Governor Granholm Sworn in as new House Speaker

If actions speak louder than words then the above swearing in ceremony should be held without delay.  Over a month ago the House Republicans came out with their version of the balanced budget without raising taxes.  Then both sides of both the House and the Senate agreed in writing to a balanced budget that didn’t raise taxes.

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http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/21015257/detail.html
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Notice the last line. “They signed an agreement last week to cut $1.2 billion in spending and not raise taxes.”

Now that agreement was done in the open and with a sigh of relief, but wait they only needed one more signature and the lady governor was out of the country visiting Japan.  Well guess what? She’s back and common sense flew out the window.

I just got this email from the communications director of the Mi. House.

—–link email—–

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bill Nowling (517) 373-3528

Oct. 6, 2009

Higher Taxes: 3; Reforms: 0

Elsenheimer: House Dems block 15 key money-saving government reforms offered by GOP

 

House Republicans today decried the move by House Democrats to raise taxes by nearly $400 million on Michigan families and job-providers, and issued warnings on the effects the taxes will have on Michigan’s economy.

            “On a day when the Washington Post predicts Michigan will lose a million jobs during Granholm’s tenure, we should be doing everything possible to prove them wrong – not help the prediction become reality,” said House Republican Leader Kevin Elsenheimer. “A tax increase sends the wrong message not only to Michigan families and Michigan businesses, but to job-providers looking to come to our state.

            “This is exactly what Democrats did in 2007 – they raised the state sales tax without public input, at the last minute and behind locked doors, taking Michigan down the path from 7 percent unemployment to 15.2 percent. We simply can’t afford another doubling of the unemployment rate.”

Elsenheimer also noted that the Democrats had to lock the members onto the House floor, for their tax votes to be approved. The Democrat tax increases were narrowly approved, with bipartisan opposition on all tax increases.

The House Republican caucus offered 15 amendments that provide serious reforms for state government. Republican cost-saving reforms include:

• Eliminating lifetime benefits for lawmakers;
• Stopping job-killing actions by the Department of Environmental Quality;
• Freezing the Earned Income Tax Credit at 2009 levels;
• Rooting out unemployment fraud;
• Encouraging local government consolidation of services;
• Allowing school districts flexibility in designing student curriculums; and  
• Improving transparency by creating a Web site that details every dollar of state government spending.

“Democrats knew the public support for tax increases simply wasn’t there, especially in the absence of real government reforms,” Elsenheimer said. “There are better options – target agreements have already been reached to balance the budget without raising taxes. It couldn’t be more clear that our state has a leadership problem, not a revenue problem.”

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____________________________
Phyllis Browne
Communications Manager
Michigan House of Representatives
(517) 373-1690 office

(269) 806-4936 cell
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As the email alludes to, someone wrote another bill and decided to take away what progress the Republicans had made.  Bipartisanship just flew out the window tied to common sense.

It is more than obvious to those who study politics even casually that all of the citizen input and rallies and outcry has had lots of effect on the rhetoric but little on the actions of our elected officials.

To those who don’t pay attention to politics, the doubling of the unemployment rate under Granholm/Cherry is hard to miss especially if you are one of the newly jobless.  It is apparent to even the most secluded that something is wrong and most know that we cannot spend our way out of debt.

I hope Mister Dillon isn’t in too hot a water from trying to use some common sense to get Michigan out of the hole we’re in.

 Well they could have had the coronation ceremony in conjunction with Dear Leaders in Chicago at the Olympics but ooops that kind of fell through.  Well maybe a Denny’s in Crystal City will have to suffice.

 If these taxes go through — well like someone we all know once said “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”.  And we thought 15% unemployment was bad – Try 30%

 If I was a Senator at this point I would say shut down the government instead of caving to this kind of two faced intimidation.  Let the voters decide in 2010.

 Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative