LSJ Blogs: Capitol Journal by Scott Davis

State glitch: Empty bellies or fewer smokes?

Roughly 85,000 Michigan food aid recipients started the New Year with the prospect of empty bellies.

State officials say a human error led to monthly food aid payments not being added to Bridge Cards for about a tenth of those who receive the aid, the Associated Press reported.  Bridge Card recipients receive about $540 a month, on average, to feed their families.

To their credit, officials of the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget worked through the night to restore the money. As of Friday morning, money had been added to about half the cards.

The cynical may argue the error just meant recipients had to wait a day or so longer to buy lottery tickets, liquor and smokes. While that occurs, to be sure, advocates for the poor insist most recipients use the aid for basic sustenance – and survival.

Granholms flees Al-Jazeera, Amash head-butts Boehner

A few updates in the political cosmos….

--- File this one away under “no surprise.” U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan refused this week to support  Rep. John Boehner in his bid to continue as House Speaker, bringing up months of bad feeling between Boehner and Amash.

Amash, a freshman, feels Boehner and other Republicans aren’t moving fast enough to cut spending. Boehner believes Amash isn’t a good foot soldier. That’s probably why Boehner removed Amash last month from the coveted House Budget Committee, drawing Amash’s public outrage.

Amash, incidentally, also voted this week, against the budget bill, supported by Boehner, that prevented the nation from going over the fiscal cliff.

Amash isn’t the only one pulling his support from Boehner. He narrowly won in his bid to return as House speaker.

--- Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is leaving Current TV and her political-themed program, “The War Room,” only a year after she began. Her announcement came shortly after the purchase of the cable network by Al- Jazeera, the Arabic news network financed by the government of Qatar.

Clearly, Granholm’s program would have no place on the new network, since its focus has been to report on world and Middle Eastern events from an Arabic perspective. Current TV has been struggling with low ratings for months.

Granholm will continue to broadcast for a few weeks before ending the program, and then continue as a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

---  If you’re still trying to figure out the winners and losers of this week’s “fiscal cliff” budget deal, good luck sifting through the rhetoric. Liberals and conservatives on both sides are claiming victory. Liberals and conservatives on both sides are claiming defeat.

According to one line of thought, everyone was a loser in this deal, since payroll taxes are rising for all workers, and income tax rates are rising for those making more than $450,000.

According to another, Congress didn’t raise taxes at all, since these “increases” are merely the result of expiring tax cuts and tax holidays approved long ago by lawmakers.

Confused yet? Take a breath. At least two years of this to go.

Some debt is good for nation. Just ask George Washington

Correction: A reader brought to my attention that my original posting said the 2009 stimulus act cost $787 million -- when it actually cost $787 billion. I knew that, but somewhere along the way, that crucial fact got jumbled in my brain. I've corrected it in the text. It does blow to smithereens my original point that borrowing for the Revolutionary War, adjusted for inflation, was roughly in the same ballpark as borrowing for the stimulus. The stimulus cost much, much more. Still, the overall theme of the blog post holds true. The Founding Fathers were heavy borrowers, and debt is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

There’s a new fiscal cliff approaching the country. This time, one hopes the country won’t fall off in the fog of ideology.

The cliff is real. Unless Congress agrees this month on new revenue or spending cuts that would decrease the nation’s deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, automatic spending cuts, split evenly among defense and domestic spending, would go into effect in January. This likely would be disastrous for the nation as it tries to recover from a sluggish economy.

We’re in this predicament because of one simple ideology: That debt – any debt – is bad for the nation, and that all future borrowing by the U.S. must end if the country is to have a future. This was the position of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party in 2011 when it refused to sign off on raising the debt ceiling. This resulted in a fiscal crisis that lowered the nation’s credit rating and, through higher interest rates, heaped untold higher debt on future generations.

These Tea Party debt warriors are true believers. Some have argued that debt financing is not what the Founding Fathers intended for this nation.

That, of course, is flat wrong.

Our Founding Fathers financed the American Revolutionary War by borrowing $43 million, mostly from Europe. Adjusting for inflation, that’s roughly $559.9 million in today’s dollars. By contrast, the 2009 stimulus act – an appropriation heavily financed through borrowing that Republicans have portrayed as an outrageous example of government gone haywire – cost $787 billion.

One paved the way for the country’s freedom. The other, many economists have said, prevented the country from sinking into another Great Depression catastrophe.

For most of its history, this nation has had some sort of debt. Without borrowing, it surely wouldn’t have had the resources to prevail during the Revolutionary War or World War II.

Today, we should have an honest debate about what the appropriate debt level of the nation should be. Most, including myself, would say the current debt level of $11.4 trillion is too high, and that the nation should embark on spending cuts and new revenue fairly soon.

But the idea that, in the future, the country can’t borrow one more dollar is not only wrong-headed, but dangerous. I’m sure that’s our Founding Fathers would say.

Snyder door knock: Too good to be true?

Gov. Rick Snyder found himself in an unusual position today – preaching to the choir.

