Blogs > Skoop's Blog

In and outs of the political campaigns, focusing on Michigan and Lansing, Tim Skubick will report regularly throughout the primary and then general election campaigns.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

D's Abandon Gov on Bobb

Gov. Jennifer Granholm got high marks from many when she embraced a
gutsy move to install an Emergency Financial Manager in the
financially-challenged Detroit Public School system.
But she is receiving extraordinary low marks from two Democrats
running for the State Board of Education.
At a public forum at the Macomb Intermediate School District the
other night the pair of Democrats gave that manager, Dr. Robert Bobb,
an "F."
Asked if the governor, also a democrat, was wrong to endorse the
Bobb appointment, Democrat Lupe Ramos-Montigny responded, "in my mind,
yes."
Close behind was the other Democrat Elizabeth Bauer who is an
incumbent on the State Board of Education. She described some of Dr.
Bobb's moves as "unforgivable."
As for the grades, Bauer did give him a "B" for the decisions to
turns the district's finances around but and "F" on the academic side.
She took strong exception to ranking special education teachers out of
their classrooms and moving them into regular classrooms when Bobb
discovered he had a shortage of instructors.
Ms. Ramos-Montigny believes that "superintendents and school boards
should be in charge," which is a sentiment shared by many Detroiters
who are unhappy that Bobb was brought in. She gave him a grade of
"D-minus to an F."
In strong contrast, the two GOP candidates for the board gave Bobb
much higher marks.
"A-plus,' answered Dr. Richard Zeile who lives in Detroit. "We
thank God in Detroit for Robert Bobb. We are praying for his success."
Former SBE member Eileen Weiser is running again and awards Bobb
with an "A-minus to a B" for his work at DPS. "The state must do
this," in troubled school districts she told the 100 citizens who
attended the exchange.

Blogger Correction: Thanks to the House GOP Leader Kevin
Elsenheimer for pointing out a mistake in yesterday's blog on the
budget. Rep. Craig DeRoche (R-Oakland County) was not the Speaker of
the House during the shutdown years ago. He was the minority leader
but as such he did try to blow up the budget deal some other
Republicans and Democrats were trying to iron out to avoid the
shutdown. He was part of the problem and not the solution.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Let the F.P. Begin

Barring an 11th hour train wreck, state lawmakers will leave town
this week with a ribbon on the new state budget thus averting another
government shutdown...an ugly ribbon but one nonetheless.
Now let the finger pointing begin.
Lawmakers missed by a country mile the governor's recommendation
that the budget be finished by July first. Hey, they were only off by
only three months…close enough for government work.
But now the House Republicans are trying to make some political hay
by bashing the House Democrats for taking so long to do it.
"There is no need to wait until the end," huffs and puffs Rep. James
Bolger who is emerging as one of the "new leaders" of the House.
"I think poor decisions sometimes are made bumping up against the
deadline. We need an open an deliberative process and get it done by
June 30th," he continues his well rehearsed harangue.
He does have a point that June 30 is a preferred date in that all
the schools and local governments start their budget year then and it
would be nice for them to know how many buckos they are getting from
Lansing.
But Bolger lays all the blame at the hands of the Democrats. What
would you expect? He forgets however than when his party was in
control several years ago, not only did the House miss the deadline,
state government went into a temporary shutdown to boot.
But don't let the facts get in the way of a nice political attack.
Veteran Democrat Rep. George "Cush" Cushingberry, gets a little
closer to the real reason for all the delays i.e. term limits and
election year posturing by both parties.
Besides, and here is the real deal, let's assume lawmakers
"finished" the budget on June 30th, there is no question they would
have spent the next three months tinkering with it anyway as the state
revenue picture continued to decline. Seems like writing the budget is
a never ending process.
But for the moment, they are getting the job done, it was not very
pretty and very partisan and there was no shutdown.
No one should take a victory lap but at least they will be home
for dinner on Thursday instead of rolling out the sleeping bags for
another marathon budget session.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Fw: FIND ATTACHMENT OF MY BUSINESS PROPOSAL TO YOU

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: andy newman <andynewman.newman750@gmail.com>
Sent: Tue, September 28, 2010 6:08:10 PM
Subject: FIND ATTACHMENT OF MY BUSINESS PROPOSAL TO YOU

