Campaign finance report proves Ward represents special interests

Friday was the deadline for candidates to file pre-primary campaign statements with the Michigan Secretary of State, and Chris Ward’s statement only confirms what we have been saying all along, his contributors are all from special interests groups.

He has only raised $5,700 since his last report filed in January, but that’s coupled with previously unspent money to give a total of more than $17,000.

The pre-primary report does not list one single individual donor. The only donors are Political Actions Committees (PACS) and special interest groups, including a $1,000 donation from the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association in April; that must be in payment for the bill he pushed that would have made Michigan residents only able to order a bottle of wine from a wholesaler. You have to go back to his annual campaign finance report filed on Jan. 31 to find an actual person who contributed to his campaign, and they are few and far between.

However, the interesting thing in Friday’s report is the more than $13,000 worth of expenditures. In addition to the $500 and $800 monthly cell phone bills, is an $8,000 contribution from Ward to the HRCC, which is the House Republican Campaign Committee. I don’t know about you, but $8,000 is a lot of money to me, at least at one shot. I cringe when I write my monthly mortgage payment that has four numbers to the left of the decimal point.

I wonder what it must be like to write an $8,000 check. You have to wonder if that’s payment for getting promoted as the Floor Majority Leader.

Stolen campaign signs hurt grassroots campaigns

I hate to complain about stolen campaign signs because it’s little more than fodder for reporters looking for a quick, easy story during the campaign season. Stolen signs happen to every candidate from every party for every position, but it really hurts grassroots campaigns like Mike McGonegal’s that rely on small donations from loyal supporters. They really feel the pain.

For campaigns like Chris Ward’s - that has more than $11,000 cash on hand with lots more special interest cash expected to flow in before November - it’s no problem; that buys a lot of campaign signs. Really, that’s what his campaign is really about, and his constituents are the moneyed special interests, not the residents of the 66th District.

One of the most galling incidents of stolen signs recently occurred in downtown Brighton. After obtaining permission from a business owner near busy Grand River Avenue and Challis Road, the owners of the property he leased the business owner leased the property from took them because he was holding a fundraiser for Ward.

That kind of says it all when you talk about the kind of campaign Ward will run. There will be plenty of fundraisers and special interest money. We can expect to see a few slick mailing produced by expensive marketing firms. You have about as much a chance of Ward showing up at your door to ask for your opinion and vote as you have of winning $50 million in the Michigan lottery and getting hit by lighting the next day.

McGonegal hails signing of PA307 into law
The law would stop the kind of conduct Chris Ward tried to slip through

BRIGHTON – Mike McGonegal, candidate for the State House in the 66th District, congratulated the Governor for signing Senate Bill 971 into law Wednesday that
amends the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act that makes selling any public parkland a more public process.

Public Act 307 was given immediate effect, and it prohibits the selling of any public parkland, wilderness area or natural areas unless certain requirements are met. It would require the Department of Natural Resources to notify the 17-member Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks and give public notice before recommending the transfer of any such land and require legislative approval if the property is more than 100 acres or more. The law would bar the quick one his opponent in the race, Chris Ward, tried to pull two years ago when he snuck an amendment into a bill that would have given a developer title to 286 acres of property in the Island State Recreation Area in Green Oak Township in exchange for 37 acres of less desirable property in Hamburg Township.

“I believe strongly in citizen’s input and oversight,” McGonegal said. “The people who set aide unspoiled parkland when there was plenty of empty land available we now see as visionary as undeveloped land is gobbled up so quickly, and to see public land literarily given away like this by a public official is wrong.”

The Ward amendment was added after the bill left committee, and no knowledge of it was known until it came to the floor for a vote. Luckily for the people of Southeast and mid-Michigan, it was caught by land conservation groups and opposed by neighbors and supporters of Island Lake recreation area, and Ward was forced to back off his amendment and the Senate stripped it out of the bill.