The governor, who has taken much heat for proposals to reform the business tax code and build a new international bridge, was being the good foot soldier for the Romney-Ryan ticket in Saginaw today, knocking on what campaign officials say was the 1 millionth door for the campaign in Michigan.

Amid flashing cameras, an elderly gentleman opened the door, wearing a Romney-Ryan campaign button on his sweater vest.

Campaign officials swear it was not a staged event and in fact was the second door the governor knocked in Saginaw. At the first door, there was no answer.

True, a homeowner wearing a Romney-Ryan button does a whiff of staginess to it. But it could have been worse. The guy could have been wearing an Obama-Biden button. Now, that might have been awkward for the photo-op.

'West Wing' star to place spotlight on Michigan voting

Pedestrians in downtown Lansing may do a double-take today if they happen to glimpse “West Wing” star Brad Whitford “walking and talking” near the state Capitol.

The actor, a friend of Michigan Supreme Court Candidate Bridget McCormack, will appear at a press conference this afternoon with the candidate to talk about the importance of voting a full ballot, including the non-partisan races of the Supreme Court.

Also speaking on the issue will be Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope.

Whitford, McCormack and others say they are trying to reverse a disturbing trend of a third or more of voters tend to vote only partisan races and ignore the non-partisan races. Some people think they are mistakenly voting a full ballot when vote a straight party ticket on the ballot.

Whitford, who played presidential aide Josh Lyman on the “West Wing,” also appeared on a pro-McCormack YouTube video last month that highlighted the importance of voting a full ballot. The tongue-and-cheek video, shot like a “West Wing” episode, also featured several other stars of the show, including McCormack’s sister, Mary McCormack.

The video can be found at www.mccormackforjustice.com/youtube.

Detroit threatens to break with Johnson over citizenship question

In a move that could signal chaos in Michigan polling places, Detroit’s election director has said he wants to break with the Michigan Secretary of State over whether to include a citizenship question on the Nov. 6 ballot.

On Wednesday, Detroit Elections Director Daniel Baxter told MLive that the city would remove the controversial question from the ballot, saying he believed a gubernatorial veto of legislation this year authorized the removal of that question.

Critics have claimed the question presents a barrier to voting for new citizens, while Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said the question is merely a last-minute affirmation of citizenship –without need of documentation – before one casts their vote.

Following his statement Wednesday, Baxter, at the behest of the state elections bureau, agreed to hold off on removing the question until a federal judge rules on the matter.

Even so, Baxter’s eagerness to defy Johnson raises an interesting question. If Michigan election clerks are predisposed to make their own rules for election day, how does that affect the integrity and coherence of the state’s election process?

None too well, one might presume.

Granholm cheerleads for Dems; Mich Republicans show 'guv luv'

Ex-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm re-emerged on the national political stage in rare form Thursday, electrifying a Democratic National Convention crowd with her slam of Mitt Romney as the one who turned his back on Michigan’s auto industry in a time of a crisis.

By contrast, she credited President Barack Obama with saving the state’s auto industry with a bailout and restructuring – along with 211,000 jobs statewide.

This is all good politics, and given the Democratic accolades for the speech – and the importance of Michigan to Obama’s re-election bid – Democratic leaders likely wish now they had given Granholm a prime-time spot to make her pitch.

Even though it was non-prime time, it’s possible Granholm’s sweeping oratory made Michigan Republicans nervous, as, within hours, they issued a torrent of slams against the woman they call Michigan’s own version of Jimmy Carter.

It was quite a thrashing of the former governor – the likes of which haven’t been seen since she last ran for Michigan governor in 2006.

Here’s a sampling:

"Michigan wasn't better off when Jennifer Granholm was governor, and America is not better off today than four years ago.  As a matter of fact, if you liked Jennifer Granholm's second term, you'll love Barack Obama's second term -- you'll be blown away by less jobs, fewer paychecks, bigger government and ObamaCare to boot. -- Attorney General Bill Schuette

“The decision by the DNC to feature former Governor Jennifer Granholm is not only emblematic of the clear lack of leadership in the Democrat party, it is a roundhouse slap in the face to all Michiganders who suffered through eight miserable years of her failed and destructive leadership. While our country deals with 42 straight months of record unemployment, 23 million Americans out of work and runaway government now surpassing $16 trillion in debt, nothing is more insulting than propping up Jennifer Granholm for advise on solutions.” -- Mike Bishop, former state Senate majority leader.

“Gov. Granholm’s backwards and failed policies led to two government shut downs, a crippled economy, massive job loss and as a result Michigan led the nation in unemployment and population loss. Rather than cut spending, Granholm hiked taxes on job creators and middle class families, which caused misery for middle class families across Michigan. -- Bobby Schostak, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.

Oh, those Michigan Republicans. Clearly, they love our former guv.

Pension-smacked teachers, angry nurses, surprising depature

Here’s a glance at some of the doings in and around the Capitol:

-- In a move that reflects reforms aimed at state employees, newly hired public teachers must pay more for their pensions and would no longer receive state-provided healthcare coverage under newly approved legislation.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the bill Wednesday, which is now headed to Gov. Rick Snyder for approval.