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personal Bank Account and if you are capable to keep TOP SECRET. As i have
business proposal for you please open the attachment file for more information,
I looked forward to receive your prompt reply to headoffice@latinmail.com i
will send you the full detail on how to transfer the total money to your bank
account.
Regards
Andy Newman

Virg Punts on Graduated Tax

Democrats have been hitting the GOP candidate for governor for
giving over generalized answers to issues on the campaign trail. Seems
like his standard answer for everything is, "I'll lay out a spread
sheet."
Some of those D's may be shocked to learn they have a similar
problem right in their own backyard i.e. a candidate for governor who
won't take a position a time-honored Democratic proposal.
Virg Bernero told a Michigan Public radio audience this week that
he would "study" the graduated income tax.
Say what?
Study it?
Hey man, the graduated income tax scheme has been on the Democrat's
radar screen for over forty years and the Mayor of Lansing needs to
study whether the rich should pay more than the middle class?
Sure enough. That's his story and he's not budging.
He was asked why he could not take a position now.
Bernero asserted, "It's very important that we have a tax state that
is fair and inviting to business."
Yeah, but why can't you take a position on the tax?
"If it helps to attract jobs, I'm for it," he went on.
But he doesn't know if that will happen.
He says he needs to "bench mark" the tax against what other states
are doing to see if he will make Michigan competitive.
Maybe the real reason is, this guy doesn't want to embrace anything
that even remotely looks like a tax hike. To do otherwise could cost
him the election.
Bernero asserts, "I oppose increasing taxes."
The reporter wanted to know if that statement included the
graduated income tax.
Finally he admitted, "I'm not taking a position on the graduated
income tax, you're right; you're finally catching on," he sarcastically
shot back.
But he added, "if it helps our overall business climate, I would
consider it."
Note that to "consider" something is a long way from embracing it.
Hence for the remainder of this campaign, even though organized labor
and true-blue Democrats have been crusading for years for the graduated
income tax, don't look for His Honor to join them anytime soon.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Late Din-Din

This is a critical week for state government and every spouse of
every lawmaker wants to know, "Honey will you be working late on
Thursday night?"
Those "honey's" hope not but with this bunch you can never be
certain.
Thursday night next is, of course, the final day for lawmakers to
wrap up the new budget and if they miss the deadline, does the term
"shutdown" ring a bell?
Go back to last February when the governor advised her colleagues
that it would be a neat idea to conclude the new budget by July first.
That way the schools and local governments would know how much moola
they had to conduct their business which commenced on that very date.
It was a laudable objective from Gov. Granholm and there on that
cold winter's night, the legislative leaders joined in the optimism.
One of them even expressed hope that it could be wrapped by June first.
After all it was an election year, and lawmakers would look oh so
competent if they got the job done early even though the deadline was
October first.
Ain't optimism grand?
Well you know what happened. June first came and went. Followed
by July first and shortly after the 4th of July, those hard working
lawmakers basically took the entire month off to campaign for their
jobs putting your needs as citizens on hold.
O.K. we all understand self-preservation, but with the August 3rd
primary out of the way, everyone would certainly get down to work and
get this budget done around Labor Day.
How foolish to even think that.
Now to be fair, democracy is not supposed to be quick and dirty and
the term "deliberation" is not a four-letter word, but really, did it
have to come down to this with the shutdown clock ticking toward a
midnight deadline?
In the end the shutdown will be averted but it might be by the hair
of their chinny chin chins.
So for all you legislative spouses out there, keep Thursday's
din-din in the oven.
And for all your citizens out there, keep your fingers crossed
legislators make it home to eat it.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

