Top Stories

The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

HIV-AIDS-small
By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

foreclosure
By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

epa_logo
By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

spending-cuts

State House approves massive tax shift package

By Ed Brayton | 04.29.11 | 7:53 am

The Michigan House of Representatives passed a series of bills Thursday that will revamp the state’s tax structure, shifting $1.8 billion in taxes from businesses to individuals, including a new tax on pensions.

Republicans argue that reducing the tax burden on businesses will allow them to create more jobs, fueling an economic boom. Democrats say that shifting the tax burden away from businesses and on to seniors and the working poor, along with steep cuts in education and much more, will reduce the state’s ability to create new jobs and is fundamentally unfair.

The response to these bills from House Democrats was swift and angry. House Minority Leader Richard Hammel said in a press release, “The Republican tax structure is right in line with what they’ve been doing from the start – shifting the burden onto the regular folks of our state and taking away their rights. With these massive tax increases and the diversion of School Aid Fund money today, they are attacking the right to a secure retirement, the right to a quality education and the right to work your way out of poverty. Residents should also get used to losing their constitutional rights, since once again Republicans passed a law that Michigan voters can never repeal.”

Comments

  • Anonymous

    In the late 1970s, a half-century trend toward growing income equality reversed itself. Ever since, U.S. incomes have grown more unequal. Middle-class incomes stagnated while the top 1 percent’s share of national income climbed to 24 percent. Middle-income workers no longer benefit from productivity increases, and upward mobility, long the saving grace of the American economy, has faltered. Why is this happening? In the following 10-part series, Slate’s Timothy Noah weighs eight possible causes of what Princeton economist Paul Krugman has labeled the Great Divergence. This 30-year trend “may represent the most significant change in American society in your lifetime,” Noah writes, “and it’s not a change for the better.”

    http://www.slate.com/id/2267157

    • http://profiles.google.com/adownriverdiva chay hadden

      http://www.michigancapitolconf...

      Please, please read all the way to the end. It explains everything that has been happening nationwide and why and who behind it and how this is all happening.
      Chay

      http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14239
      *************************************8

      Politician Puppy Training
      What the tea parties can learn from the dogs
      By Ken Braun | Dec. 24, 2010 reposted April 30, 2011

      (Editor’s note: A full list of legislative votes covered by MichCapCon.com may be located at http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541).

      Almost everyone loves puppies, at least until they start making messes on the carpet. With every puppy comes the responsibility of training it to become “man’s best friend.” The same can be said about legislators. While they are, of course, not dogs, they do need to be trained in order to be turned in to a voter’s best friend. While most go to Lansing or Washington to do the right thing, many will end up making messes that result in less liberty.

      Training legislators, as with training puppies, must be done with care and common sense. Puppies don’t learn to bark before going outside because their masters have set an example by peeing in the backyard themselves. That type of “communication” would just confuse a puppy (to say nothing of the neighbors). Instead, an external system of rewards and punishments is used to guide the puppy toward doing the right thing.

      There’s a lesson in this for tea party groups who seek to communicate their concerns to politicians. You don’t need to explain the principles or speak their language to get your point across. Indeed, this is often the last thing that will work.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Politician Puppy Training
      What the tea parties can learn from the dogs
      By Ken Braun | Dec. 24, 2010

      (Editor’s note: A full list of legislative votes covered by MichCapCon.com may be located at http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541).

      Almost everyone loves puppies, at least until they start making messes on the carpet. With every puppy comes the responsibility of training it to become “man’s best friend.” The same can be said about legislators. While they are, of course, not dogs, they do need to be trained in order to be turned in to a voter’s best friend. While most go to Lansing or Washington to do the right thing, many will end up making messes that result in less liberty.

      Training legislators, as with training puppies, must be done with care and common sense. Puppies don’t learn to bark before going outside because their masters have set an example by peeing in the backyard themselves. That type of “communication” would just confuse a puppy (to say nothing of the neighbors). Instead, an external system of rewards and punishments is used to guide the puppy toward doing the right thing.

