Tag: Governor Snyder

With the acceptance of 30.9 million of Federal money being offered to Michigan to fund the Health Care Exchange, 2013 could see Obama Care in MI and More! There is expected a Committee vote anytime, which has precipitated a grassroots backlash. This money is key to jump-starting the Health Care Exchange this year. It was stopped by our efforts last year. We can do it again! IT MUST BE DONE. Stopping the funding of the Health Care Exchange is necessary in stopping the expansion of Medicaid in Michigan as the Exchange will administer the program.

A press release issued this morning (published at Jen Kuznicki's blog and elsewhere) from other activists and grassroots leaders suggests withholding support from organizations which support the exchanges as well:

"The coalition of activists urges those who are like-minded members of The Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM), Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Manufacturing Association and The Michigan Business and Professional Association to cancel membership until these organizations withdraw their support of the Exchange."

City and state leaders have agreed on a milestone agreement that supports the city's reform agenda, officials announced Thursday.

Completion of the milestone agreement is a key component to the state releasing the bond money in an escrow account needed for the city's cash crunch. Officials said Monday the city would run out of cash by the end of the year if it was not able to draw down $10 million by next week and $20 million by mid-December.

Told you it would happen.  Heck, even the bad actors in the Snyder Administration are faking it so not to be the ones stuck holding the bag when this blows up in their face.

State Treasurer Andy Dillon said the agreement gives Detroit "a transparent roadmap" to get the bond money, but he's still concerned about the progress that's been made on the reform agenda.

"The funds from the bond proceeds were never intended to fund the status quo in Detroit, but rather aid with its government reforms," Dillon said in a released statement. "While some progress has been made in the city since the signing of the financial stability agreement in June, it is moving slower than what all parties would have anticipated. There is still much work to be done."

Much work to be done, Andy?  Like what?  Forcing the taxpayers of Michigan to be stuck with more junk bonds for the decades of unaccountable "protected class" Democratic Party rule in Detroit?  No más, Señor Tesorero Dillon.  Like it or not, the Consent Agreement was not agreed to in good faith.  Not by Mayor Bing, nor by City Council, and most certainly not by Corporation Counsel.

It is time for Governor Snyder to be held accountable too.  It way past being painfully obvious when those who are viewed as crossing over to the dark side from time to time have reached their wits end with an alleged fiscal conservative governor enabling his spoiled rotten children to carry on by throwing money at them.

Either the city wants to be a full participant in its financial rescue or the governor should, to quote a famous failed presidential candidate, let Detroit go bankrupt.

The governor should not be in a position of wanting more for the city than it wants for itself.

Comprender?  The sad part for the rest of the state is that anyone watching the charade happening in Detroit, knows that in 2013 we'll still be having the same results.

That's racists you say?  See here.

via WXYZ

Thanks to Sens. David Robertson, James Marleau, David Hildenbrand, Howard Walker, Patrick Colbeck, Michael Kowall, Michael Green, Rick Jones, Joseph Hune, Tory Rocca, Tupac Hunter for cosponsoring.

State House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said Friday that the House wants to wait until after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on President Barack Obama's federal health reforms to decide its next steps on the exchange.

"The governor and I are not in agreement on this issue," he said. "The rights of our citizens to control their own health care is more important than an IT (information technology) deadline."

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is supporting the legal effort to get the federal reforms declared unconstitutional.

State Rep. Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, also said the GOP caucus doesn't want to act unless it has to.

"We don't like Obamacare; we don't like national health care. We don't think it's good for the country; we don't think it's good for Michigan," Moss said. "We don't want to be early adopters and go down that road if we don't have to."

Could we be witnessing Speaker Bolger growing into a leader within the Republican Party?

There is much to say about Michigan as it begins the second year under governor Rick Snyder. But one cannot say that "nothing has been done."

To be sure, there are disagreements with the priorities the nerd governor has gone after.  This site, and many conservatives, question his desire to [effectively] relinquish the private property of one particular bridge owner.  We often have commentary that questions the new taxes on seniors and other adjustments which seem to be readjusting burdens instead of reducing real spending.  THOSE concerns looking at the disparate income levels of unionized public workers to the private ones of similar tasks, who pay the bill ultimately.  And those unfortunately, not addressed and considered taboo so far, such as right to work, or the more pressing need to reign in the forced unionism debacle perpetrated on home health care workers.

Snyder has hit the ground running with regard to school reform however, and the state had a budget in record time with the new legislative body in place as well.  A couple of key appointments, Maura Corrigan to head human services, and the good choice of Brian Zahra to replace her ion the supreme court has turned out to be an excellent allocation of resources.  The EFM framework is something that was desperately needed, and it too can be seen as a positive step forward.

Tonight he will undoubtedly bring a positive focus to many of those things we can agree upon, and maybe a little spin on our issues of disagreement.

Apparently however, he is expected to mention the high crime rates that were likely exacerbated by policies of the previous administration, and an increased attempt to curb its effect.

City Council President Charles Pugh is facing foreclosure and says he likely will abandon his $385,000 Brush Park condominium.

His personal financial struggles come as he and council colleagues fight to bail Detroit out of its own fiscal crisis.

On Friday, Pugh said he can't afford to pay his mortgage after taking a pay cut and leaving a high-paying TV career to run for the City Council.

"Making my mortgage payments has been a struggle for me," Pugh wrote in an email. "I fought hard to stay in my condo because I had an attachment to it, but I can no longer afford to do so."

The mortgage issue is the latest financial problem facing Pugh, 40, a former Fox 2 television anchor and radio show host who was the top vote-getter in the 2009 election. He is paid $76,500 as council president.

"I am devoted to this city and helping us to move forward despite wage cuts and personal sacrifices such as foreclosing on my own home," Pugh said. "These are the tough choices Detroiters make every day, and I am no different."

Pugh is still living in the condo and would like to keep it, but he needs a "substantial decrease" in the mortgage, spokeswoman Kirsten Ussery said.