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 [...]
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.
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.
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.
[COMMENTARY] Gov. Jennifer Granholm has given up. She says she won’t raise taxes ever again. All the tantrums, foot stomping and breath holding of the anti-tax crowd paid off. Grover Norquist and Leon Drolet can do a joyful dance. Mission accomplished.
“The most important thing I learned (this year) is I’m not ever going to raise taxes again. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible,” Granholm said in an interview this week with the Associated Press.
Governing is hard. Having tantrums and being intransigent is easy. To govern effectively, not merely pander, you have to advocate for unpopular things. You have to communicate to the public and your adversaries the sense of causing some short-term discomfort for long-term gain. You have to persuade, cut deals, cajole, call in favors and maybe play a little hardball.
To be obstructionist, you just have to keep saying `no.’ And to win, you just have to say `no’ longer than the other guy says `pretty please.’
Continued -To solve the state budget shortfall, Granholm first proposed a 2-cent increase to the sales tax. After that failed, she advocated for a combination of cuts, reforms and new revenues suggested by a bipartisan panel of elder statesmen – veterans of state government, corporate board rooms and economic development organizations. She presented a bipartisan plan to a hopelessly divided Legislature. Perhaps she thought the plan would stand on its obvious merits – it was bipartisan, balanced, and based on nonpartisan fiscal analysis. In a political vacuum and a perfect world, it was a winner.
In the Michigan Legislature, it merely kindled the bonfire of partisanship and the passion of the anti-tax activists. Here’s a bright spot, though: now the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance has no reason to exist. With Granholm’s epiphany, the anti-tax folks have nothing to push against. Maybe the upside of no new taxes will be no more tantrums.
(Photo: infant’s shirt available at nappyhead.co.uk.)
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