It is looking more and more as if the 104 state troopers slated for the unemployment line will not end up there.

    Lawmakers two weeks ago asked the Michigan State Troopers Association to take time off without pay to save the jobs.  That is now on hold in favor of Plan B.

    That involves using Obama bucks to save the jobs.

    Here's the inside skinny on what's coming down.

    Look for a move this week to call on the Granholm administration to rewrite its request for federal money from the so-called COPS program.

    At first, the governor's office feared that it could not do that.  But the trooper union produced the federal administrator who wrote the program and he reassured everyone, it could be done.

    So here's the plan: Resubmit the request redirecting some of the federal dollars for the 104 state troopers; speed up the release of the funds from September first to June 28^th just in time to avert the July first lay off date and when the jobs are saved the White House will get a ton of positive publicity.

    You can see the headlines now:  Obama Bucks Saves 100 Trooper Jobs.  Film at eleven.

    It's the proverbial win-win-win for the troopers, for the state and for the president.

    Anticipating more trooper=0 Alay offs next year, you should also look for pressure on the governor to sign a repeal of the mandatory motorcycle helmet law, which she has opposed since day one.

    Under the plan, the state would raise $15 million from bikers who would have to pay the state to remove their brain buckets.  The money could go to the troopers, if the governor can be convinced to sign the bill.

     As one source put it, without the money there won't be the cops to police the helmet law in the first place.

 

     

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