GOP-controlled Legislature is anti-middle class and working family

Mark Gaffney, the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, recently wrote a column in the July 21 edition of the Detroit News called GOP Lawmakers are anti-worker. Perhaps a better title might be GOP Lawmakers are anti-middle class. There is a serious dislike and assault on unions right now, in Livingston County as well as the nation. Unions created the middle class that the majority of the population here call themselves, and even though many of us, myself included, are not members of a union, we have all benefited from the hard fought wage and benefit concessions they earned.
But Mr. Gaffney males a better case than I can. Here’s the full column- http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060721/OPINION03/607210305&SearchID=73251434947384

GOP majorities opposed many moves to hike pay and benefits
Union members are predominantly Democrats in Michigan. While there are plenty of independent members and some who vote for Republican candidates, 65 percent of Michigan union members identify themselves as Democrats. Why is this? Our members understand that there is a large difference between most elected Republicans and most elected Democrats on worker's issues.
This legislative cycle in Michigan shows that difference. The Republican majority in Michigan's House and Senate only passed a minimum wage increase when they were pushed into a corner by a highly successful ballot petition drive supported by 80 percent of Michigan voters. Indeed, Republican state Rep. Rick Baxter, in joining 33 of his colleagues in voting against the increase, said that his "worst day was when we passed the minimum wage. That was one of those days when I sat back and thought, this day will never come while we're in power. That's pretty easy as far as the worst."
Cold on unemployment
Other examples of Republican lack of interest in working family's issues included the Republican majority in both the State House and Senate refusing to take up an increase in the level of unemployment benefits (a Democrat introduced the bill) or an extension in the number of weeks for collecting unemployment benefits (again, a Democrat introduced the bill).
The most recent example was this past June when Republicans (and only the Republicans) voted to take away overtime from thousands of Michigan workers. Not one Democrat voted for this.
The Republican-led state House and Senate have also refused to act on a Democratic proposal to end gender discrimination in the work place by passing a Pay Equity law to require employers to pay men and women equal compensation for comparable work. One would think that ending wage discrimination would be a bi-partisan issue.
In another example, the Democrats have introduced legislative packages to protect employee rights on the job and to help working families who have seen their job outsourced to another country. Once again, the Republican leadership refuses to even hold a hearing to discuss these proposals. What are they afraid of? Working families have good reason to be skeptical of a party that will not even discuss issues that are of great importance to their well being.
Labor is often criticized for only endorsing and supporting Democrats, but the fact of the matter is we support those who support us. Time and time again, on the national, state and local levels, Democrats show that they keep working families' interests in mind. Maybe that is the long and short of this. Working men and women support Democrats because the record shows that when the vote matters, Republicans often don't support working families.

Get connected

We have established a Yahoo e-mail group to get the growing list of campaign volunteers and supporters on the same page. For those of us who are less than computer wizards, this is an easy way to get in touch and keep others informed of what’s going on. It allows you to send a message to every volunteer signed up, and to receive a message from any volunteer with one e-mail address.

To sign up, simply go to the site and click on the blue link that says, “join this group.” The moderator will then grant you access.

This is truly a grassroots campaign, and because we don not have access to the special interest money – nor do want to – and taxpayer supported means of campaign material that Mr. Ward has we have to take advantage of every free and low-cost effort available to get our message out.

Visit the site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mikemcgonegalforstaterep and join now.

Conservative Republican says lobbyists control Michigan Legislature

For those of you who attended or watched the live broadcast of the Hamburg Township Board meeting Tuesday night witnessed a very interesting debate on the request by Livingston County to increase the surcharge on telephones to fund 911 Central Dispatch. But even more interesting was Livingston County Commissioner Dave Domas slamming the do-nothing-Michigan Legislature, saying the Legislature has a “habit of doing nothing.”

Former Commissioner David Hamilton, chair of the Livingston County Taxpayers Association, and Domas, the former chair of the Commission when Hamilton was on the Board, took opposite sides.

I have a lot of respect for both of these conservative Republicans, and frankly, I’m now not sure how I’m going to vote on Aug. 8.

If approved, the monthly fee for landline phones would increase from $3 to $4 a month. But here’s the interesting part. Because cell phones are becoming so popular, many people are dropping their landlines, meaning there’s less money available. Cell phones only pay 29 cents a month. 29 cents! The obvious thing would be to increase that fee to level the playing field and have everyone pay their fair share for a public safety service that has saved lots of lives.

Not so fast. The legislature must increase that fee, and apparently they have a strong lobby. Also, people who use phone cards or Vonage or phone over the Internet pay nothing.

Domas said it would not change because it’s an election year, and the lobbyists, who elected them, will not allow it.

Apparently Domas knows Chris Ward and the rest of the House leadership all too well.
We need to elect people who represent the district and not the lobbyists and special interest, and that person is Mike McGonegal.