      There’s a lesson in this for tea party groups who seek to communicate their concerns to politicians. You don’t need to explain the principles or speak their language to get your point across. Indeed, this is often the last thing that will work.

      While trying to speak their language can take many forms, the most common one is the misconception that activist citizens outside the legislative process can – in real-time – easily influence lawmakers during the heat of a legislative battle. You may have been subjected to this fallacy if you have ever received an email “alert” or other communication telling you to go call your lawmaker “immediately” so that you can make a difference regarding a vote that is taking place “right now.”

      It rarely works that way.

      In most cases, you got the word too late. Your lawmaker may have already made up his or her mind. Or he or she is talking to another lawmaker, or a lobbyist, who knows the issue better than you do. Or it’s one of those votes taking place late in the evening, long after the staff you think you are calling has already gone home. Or the vote you were told to call about is a version of the bill that no longer exists because new language or new amendments were added or deleted. (And when that happens, you may get another urgent “alert” telling you to call AGAIN about the NEW bill. Rinse, repeat).

      Or it’s a combination of all of these, and much else.

      The brutal fact of representative government is that citizens not on the floor of the legislature are suffering a massive information deficit that is usually fatal regarding their ability to change the mind of a politician during a legislative battle. Your lawmaker has the “experts,” staff, lobbyists and other lawmakers feeding him or her information that you do not and cannot know. When the situation changes – as it often does rapidly and without warning on complicated and/or controversial legislation – he or she knows this right away, but you may not know it for hours (or days). Indeed, lobbyists who are paid large salaries to know these things are not always up to speed when it counts the most because they are not in the legislative chamber either.

      A tea party group trying to chase these moving targets that they often cannot even see is setting itself up for both failure and frustration. Rarely is it effective.

      Like the trained puppy, your lawmakers will follow the training that has been driven into them beforehand. Trying to teach these at the last minute is usually as effective as racing out and peeing on your own back yard as soon as you see the puppy lift his leg on the rug. Representative democracy, like puppy training, means you teach the big idea well in advance and then trust the politician or the puppy to do the right thing with the specific details when the big moment arrives.

      Counter-intuitively, this means that you can often make the biggest difference well after the vote is over. Afterward, you can find out what your lawmaker knew at the time, and judge whether they made the right decision or not. If they barked smartly and did their business outside where it belongs, a tea party group can send a big important message by effusively praising them for it. But if they peed on the rug, an equally powerful and effective message can be sent by rubbing their nose in it.

      With this past experience in mind, a politician will learn what is expected of them the NEXT time an important vote comes up. Whether the issue is taxes, spending, regulations or what not, a message has been sent to the politician regarding the type of conduct is acceptable – and what is not. Either way, they learn that praise or punishment from a tea party is a real consequence of their future actions.

      Astute readers of Michigan Capitol Confidential will notice that this understanding of the process informs much of our work when we report to you about legislation. We don’t attempt to give you a blow-by-blow, up to the minute, accounting of what is happening. We do indeed hear a lot of rumors, and a lot of informed speculation, as bills are moving through the process. We certainly could pass all this along to you … and then spend a lot of time backtracking, and changing the story as circumstances warrant. Every word we wrote would only be as good as the next committee hearing or amendment. The result would be frustration for both us and our audience, and not a whole lot of useful advice about bringing about changes.

      Instead, we wait until the dust is clear and it is obvious what has been done and how the votes have come down. Then we tell you, and leave it to you to decide what to do about it. We try and give you the information that the politician had at the time of the vote, so you can make a fair decision about whether that vote reflected the metaphorical distinction between your puppy peeing on the rug or barking at the door.

      And that’s when it is most effective for you to decide whether to scratch behind their ears or smack them on the nose. Either way, they’ll remember the next time.

      A few final points to keep in mind so as to maximize your group’s effectiveness when communicating in this way:

      1. Because this is a training method, there is no such thing as an “old” lesson. The politician will learn what your expectations are, even if the vote you are contacting them about is two years old. Don’t hesitate to praise or punish, as soon as you discover what has happened.

