Noam N. Levey and Maura Reynolds / Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, a day rich with symbolism, President Bush vetoed a $124 billion Democratic war spending bill that would have compelled him to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq four years after he triumphantly landed on an aircraft carrier to announce the end of "major combat operations."
"Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible," the president said. "This is a prescription for chaos and confusion and we must not impose it on our troops." He fulfilled his veto threat just hours after the House and Senate majority leaders sent Bush the bill.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_TEXT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 3:12 AM EDT
President Bush's veto statement
Text of President Bush's statement Tuesday on his veto of a bill to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
Good evening.
Twelve weeks ago I asked the Congress to pass an emergency war spending bill that would provide our brave young men and women in uniform with the funds and flexibility they need.
Instead, members of the House and the Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders. So a few minutes ago, I vetoed the bill.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 4:40 AM EDT
Bush veto puts new pressure on Democrats
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's veto of an Iraq war spending bill that set timelines for U.S. troop withdrawals puts new pressure on Democrats in Congress to craft a compromise even as their caucus grows more fractious on the topic.
The party's most liberal members, especially in the House, say they will vote against money for continuing the war if there's no binding language on troop drawdowns. Bush and almost all congressional Republicans continue to insist on a spending bill with no strings attached on troop movements.
May 2, 3:13 AM EDT
Congress add-ons to Iraq spending bill
Congress added money not requested by President Bush for the following programs in the 2007 Iraq war spending bill:
-$3.5 billion for Gulf Coast hurricane recovery.
-$3.5 billion for disaster farm aid.
-$2.25 billion for homeland security, including airport, border and cargo container screening.
-$2 billion for military readiness.
-$1.8 billion for veterans health care.
-$949 million for Afghanistan.
-$663 million for pandemic flu preparedness
-$650 million for low-income children's health care.
-$500 million for fighting wildfires.
-$425 million for rural schools.
-$400 million for low-income heating assistance.
-$150 million for the FBI.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ_QUOTES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 3:11 AM EDT
Reaction to veto of troop withdrawal
Reaction to President Bush's veto of a bill to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by Oct. 1:
"A bipartisan majority of Congress sent the president a bill to fully fund our troops and change the mission in Iraq. The president refused to sign this bill. That's his right, but now he has an obligation to explain his plan to responsibly end this war. ... But if the president thinks that by vetoing this bill he'll stop us from working to change the direction of the war in Iraq, he is mistaken." -Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PELOSI_REID_TEXT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 3:12 AM EDT
Reid, Pelosi on Bush veto of Iraq bill
Statement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on President Bush's veto of the Iraq spending bill, as provided by CQ Transcriptions:
REID: The president may be content with keeping our troops mired in the middle of an open-ended civil war, but we're not - and neither are most Americans.
A bipartisan majority of Congress sent the president a bill to fully fund our troops and change the mission in Iraq. The president refused to sign this bill. That's his right, but now he has an obligation to explain his plan to responsibly end this war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101261.html
Democrats Remind About Bush Iraq Speech
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 2, 2007; 2:42 AM
WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidates made a point of reminding voters that Tuesday was the fourth anniversary of President Bush's speech declaring an end to major combat in Iraq.
"One of the most shameful episodes in American history," Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign Web site read in bold type below a photo of Bush standing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a sign that read "Mission Accomplished."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RICE640?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 2:55 AM EDT
Rice: Middle East stakes high in Iraq
SHANNON, Ireland (AP) -- Iraq's neighbors in the Middle East have "everything at stake" if Iraq fails, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said ahead of two international meetings that have become command performances for skeptical Arab states.
Festering tensions between Iraq and its neighbors are complicating U.S. efforts to round up key aid - including debt relief - before the two-day summit later this week in Egypt.
"The region has everything at stake here; Iraq's neighbors have everything at stake here," Rice told reporters traveling with her to a gathering that will include U.S. adversaries Iran and Syria.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PEOPLE_BAEZ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 2, 4:24 AM EDT
Baez banned at Walter Reed
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Folk singer and anti-war activist Joan Baez says she doesn't know why she was not allowed to perform for recovering soldiers recently at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as she planned.
