LSJ Blogs: Capitol Journal by Scott Davis

Michigan gets high marks for low ethics

In a newly released reported by the Center for Public Integrity, Michigan scored near the bottom among all states for failing to require public officials to report their personal finances.

Idaho and Vermont tied with Michigan for the bottom ranking.

The report by the center, which advocates for increased disclosure among public officials, may give increased pressure to state officials to expand such requirements. A bill recently passed the House requiring disclosure of income above $1,000 for some elected officials, and Attorney General Mike Cox has raised increased transparency as an issue in his bid to become governor in 2010.

Despite gains in disclosure for some states, 20 states still received poor marks overall, including

Illinois and Indiana.

Democratic contest for governor heats up

 Lt. Gov. John Cherry will get some competition for his Democratic gubernatorial bid when State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Twp., officially throws her hat into the ring today, as expected.

Smith, who is scheduled to kick off her campaign today at Washtenaw Community College, said she hopes to go against the conventional wisdom that Cherry has a lock on the nomination, according to Gongwer News Service.

"It seems that some 'political insiders' have already decided who the Democratic nominee will be. I know how Barack Obama must have felt every time someone introduced Hillary Clinton as the next President," Smith said. "But as I launch my campaign I want people to know that I am going to fight hard to win my party's nomination and go on to be elected Governor in November 2010."

Smith, who is one of the longest serving current members of the Legislature, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 2002. She now heads the Department of Corrections budget in the House

Land pulls out of governor's race

A major Republican contender for the 2010 gubernatorial ticket has taken herself out of the running.

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who has been exploring the run for months, announced Thursday she had decided not to seek the post and threw her weight behind Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, a Republican, for the seat, Gongwer News reported.

That endorsement, analysts say, dims the chances of Attorney General Mike Cox to win the Republican nomination, though the race is still early yet. Other Republicans in the field, or at least considering a run, are Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, and Ann Arbor business executive Rick Snyder.

Land said campaign finances were not a concern in running for the high office, but said the next governor needs Bouchard’s legislative and administrative. He served in the state House and Senate during the 1990s.

Cities spared the budget axe -- for now

Revenue sharing cuts were largely spared the budget axe in an amended 2009-10 budget reported out the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday.

The new budget would chop revenue sharing payments to cities, villages and townships by $5 million – not the $90 million endorsed in subcommittee, Gongwer News reported.

The vote followed a high-pitched plea to avoid cuts by the Michigan Municipal League, which warned that deep cuts in revenue sharing could lead to the layoffs of thousands of police and firefighters statewide.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has recommended cutting $162 million in state revenue to help make up a $1.8 billion shortfall next budget year, which begins Oct. 1. The Senate voted to chop $164 million.

A move is afoot to restore the "promise" of state scholarship funding.

Days after the Republican-led Senate slashed funding for the Michigan Promise scholarship program, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education today is addressing the program, along with other aspects of higher-education funding.

Lt. Gov. John Cherry is among the Democrats putting his weight behind the program, the Associated Press. Cherry, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for governor in 2010, says Michigan lawmakers should restore money for the state's primary publicly funded college scholarship program.

Cherry said today the program is not immune from budget cuts, but that it should not be eliminated. Cherry says eliminating it would break a promise to the 96,000 students expecting to receive the up to $4,000 scholarship.

The Senate vote last week was designed to save  $140 million in the budget year that starts Oct. 1.

Even if funding is maintained for the program, perhaps a name change is in order? The "Michigan Retractable Stipend"?

Fire up the bulldozer!

Conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh has a rather startling urban approach for Flint, and presumably much of Michigan.

Bulldoze it.

Limbaugh is under fire from many in Michigan today after he made the comment on his Tuesday broadcast. He was expanding on an idea from community leaders to shrink Flint to consolidate city services; he said the city should simply be bulldozed to save taxpayer dough.

It’s unclear whether such comments will endear him to his local “ditto-head” fan base in Michigan, but one thing is clear: Limbaugh’s comment shows just how much he cares about the state’s escalating economic plight.

Promises, promises......

In a move that shows that lawmakers should NEVER put the word "promise" in any sort of spending initiative, the Senate committee on higher education Tuesday approved a 2009-10 budget that eliminated the Michigan Promise Grant program, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The program, a linchpin of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's education efforts, provides up to a $4,000 scholarship for college students who score well on state exams and complete two years of postsecondary work, and it has helped thousands of Michigan teen-agers attend college. Altogether, the Senate committee cut nearly $143 million from state financial aid to college students.

Senate Republicans say the proposed cuts merely reflect the new fiscal reality in Michigan, which faces a $1.8 billion shortfall for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Senate Democrats say they hope much of the cuts can be restored in the full Senate or in negotiations with the House.

If the scholarship program is finally axed, no one can blame Michigan's young people for looking askance at any future "promises."

Doctors on socialized health care: Come again?

It’s funny how doctors are staunchly opposed to health care reform that involves a government-run health insurance program – until someone proposes to cut an existing socialized health program that serves as a trough for physicians.

Recently, the American Medical Association has been critical of President Barack Obama’s efforts to reform health care by offering a government-sponsored option for health insurance. Now, this week the Michigan State Medical Society is up in arms about a reported proposal in the Senate to cut the state’s Medicaid reimbursements to physicians by 8 percent, slashing $200 million to reduce a $1.8 billion shortfall in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, Gongwer News Service reported.

Society official say the cuts will make it harder for doctors to treat the poor, forcing more indigent persons to go to emergency rooms for treatment.

Not to mention run a scalpel through their profit margins.

Health care: It'll keep sliding

Just when you thought the state of health care couldn’t get worse…

Officials at Michigan hospitals are warning that new state Medicaid cuts and the bankruptcy of General Motors Corp. will hit health facilities hard, increasing wait times for patients seeking treatment and making it more difficult to provide care, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Already, hospitals are postponing new capital projects and not filling job openings in anticipation of reduced revenues.

"We're preparing for the worst," said Rob Casalou, president and chief executive officer of the St. Joseph Mercy Health system, a subsidiary of the large Trinity Health system headquartered in Novi.

With Republicans now seeking $1.2 billion in state cuts for the budget year starting Oct. 1, few are expecting much relief on the horizon.

Senate muddying the waters, DEQ says

Attempts in the Republican-controlled Senate legislation to tinker with the state Department of Environmental Quality could throw natural resource protections out of whack, agency leaders say.

DEQ officials say provisions in two Senate bills oversimplify agency programs, lack clear guidance, increase costs, create inefficiencies and conflict with federal guidelines, Gongwer News reported.

"Many programs have statutorily or federally mandated inspection activities and frequencies," Deputy Director Frank Ruswick said Wednesday. "For federally delegated programs, failure to comply with federal laws, guidance or grant requirements could jeopardize the state's authorization for certain programs."

One of the bills, which would require a program review panel consisting of permit holders, businesses and others, "is heavily skewed toward the interests of the regulatory community, containing four members with that interest to only one member of the general public and two government employees," DEQ Director Steven Chester said in a memo to senators. The bills still await action in the Senate.