      Michigan Capitol Confidential keeps an archive of every story regarding every vote we have ever reported on. You can browse through it here: http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541.

      2. As with training the puppy, past performance is no guarantee of future results. You should never assume that any puppy is beyond redemption, but also never assume that a puppy who is good once will always keep on barking when he or she is supposed to. You expect politicians to change their future behavior based upon your reaction to their past conduct, so reserve the right to change your opinion regarding them as new information is gathered.

      It is also perfectly acceptable to look at one who wanders off the straight and narrow and ask: “What have you done for me lately?”

      3. In some cases, there are issues so big and consequential that a well-informed tea party group can tell a politician well in advance what is generally expected of them. One example in the current political environment would be public employee pay and benefits. Gov.-Elect Snyder has said this will be a major issue that he plans to tackle. The controversy will be immense and the potential savings is massive. For any person or group with an opinion on this matter, there is no need to wait for a vote before training the legislative puppies how to bark.

      4. Finally, it is important to remember that while you may regret having to rub a puppy’s nose in a mess, you will swiftly learn that the same is not true of politicians. Publicly calling to account those who stray from what you want is not just effective… It can also fun and addicting. Your group will have a good time if it gets a taste for policing what it believes is the bad conduct being done by Michigan legislators. And the membership of your group is also likely to swell as others learn of your exploits and want to join in.

      Thus is why it is extra critical to remember not to have too much fun. One tea party leader suggests finding one politician to praise for each vote you criticize. (Conveniently, this can often be done with the same vote, because some legislators will vote in ways that you approve of). As with the puppy, you should deliberately seek out opportunities to praise politicians who bark when they are supposed to and don’t make a mess.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Ken Braun is the managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential and was a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives for six years.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      See also:

      Michigan Capitol Confidential Vote History
      Comment Print Mail Top of Page Home Search
      Tag: Elections/Campaigns
      By | Any time now …
      CANCEL

      Fantastic article – thanks for re-posting!
      By Jeremy | April 17, 2011, 8:58 AM
      New Comment | Reply

      Fantastic article for those who want to hold their elected officials (and other politicians) accountable!

      Thanks for re-posting – this should be a regular feature throughout the next 18 months, and perhaps indefinitely!
      By | Any time now …
      By shelke | Dec. 26, 2010, 6:53 AM
      Reply

      This is going to be extremely valuable information to use in the coming year. I’ve always felt ineffective when responding to those “alerts,” but I wasn’t sure why I felt that way. Now I know. Thank you for a great article.
      Flag
      Edit Reply Reply

    • http://profiles.google.com/adownriverdiva chay hadden

      http://www.michigancapitolconf...

      Please, please read all the way to the end. It explains everything that has been happening nationwide and why and who behind it and how this is all happening.
      Chay

      http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14239
      *************************************8

      Politician Puppy Training
      What the tea parties can learn from the dogs
      By Ken Braun | Dec. 24, 2010 reposted April 30, 2011

      (Editor’s note: A full list of legislative votes covered by MichCapCon.com may be located at http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541).

      Almost everyone loves puppies, at least until they start making messes on the carpet. With every puppy comes the responsibility of training it to become “man’s best friend.” The same can be said about legislators. While they are, of course, not dogs, they do need to be trained in order to be turned in to a voter’s best friend. While most go to Lansing or Washington to do the right thing, many will end up making messes that result in less liberty.

      Training legislators, as with training puppies, must be done with care and common sense. Puppies don’t learn to bark before going outside because their masters have set an example by peeing in the backyard themselves. That type of “communication” would just confuse a puppy (to say nothing of the neighbors). Instead, an external system of rewards and punishments is used to guide the puppy toward doing the right thing.

      There’s a lesson in this for tea party groups who seek to communicate their concerns to politicians. You don’t need to explain the principles or speak their language to get your point across. Indeed, this is often the last thing that will work.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Politician Puppy Training
      What the tea parties can learn from the dogs
      By Ken Braun | Dec. 24, 2010

      (Editor’s note: A full list of legislative votes covered by MichCapCon.com may be located at http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541).