Poll shows residents love Michigan but its headed in wrong direction

This appeared in the July 17 edition of the Detroit Free Press, and it really sums up Mike’s beliefs that a diverse, expanding economy will produce non-exportable high skilled, high wage jobs to Michigan. The current Legislature is too focused on helping special interests instead of trying to find a solution to the serious, structural problems that plague our beloved state, and Mike will welcome anyone to the table who has a suggestion or plan to help solve the problem, instead of freeing out more than half of the state’s population that’s happening now.
As the poll shows, our state is headed in the wrong direction under this Legislature and its leadership.

To use a metaphor befitting the Great Lakes State, the people of these peninsulas are well aware that our collective boat is in both bad shape and rough waters. But they would rather see it repaired and righted than jump overboard for the promise of smoother sailing elsewhere.

That's one way, metaphorically speaking, to sum up the sentiments of state residents when asked about Michigan in the inaugural Detroit Free Press-Local 4 Michigan poll.

Leave? Heck no. Much as we grouse about our state, it's also our home. Let's fix it.
Attachment to place is not of itself unusual. Gulf Coast residents couldn't wait to flock back after Hurricane Katrina, even though there wasn't much left to flock to. What's interesting about Michigan, according to the poll, is the overwhelming belief, 70 percent, among residents, that this state is headed in the wrong direction. Almost a third would even describe it as "a dying state." Yet 88 percent agree with the statement: "I love Michigan." And 60 percent say they would be willing to make some kind of short-term sacrifice -- for example, paying more taxes or losing a public service from which they benefit -- if they were convinced it would move the state economy forward.

Therein lies a message for political leaders who have been unwilling to date to address the structural deficit in the state budget, preferring gimmicks and onetime fixes to keep the books balanced and enacting far too many laws and loopholes that meet the needs of special interests instead of a fiercely loyal population. These people can handle tough choices if they are convinced that the interests of their beloved state are being served.

And they also grasp that the Michigan of history, the economic powerhouse that put the world on wheels, is, in fact, history. The state's wrenching economic transition has personally touched many of them. In the survey, a stunning 66 percent said they, someone in their family or someone they know well has been laid off in recent years because of the economy; 43 percent said they were worried about their jobs.
Yet 60 percent have not even considered leaving Michigan, and only a third are certain their children will leave -- one of the emerging issues in this year's political races. The survey shows overwhelming recognition among state residents that education can no longer be undervalued and that new, nonautomotive businesses and a major expansion of tourism are the key to a prosperous future.

What's it all mean?

That for all its troubles, Michigan has something special on which to build a future: this loyal population willing to roll up its collective sleeves and do what it takes to chart a new course. That there is broad acknowledgement that the state's future cannot be found in its past, when a high school diploma or even less was good enough for a factory job with benefits. That there is an appetite for bold leadership, new partnerships and drastic solutions. People want to make things happen, not wait for them to happen.

McGonegal establishes campaign web site

Green Oak Township resident Mike McGonegal is taking his race for the 66th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives to cyberspace with the establishment of his new campaign web site at www.mcgonegalforthe66th.org.

McGonegal, 57, has been taking his message and goal of a diverse, expanding economy of non-exportable, high-skilled and high-wage jobs to the residents of the 66th District door-to-door in the past weeks, and the web site will allow him to reach more people 24-hours a day until he reaches his goal of knocking on every door in the district.

Because the campaign is a truly grassroots campaign against one of the moneyed candidate in the state, the web site was created by volunteers and will be maintained by volunteers.

Check it so far, and changes and improvements will continue to be made.

Forty-three lawmakers earn the respect and money of big business and special interests


Last week the Michigan Chamber of Commerce released an analysis of the voting records of Michigan’s 145 lawmakers, based on issues they deem important.
Out of those 145 serving lawmakers, 43 have received a perfect voting record. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that all 43 are Republicans. All of the members with a 100 percent ranking are Republicans, and Chris Ward was one of those. Has the chamber ever endorsed a Democrat in its entire existence?

This has been called one of the worst legislatures in Michigan history, and instead of throwing money at rich corporations, introducing bills that they know will die in committee and debating bills that benefit just the monies special interests they should be addressing the very real problems that are facing our state.

The only people thankful that Ward and his cronies are setting agenda in the House are the trash industry, the big drug companies and corporations that export our jobs overseas. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce and their allies in the Republican legislature have left working families behind and are fighting hard to make Michigan's motto 'trash in, jobs out.'"