In a letter to The Washington Post published Wednesday, she said rocker John Mellencamp had asked her to perform with him last Friday and that she accepted his invitation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/opinion/02wed2.html
A Harsh, Healthy Verdict in Israel
Published: May 2, 2007
Israel’s government badly botched the war in Lebanon last summer. But you have to admire the work of the investigating commission that same government appointed to analyze what had gone wrong. In its initial report, the commission pointed to “severe failures” of “judgment, responsibility and prudence” on the part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The commission found that Mr. Olmert was too hasty in deciding to go to war, that he proceeded without a detailed military plan, that his goals were unrealistic and that he failed to consult beyond an inner military circle of true believers. That should sound more than a little familiar to Americans.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010016
Syrian Endgame
America should press Damascus to let go of Lebanon.
BY MICHAEL YOUNG
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
BEIRUT--This week Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh with representatives of states having an interest in Iraq. Among the participants will be Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The gathering comes amid reports that Ms. Rice's State Department wants a breakthrough in relations with Tehran before President Bush's departure from office. Ms. Rice did not rule out meeting with Mr. Mottaki, although Iran's deputy foreign minister subsequently lowered expectations that any negotiations would take place.
Anxiously watching developments is another neighbor of Iraq: Syria. The regime of President Bashar Assad is uncertain as to how an Iranian-American rapprochement might affect its own future. While Syria is a close ally of Iran, the U.S. has been pushing for Damascus' isolation, insisting that Syria must change its behavior in Iraq, in the Palestinian territories, and, most importantly, in Lebanon. But it is in Lebanon that Syria has shown the least inclination to concede anything. That's why the U.S. must use any future conversation with Iran, assuming it goes well, as leverage to consolidate Lebanon's fragile independence.
MIRS Capitol Capsule, Monday, April 30, 2007
John Reurink (517) 482-2125
Medicaid Reimbursement Rate Cut 6%
The amount of money Michigan pays physicians and hospitals for taking Medicaid patients, already the lowest in the Great Lakes, will be cut 6 percent by the end of May unless the Legislature finds something else to cut or raises taxes, under action taken by the Granholm administration today.
As expected, Medicaid Director Paul REINHART sent a bulletin to health care providers today, basically telling them that for every one dollar of service they give a Medicaid patient, they'll receive 60 cents back from the state.
Currently, 1.6 million Michigan residents rely on Medicaid for their health care (one million children) and the cut likely means fewer physicians will opt to take Medicaid-eligible patients, said Dave FOX with the Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS). Doctors already are defining their services state-covered patients as "charity cases" since they lose money on every ailing Medicaid recipient they take.
"A lot continue to do it out of a sense of duty," Fox said. "But it's becoming harder and harder to do so, particularly different specialty doctors, where there's a higher demand for services."
The cut, necessitated by what the Granholm administration is now labeling a $700 million hole in the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 budget, is expected to save $120 million. More cuts are forthcoming, she said, if the Legislature can't come to an agreement on their own and the additional cuts will be "ugly."
Meanwhile, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHHA) estimated that if this cut continued over an entire year, the impact would be a loss of 3,000 jobs in health care-related jobs.
Both Fox and Reinhart pointed out that if fewer providers take Medicaid patients, the costs to providing care would be shifted to hospitals, which would realistically bump its rates to cover costs. The impact would snowball. Hospitals would demand more from insurance companies and insurance companies would demand more payment from its customers.
"When someone goes to the emergency room and there's uncompensated care delivered, those costs don't go away," Reinhart said. "They find their way to the commercial sector."
Fox said that in 2004, 88 percent of physicians saw Medicaid patients. That number has dropped to 65 percent in 2006 and is expected to drop further. Statewide, one in seven Michigan residents and one in three children receive their health care from Medicaid.
In 2006, Michigan spent $5,500 per patient. When the numbers are boiled down to percentages, it works out to be the lowest among Great Lakes States, Fox said.