      Almost everyone loves puppies, at least until they start making messes on the carpet. With every puppy comes the responsibility of training it to become “man’s best friend.” The same can be said about legislators. While they are, of course, not dogs, they do need to be trained in order to be turned in to a voter’s best friend. While most go to Lansing or Washington to do the right thing, many will end up making messes that result in less liberty.

      Training legislators, as with training puppies, must be done with care and common sense. Puppies don’t learn to bark before going outside because their masters have set an example by peeing in the backyard themselves. That type of “communication” would just confuse a puppy (to say nothing of the neighbors). Instead, an external system of rewards and punishments is used to guide the puppy toward doing the right thing.

      There’s a lesson in this for tea party groups who seek to communicate their concerns to politicians. You don’t need to explain the principles or speak their language to get your point across. Indeed, this is often the last thing that will work.

      While trying to speak their language can take many forms, the most common one is the misconception that activist citizens outside the legislative process can – in real-time – easily influence lawmakers during the heat of a legislative battle. You may have been subjected to this fallacy if you have ever received an email “alert” or other communication telling you to go call your lawmaker “immediately” so that you can make a difference regarding a vote that is taking place “right now.”

      It rarely works that way.

      In most cases, you got the word too late. Your lawmaker may have already made up his or her mind. Or he or she is talking to another lawmaker, or a lobbyist, who knows the issue better than you do. Or it’s one of those votes taking place late in the evening, long after the staff you think you are calling has already gone home. Or the vote you were told to call about is a version of the bill that no longer exists because new language or new amendments were added or deleted. (And when that happens, you may get another urgent “alert” telling you to call AGAIN about the NEW bill. Rinse, repeat).

      Or it’s a combination of all of these, and much else.

      The brutal fact of representative government is that citizens not on the floor of the legislature are suffering a massive information deficit that is usually fatal regarding their ability to change the mind of a politician during a legislative battle. Your lawmaker has the “experts,” staff, lobbyists and other lawmakers feeding him or her information that you do not and cannot know. When the situation changes – as it often does rapidly and without warning on complicated and/or controversial legislation – he or she knows this right away, but you may not know it for hours (or days). Indeed, lobbyists who are paid large salaries to know these things are not always up to speed when it counts the most because they are not in the legislative chamber either.

      A tea party group trying to chase these moving targets that they often cannot even see is setting itself up for both failure and frustration. Rarely is it effective.

      Like the trained puppy, your lawmakers will follow the training that has been driven into them beforehand. Trying to teach these at the last minute is usually as effective as racing out and peeing on your own back yard as soon as you see the puppy lift his leg on the rug. Representative democracy, like puppy training, means you teach the big idea well in advance and then trust the politician or the puppy to do the right thing with the specific details when the big moment arrives.

      Counter-intuitively, this means that you can often make the biggest difference well after the vote is over. Afterward, you can find out what your lawmaker knew at the time, and judge whether they made the right decision or not. If they barked smartly and did their business outside where it belongs, a tea party group can send a big important message by effusively praising them for it. But if they peed on the rug, an equally powerful and effective message can be sent by rubbing their nose in it.

      With this past experience in mind, a politician will learn what is expected of them the NEXT time an important vote comes up. Whether the issue is taxes, spending, regulations or what not, a message has been sent to the politician regarding the type of conduct is acceptable – and what is not. Either way, they learn that praise or punishment from a tea party is a real consequence of their future actions.

      Astute readers of Michigan Capitol Confidential will notice that this understanding of the process informs much of our work when we report to you about legislation. We don’t attempt to give you a blow-by-blow, up to the minute, accounting of what is happening. We do indeed hear a lot of rumors, and a lot of informed speculation, as bills are moving through the process. We certainly could pass all this along to you … and then spend a lot of time backtracking, and changing the story as circumstances warrant. Every word we wrote would only be as good as the next committee hearing or amendment. The result would be frustration for both us and our audience, and not a whole lot of useful advice about bringing about changes.

