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Granholm ducks Bishop: Majority Leader's office responds!By Nick, Section News
Since Jennifer Granholm announced yesterday her intention to travel the state holding a series of televised town-hall meetings to pitch her $3 billion tax hike and recently announced an impending trip to Germany in an effort to improve Michigan's economic climate I decided to ask the Senate Majority Leader if she's planned any impending trips to his office right down the hall.
Afterall, with Andy Dillon in her pocket in the State House, all she really needs to do is get Majority Leader Bishop on board. I was curious so I fired off a note to Senator Bishop's office. Matt Marsden, the spokesman for the Senate Majority Leader's office responded almost immediately: Read on...
"Senate Majority Leader Bishop has both talked via phone and sent a formal letter requesting a confidential meeting to discuss the proposed cuts with everyone at the table in an effort to move this process forward. This letter was a genuine good-faith effort to engage the Governor in what has been a long standing legislative tradition - direct dialogue between the Executive and Legislative branch. If the Governor spent as much energy on negotiating this budget as she is on campaigning for tax hikes, we would have resolved this issue days ago. I am in awe of the lengths she is going to try to convince 64% of the Michigan citizens, as reported in a recent poll, that a tax increase is the best way to move the state forward. The senate majority leader believes that there are savings to be had by cutting big government and wants to educate the Governor on the fiscally responsible GOP proposal.
The Governor's response to the letter insinuates that Senator Bishop has not been talking with Speaker Dillon or Mr. DeRoche. The fact of the matter is the state's elected leadership have found the time to converse on the budget process in one form or another. The Governor is the one who needs to take a seat at the table. However, she would prefer we decided the proposed savings in a court of public opinion. I tend to think that had the Appropriations Committee asked her to release her first Executive Order to the press a few days before they were to consider it, there would have been cries of outrage from the administration. They would be justified in this outrage as this is not how state government operates. There is a legislative process that governs how policy is shaped and it is time for the campaigning to stop and everyone to sit down to find common ground on how to balance the 2007 budget." Just so we're all on the same page...from Dictionary.com: Compromise: "Noun. A settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands." Now how are you going to reach an agreement if you won't talk? With that in mind, think about these town hall meetings... Marsden's got a point. This is pure political grandstanding, and at a time when Michigan needs solutions, not politicking. "Michigan citizens are a critical part of the process of deciding how we'll revitalize Michigan today and ensuring that our kids have an opportunity to build a great life here tomorrow," Granholm said in a prepared statement. Do you know who else is a critical part of the process? The Senate. They're the people who'll vote on your budget, governor. Isn't it about time you stopped playing politics and started to lead?
Granholm ducks Bishop: Majority Leader's office responds! | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
Granholm ducks Bishop: Majority Leader's office responds! | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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