Only Lemmons (Detroit), LeBlanc(Westland), and Clemente (Downriver) have solid democrat seats on that list. I don't know which LaMar Lemmons it was (There are three of them). If those three are honestly opposed to that, are they going to take one for the team, or will they stand their ground.  

My money says Simpson and Corriveau get the get out of jail free cards. Rural Jackson IMO has a very strong populist streak. Corriveau is from Graholm's home district and is in big trouble unless the jokers in John Stewart's crowd causes trouble again.

It is time to STOP pandering to liberals in the Democrat party and represent your constituents, as those in my district have elected you to do.

We in Jackson County can NOT afford a tax increase?  Have you filled up your tank in Jackson lately, where costs were recently as high as $3.25 a gallon, or filled a propane tank?  Residents are already leaving the state in droves and the Democrats now want to give them an encouraging push!

Democrats make a fine show of demonstrating mercy and compassion for those in poverty.  What about some of the same feelings towards those of us who PAY the taxes?  Why should we bear the brunt of misspent millions in Lansing?

Show some backbone and stand up for your constituents by voting against these regressive, damaging and excruciating tax hikes!

Sincerely,

I am a state employee who will be laid off in the event of a gov't shutdown.  I do care about state employees having jobs when all is said and done.  If  people are concerned about their jobs, maybe they should sacrifice their union (and all the dues they pay to it) in order to put $$ in their pocket and save the state $.  My state job is non-union and I seem to have no difficulty keeping it and getting fairly paid. Maybe teachers should give up their antiquated pension system and use the 401K that the rest of us do.   How many private sector, part-time jobs do you know who get provided with full health benefits?  You can work one day in a Sec of State district office and get benefits along with your union membership.  And this is nothing compared to the amount of money that has been squandered on Information Technology.  Go look at the Auditor General's reports for yourself.

Finally, I do care about my local community.  If I have to pay an extra $500-$1000 in taxes, I want it to go to MY municipality.  I don't need it going into the state and them deciding where it should be going.  I don't want to pay for your zoo, your library, or your museum.  If I want to visit, you can charge me at the door just like any other business would.  I want my money to go to building a park in my small community that MY kids can enjoy everyday.  I don't want to pay for yours with a DNR grant.  You pay for it.

The 14.

The fact that he shot this photo op at 3 in the afternoon shows how crazy this is.  It was a planned photo op - and it shows 14 Democrats who don't have the courage to either take a stand for what Dems say is "morally right" (or at least the far left blogosphere) and courage to stand up to Leon (for heaven's sake, if Leon scares you, you don't deserve the office of state rep, and even if he was scary that's your job), or the courage to stand up to their Party Boss Andy Dillon and say "No", this is wrong for my constituents and we disagree, I'm voting no (Republicans have voted against their caucus before, and while we criticize them, it is at least more honorable than this).  Either way, its 14 without courage.

Regardless of anything, we should point to this non-vote as a sign that these reps. aren't doing their job and making decisions.  If they voted no, they could force Andy to go back to the drawing board while there is TIME.  But if this drags on longer, its moving us closer to shutdown.  A Democratic shutdown, by the way.

The Party in control always gets to not call roll-call votes when it wants to "protect" its vulnerable members and can table issues thereby controlling the agenda - this may be a first where the controlling party has called a roll-call and couldn't get all the votes from its own side and it refused to shut down the vote.  There may end up being no vote "on the record," but there is a video and news record the non-vote, and that's where our focus should be.

I feel like we're in Oz and I have a bunch of tin-men and scarecrows running the show.

It's been almost 12 hours that the board's been open.  Political cowardice of the highest order.

I'm a young guy.  I haven't been paying attention to politics for THAT long.  But I've NEVER seen a Speaker so completely befuddled and ineffective.

If you don't have your own caucus lined up at this point... wow.  Why hold the vote?  Why attempt it if you can't pull it off?  

He claims he's worried about what will happen later in the Senate.  Sunshine!  Worry about YOUR chamber right now.  

Any low-grade moron knows that you can't spend more than you take in for any significant length of time, and that's what we have here today.

If you and those that you support feel that more money is necessary, than take a stand, go on record and raise taxes. Your constitutients will deal with you accordingly.