The action ended months of wrangling over the bill, including claims by opponents that the changes would erode promises of pensions and health care coverage in retirement. Advocates for the legislation say the $15 billion or more savings from the bill would help the state save the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System.

-- On Wednesday, state officials unexpectedly announced the resignation of Olga Dazzo, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, and Gov. Rick Snyder will replace her with James Haveman, who formerly led the department under Gov. John Engler.

It was not clear why Dazzo is returning to the private sector – or even what job she’s going to -- but she said in a statement that she was pleased that the department during her 18 months on the job had set "a vision and a framework to address chronic illness and infant mortality."

Coincidentally, Dazzo is leaving her job as the Snyder administration is reviewing whether to join in an expansion of Medicaid authorized in the Affordable Health Care Act, which health advocates say could have profound implications for health services in Michigan for decades to come.

-- Union advocates are hopping mad over a setback in their effort to place a proposed constitutional amendment before voters Nov. 6 to enshrine collective bargaining rights.

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 Wednesday on the proposal, and backers of the Protect Our Jobs proposal asked state appellate judges to step in.

This morning, officials of the Michigan Nurses Association, flanked by many nurses, were staging a press conference at Sparrow Hospital to make their case to put the proposal on the ballot.

“Collective bargaining is the strongest tool we have to protect patient care and safety because it gives us a voice to speak out on behalf of our patients,"  Jeff Breslin, a Sparrow nurse and president of the Michigan Nurses Association, said in a statement. “At Sparrow, we negotiated groundbreaking staff-to-patient ratios that have resulted in better and safer care for patients from across Michigan.”

State showdowns, recount, and citizenship outcry

Another state primary has come and gone, and many races are now effectively decided for the Nov. 6 general elections, despite what token opposition may exist on the ballots.

A few thoughts:

--   The only real state House race to watch in mid-Michigan in the fall is the 67^th District matchup in southern Ingham County between Republican Jeff Oesterle and Democrat Tom Cochran. For the first time in a decade, Republicans have a chance to wrest control of the seat away from Democrats, who have held it through Dianne Byrum and then her daughter, Barb Byrum, who is term-limited and serving her final year. Look for lots of state party money to roll into the race.

-- There could be a possible recount in Tuesday’s primary contest between Democrats Theresa Abed and Andrea Cascarilla in Eaton County’s 71^st District. Abed squeaked out a win by 23 votes.  There is no automatic recount in Michigan; Cascarilla would have to request one within 48 hours of the results being validated, and she says she is awaiting the final, official vote total before deciding how to proceed.

-- In all the hubbub over Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s requirement to have voters affirm citizenship at the polls – in possible violation of gubernatorial veto  – it’s hard to tell whether it was a historic misfire that caused mass confusion and disenfranchised thousands, or whether it was a simple misstep blown way out of proportion by critics. The truth may be in between.

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing spoke of reports of  "untold numbers of people being turned away from polls," and Stephen Henderson, editorial page editor for the Detroit Free Press, wrote of his brief panic when asked the citizenship before voting, because he had no documents to prove he was a citizen.

I can only speak of my experience from voting Tuesday in a southside Lansing precinct. I saw no mass confusion in the precinct. I didn’t panic when I was asked to check a box that I am a U.S. citizen. I just checked it. That’s due mostly to the fact that I am a U.S. citizen. I’m guessing most citizens reacted the same way.

That said, Johnson probably shouldn’t have implemented the requirement unless she was on rock-solid ground. And within hours of polls opening, complaints and concerns forced her office to regain its footing and do a complete about face on the issue.

House Republican inaction means fed control of health issues

In the war over Obamacare, state House Republicans are making one thing clear: They favor federal control over Michigan health issues, rather than state control.

How else to explain the many months of delay by the House in crafting a health exchange – a sort of marketplace in which consumers can more easily buy health insurance – that was mandated for each state in the Affordable Healthcare Act in 2010.

For many months, House Republicans claimed they wanted to delay crafting the exchange to await the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling that just came down in June. This is despite the fact that the court case revolved around the individual mandate – not the health exchanges.

House Republicans also delayed despite the fact that the Senate passed a bill on it last year, and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder urged prompt action.  Snyder did so for one simple reason: If the state didn’t create its own health exchange tailored for Michigan, the federal government would create its own boilerplate version for the state.

According to some experts, Michigan is right at the point where it either must act very quickly, or resign itself to adopting the federal model.

Regardless, House Republicans are continuing to fight the creation of an exchange, and Tuesday, they once again voted down efforts by Democrats to vote a bill out of committee. Some Republicans are hoping a health exchange will never see the light of day in the expectation that Obamacare will be repealed after the election.

This is indeed wishful thinking, bordering on fantasy, as a repeal would require Republicans not only to gain the presidency, but also the U.S. Senate in the November elections.

Barring this highly unlikely development, Michigan will soon have a new health exchange– a new web-based marketplace that is designed to help residents navigate what has traditionally been an mind-numbingly complex, anti-consumer, often predatory private-sector health insurance industry.

And thanks to House Republicans, Michigan will have no voice over what that new critical marketplace will look like.