Tag: lansing

Common Sense in Government crafted more than three dozen snowmen on the state Capitol lawn to greet lawmakers Tuesday. The snowmen, complete with menacing or sad faces, hold signs with slogans including "Don't raise our taxes!" and "I'm mad and I vote."

Ok Ok.. in all fairness it was the Lansing State Journal story..  but at least there was this:

Photo credit (AP Photo/Lansing State Journal, Rod Sanford) (Rod Sanford - AP)

At the capitol snowmen protesters letting the governor know they won't take it any more..

I may be a Republican and Governor Granholm may be a Democrat, but I truly want her to succeed. She is my governor -- she is our governor.

I firmly believe it's time for our leaders in Lansing to end the partisan political charade that's crippled state government and resulted in massive skepticism amongst the citizenry.

We need a political atmosphere that puts Michigan ahead of partisan politics.

The tired, old ideas of Lansing politicians aren't working anymore.

We need to think outside the box with solutions that put our great state first and foremost.

It may be the second decade of the twenty-first century, but Lansing is still looking at our challenges in a twentieth century mindset.

That needs to change.

Just as Governors Romney and Milliken were the new leaders of their generation, Michigan desperately needs new leaders for these challenging times.

We need leaders that understand government isn't the solution.

When it comes to ensuring a brighter future, Lansing -- and government at all levels -- must get out of the way of innovation and job-creators.

This will require significant overhauls and reforms of government.

We need a government that reflects the realities of the twenty-first century.

Our structure of government simply doesn't make sense.

We must reduce the burden of government on the wallets of families and the cash registers of businesses.

And most importantly, we have to stop waving goodbye to our future.

Michigan has lost one family every 12 minutes and over 20,000 students at the K-12 levels will leave our great state before the school year ends.

That is unacceptable and must stop.

We can't continue waving goodbye to our future doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers, innovators, job-creators and civic leaders.

I have lost almost all of my friends -- your children and grandchildren -- in the last few years.

Michigan's great diaspora must end.

But it won't end unless we, the citizenry, send a new generation of leaders to Lansing that understands our challenges and are committed to ensuring a brighter future for the next generation.

Are you willing to send a message?

I am.

And that's why I'm running for the State House.

I want to stay in my our great state.

It was Michigan ingenuity, Michigan entrepreneurship and Michigan innovation that built this country.

Our challenges may be unprecedented, but they aren't insurmountable.

And with your help, we can do this.

"S.O.S." members were in Lansing on behalf of the statewide public school establishment, demanding that politicians restore $292 per-pupil K-12 budget cut enacted a few weeks ago both by the Legislature and through an executive order signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. For the Merrill district, which had been slated to receive a per-pupil foundation allowance of $7,316 in FY 2010, this cut represents a reduction of just 4 percent.

It's no secret to anyone in our great state, except those in government in Lansing, that Michigan is facing unprecedented economic and state government budgetary woes.

These tough times demand tough actions and decisions that Lansing refuses to make.

The people are crying out for someone who is going to lead them and take them out of this mess, and what's government doing? Governor Jennifer Granholm is more concerned about surviving the next year and getting her heir apparent, Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, elected.

Instead of addressing the challenges that plague Michigan, the Granholm-Cherry administration and entrenched interests are refusing to make the decisions that will turnaround our great state.

Lansing continues to rehash Republican and Democrat talking points that have been used time and time again. If you took the dates out of newspaper reports from 1980s, you would think they were from today's news.

Not only are the talking points the same, but the policy proposals are being repackaged. A good example is all the hyperbole over tax reform in recent weeks and months.

The governor is warning that the only solution to Michigan's woes is a constitutional amendment instituting a graduated income tax. This is the same argument that has been proposed and defeated each and every time it's been put before the people of this state at the ballot box.

A graduated income tax would put the nail in the coffin at a time when the casket is already being lowered into the ground by Lansing's inaction and inability to provide the leadership the people so desperately want and deserve.

While Lansing wasn't broken by just Democrats -- misguided Republicans were and are part of the problem -- the Granholm-Cherry administration must take responsibility for its decisions and indecisions over the past seven years.

As 2010 candidates for elective office start talking about navigating the ship of state, one cannot forget the incredibly daunting scale of the challenges facing the next governor and the next crop of legislators.

It's time for specifics on what exactly these candidates would do to address our great state's challenges.

Our next governor, working in partnership with legislators, must be willing to make the tough decisions that should have been made years ago.

I report, you decide :)

McManus Campaign Site

Norlander Campaign Site

Brown Campaign Site

 Emmons Campaign Site

While the the rest of the country is beginning to experience what we have went through for the last seven years, Michigan's economy continues to worsen.

According to Gongwer News, only two of Michigan's 83 counties have unemployment rates less than 10 percent. If that wasn't bad enough, 36 counties had unemployment rates over 15.2 percent with Baraga County at a shocking 26.4 percent.

Northern Michigan's unemployment rates have decreased slightly due to seasonal employment, though the situation is still troubling because too many children grow up watching their parents work only four or five months a year and collect public assistance for the rest of the year. This is unacceptable -- it institutionalizes a mindset that welfare is acceptable and does little to improve the next generation's future.