      Instead, we wait until the dust is clear and it is obvious what has been done and how the votes have come down. Then we tell you, and leave it to you to decide what to do about it. We try and give you the information that the politician had at the time of the vote, so you can make a fair decision about whether that vote reflected the metaphorical distinction between your puppy peeing on the rug or barking at the door.

      And that’s when it is most effective for you to decide whether to scratch behind their ears or smack them on the nose. Either way, they’ll remember the next time.

      A few final points to keep in mind so as to maximize your group’s effectiveness when communicating in this way:

      1. Because this is a training method, there is no such thing as an “old” lesson. The politician will learn what your expectations are, even if the vote you are contacting them about is two years old. Don’t hesitate to praise or punish, as soon as you discover what has happened.

      Michigan Capitol Confidential keeps an archive of every story regarding every vote we have ever reported on. You can browse through it here: http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541.

      2. As with training the puppy, past performance is no guarantee of future results. You should never assume that any puppy is beyond redemption, but also never assume that a puppy who is good once will always keep on barking when he or she is supposed to. You expect politicians to change their future behavior based upon your reaction to their past conduct, so reserve the right to change your opinion regarding them as new information is gathered.

      It is also perfectly acceptable to look at one who wanders off the straight and narrow and ask: “What have you done for me lately?”

      3. In some cases, there are issues so big and consequential that a well-informed tea party group can tell a politician well in advance what is generally expected of them. One example in the current political environment would be public employee pay and benefits. Gov.-Elect Snyder has said this will be a major issue that he plans to tackle. The controversy will be immense and the potential savings is massive. For any person or group with an opinion on this matter, there is no need to wait for a vote before training the legislative puppies how to bark.

      4. Finally, it is important to remember that while you may regret having to rub a puppy’s nose in a mess, you will swiftly learn that the same is not true of politicians. Publicly calling to account those who stray from what you want is not just effective… It can also fun and addicting. Your group will have a good time if it gets a taste for policing what it believes is the bad conduct being done by Michigan legislators. And the membership of your group is also likely to swell as others learn of your exploits and want to join in.

      Thus is why it is extra critical to remember not to have too much fun. One tea party leader suggests finding one politician to praise for each vote you criticize. (Conveniently, this can often be done with the same vote, because some legislators will vote in ways that you approve of). As with the puppy, you should deliberately seek out opportunities to praise politicians who bark when they are supposed to and don’t make a mess.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Ken Braun is the managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential and was a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives for six years.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      See also:

      Michigan Capitol Confidential Vote History
      Comment Print Mail Top of Page Home Search
      Tag: Elections/Campaigns
      By | Any time now …
      CANCEL

      Fantastic article – thanks for re-posting!
      By Jeremy | April 17, 2011, 8:58 AM
      New Comment | Reply

      Fantastic article for those who want to hold their elected officials (and other politicians) accountable!

      Thanks for re-posting – this should be a regular feature throughout the next 18 months, and perhaps indefinitely!
      By | Any time now …
      By shelke | Dec. 26, 2010, 6:53 AM
      Reply

      This is going to be extremely valuable information to use in the coming year. I’ve always felt ineffective when responding to those “alerts,” but I wasn’t sure why I felt that way. Now I know. Thank you for a great article.
      Flag
      Edit Reply Reply

  • Anonymous

    Why isn’t this mentioned anywhere but here? Where are the Democrats, the President addressing and fighting this? Are we going to just lie down and let them destroy our democracy for the benefit of the few? This is just sickening.

    • Anonymous

      The Democrats got voted out in November in Michigan. It is a state issue, the people of Michigan have to stand up to the Governor , write letters, send e-mails , visit his office and the offices of your State reps. It Is time for the people of Michigan to stand up and tell our Representatives what we want.