Come to the fair and meet Mike and say hello


I have been experiencing connection problems with my computor for the past week, so I haven’t been able to post much. Hopefully, it will be cleared up soon.

For those who want to meet Mike, he will be at Fowlerville Livingston County Fair at the Livingston County Democratic Party’s booth from 7-9 p.m. today, Thursday July 13.
This year, we are in the merchants shelter, just across from the grandstand instead of under like we used to be. I don’t know why we were moved. Traditionally, we were just one booth away from the republicans. There is a debate among those who have worked the booth at both places. On the one hand, it’s cooler and the fresh air is wonderful, but on the other hand there is more traffic under the grandstand.

So come and meet our next representative from the 66th District.

I worked the booth and it was great to see so many people come over and say hello and say this year they are voting for a Democrat. It was also nice to see the taffies, despite we didn’t have nearly the swag the republicans had to give away.

Noticeably absent was any sign of Chris Ward. No signs, stickers or balloons bearing his name. I wandered over to the gop booth to see what kind of campaign literature and swag my tax dollars had bought, and I saw no Chris Ward stuff. Maybe I just missed it.

Elections are great motivatees for politicians to get them back in torch with the people that elected them, make them accountable again and getting them to do the job we elected them to do. Apparently, not even an election is gong to make Mr. Ward more accessible to the constituents.

Catch 22: Getting the education to get ahead and better yourself may only be affordable for those already ahead

Lansing State Journal editorial July 7, 2006
As a father currently putting his four children through various Michigan colleges and universities, Mike McGonegal, like many of you, is worried about how to do that. One of Mike’s priorities is education, and he is dedicated to working with the governor and the Republican legislatures to find a solution to get more of our talent in college, to graduate from college and stay in Michigan. Mike believes a diverse, expanding economy of non-exportable high skilled, high wage jobs is the solution to the majority of what ails our state.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm's goal of doubling the number of Michigan's college graduates just got tougher.
The challenge now for Granholm and the Michigan Legislature is to decide just how committed they are to higher education - and make the financial decisions to back it up.
College students could face higher interest costs for college loans, due to congressional action last winter. Loans through federal programs after July 1 carry a fixed 6.8 percent interest rate.
Prior practice was for a variable rate, which could carry interest above 6.8 percent or below it. In fact, in recent years, students, like homeowners, had benefitted from lower rates.
Under the new rules, new loans are fixed and old loans can rise up to an 8.25 percent rate. With general interest rates headed up, the clear trend is for bigger debt bills for college students.
A recent Democratic report found Michigan was below the national average in the percentage of students taking loans and in the amount owed. That's the good news.
The bad news is 56 percent of state students are borrowing money, and the average debt load is $17,941. Adding to those totals is going to make college less attainable, not more.
Meanwhile, Michigan Future, Inc., says the state must aggressively seek out more human talent and suggests big changes in how the state funds higher education, such as turning state appropriations to schools into a voucher program to students.
Though the money would be loans, students who agreed to work in Michigan for a set time could get those loans forgiven, suggests the group.
Such a fundamental shift won't happen anytime soon.
But Granholm and lawmakers need to be thinking in broader terms to boost assistance and incentives for students to graduate and stay in Michigan, if Granholm's goal is to have a chance at reality.