Granholm's press conference today ignited an immediate response from the Michigan Republican Party, with chairman Saul ANUZIS saying the Governor's "tired refrain" is extorting Michigan's most vulnerable citizens for "unnecessary tax increases on Michigan families."
"While legislative leaders have been in the trenches, making the tough decisions to solve this crisis, the Governor has offered little more than Doomsday proclamations about shutting down government and cutting services," Anuzis said.
Don't Like It? Blame The Legislature
Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM made it quite clear today who was to be blamed by today's cuts to Medicaid providers and schools (see related story). That, in her opinion, would be the Legislature. If both legislative chambers, the Republican-led Senate and the Democratic-led House, had gotten together on a budget-balancing plan, she would have not needed to resort to the only budget-balancing mechanism she has at her disposal.
She slammed both chambers for not passing out one budget bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, although she did sign a negative supplemental budget bill for the FY 2007 School Aid Fund today.
"We have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the Legislature to act," Granholm said. "It is an urgent, urgent situation for children and for seniors in Michigan…they have the ability to save schools, and to save the safety net for senior citizens and children in health care."
Senate Majority Leader Mike BISHOP (R-Rochester) responded to today's press conference by saying the Governor has no one to blame but her own Democratic-led House for not getting a budget-cutting bill to her desk. The Senate passed their plan more than a month ago and only recently did the House react to it. The bill is now in conference committee.
"She makes claims that we are extremist by not passing tax increases, yet her own party won't vote to raise taxes," he said. "At least we voted it down. If she was serious about new revenues being needed, she would have had the House Democrats pass this plan."
Granholm said she presented a balanced budget in February that included her proposed two-cent sales tax on services. If the Legislature doesn't move on the plan, more state programs will be impacted, prompting more college graduates to flee the state for brighter pastures.
"Enough is enough. We have to invest in Michigan ourselves if we want others to invest in us," she said. "That's why we need a rationale, balanced, pragmatic solution to our budget crisis, not a ideological one."
Asked if it was tough to ask Michiganders to pay more in taxes during the state's tough economic times, Granholm said "absolutely," but that "everyone needs to sacrifice if the state is to succeed."
"We have a choice. We can invest in order to pull the state out of its economic slump or we can disinvest and further the spiral downward," she said. "Those are the choices we have."
Granholm did not concede today that her proposed sales tax on services is dead. She said no matter what type of proposal she put out initially, it would get shot down because "nobody likes tax increases." But as the urgency of the situation becomes more pronounced, she said lawmakers will take another look at her proposal as they sift through their options.
GONGWER- Volume #46, Report #83 --Monday, April 30, 2007
Larry Lee (517) 482-3500
The Legislature has 30 days to take care of what is now a $713 million budget deficit in the current fiscal year, Governor Jennifer Granholm sounded off on Monday, or else she will cut schools by $122 per-pupil, establish a 6 percent cut in Medicaid provider rates, as well as implement other to-be-decided measures in order to balance the budget.
While Ms. Granholm has been nudging lawmakers and the public on the severity of the budget crisis for months, the governor took an opportunity during a media roundtable to put legislators' feet to the fire some more, telling reporters she was sending out letters to the schools and health care providers to inform them of the 30-day window.
More pressure on state leaders to resolve the current-year problems, find a replacement for the Single Business Tax and deal with the structural problems of the 2007-08 budget was provided through another credit downgrade for the state by Moody's Investors Service (see separate story).
"Nobody is more frustrated than I am," she said. "The Legislature has not filled that hole. The clock starts ticking today."
The governor continued to say she put a comprehensive solution before lawmakers in February, with a mix of cuts, reforms and revenue enhancements, but she "foolishly presumed" she would get the support she needed to see them approved. She said at this point she will look at any solutions, but she's not willing to disinvest in education and diversifying the state's economy.
Ms. Granholm asked lawmakers to take a pragmatic approach, arguing the time is over for "thinking and pondering."
House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) did discuss the budget over the weekend, their spokespersons said.
Mr. Bishop in a statement said Senate Republicans and House Democrats have continued to work out a compromise to the budget solution that has resulted in the deficit being trimmed and negotiations would continue this week.
