46% of those serving In the Michigan senate apparently don't give a hoot when it comes to spreading the pain of reducing the state budget deficit.  It looks like a classic case of do as I say, not as I do.

          While the bulk of state government workers prepare for an elongated holiday break without pay, seventeen of the state senators are taking their 4^th of July break with pay.

          What's wrong with that picture?

          Next time you bump into one of the senators on the list that follows, you might ask them that question.

          Here are the area senators who have not coughed up a single penny as part of the state's six-day furlough program:

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          From Oakland County you have Nancy Cassis and John Pappageorge.

          From Macomb County Senator Alan Sanborn who never misses a chance to gripe about the cost of government with the exception of his paycheck of course.

          From Wayne County there's Bruce Patterson, Ray Basham, Buzz Thomas and Martha Scott.

         Randy Richardville brings up the rear from Monroe County.

         Conversely, 54% of the senators have kicked in some savings by reducing their pay including Jud Gilbert from Algonac and Glenn Anderson of Westland.  They have taken a $1300 hit on their yearly salary, which is the equivalent of six days off without any pay.

    0    Four area senators have taken two days off and they include Mike Bishop, Gilda Jacobs, both from Oakland County and two Macomb County Senators, Dennis Olshove and Mickey Switalski are on board with a $436 pay cut.

         In a game where perception is reality and symbolism means a lot, having 46% of the state senate turning a deaf ear to self-sacrifice does not look or feel very fair.

         

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        Everyone assumed when she took office that Jennifer Granholm would be the classical neo-liberal democrat.

        Asked the Michigan ACLU about that and you may be shocked at the response.

        On civil liberty issues, "She's not been a leader in anyway."

        Oh my.

        That rather harsh analysis of the Granholm legacy comes from Kary Moss who runs the American Civil Liberties Union around these parts.

        She has watched this governor for seven years and concludes she has not led on emotional civil liberty issues such as gay marriage, affirmative action, bullying in schools and privacy rights because beneath that Gran holm smile is a woman who "is afraid of controversy."

        Moss is not the only person in town to utter that observation.  It is shared by many  players in both parties. But they won't say it in public as Moss did the other day on Public TV's Off the Record broadcast.

       Given a chance to lead on the affirmative action ballot proposal, the governor said she did not support a ban on the hiring practice, but Moss says the governor then "stayed in the background." And when she had the opportunity to "step forward in a bigger way" she stepped back instead.

       The governor would of course disagree.

       Moss is not surprised at any of this. Jennifer Granholm signaled even before she became state attorney general that he alliance with and allegiance to the ACLU was a thing of the past.

       Before she ran for office, Granholm was an intern in the Detroit ACLU office and eventually gained a seat on the board of directors.

       Then she turned in her card.  Some figure she was afraid of being tagged as a "card carrying member of the ACLU."

       With no card, republicans could not make the charge.

       Maybe she turned it in because she was afraid of the controversy that might have cost her an election or two or three?

        

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     Headline news flash:  Michael Jackson:  Still Dead.

     Uncle already on the Jack-o coverage.  We are now in day six of this unbelievable over reaction to the loss of the King of Pop.

     Yes, he was an icon.

     Yes, he had a massive following.

     Yes, he will be missed, but come on, how much more do we need to know?

      Well, when you stop to think about that, despite the wall-to-wall coverage shoved down our collective throats by the media, they have left some questions unanswered and let's hope Larry King, Brian Williams, and others get on it before this story fades=2 0into the distance.

      For example, was he alone in bed when he died?

      If not, what were the age or ages of those with him?

      What was he doing just before he succumbed?  Was he listening to some Elvis song? Was he reviewing the Super Bowl video of his sister?  Was he talking with his dad about his parental disciplinary techniques?

       What was the last song he sang before he died?

       Did he leave a note to the cable talking heads with some last words of wisdom on how to cover his funeral?

       As you can see the list of unanswered questions is monumental and it8 0s highly disappointing that the media sensationalist have not found the answers yet.

       Come on guys.  If you're going to exploit this poor kid's death, let's get all the details and get them now before something happens to Brittany Spears and your fickle "graving for higher ratings" switches to her.

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     Leave it to the folks in California to start a controversy over the rights of farm animals.

     You read that correctly, the rights of farm animals.

      The Farm Sanctuary group, self-described as the nation's leading farm animal protection organization, put on the California statewide ballot a proposal to protect livestock from abuse. 

      The voters bought it and now California regulates the size of cages in which animals are shipped, the temperature of the water cows can drink and all the chickens out there are now range-free.

      Farm Sanctuary is now embroiled in a similar fight right in our own farm yard and it's plenty mad that right now "Big Agribusiness" is winning the fight.

      In the House Agriculture Committee last week they took testimony on four bills that would regulate the abuse of farm animals but the legislation does not go as far as the California stuff.

