LSJ Blogs: Capitol Journal by Scott Davis

Republican poker: I'll block your raise, cut your pay

A state Senate committee has approved a 5-percent pay cut for all state employees, but workers don’t need to grab for their wallets quite yet.

The measure – a Constitutional amendment – requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to be placed on the Aug. 3 ballot, and Democrats in both chambers seem committed to blocking the measure.

Republicans have spoken of a need to make deep cuts in wages and benefits to help address the state’s structural deficit, but many Democrats have maintained that state employees have already made plenty of sacrifices and concessions in recent years. Unionized employees this year are expecting a long-awaited 3-percent pay raise.

Given the amendment's near-zero chance of passage, it appears likely it’s just a political ploy by Republicans to curry favor among cut-to-the-bone voters in this year’s election.

Slick ad: Schuette is a pawn of oil interests

Michigan Democrats are drilling for votes with a new Internet video that tries to Bill Schuette, Republican candidate for attorney general, to the oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The video makes the case that Schuette, a former state senator, took oil industry donations and then sponsored a bill to allow slant drilling in the Great Lakes, the Detroit Free Press reported. The feds later imposed a two-year moratorium on Great Lakes oil drilling.

The advertisement implies that the kind of drilling Schuette backs could lead to a similar kind of disaster in Michigan’s back yard.

Schuette’s campaign officials said Schuette has a strong environmental record, saying he backed strict protections for the Great Lakes drilling and voted with the Legislature to prohibit oil drilling in the Great Lakes.

The Democratic Party has endorsed Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton for attorney general.

Purse strings just got tighter in Michigan

It was the proverbial good news-bad news scenario.

And as has been the case lately in Michigan, it was more bad news than good news.

According to the Detroit Free Press, "A $454 million deficit looms for the state general fund, according to a report Tuesday by the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency. Revenues from taxes, fees and money transfers will be 5.7 percent below approved spending for the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30."

That means lawmakers who are wrestling with cuts for the fiscal year 2011 budget need to go back to the drawing board on the current FY 2010 spending plan for additional cuts. For example, employees should expect to see furlough days -- perhaps many.

The good news? The same report showed that school aid revenue is up for the fiscal year by about $255 million compared to January estimates. This is due to better-than-expected sales tax revenue.

That may ease pressure on lawmakers who are considering cuts in per-pupil spending – and may even allow little Jimmy a new school text book next fall.

Smile: You're on Bernero camera

Gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero sees himself as a champion of working people, but apparently not all working people agree.

The Lansing mayor recently took heat from the Ironworkers union for showing "unauthorized footage" of union members in a campaign website video, according to the Detroit News.

"This is shameless ... election year politics on the part of Virg Bernero to convince people he has the support of the working men and women of Michigan when he obviously doesn't," Borch said. "Bernero has a terrible record when it comes to supporting labor, and we're not going to stand idly by while he uses footage of our union in his laughable campaign ads."

Bernero’s campaign officials contend the footage is not misleading, noting the AFL-CIO has endorsed his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.

"Mayor Bernero's labor record has been validated by the AFL-CIO, which represents more than 600,000 working men and women throughout the state," said Jamaine Dickens, a campaign spokesman for Bernero. "The Ironworkers represent less than 2,000, none of whom own rights to any video used by the Bernero campaign."

Final offer on schools retirement bill?

After several weeks of negotiations on a school employees retirement bill, it appears its do-or-die time.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac, the Senate’s negotiator on the bill, made a final offer on the bill to House negotiators on a final bill in conference committee, calling for a compromise pension multiplier of 1.6 percent – up from the standard 1.5 multiplier, Gongwer News reported.

The offer also sets eligibility for those totaling 80 years of age and years of service, sets up a hybrid system for new hires and mandates that all employees contribute 3 percent of salary toward their pension. There would be no lifetime health care coverage guarantee, which Democrats have pushed for.

Lawmakers say they are hoping to finalize some sort of deal today, but if no agreement is reached, it’s possible that a schools retirement plan – and subsequently a state employees retirement plan – could be delayed for months. Both are key priorities of Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

It's Fieger time!....Ah, never mind

Some Michigan Democrats may be jumping for joy. Others may be cursing a missed opportunity.

Such are the emotions spurred by one Geoffrey Fieger, a fiery, bombastic attorney who ran unsuccessfully for governor on the Democratic ticket in 1998 and is best known as the defender of “Dr. Death” Jack Kervorkian.

Fieger, who publicly has played with the idea of running for governor again, said this week he would not throw his (oversized) hat into the ring.

A recent poll shows that Fieger would easily have won the Democratic primary, but that would have gone down in flames during the general election. This is partly because some Democrats respond to his buck-the-establishment rhetoric, but many others see him as a loose cannon.

One campaign sticker from his past gubernatorial run – “Fieger, I suppose” – captures it all.

Ah, it could have been fun – for a few months.