Local & State Issues

Reclaim Michigan, recall Gov. Rick Snyder

Republicans set on trying to recall 9 state house Dems. Republicans are trying to put recalls of Democratic legislators on the ballot on February 28th, the day of their $10 million tax-payer funded primary to select which Republican will face President Obama in 2012.

When it's Built By Michigan, it builds Michigan's economy. Take a moment to tell Gov. Snyder and the state Legislature to keep the investment and the jobs coming by supporting the success of Michigan's homegrown electric vehicle industry.

from the Michigan Democratic Congressional Delegation

Democratic Members of the Michigan Congressional Delegation Release the Following Statement on GOP Redistricting Map

LANSING - A statement from the Democratic Members of the Michigan Congressional Delegation on the Michigan Congressional redistricting map as introduced today in the state legislature: "We are very disappointed in the partisan hijacking of the redistricting process. Never in Michigan's history has a redistricting map been gerrymandered to be so overtly partisan and disrespectful of community interest to build a partisan political advantage. This map zigs and zags throughout Southeastern Michigan to create non-competitive seats that do not represent the demographics of the state and will ultimately disenfranchise voters.

The Governor's new "Emergency Powers"
The Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act (Public Act 4) is now in force. To learn more this law, and how it endangers the assets of you township, village, city, or school district, Click here. To learn how it's playing out for the Governor's first municipal victim, Benton Harbor, as reported by Rachel Maddow. Click here.

From Mary Valentine: Dear Friends,
The following article is one I wrote about the emergency manager law, P.A.4 — and why I believe it needs to be repealed.  Coming soon will be training sessions to learn how to circulate the petitions.  Please let me know if you are interested in joining this effort. Thanks so much.  And thank you for your continued involvement in this issue.
Mary Valentine

Viewpoint: Emergency manager law threatens Michigan's future
Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 4:53 AM by The Muskegon Chronicle

By Mary Valentine

On March 16, just 75 days into his administration, Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law PA4, legislation that can deprive local governments of all authority. Yes, you read that correctly. This bill can take away the rights of your legally elected representatives — and your rights as well.

Michigan has had emergency financial managers for many years. They would go into a city struggling with financial challenges and work with all parties involved to find solutions. The bill signed into law on March 16 changed all that. The person representing the state is now an emergency manager and has total control.

When you wade through all the verbiage of PA4, note that once a financial emergency is declared, not one local person has any say in what will happen to that village, city, township, county or school district. State officials have the authority to make all decisions, via the emergency manager. Yes. Democracy can be legally stripped from our hands. This is accomplished at the whim of the state treasurer — or the state superintendent in the case of a school district.

What can an emergency manager do? Strip local elected officials of all authority. Reject, modify or terminate the terms and conditions of an existing contract. Lock elected or appointed officials out of their offices. Terminate the terms and conditions of an existing collective bargaining agreement. Apply for a loan. Order millage elections. Consolidate or eliminate departments. Sell off assets.

The EM can go so far as to dissolve the municipal government — and more — without the input of any local official or citizen. Should this happen in your community; your voice will be silenced.
Who pays this EM? The local unit of government. How much do they cost? There is no limit. Detroit Public School's EM costs $400,000 a year. Benton Harbor must pay their EM $11,000 a month. The average income of the residents of Benton Harbor is $10,000 a year.

The emergency manager law is a 34-page public act. I simply cannot cover it in this limited space. Be assured, though, that this law has the potential to strip local control from every unit of government in this state. 
Our elected officials who supported this bill have given a wide variety of excuses. They have told us it will only be used in the direst of circumstance. Why, then has the state trained over 400 emergency managers?

They have told us not to worry because there are 18 checkpoints. They fail to mention that only one of those checkpoints is necessary to trigger the process. And the last checkpoint: “The existence of other facts or circumstances that in the sole discretion of the state treasurer (or state superintendent in the case of a school system) indicate financial stress.” 
Our legislators have indicated this is meant to help our communities. At the cost of depriving us of our democracy?

I know this is very hard to believe. Please, read the bill for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Go to Michigan.gov and follow the links.
The city council in Benton Harbor has already had its power stripped by its emergency manager, Joe Harris. Even a member of the planning commission was stripped of her legal authority.

Here is what Mr. Harris had to say: “The fact is that the city manager is now gone. I am now the city manager. I replaced the financial manager. I am now the city manager and the financial manager. I am the city manager, the financial manager, the mayor and the city commissioners and I don’t need them.”

There you have it. Michigan’s new future.

Mary Valentine, a former state representative, lives in Norton Shores.

Michigan's Governor & taxes:
Protection business, cuts and taxes for ordinary people. Click here for more from The New York Times. Gov. Snyder's plan to cut business taxes and increase taxes on individuals - including a new state tax on pensions. To access a pdf file copy of the Governor's proposed budget for 2012 & 2013, Click here. To view some details of the proposed pension tax, Click here.

Franz: No union for daycare workers: Elberta Alert article by Eric Pyne.

A fact check on Franz & windpower

Local fiscal health info available
Munetrix™ is a web based information source for municipal governments. It's designed to give easy-to-understand access to sometimes confusing financial information. The tool allows for building long-term financial forecasts and trend analysis including fiscal indicator scores, best-practice benchmarking and peer group comparisons. Munetrix uses the State Fiscal Distress Indicator System . As an individual, you can click on “Directories” tab at the top of the web page and look up the fiscal status of your township, village, city, or school district.The company notes: “Assigning a single value to identify the fiscal health of a municipality can be problematic. The Fiscal Indicator score should be viewed as a coarse estimate. Other areas of a community’s fiscal data should be understood before making a final determination. Although the State of Michigan Fiscal Indicator scoring system has come under much criticism, healthy communities tend to have low scores and distressed communities tend to have high scores. We encourage citizens to get involved and contact their local government officials to fully understand their community’s fiscal health.” To look up your local government, Click here. From the information available, the only high risk entity is the Village of Elberta. On a scale of 1 to 9, it has a score of 8 (higher than Benton Harbor). Other villages score: Honor 3, and Thompsonville 1, Beulah 1, Benzonia 1; information on Lake Ann not available. The City of Frankfort scores 2. No Benzie County Townships are rated as high-risk.

Republican bills target workers
If you have any doubt that Michigan's workers are under the gun, check out the 40 bills proposed in the Michigan legislature since Jan. that affect Michigan workers (all workers, public employees, teachers, etc.). To read the purpose and status of these bills, click here

Chrysler repays 2009 government loans