     The animals rights group calls this a "blatant attempt" by industrial farmers to "evade meaningful change for Michigan farm animals."

      Committee chair Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Jackson) says he favors legislation to "catch the bad actors who are treating animals inhumanely" but the standards should be based on science and not on what Farm Sanctuary demands.

     In the cryptic quote of the year, Simpson opines, "In Michigan we firmly believe that animals are part of the food chain.  They should not have the right to drive a car."

     

    Alex Gage is no slouch when it comes to political consulting.  He cut his teeth here in Michigan doing the heavy research lifting for the noted Market Opinion Research firm in Detroit.

    He's now on the national stage with his TargetPoint Consulting Company, which helps GOP candidates find the right message for the right target group. He's got some advice on how to reconnect the GOP with voters in the center of the political spectrum where elections are won.

     The folks on the religious right in the GOP should now turn to the sports section cause what follows from Mr. Gage, you will not find engaging.

      In a confidential March memo, Gage writes that when center voters are asked to pick a word to describe the GOP "religious right is the dominate term as to why the center does not like the Republican Party."

     And there's more as he waxes on, "It is the left's successful vilification of the term "religious right" to imply intolerance and ignorance that is handicapping Republicans' ability to reach voters in the center."

     So there you have it.  After years of kowtowing to the religious right, that is backfiring on the GOP although Gage is not nearly that blunt.

     He writes that his party needs to find a way to reconnect with center voters by dropping the "abrasive or divisive" language when talking about socially conservative values.  Heads up Pat Robertson.

      Compounding the problem for the GOP is  the issues that are most popular with the center voters are not exactly tops on the republican agenda i.e. choice, stem cell research and "increased regulation on business with taxes to be raised on the rich."

      Mr. Gage better be careful.  His "tell it like it is" analysis may not get him into the next GOP confab.

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    Ouch.  It hurts when you get a story wrong and how wrong could one be when one reports on TV and in print that Terri Lynn Land is running for governor.

    Turns out, she is not. 

     Land may not have been a very good candidate for governor, but she was a smart politician. She figured  she was not going to get the GOP nomination a year from August. 

     First she was from West Michigan and the GOP already had a stronger candidate in the form of Congressman Pete Hoekstra.  Land correctly concluded she could not compete with Pete.

     Second was the money.  Land had access to some family wealth accumulated over the years in the real estate biz.  But rather than dip into the family treasure chest during bad economic times, Land dropped out.

     Third, she was not gaining any traction on the campaign trail.  After a lousy speech at a state GOP convention last winter, Land followed it up with a less than sterling performance during a GOP debate on Mackinac Island last May.

     What she did do was endorse Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard for governor. But that endorsement was more about whacking Attorney General Mike Cox. He and Land have not exactly been best buds during their overlapping tenures in state government and she confirmed that by blessing Mikey the sheriff and not Mikey the A.G.

     The endorsement per se made a nice political story but it doesn't do much for Bouchard.  Sure she can open some doors for Bouchard in West Michigan and maybe some folks will write a check, but do former Land supporters now suddenly bolt to the sheriff because she says they should?

     All in all it was a crafty move by Ms. Land; it produced some "Wow. Did you hear what Land did moments in this town," but on balance it's probably a two day story.  And everyone will speculate that she upped her chances of being his running mate should he win.

     Oh yeah, Land did accomplish one more thing, she obliged a seasoned political reporter to apologize for getting the story wrong.

      Sorry gang.

     

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       If Kenny Rogers, the gambler and singer were a lawmaker, his name would be Rick Johnson.

       The affable former GOP Speaker of the Michigan House, who is now a high rollin' lobbyist for one of the big legal shops in town, never saw a gambling issue he didn't like.

        When the horse racing industry, if you can call it that given its recent decline, was hoping to slap slot machines trackside, there was Rep. Johnson standing next to Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a rare bi-partisan TV commercial pitching racinos.  It failed.

        Undaunted Mr. Johnson is back with another scheme on behalf of two clients who want to upgrade the so-called pull-tab game now in many bars and restaurants.

        Johnson argues if these modernized machines are=2 0installed, they would generate upwards of $1 billion dollars…a tidy some of money for beleaguered lawmakers who have no money to spend these days.

        Here's the rub:  The casino industry and the religious right will oppose this effort as an expansion of gambling and under state law, the voters have to approve it.

        Johnson has a legal opinion that argues his side can win that fight in the courts if it gets that far.

        But all this is moot unless and until a certain governor gives her blessing and that is not immediately forth coming.  In fact Johnson and company have been pushing this thing with Gov. Jennifer Granholm for over two years and she has not budged.

        And just last week, Johnson got word she was still not ready to sign off, if at all.

        With a mushrooming budget deficit, the gambler Mr. Johnson is wondering what is taking her so long?

        

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