At Last

One guy drank a pop. The other one had a cup of coffee and
forty-five minutes laters, they agreed to one debate.
Congratulations to Rick Snyder and Virg Bernero for finally
doing what could have been accomplished weeks ago without all the
bluster, bravito, chest thumping, etc. etc.
It's not necessary to recount all the nasty back and forth,
but let's just say neither of these would-be governors came out
smelling like a rose as a result of their stubborn inability to agree
in the first place.
The log jam was broken when Benero showed up, unannounced,
at one of those infamous Snyder town hall meetings. As a result the
two agreed to sit down and chat.
They did and now voters will get one chance to compare and
contrast each of them at the same time instead of relying on their
distorted TV ads which are not the best way to decide an election.
What has been amazing about this whole thing is that there
are still some folks who could care less about debates.
One Neanderthal in West Michigan who attended a political
luncheon speech proudly announced he didn't need to see any debates,
"My mind is already made up."
Yep, don't confuse him with the facts; he's got all the info
he needs to decide…based on TV commercials. Ugh.
Then in another seminar on the campaign, some observed that
debates were not helpful since candidates only repeated their
well-honed sound bites. You can hear Mr. Snyder now: "I have a
ten-point plan to reinvent Michigan" while Mr. Bernero crows, "It's my
Main Street agenda vs. his Wall Street agenda."
This, of course, can be avoided if the folks moderating
the debate craft some questions that don't lend themselves to a repeat
of that worn out campaign dribble.
Here's hoping some new and useful ground is broken so
voters can make a more informed decision on which of these guys is best
for the state and thank you gentlemen for the chance to see that.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

2 Years Vs. 4 Years

Just outside the House chambers the number 55 went up on the TV screen and all the high-priced lobbyists for the various universities in the state, hung their heads. They had just lost by two votes an initial scrimmage with community colleges. It was not a pretty sight to see all those gloomy mugs.
“We lost,” announced the lobbyist for all the university presidents. At least Dr. Mike Boulus can count. Now he must make sure the count in the Michigan Senate does not get to twenty which means the C.C.’s would be one step away from offering four-year baccalaureate degrees which only the universities can do.
This is a turf war in the grandest sense of the term.
Rep. John Walsh, (R-Livonia) and himself a former community college official, has been on a one year mission to allow those colleges to offer a four year degree to some students.
The program would be limited to teaching the culinary arts, nursing and maritime and cement technologies. Walsh contends the big schools want nothing to do with this training, so why not let the community folks fill the void?
Boulus begs to differ saying “We are meeting all immediate needs.”
Of course this is not just a battle over four courses; Boulus and those in the ivory tower are more worried about the camel's nose under the tent syndrome.
“In Florida these program have tended to expand,” reports Boulus and if that happens in Michigan, the big schools will lose students and money and maybe even a little prestige.
Walsh says offering these courses is an “efficient use of resources.”
Boulus says its duplication which the state can't afford.
And then he raises a nasty little notion regarding the collegial relationship that now exists between these two higher ed entities.
When you introduce the word competition into the equation, Boulus warns, “that (cooperation) can wane (and) get cloudy.” He says “we’re not there yet,” but it could happen.
Taken aback with that hint of a threat Walsh concludes,”This kind of talk is fruitless and unnecessary and if anything causes a fray in a relationship, it’s that kind of talk.”
The battle shifts to the senate where the four year folks could take another hit soon.

Dan Says....

Dan the Man knows a thing or two about leadership. After all he penned a huge book on the subject. So in the wake of that game changing town hall meeting recently with the two would-be governors, it seemed only natural to ask Dan Mulhern what he thought.
In vintage First Gentleman form, he blurted out, “Yeah, it was a very cool event.”
Did Virg Bernero and Rick Snyder demonstrate any leadership which has been sorely lacking in the school yard fight over debates?
Mr. M. says Bernero was “pro-active” and “certainly that’s a major thing you need in a governor.”
Other’s were not so generous as they felt Mr. B. crashed Mr. Snyder’s town hall gig.
Mr. Mulhern gave good marks to the Nerd for sharing the stage with his opponent and Mulhern especially like the civility of it all. “He did it with grace,” the leadership author suggested.
But one giddy joint appearance does not a debate make and these two have yet to figure out if there will be debates on the tube.
In fact they disagree on what they agreed to. The Snyder camp’s response has been a work in progress. First they said their guy only agreed to read Benero’s letter calling for more debates. Then they said, Snyder did agree to have coffee but he did not agree to reopen the debate chat which ended when the Snyder camp ended it over a week ago.
Bernero felt he had a hand shake to not only sit down to talk but work on the debate. Nope. Hopefully they can agree on who picks up the coffee tab.
If Snyder does not debate, what about that Mr. Mulhern?
It would show a lack of leadership he concludes and if he was advising the A2 biz guy, he’d say, “Take it on. You can’t be afraid. Get in there and mix it up.”
Snyder cracker jack advisors…are ya listening?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

