Archive for December, 2011

Jocelyn Benson

The promise that citizens choose their elected officials is a basic foundation of our democratic process.  So is the simple tenet that victory comes through playing by the rules, not by altering the rules so that you can declare yourself the winner.

Last week, the Michigan State House passed a bill that violates both of these principles.

Just a few weeks after a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals voted unanimously to uphold the legality of Oakland County’s newly drawn county commission districts, the House voted to enact legislation that would invalidate the map and require the county commission to draw a new one.

But the worst thing about this bill is not just that it changes the rules of Oakland County’s redistricting process after the process has already produced a legal map.  And it’s not the fact that this change, led by Oakland County Republican legislators, will invalidate a county commission map that they believe will make it difficult for Republicans to maintain their majority on the commission.

The worst thing about this bill is that it actually takes the power to draw commission lines out of the hands of an independent – albeit political and partisan – committee and gives that power to the commissioners themselves to craft their own districts.

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Herman Cain

Since my campaign ended, I’ve been honored to hear from so many people who asked me to continue because they felt I was the person who could help this country fix things that urgently needed fixing. I will continue to lead but not as a candidate, because I chose to put family first.

I will continue to be your voice and our voice. We will make 9-9-9 a movement. We will put “strength” back into Peace through Strength and Clarity. We will become energy independent. We will put “united” back into the United States of America.

I know this from you: When the people understand it, they will demand it!

We can’t count on the mainstream media to properly inform us, because too many members of the media are chasing the sensationalized or distorted story. Many Members of Congress are so busy trying to keep up with the legislative process, small incremental changes in the laws and the partisan cat fights that the big changes needed never get addressed. Worse yet, they never even try.

We have seen repeatedly that expecting 535 Members of Congress and the president to make bold changes to truly fix problems from the inside of Washington is not going to happen. Washington is broken! We must change it from the outside.

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Gregory D. Lee

Afghanistan, like its neighbor Pakistan, has always had endemic corruption and there appears to be no end in sight. Despite the rhetoric coming from President Hamid Karzi about cracking down on corruption, it goes on and has flourished to new levels.

While on active duty as an Army reservist earlier this year, I was sent on a mission in Afghanistan to evaluate the “Rule of Law” counter-insurgency strategy and make recommendations regarding Special Operations. During my assessment, I interviewed many knowledgeable people about the Afghan police and security forces and heard stories from U.S. contractors (mostly retired U.S. cops) that even I found hard to imagine. I say that because, as a DEA agent assigned to Pakistan for four years in the mid-1990s, I was shocked at the level of corruption there. But Pakistanis could learn a few things from their neighbors to the west.

For example, take your average police officer recruit. He reports to the training academy and is issued uniforms, boots, hats, gloves, etc. The very next day he returns to the academy in uniform, but without his boots. When asked by the academy staff where his boots are, the recruit shrugs his shoulders and says either that he lost them, the dog ate them or they were stolen – none of which is true.

The truth is that the recruit gave his boots to a relative, sold them to a stranger, or hid them somewhere hoping to receive another pair. This didn’t happen once in a while, according to my sources. It’s been a routine event since word got out that the academy staff will issue another pair of boots to those who need them.

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Jake Davison

Good evening. My name is Jake Davison and I have the honor of moderating tonight’s Republican presidential debate, the 49th such debate with only 27 left to go before the Iowa caucuses. For tonight’s debate, all of the candidates have been given a dose of truth serum. And to ensure I burn as many personal political bridges as possible, I have also taken the truth serum.

Our first question is for Newt Gingrich. In your experience as the only Speaker to be kicked out of that office by his own party in a record-shattering four short years, what is the best way to actually lose seats in a non-presidential year when the other party controls the White House, which you did in 1998? After all, you are the only person who has ever accomplished this in the past 77 years.

Gingrich: Well, I have the brain of Karl Rove and the self-discipline of a four-year-old meth addict. Whoops, that’s my ninth campaign-destroying quote since lunch.

Davison: The next question is for former Senator Rick Santorum. You’ve proven that, despite the power of incumbency, you can blow it statewide in a swing state like Pennsylvania. Would you lose red states using the same strategy? Come to think of it, why are you here?

Santorum: Like other candidates, I want my own show on Fox News. I thought that was obvious.

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Dan Calabrese

I smell a rat. It’s coming from the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building, and while that may not sound like any great revelation, I smell a very particular kind of rat. And it’s coming from Mayor Dave Bing.

Think about this: Bing gets up a couple of weeks ago, in the face of a budget crisis so severe that it threatens to all but destroy Detroit as a viable municipal entity, and he proposes a series of timid half-measures that everyone knows will not solve the problem.

This is not Kwame Kilpatrick. This is a guy who successfully built and ran his own business. This is a guy who understands fiscal reality.

Remember when Bing was campaigning? He made it clear to the city’s 48 public employee unions that if they did not make the necessary concessions, he was willing to throw the city into bankruptcy as the only way to rip up their contracts and get the city on a new footing.

Now all he offers up is a heaping helping of nothing? And when Gov. Rick Snyder moves ever-closer to appointing an Emergency Financial Manager to clean up this mess, all Bing can do is counter with an ineffectual plea that Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters?