Sen. Carl Levin and his wife share in the food, fellowship and discussion

This doesn’t have a lot to do with Mike McGonegal’s campaign or Chris Ward’s missteps in the state House – other than we were both there, but some 80 dedicated activists got the privilege of hearing one of the most respected and longest-serving U.S. Senators speak, enjoy a tasty potluck dinner and share the company of the growing number of Democratic activists in Livingston County Wednesday at the spacious offices of the Livingston County Democratic Party.
After some 26 years in the Senate and the ranking Democrat on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin has seen a lot, and he shared his thoughts on everything from the attempt by Dick DeVos to buy the governor's seat and President Bush’s disaster in Iraq.
As most of you are aware, DeVos has spent, to date, more than 30 times the salary of the governor on his folly, and he has spent more money on this campaign than has ever been spent on any campaign in Michigan in history. He is essentially trying to blame the slow economy on Gov. Granholm, despite the fact the Republicans have controlled everything in Michigan and at the federal level since at least 2000 and Bush’s failed economic policies have lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs.
Bush’s policies are the cause of the loss of the high-paying jobs that are being replaced by low paying service sector jobs. In addition to these low-paying jobs that are being created, not enough of these jobs are being created to keep up with population growth.
Sen. Levin said he had just come from a meeting with the governor, Sen. Stabenow and alternative full experts at Michigan State University. The goal is to create jobs and make Michigan a leader in attentive fuels and energy research to fuel jobs, ensure the cars we make in Michigan and the U.S. are clean and fuel efficient and keep manufacturing jobs in Michigan and reduce and eliminate our dependency on foreign oil. With the price of gas going overt $3 a gallon this week and rising you have to wonder why this is not a priority of the Bush Administration?
Levin said the real research is centered around making “cellulosic biomass" – from such things as trees and grasses – efficient. He said it would require around $1 billon over five years to invest in the research needed to accomplish this. When we are spending $6 billon a month – a month I said - in Iraq it seems insane that we can’t fund research that will save our economy, secure our national security and save our environment.
He also spoke about the recent Levin-Reed Amendment on U.S. Policy on Iraq he introduced that would urge “the President to press the Iraqis to take greater responsibility for their own security and future and calls for the beginning of a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year.” Despite the Commander on the ground in Iraq urging the same thing, it was defeated along party lines.
Apparently, “staying the course” is an accepted strategy, but it’s really one of incompetence.

Veteran journalist calls out Chris Ward on campaign finance scam
It’s nice that someone with much more knowledge and experience confirms your theory, and that happened with a column in the Metro Times today by veteran journalist Jack Lessenberry. He called out Chris Ward on his campaign finance reform show and tell and his close ties to special interests.

A respected journalist for more than 30 years, Lessenberry has worked as a foreign correspondent and executive national editor of The Detroit News, reporting from more than forty countries. His writing has appeared in such national publications as Vanity Fair, Esquire, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Boston Globe. He is also a professor of journalism at Wayne State University, and his freelance columns appear in The Metro Times, The Traverse-City Record Eagle and The Toledo (Ohio) Blade. He also has local ties to Livingston County, serving as the executive of Hometown Communications that includes all the Observer and Eccentric newspapers, as well as the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus before the chain was purchased by Gannett. Here are the good parts of the column, but you can red the entire piece at http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=9390.

"But this year, “Amway Dick” DeVos is spending the way God might, if Our Lord had been left a successful pyramid scheme business by his Father. However, help is on the way, as somebody actually told me a few days ago. State Rep. Chris Ward, a Brighton Republican, has introduced a package of bills designed to provide — ta da! — meaningful campaign finance reform!

Be still, my sloshing heart. Actually, my personal blood pump never even skipped a beat once I noticed that the sponsor of these bills was Chris Ward. That is the moral equivalent of Monica Lewinsky opening a charter school of chastity. If Chris were in another occupation, he might have a mattress strapped to his back. Here’s all you need to know about him. Michigan had a law for years saying that you couldn’t order a bottle of wine from a winery in, say, Napa Valley. The middlemen and their lobbyists were behind that.

Outraged, some wine connoisseurs took that all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Michigan couldn’t discriminate that way. Good old Chris gallantly stepped into the breach — and introduced a bill that would have prevented you and me from buying a bottle of wine from a Michigan winery! That is, not without going through a wholesaler first.

One guess who the major funding source of his last campaign was: The Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association. Naturally, Ward didn’t mention that at the time; he actually said he was doing it to spare the health of Michigan’s children, who presumably were about to order a single bottle of Lake Leelanau Riesling and then kill their siblings with shards of glass from the bottle.
Fortunately, he didn’t get away with it; a compromise was forged. “The system worked!” Wardie chirped brightly when I asked about it. And would his “reform” bills do anything about stopping other lawmakers from being owned, say, by beer and wine interests? Naw, he admitted.