"Her claims that she was forced to make these cuts by Republicans' refusal to raise taxes are not true. She controls the House. She makes claims that we are extremist by not passing tax increases, yet her own party won't vote to raise taxes. At least we voted it down," he said. "If she was serious about new revenues being needed, she would have had the House Democrats pass this plan. Any legislation she has received thus far has been the result of a compromise between House Democrats and Senate Republicans. An example of this compromise was Senate passage of the
Democrats' plan to eliminate the School Aid Fund deficit."
Dan Farough, Mr. Dillon's spokesperson, said, "The speaker is confident that by working together a solution will be reached by the end of the month. The governor is doing what she's required to do and the governor is alerting the public on the severity of the crisis."
SCHOOL CUTS: The latest numbers the administration has on revenues shows the School Aid Fund with a deficit of $213 million after the governor signed $85 million in spending-reductions in SB 221
But Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan told reporters he's urging school districts not to wait on any action by the Legislature and start making cuts to their budgets now. The letter Ms. Granholm sent out also includes notice to intermediate school districts that their funding would be cut by $8 million, or 1.84 percent.
"You can't count on the fact they are going to do the right thing," Mr. Flanagan said, adding non-instructional spending such as transportation would be one of the first places schools could reduce expenditures.
He also said cuts could be made in early childhood education programs because they are not required.
Mr. Flanagan said 30 districts are in deficit and about 30 more will be added if the cut goes through. But he said the problem is even deeper than that, with 100 or more facing cash flow problems even if they do not show a deficit.
"This is as much a cash flow problem as it is a deficit problem," he said.
Schools are prohibited from running a deficit, and must file a debt-restructuring plan with the state if they do fall into the red.
Tom White with the Michigan School Business Officials said the bulk of schools will pay for the per-pupil cut from their fund balances and "then hunker down until the next year," though it would increase school's borrowing because they wouldn't have the money they normally do to cover the months when no school aid payments are made by the state. But he agreed with Mr. Flanagan's numbers on how many school districts are running a deficit or would be with the cuts.
Mr. White said what is frustrating to school officials is that the budget problems have been known for some time and yet there has been no comprehensive solution to address them. He said while schools could see some savings with transportation and early childhood reductions, officials were not likely to drop that on parents at the end of the school year.
Don Wotruba with the Michigan Association of School Boards said schools will have to look in areas where contracts are not involved, and transportation and early childhood education are options. While bus drivers would still be paid, schools could save on maintenance and gas of buses and the school year could end early for early childhood programs.
"Outside of those options districts don't really have any other," he said, adding that schools are concerned that even if they can shoulder the cut in the current fiscal year, the situation won't get any better next year and they will fall further behind.
Mr. Wotruba said while no schools want to implement these cuts, if they were to go into effect it might spur parents to contact their legislators.
The cuts in SB 221 come through debt service restructuring ($40 million) and foundation allowance adjustments that reflect a decrease in students across the state ($41 million). The bill also removed several new categorical programs for the fiscal year, saving $5 million.
MEDICAID CUT: A 6 percent rate cut to Medicaid providers would save the state $50 million in general fund monies while sacrificing $65 million in federal funds, said Paul Reinhart, director of the Medical Services Administration.
Michigan's payment rates have never been generous, Mr. Reinhart said, but the cut would take them to levels in the 1990s. The last time the rates were increased was in 2001, he said.
"It gets harder and harder for physicians to make this work in their practices," he said.
Mr. Reinhart said the 1.6 million Medicaid recipients, including nearly 1 million children, should not be affected immediately for the most part, though he acknowledged that someone just coming into the system now could have problems finding a provider. However, he warned that if the rate cut extends into next year, the problem of provider access would become more widespread.
Hospital officials maintained the 6 percent cuts in reimbursements would mean at least service cuts and probably job cuts. "When you cut us 6 percent, hospitals cannot sustain that," said Lori Latham with the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. "If the Legislature decides to enact and impose those cuts, it's going to mean real pain to real people."
