Intimidation, Threats Take Place of Civil Discourse

Mike Barnhardt, president of the Sunshine Review, said transparency has become a “bastardized” term.

“Transparency is not about private responsibility to share private investing or private contributions or anything you want to do with your money,” Barnhardt said. “Donor issues or donor lists aren’t transparency issues. Those are First Amendment and privacy issues.” more …

No Relief In Sight For Home Health Care Workers

Capitol Confidential contacted the governor's office and asked if that means the dues flow will stop on that date. The governor's office has not responded to requests for answers to that question.

If the answer is yes, it would be the first confirmation that the administration has a date in mind for ending the “skim.” more …

Commentary: Two Cheers for Teacher Pension Reform Bill

Center analysts have been pretty tough on Senate Republicans who in recent days progressively watered down proposed school employee pension reform. However, when the time came to stop talking and start voting, the Senate made a pretty good down payment on desperately needed reforms. Referring to one major reform provision added late in the process, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, said to reporters, “Tell the Mackinac Center that, OK?” more …

Commentary: States and Federal Government Should Stop Funding Higher Education

Grove City College in Pennsylvania (my alma mater) is called “an exception to the rules of higher education.” The school is ranked 87 out of 87 of the Keystone State's institutions of higher education in its tuition, room and board. Yet Grove City College, like Hillsdale College in Michigan, accepts no direct or indirect government funding, and its students get no federal grants or loans. more …

GOP's 'No' Votes On School Choice Defend Their Decisions

Legislative candidates fill out a lot of questionnaires from interest groups in election years.

Some stick with their answers if they are elected; others flip flop when it comes time for an actual vote, which doesn't sit well with the groups that asked the questions, or with voters who want elected officials to stay true to their word. more …

Michigan Senate Takes Up Bill to Ban Government Union Stewards Working on Taxpayers' Dime

Chippewa Valley School District paid a combined $208,287 in compensation for two union personnel to deal 100 percent with union issues. One of those teachers sits on the Michigan Education Association’s board of directors. Chippewa Valley asked residents to approve a $27 million special education millage increase last November. more …

Expensive Janitorial Contract Forces Cuts

While the state of Michigan was facing a $1.5 billion deficit in 2009, the Ortonville-Brandon Public School Board of Education signed a four-year deal with its custodians and maintenance people that would pay for 90 percent of their health care premiums.

The family plan for the luxurious MESSA health plan cost $17,171 in 2010 or about $2,000 less than what it could have cost the district to pay the salary of a new custodian. more …

Commentary: Productivity Leads To Prosperity

Mlive columnist Rick Haglund is worried that a proposed cut in the property tax now imposed by the state and local governments on business tools and equipment "may be a job killer," because it would facilitate producing more goods and services per worker.

A simple case study, however, reveals why few serious economists actually take the notion of increased productivity killing jobs seriously. more …

Union Money Helps 'Dues Skim' Stay Alive

Based on emails obtained by Capitol Confidential, after the dummy employer in the “home health care dues skim,” was defunded, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) donated at least $12,000 to help keep it going. In addition, Susan Steinke, executive director of the dummy employer, moved its headquarters into her home.

Emails also show that Steinke could work no more than five (5) hours a week (later no more than 3 hours a month) for the dummy employer. Her hours were limited in this way in order to allow her to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits. more …

Union Friendly GOP Legislator Spurned by Big Labor

State Representative Dale Zorn has often been a Republican ally to public sector unions by trying to thwart some of his own caucus' reform efforts. Yet, when Rep. Zorn cast the deciding vote in May in favor of Senate Bill 619, which lifted some restrictions on enrollment in cyber charter schools, it infuriated the teacher unions and their allies. more …

Biased Message Pitched in Taxpayer Funded Textbook

Students in high schools around Michigan and the nation are being taught how former U.S. Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, was “more interested in finding solutions than focusing on politics,” according to a 2005 American Government textbook still in use. more …

Alcohol Regulation Study: No Advantage To Tighter Restrictions

Michigan’s alcohol regulatory system contributes to higher costs for the public without providing discernible public health and safety advantages, according to a new study. more …

Energy Debates Heat Up As High Electric Rates Continue

Residents and businesses in Michigan are wrestling with the highest electric rates in the region — and with the best way to fix that situation.

As is often the case in Michigan, a more competitive market versus a monopoly market is central to the debate, as is mandating an increase in the amount of renewable energy the state uses. more …

How CapCon Uses Transparency Laws to Hold Government Accountable

These ideas frequently put us on the opposite side of some well-connected and politically powerful special interests, many of which directly or indirectly do receive government money, and have an interest in preserving government secrecy. As seen recently in the politically charged environment in Wisconsin, some of these entities will use extreme tactics against those who oppose their interests . more …

'Taxpayer Burnout' Likely At Play In Rejection Of Grand Rapids Community College Millage Request

After a stunning defeat at the polls Tuesday, the president of Grand Rapids Community College said it will be a long time, if at all, before the school goes back to the voters for more money.

Despite a $150,000 promotional campaign, a traditionally favorable time for millage approvals, and more than 100,000 faculty, students, administrators and alumni in the community, voters rejected the $98.6 million bond issue request by a 14 percent margin. more …

Commentary: Politician 'Ambushes' Government Transparency Group, Gets 'Counter-Ambushed'

Politicians using a public hearing to “ambush” a political foe is hardly rare, eyebrows were raised a couple weeks ago when Republican state representative Rep. Bradford Jacobsen from Oxford attacked an organization called Sunshine Review, whose “radical” mission is to increase government transparency. This week the reform group struck back. more …

Teacher Made Over $80K Per Year, Retires With a Pension of Over $40K — Claims 'Violation of Trust'

Does a teacher who made $81,000 before retiring to a $41,400 a-year-pension have a valid complaint that she wasn’t paid enough?

That was the focus of a recent story in The Bridge, The Center For Michigan’s news site, in which former Royal Oak teacher Kathy Kapera was featured. The article said that Kapera thought the lucrative retirement benefits teachers receive “would make up for the relative lack of financial compensation she would earn as a teacher.” more …

Commentary: Legislators Choose School Employees Over Taxpayers on Retirement Benefit Reform

Unlike regular pension checks, nothing in law obligates taxpayers to honor these retiree health benefit promises. The politicians never set aside any money to pre-fund them, and implicitly reserved the right to trim or even eliminate them should the cost become unaffordable. Considering that benefit costs increased by $366 million since 2000, an 85 percent jump, these costs are prohibitive. more …

Federal 'Stimulus' Spent $34.5 Million In Michigan For Only 183 Total Jobs

One company, Astraeus Wind Energey Inc. of Eaton Rapids, got a $7 million grant and a loan of $1.54 million and has created 11 jobs. If no other workers are hired, those jobs were created at a cost of $776,364 each. more …

Analysis: Local Governments Wrong to Call Foul On Property Tax Reform

As to the threat of local units raising overall property taxes if the bill passes, local government boards are already making good on that threat without the bill even passing. For instance, schools alone are asking to increase local property taxes by $540 million this year alon more …