Last week, I read an excellent piece on what’s wrong with campaign finance rules in Michigan in the Northern Express, Traverse City’s alternative paper. In it, the brilliant Anne Stanton (all right, so she was my student many years ago) revealed that an Auburn Hills housewife named Linda Shea gave, out of the goodness of her heart, $40,000 to the political action committee of one Jason Allen, a politically ambitious Republican state senator from Traverse City.
Does, uh, like, her husband know? I wondered idly. Turns out he did indeed; he owns P.K. Contracting, which gets millions from the state for painting those lines on our highways.
Jason Allen is a likely bet to be the next majority leader, unless Yahweh allows the Democrats to take over the state Senate, and the lovely Linda undoubtedly wants to make sure that money for highway lines is in the budget, and that hubby gets the contracts again.
So, I asked our courageous Livingston County reformer, would your reforms forbid this kind of behavior? Well, no again, “but maybe if we get some bipartisan support that might be something we might want to look at.”
Turns out most of his “reforms” are actually aimed at limiting the activities of groups that favor Democrats, like labor unions. To be fair, old Chris does have a few ideas worth considering, like rules requiring more frequent reporting of where candidates get their money, and random audits of campaign committees.

But mainly his “reforms “are boilerplate you-know-what, for election year consumption and fragging the Democrats. He isn’t the problem, however; just another small symptom. The fact is that our political system is seriously broken. Nobody can run for most major offices — or even many minor ones — unless they are repulsively rich or can persuade special interests of one kind or another to spend lavishly on their campaigns.
And as Marlon Brando told me back when we were both still in the olive oil business, they seldom or never do that without expecting something for it.
Want campaign finance reform? Set spending limits, throw people in jail for violating them, and allot all candidates an equal share of airtime. The airwaves are public property; force the stations to provide this service.
That would go a long way toward creating an equal playing field. And you just know that’s what our elected leaders really want, right? That is, after all, the American way."

Right-wing columnist says throw the rascals out

This column was in today’s Detroit News by Editorial Page editor Nolan Finley. Anyone who has ever read his stuff or saw his cable show on PBS knows how far right this guy is. So much for the “liberal media” strategy myth the republicans have got people to buy into.
I agree with him on a lot in this piece, and the first rascal we need to throw out is Chris Ward, the leader of the do-next-to-nothing state House.
It’s funny he goes after the governor, but are we really surprised, considering the source?

Michigan voters are crankier than I've ever seen them. They're worried, afraid, angry and looking for someone to punish.
Not such good news for incumbents standing for re-election.
The Detroit News/WXYZ-TV Mood of Michigan poll unveiled last week found that voters are convinced the state is rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell.
They think the economy stinks, the roads are lousy, the auto industry is doomed and the schools are no great shakes. And they don't see things getting better anytime soon.
In short, they're in what looks like a kick-the-rascals-out mood.
They should be. Michigan is in this sorry state because leadership has failed at every level.
Voters can't do much about the auto executives whose hidebound resistance to change handed Detroit's vehicle-making franchise to Japan and Germany, and soon to South Korea and China.
But they can pummel the political leaders who sit around bickering and snickering while the foundation of this state crumbles.
Michigan's collapse wasn't slow in coming. It's been a rolling disaster that everyone watched develop, but no one had the courage to confront.
No incumbent should be spared from accounting for his or her role in this criminal neglect.
Give 'em all the boot
For starters, what would it hurt to make a few changes in the state's congressional delegation, considering how poorly the current crop has represented our interests in Washington?
With the exception of the tireless warrior Rep. John Dingell of Dearborn, our congressmen have been impotent in turning back the relentless assault on the auto industry.
Apparently, they've got bigger fish to fry. Carl Levin is one of the Senate's most influential members. He's always on the Sunday morning talk shows. What's he talking about? How he'd fight the war on terrorism if only he were the decider.

Never about how Washington's car-hating regulators are putting good people in Michigan out of work. (I’m not sure what he means here, but if he’s talking about gas mileage standards they should have been made tougher years ago.)

State lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, are as useless a body as ever sat in Lansing. If this is what a citizen Legislature looks like, give me back the career politicians. (Except, as we have seen from previous posts, the republicans have frozen out the Democrats and poisoned the atmosphere so badly in Lansing, thanks to antics like Ward’s, that the blame belongs at the GOP’s feet.)
They act as if crafting a sensible business tax is a task akin to unraveling the origins of the universe.

Why not just look at states where jobs are growing and say, "Let's do what they're doing"?
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has just one response for why Michigan deteriorated so badly on her watch: Blame Bush. (She’s right, and much of the work of her first years have been dedicated to correcting the mess left by Engler. This guy is from the smoke and mirrors school of accounting, and we’re still dealing with that system.)
What she can't tell us is why 49 other states, even fellow Rust Belt states like Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, are managing to prosper and grow under this administration, while Michigan can't. (Because it’s not true, and what state’s economy is tied so closely to the auto industry?)