Isn’t this the same guy who just a few months ago said that he wouldn’t mind getting the appointment as Detroit’s EFM? Now Bing, with the same private sector background he brought to the job in the first place, has suddenly transformed into a weak wet noodle who is content to fiddle while Detroit burns?

Are you buying this?

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Robert Laurie

“Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters.” – Dave Bing

It’s become the mayor’s battle cry in a last ditch effort to rally his city to – well – some sort of action. He and many others throughout government and the media claim to know what needs to be done. No one’s done anything, of course, but they swear they can see the proper path forward. Unfortunately, they’ve only managed to articulate the first step in their recovery plan: The outright rejection of a state-appointed Emergency Financial Manager. Their reasons are verbose and filled with lofty platitudes about the importance of local government. It sounds nice, but if you do a little digging, you’ll eventually discover the truth.

They fear the appointment of an EFM because he’d be the one person with the power to undo the city’s unsustainable union contracts.

These contracts, and the pensions they contain, were created at a time when the city boasted a population of nearly two million. They’re the by-product of an era when the Motor City had a booming tax base that could support higher salaries and cushy retirement funds. Those days are long gone. Now, these perks are killing the city.

Today, Detroit is a city of less than 700,000 people. Officially, our unemployment rate is just under 30 percent, but when you factor in those no longer seeking employment, the real number closes in on the 50 percent mark. In other words, assuming everyone who can is actually paying their taxes, only 350,000 Detroiters pay the bill to support pension plans created with two million resident taxpayers in mind.

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David Karki

Not a single Republican presidential primary vote has yet been cast. Even after the first four states – IA, NH, SC, and FL – all vote in the next 2 months, the overwhelming share of the delegates will still be available. Yet there is a distinct feeling that the process is almost over before it’s even really begun.

At this point, it seems like the Not Romney sentiment has coalesced around Newt Gingrich, perhaps for lack of any other better alternative at this “late” point after Rep. Michele Bachmann, Gov. Rick Perry, and Herman Cain were all briefly tried and found wanting.

Gingrich certainly has his negative points and reasons for many of us – present company included – to have misgivings and reservations about settling on him. He’s had liberal dalliances at times, significant personal baggage, and so forth. He also has a couple good points, prime amongst which is his willingness to go after Obama in a way no other candidate has shown thus far. Compared to Romney, a full-fledged liberal both unwilling to and incapable of going on offense against Obama but without personal baggage, Newt would appear to be a slight improvement. (If I may damn with faint praise, that is.)

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James Melton

As the financial crisis of the City of Detroit has played itself, a lot has been written about the city’s “corrupt city government.” Casual observers might be left with the impression that theft and mismanagement are the roots of Detroit’s budgetary problems. I wish it was that simple, but it isn’t.

If “rampant corruption” was the primary problem, then I could believe that the solution would be to simply turn on the Bat Signal. We could call in the Caped Crusader (or a financial manager) and locate hundreds of millions of dollars – hidden under rocks, inside mattresses or deposited in Swiss bank accounts – that could be used to balance the budget. But that’s not going to happen.

To be sure, Detroit’s politicians have not helped the situation. There is reason to believe that the feds, which have been handing down corruption indictments for about a year now, are not finished yet. And one could cite decades of bone-headed decisions made by Detroit mayors and city councils that have contributed to today’s budget mess. Despite all of that, Detroit’s biggest problem isn’t corruption, or even incompetence.

What makes the city’s problems so hard is the harsh reality of operating a government – any government – in these times, especially in Michigan. Along with all other municipal and state governments, Detroit is feeling the impact of a recession that was deeper than anyone realized at the time and a recovery that is taking longer than rebounds from regular recessions take. Those factors overwhelm anything former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick could have done to it.

For an example, let’s look at Detroit’s pension funds. A lot has been written lately about Detroit’s “unsustainable” legacy costs. The problem would be easily solvable if the shortfalls in pension and benefit funding could be attributed to greedy public officials stuffing their pockets with cash. The real story, however, is far more complicated and in no way limited to Detroit.

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Brett Noel

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Large version for newspaper publication.

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Eric Baerren

Allstate wants you to know that the auto insurance market is a difficult place. In a grocery store, you purchase toothpaste based on which brand has the flashier packaging, but when you get down to cases Allstate offers substance over style. Auto insurance is so important, their ad campaign wants you to understand, that you need to make a careful, informed decision.

Michigan’s Legislature is currently moving legislation that would treat your child’s education in that same way, like a box on a shelf containing a tube of toothpaste. The underlying belief is that choice in the marketplace will create competition in education, which will by an act of miracle improve schools. Hallelujah!

It’s a bold approach to education, made even more so because it’s done without a hint of evidence to suggest that it will work. In fact, Allstate knows that’s not how things work. What Allstate understands and what the Legislature doesn’t is that consumers don’t always make terribly well informed decisions, and instead usually just grab the tube of toothpaste that first catches their eye. Allstate wants you to slow down and choose your auto insurance more wisely. The Legislature makes a tremendous leap of faith in assuming that parents will.

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