No problem- love being here. Thanks for having me.

First things first, the GOP caucus has been busy these last couple of weeks. You’d never know it from a lot of the statewide media coverage although I’ve seen an article or two in local papers. I think the thing that’s got a lot of people really excited right now is this Michigan Government F.A.T. program. What’s that all about and why do it?

The FAT Act, it’s the Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, is about openness and honesty in government. A transparent government is compelled to be an honest one, because nothing is hidden from those who are governed.

The FAT Act is also about logic. We spent $41 billion last year, and the state democrats are proposing to spend much more this year. Yet if we were cut to the bone, why would we have to raise taxes?

A lot of people don't understand a number; they just hear the word billion and know it is more than a million. $41 billion is forty-one thousand million dollar bills. Most city councils show their checkbooks to the council members and public for big expenses. If $10,000 is a big expense that should be noticed, the state would have 410,000 of them to look over! Shouldn't we look under the hood on these expenses before we trash the economy further with tax hikes?

The thing that gets lost with all this budget talk is the taxpayer – this is their money and they should know where and how it is being spent.

The FAT program builds in transparency so everyone, including bloggers here, can make sure we are a government for the people, not the bureaucracy. Public scrutiny leads to better decisions every time.

Accountability seems to be sort of the red headed step child in the entire budget process so far. We hear talk about government reforms. We hear talk about spending restraint. We hear talk about tax hikes. But we don’t hear that often about making sure the state spends what it has the way it should be spending it…

Ah, priorities. You'd think the dems would at least say it was for the kids.

House republicans passed the last two budgets and kept spending under the rate of inflation- something that Michigan hasn't done in a generation. Our budgets were hundreds of millions of dollars lower than the governor's recommendations, yet, we spent hundreds of millions more to fund K12, Higher Ed, and police and fire.

There is plenty of room for reform and restructuring. The reality is that it isn't that hard to do, you just have to send money to what you believe matters, funding the priorities of Michigan citizens and respecting the taxpayer's dollar in the process.

For democrats, spending has been for the employee pay raises, welfare and Medicaid systems. I'm not sure where Google ranked our Medicaid and welfare systems or employee raises in their decision to come to Michigan, but I think it was below education, infrastructure and local police and fire.

And of course, you hit on the tax hike issue that still seems to be the direction the House Democrat Majority, and certainly the direction the Governor is heading. You’ve blogged on Right Michigan about this in the past but just by way of update, a few weeks gone by, where do you stand on the tax hike issue?

There is no need for, nor do I support a tax increase for our general fund. This year’s budget woes are not that far off from each of the last four years, yet each of these was fixed without raising taxes. It comes down to what you believe in. Do you believe that in a single state recession, state government should take more from hard working families and businesses to fund pay raises for the 53,000 state employees and their 7,500 company cars? Do you keep welfare for life after President Clinton eliminated it, without any requirements for drug testing? Do you keep and expand the bureaucracies that run our prisons and foster care systems with their track records over the last two years-- or do you change things for the better? Do you stand up for kids in the K12 system so the money is spent in the classroom?

If you understand government and its nature, it will always be "underfunded" in the eyes of those collecting the money. To endorse our largess or to perpetuate it would be a huge mistake at this critical juncture.

Do we value the institution or the people it is supposed to serve?

I asked Representative Hildenbrand last week and I’ve got to ask you, too… any sense why the Democrat Majority refuses to hold a vote? Are there holdouts in their caucus? Do they not have the votes to swipe another $1.9 billion from Michigan taxpayers? Can you name any names?

I said in a Detroit News article that they are trying to figure out a way to raise a billion dollars in taxes and not have anyone notice. It is a fool's errand. Every member of their caucus has supported the pursuit of tax increases by passing the reckless, hard left budget bills we have seen so far. Even Governor Granholm couldn't imagine taxing and spending as much as the House Dems have proposed in their bills.

To put it in perspective- they have spent every dime of general fund money the state projects to have in their first 10 budget bills. The problem is... we have 17 total budgets! The money for the rest of them will have to come from somewhere, the democrats want to believe a tax increase.

To answer the question, we haven’t seen any evidence of holdouts in their caucus who are willing to stand up against their leadership and stand for the people of Michigan – they are all voting to spend the money and use procedural tricks to get the tax increase. Their caucus appears to be tied to a tax increase by Speaker Dillon, and Reps. Cushingberry, Sak, Gillard and Bieda.

Now, Leon Drolet at the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, he’s been on the site too talking about his “No New Taxes” Pledge. And I think it was Dawson Bell in the Free Press reported that you planned on signing it. Why sign a pledge and do you think it’s significant that others, invariably, will refuse to sign it for whatever reason?

Yes, I will sign it and believe others that understand the budget should. I have come to know the budget process very well over the last few years, and I understand that tax increases are not necessary at this time, not to mention the devastating effect they’d have on our economy.

I do not foresee any democrats signing it. However, while the democrats control two-thirds of the process in Lansing, we will work together with them. Working together, though, does not mean helping them to accomplish their end goals of a tax increase. The tax increase idea was manufactured out of the election results and should be resisted throughout the process. If the democrats want to raise taxes, they should simply vote for it and negotiate from there.

Is there any sort of caucus effort to actively encourage members to sign the pledge?

I think the members should take it seriously. We have a great track record of pushing for the government to "live within its means" and to grow at a rate beneath inflation, and I think we will continue that trend as a caucus.

OK, so we’ve got the Government FAT program, we’ve got the tax issue, but you guys have been working consistently since January on all sorts of reforms and changes to streamline government. Are there any efforts that you’re particularly proud of or particularly frustrated with the way the Dem Majority has blocked them?

I think we are all greatly frustrated with the way things are being run.

Fair enough. Now why on Earth is the House meeting only five times in August with this massive budget hole staring us in the eye?

I will leave that to the majority as to their motivations. I think some people advising them want a tax increase so bad, they are willing to shut down the government and target services to hurt people to accomplish that end.

I think it would be helpful if the House leadership either backed the Governor’s plan or a plan of their own. Sen. Bishop and the Governor, whether you like her plan or not, have both proposed solutions. The democrats in the House so far this year haven't done anything relevant and are holding up progress in either direction.

They have, however, paid great patronage to donors, making me wonder if some politicians really are what people say they are. Rep. Sak and others pushed and co-sponsored a piece of legislation to single out legal rights to homosexual students that were bullied versus a bill that would have protected all kids’ rights for any reason.

I would like to see something good for the people of Michigan, and I think the FAT Act and the College Family Bill of Rights would be a great place for a start. The Family Bill of Rights package protects students from exorbitant tuition increases.

Now I know you’ve been lurking and commenting and even blogging now and again on Right Michigan pretty much since we launched. You were one of the first elected officials in Lansing to participate on the site and that was and has been great. What do you think about blogging overall? How’s it changing the way things are done in Lansing? Is the rest of the caucus paying attention to the blogs?

All good things. I read a lot of blogs to know what Michigan citizens are saying. I don't sleep very much, so I get a huge kick out of the blogs' transition from one news cycle to the next.

Are there any blogs in particular you make a point of checking out every day?

Right Michigan is first. I do hit Politico, RedState and others. I catch up on the presidential stuff as I believe we have some great GOP candidates...full disclosure, I believe Mitt Romney is the best candidate for Michigan and our country from either party. In fairness to the other side, I do read Michigan liberal and others too, to know what ideas we are up against and remind me what we are fighting for.

And there’s no escaping this one… Green and White or Maize and Blue?

Let's go... Fire up Chips! (CMU)

Thanks, again!