The Medicaid program already reimburses hospitals only 73 percent of the actual cost of providing services to recipients, she said. Under the proposed cut, services like a physician's office visit that normally get reimbursed $29.93 would now see a $28.13 reimbursement. While larger expenses, like treatment for pneumonia, which usually runs $4,294 would now be reimbursed at $4,036.
A survey of MHA members showed 65 percent would cut staff and community programs with only a 3 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursements. And 84 percent would halt or cut back on capital improvements.
Among the programs potentially on the chopping block with loss of Medicaid funds are community outreach clinics and diabetes programs.
Ms. Latham said the timing of the cuts is particularly bad with numbers of Medicaid recipients and numbers of uninsured patients both rising.
AppaRao Mukkamala, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, said the cut would likely force more physicians to stop accepting Medicaid patients. The percentage of physicians accepting Medicaid has dropped about 4 percent a year, from 85 percent in 1999 to 65 percent this year, he said, and he expected a cut in the reimbursement would push that percentage under 60 percent.
And because Medicaid patients will not have access to primary physicians, they will have to look elsewhere for care, Mr. Mukkamala said. "This is not going to save much money because these patients will go to emergency rooms, which is a much more expensive setting than the doctor's office," he said.
Though there is no evidence of a direct correlation, Mr. Mukkamala noted that while numbers of physicians accepting Medicaid have dropped, Medicaid visits to emergency rooms have increased about 40 percent.
REVENUE: Treasurer Robert Kleine said the options are narrowing even if the governor and legislators agree that additional revenue will be included in the solution, leaving as one prime option an increase in the income tax that could be made retroactive as far back as January 1. The original 2 percent services tax was originally proposed by Ms. Granholm to become effective June 1, but Mr. Kleine said the earliest it could now be adopted is July 1, and since that would require agreement within a week to even reach that goal, a more plausible time would be August 1. That would yield only two months revenue from the new tax in the current fiscal year.
Mr. Kleine added another option, which he said has been the subject of discussion by some legislators: a retroactive income tax increase tied to a sales tax ballot proposal, either a services tax or a higher sales tax. He likened it to the school aid finance plan which did not give voters the option to vote against taxes, but rather to select which tax they prefer, in this case either retaining the income tax increase or opting for the sales tax.
Asked if he would accept that, he said, "We're looking at anything that would get movement."
Mr. Kleine said he does see some hopeful signs, including statements from such anti-tax legislators as Senate Finance Chair Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) that revenue could be included in the mix of solutions.
He reiterated that the argument for new revenues is supported by the size of the problem - a projected deficit of about $500 million in the general fund that needs to be erased over the last five months of the fiscal year. Since the January revenue estimating conference, he said sales tax revenues have come in about $20 million a month under projections.
OTHER OPTIONS: State Budget Director Bob Emerson said officials are crafting several ways to tackle the budget shortfall should the Legislature not act, including a temporary 20-day layoff for non-union state employees, which has to be approved by the Civil Service Commission. He said short of opening up labor contracts, there was not much else the state could do to save on that front. Mr. Emerson also said he knew of talks with the Department of State to close some Secretary of State branch offices.
Department of State spokesperson Kelly Chesney said she was not aware of any discussions of further branch office closures to alleviate state budget woes. But she said the department has already made some moves in that direction.
"The secretary's done a great deal already to consolidate offices and reduce bricks and mortar expenses," she said.
While the state can shift some funds to cover the general fund deficit, Ms. Granholm said those options and amounts are limited. Should the Legislature fail to solve the shortfall in 30 days, the governor vowed the budget would be balanced, but "it will be ugly."
State Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis said the governor was stooping to a new low of "extorting Michigan's most vulnerable citizens as a way to lobby for unnecessary tax increases on Michigan families. While legislative leaders have been in the trenches, making the tough decisions to solve this crisis, the governor has offered little more than dooms-day proclamations about shutting down government and cutting services. This kind of rhetoric is pre-mature, immature, and does nothing to move us closer to a solution that balances the budget without state government reaching deeper into Michiganders' pockets.”