      • Anonymous

        They got voted out- because they were viewed as non-effective as was former sell-out (D) Gov. Granholm who like Obama at the federal level is not representing the people, but the corporations. Huge problem people.
        (It was Granholm who brought the notorious senate bills that would tax public employees to the Republicans. She was a piece of work who sat in office for 8 years and wasted our time.

        As for all of the protest action you mention- busy work- that is ignored for their agenda. They were hired to do a job (look up http://www.alec.org) on the states. Just go to any townhall meeting, view the rage and then watch how these jokers ignore it- and have the nerve to call it sharing. As long as there are no serious consequences to their actions- they will continue. As long as the MEA or the Democrats do nothing- we will be sacrificed.

        • Anonymous

          Naturally populist ideals are so far left they are right! What Republicans stand for is totally immoral.

      • http://zeraland.wordpress.com/ Zera Lee

        I doubt that will be very effective on republicans anymore. Their goal is a single-party country, and with all the voter suppression laws and legislative attacks on the biggest sources of liberal campaign money and their victory with Citizens United, they really have little incentive to listen to anyone who disagrees with them.

        Everything you grew up depending on, everything that seemed to be bedrock America, now has an asterisk or question mark attached.

    • Anonymous

      Yes, it is. Sickening that we have no leadership and opposition. Remember this when they come round for elections and dues. NO$.

  • http://twitter.com/Samssil Jill H

    More ever-lovin’ trickle-down economics…when will people see that this doesn’t work and quit electing these a$$holes?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Allen/606069564 Tom Allen

    To the lower class, Walmart-shopping, Bible-thumbing, gun-loving Republicans of Michigan who voted for Rick Snyder: How do you like your governor now?

  • Anonymous

    Where are the f-ing DEMOCRATS? Where is the MEA? Where is the AFL-CIO?

    Are they out polling? What the hell people! This must not stand! Might as well vouchsafe the damned unions. Give us back out member dues! Democrats? We want out money back. Get off it and act!

  • Anonymous

    And it says they passed a “repeal proof” set of laws…again! So again, where is OPPOSITION? Why the hell is there no STRIKE? Stupid Michigan people like to get screwed? Stupid leadership actually lets them in the unions and parties? Michigan Democrats can’t foresee this with Republicans and do something? Walk Out- Sit out. What? Everyone is sooo surprised? Not on our dime.

    Oh….please don’t talk about the ridiculous tea parties that are keeping all those teachers busy thinking they are the union. While the legislation goes down? Congrats MEA and after last time-similar- you let out a yip only after the senate bills effected a 3% tax on your members and then you held a rally in protest. You are worthless and may as well be stealing. Terrible.

    Taxing pensions of the elderly to give tax breaks to corporations- or is it small business now? Yeah. Go ahead and tax that elderly woman with no more earning power on her 24,000 a year overpaid pension- that was earned every day for many years with sweat and dedication. You’re an ass Snyder. What kind of low-life human being demands poverty for people? You are indecent and immoral and you know it. You are damaging people in Michigan. You are a corporate welfare enabler. Here is hoping you get stuck at the pearly gates with an EMERGENCY SOUL MANAGER who grants you no hearing and seizes every last hope from you, so you feel the pain you are arrogantly delivering to those who depend on you to be a leader of men. Shame.

  • http://profiles.google.com/adownriverdiva chay hadden

    http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14239

    Please, please read all the way to the end. It explains everything that has been happening nationwide and why and who behind it and how this is all happening.

    Politician Puppy Training
    What the tea parties can learn from the dogs
    By Ken Braun | Dec. 24, 2010 reposted April 30, 2011

    (Editor’s note: A full list of legislative votes covered by MichCapCon.com may be located at http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541).

    Almost everyone loves puppies, at least until they start making messes on the carpet. With every puppy comes the responsibility of training it to become “man’s best friend.” The same can be said about legislators. While they are, of course, not dogs, they do need to be trained in order to be turned in to a voter’s best friend. While most go to Lansing or Washington to do the right thing, many will end up making messes that result in less liberty.

    Training legislators, as with training puppies, must be done with care and common sense. Puppies don’t learn to bark before going outside because their masters have set an example by peeing in the backyard themselves. That type of “communication” would just confuse a puppy (to say nothing of the neighbors). Instead, an external system of rewards and punishments is used to guide the puppy toward doing the right thing.

    There’s a lesson in this for tea party groups who seek to communicate their concerns to politicians. You don’t need to explain the principles or speak their language to get your point across. Indeed, this is often the last thing that will work.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Politician Puppy Training
    What the tea parties can learn from the dogs
    By Ken Braun | Dec. 24, 2010

    (Editor’s note: A full list of legislative votes covered by MichCapCon.com may be located at http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541).

    Almost everyone loves puppies, at least until they start making messes on the carpet. With every puppy comes the responsibility of training it to become “man’s best friend.” The same can be said about legislators. While they are, of course, not dogs, they do need to be trained in order to be turned in to a voter’s best friend. While most go to Lansing or Washington to do the right thing, many will end up making messes that result in less liberty.

    Training legislators, as with training puppies, must be done with care and common sense. Puppies don’t learn to bark before going outside because their masters have set an example by peeing in the backyard themselves. That type of “communication” would just confuse a puppy (to say nothing of the neighbors). Instead, an external system of rewards and punishments is used to guide the puppy toward doing the right thing.

    There’s a lesson in this for tea party groups who seek to communicate their concerns to politicians. You don’t need to explain the principles or speak their language to get your point across. Indeed, this is often the last thing that will work.

    While trying to speak their language can take many forms, the most common one is the misconception that activist citizens outside the legislative process can – in real-time – easily influence lawmakers during the heat of a legislative battle. You may have been subjected to this fallacy if you have ever received an email “alert” or other communication telling you to go call your lawmaker “immediately” so that you can make a difference regarding a vote that is taking place “right now.”

    It rarely works that way.

    In most cases, you got the word too late. Your lawmaker may have already made up his or her mind. Or he or she is talking to another lawmaker, or a lobbyist, who knows the issue better than you do. Or it’s one of those votes taking place late in the evening, long after the staff you think you are calling has already gone home. Or the vote you were told to call about is a version of the bill that no longer exists because new language or new amendments were added or deleted. (And when that happens, you may get another urgent “alert” telling you to call AGAIN about the NEW bill. Rinse, repeat).

    Or it’s a combination of all of these, and much else.

    The brutal fact of representative government is that citizens not on the floor of the legislature are suffering a massive information deficit that is usually fatal regarding their ability to change the mind of a politician during a legislative battle. Your lawmaker has the “experts,” staff, lobbyists and other lawmakers feeding him or her information that you do not and cannot know. When the situation changes – as it often does rapidly and without warning on complicated and/or controversial legislation – he or she knows this right away, but you may not know it for hours (or days). Indeed, lobbyists who are paid large salaries to know these things are not always up to speed when it counts the most because they are not in the legislative chamber either.

    A tea party group trying to chase these moving targets that they often cannot even see is setting itself up for both failure and frustration. Rarely is it effective.

    Like the trained puppy, your lawmakers will follow the training that has been driven into them beforehand. Trying to teach these at the last minute is usually as effective as racing out and peeing on your own back yard as soon as you see the puppy lift his leg on the rug. Representative democracy, like puppy training, means you teach the big idea well in advance and then trust the politician or the puppy to do the right thing with the specific details when the big moment arrives.

    Counter-intuitively, this means that you can often make the biggest difference well after the vote is over. Afterward, you can find out what your lawmaker knew at the time, and judge whether they made the right decision or not. If they barked smartly and did their business outside where it belongs, a tea party group can send a big important message by effusively praising them for it. But if they peed on the rug, an equally powerful and effective message can be sent by rubbing their nose in it.

    With this past experience in mind, a politician will learn what is expected of them the NEXT time an important vote comes up. Whether the issue is taxes, spending, regulations or what not, a message has been sent to the politician regarding the type of conduct is acceptable – and what is not. Either way, they learn that praise or punishment from a tea party is a real consequence of their future actions.

    Astute readers of Michigan Capitol Confidential will notice that this understanding of the process informs much of our work when we report to you about legislation. We don’t attempt to give you a blow-by-blow, up to the minute, accounting of what is happening. We do indeed hear a lot of rumors, and a lot of informed speculation, as bills are moving through the process. We certainly could pass all this along to you … and then spend a lot of time backtracking, and changing the story as circumstances warrant. Every word we wrote would only be as good as the next committee hearing or amendment. The result would be frustration for both us and our audience, and not a whole lot of useful advice about bringing about changes.

    Instead, we wait until the dust is clear and it is obvious what has been done and how the votes have come down. Then we tell you, and leave it to you to decide what to do about it. We try and give you the information that the politician had at the time of the vote, so you can make a fair decision about whether that vote reflected the metaphorical distinction between your puppy peeing on the rug or barking at the door.

    And that’s when it is most effective for you to decide whether to scratch behind their ears or smack them on the nose. Either way, they’ll remember the next time.

    A few final points to keep in mind so as to maximize your group’s effectiveness when communicating in this way:

    1. Because this is a training method, there is no such thing as an “old” lesson. The politician will learn what your expectations are, even if the vote you are contacting them about is two years old. Don’t hesitate to praise or punish, as soon as you discover what has happened.

    Michigan Capitol Confidential keeps an archive of every story regarding every vote we have ever reported on. You can browse through it here: http://www.MichCapCon.com/12541.

    2. As with training the puppy, past performance is no guarantee of future results. You should never assume that any puppy is beyond redemption, but also never assume that a puppy who is good once will always keep on barking when he or she is supposed to. You expect politicians to change their future behavior based upon your reaction to their past conduct, so reserve the right to change your opinion regarding them as new information is gathered.

    It is also perfectly acceptable to look at one who wanders off the straight and narrow and ask: “What have you done for me lately?”

    3. In some cases, there are issues so big and consequential that a well-informed tea party group can tell a politician well in advance what is generally expected of them. One example in the current political environment would be public employee pay and benefits. Gov.-Elect Snyder has said this will be a major issue that he plans to tackle. The controversy will be immense and the potential savings is massive. For any person or group with an opinion on this matter, there is no need to wait for a vote before training the legislative puppies how to bark.

    4. Finally, it is important to remember that while you may regret having to rub a puppy’s nose in a mess, you will swiftly learn that the same is not true of politicians. Publicly calling to account those who stray from what you want is not just effective… It can also fun and addicting. Your group will have a good time if it gets a taste for policing what it believes is the bad conduct being done by Michigan legislators. And the membership of your group is also likely to swell as others learn of your exploits and want to join in.

    Thus is why it is extra critical to remember not to have too much fun. One tea party leader suggests finding one politician to praise for each vote you criticize. (Conveniently, this can often be done with the same vote, because some legislators will vote in ways that you approve of). As with the puppy, you should deliberately seek out opportunities to praise politicians who bark when they are supposed to and don’t make a mess.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Ken Braun is the managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential and was a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives for six years.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    See also:

    Michigan Capitol Confidential Vote History
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    By | Any time now …
    CANCEL

    Fantastic article – thanks for re-posting!
    By Jeremy | April 17, 2011, 8:58 AM
    New Comment | Reply

    Fantastic article for those who want to hold their elected officials (and other politicians) accountable!

    Thanks for re-posting – this should be a regular feature throughout the next 18 months, and perhaps indefinitely!
    By | Any time now …
    By shelke | Dec. 26, 2010, 6:53 AM
    Reply

    This is going to be extremely valuable information to use in the coming year. I’ve always felt ineffective when responding to those “alerts,” but I wasn’t sure why I felt that way. Now I know. Thank you for a great article.

    • Anonymous

      Invaluable! Thanks for this ”call” much better than sit, stay- instead…HEEL!

      And “good boy” too. Read it as demanding the platform that citizens want. Democrat party should heel. Corporations should be told “NO.”

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