One Shot Only

It only took Gov. Jennifer Granholm one debate to slice an dice her
GOP opponent in 2006. Now that Democrat Virg Benero is getting only
one debate shot at his opponent, his supporters are wondering can he
get the job done, too?
After a nasty round of back and forth over doing or not doing
debates, Mr. Bernero and Mr. Snyder finally sat down in a Lansing hotel
room on Wednesday and did something they could have done weeks ago:
They agreed to one debate?
"Why just one?" Bernero wondered out loud moments after the ink was
dry on the deal.
Then he answered his own question with, "My opponent is afraid" to
participate in more than one debate.
"That's not the reason," retorts Mr. Snyder. He says it was all
about timing in that he wanted to squeeze debates in, before the
absentee balloting was over.
The two will agree to disagree on why there is only one, but what
Mr. Snyder has now successfully done is get the media monkey off his
back. It was doing its own slicing and dicing because he unilaterally
shutdown the debate talks.
A disgruntled Mr. Bernero is left to hope that the public will
still take points off Mr. Snyder for not doing three debates. That is
a stretch in that the public hardly gave a hoot that there weren't
going to be any.
So Mr. B., who has begun to narrow the gap from twenty points down
to thirteen, will get a shot at his opponent, but only one. Can he
pull-off a Granholm?
We'll all know on October 11th.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Nothing Is Ever Easy Up Here

This current bunch of legislators could screw up a one car funeral.
Weeks ago when the governor announced her plans to eradicate the state’s whopping budget deficit, the air was filled with optimism as everyone was committed to getting this done long before the debate bumped up against the October first state government shutdown deadline.
Well guess what?
We is (sic) bumping big time with eleven days to go.
Now it is still highly unlikely these folks are dumb enough to preside over another shutdown in the midst a reelection campaign which is a prescription for the electorate to throw the bums out.
Yet, based on the partisan bickering over essential elements of the governor’s blueprint, you could make a case for them doing just that.
She wants to get senior members of the state government workforce off the payroll and onto the retirement rolls. It’s a $60 million savings.
Problem is for those workers left behind, to coin a phrase, they would get stuck with a new 3% fee for health care to be phased in over five years.
State government employee unions have balked and have told lawmakers not to do it, or else.
Now some Republicans, who should be all over this thing like flies on a horse, are complaining the five year phase in is not fast enough.
Add to the mix some house Democrats who want to talk about alternative ways of raising the $60 million Each proposal they suggest could not be enacted in time to avert the shutdown, yet they chatter on and on about a graduated income tax, Medicaid fraud reform and that old stand-by prison reform.
To their credit most of the budget bills are being adopted, but that is really the easy part. The heavy lifting is finding the money to pay for it.
They like to say this is a work in progress.
A better description would be a train wreck in progress.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Now Boys...

Obviously the GOP governor hopeful Rick Snyder has had his
challenges with his opponent Virg Bernero but how about the ones he has
had with Mike Bishop? Bishop of course is not a Democrat and is the GOP
leader of the Senate and he and him have not always seen eye to eye.
"I think we have a little culture clash going on here," observes
the Oakland County Republican. Translated: Snyder is from outside
Lansing and Bishop and his guys are deeply imbedded in the capitol
culture that Mr. Snyder seeks to turn on its ear.
No one is quite sure when this problem began but it certainly was
evident when Bishop appeared on "Off the Record" weeks ago and
suggested the Snyder business tax scheme would result in a "tax
increase on small business" and he labeled it "pie in the sky."
Snyder did not originally see the broadcast but he sure as heck
read about it and wasted little time in contacting M. B. Bishop was
not trying to be mean, he just felt the Snyder proposal needed some
work. Call it, if you will, a constructive criticism. Apparently the
candidate was not amused.
Now to make matters worse, the aforementioned Mr. Bernero is
running around the state blasting the Snyder business tax and quoting,
who else, Mike Bishop in his blast. It goes something like this: Not
even the senate GOP leader likes the Snyder tax. Betya they don't like
that in Nerd-ville.
This was followed by a dust up between Snyder's spokesperson and
Bishop's mouthpiece. It was an ugly exchange from two guys who have
had issues in the past.
Asked about all this the other day, Bishop dismissed it as "much
to do about nothing." A bit of a stretch but then who is keeping score?
"We've got to stop sniping at one another," he said and then
immediately corrected himself with "we aren't sniping at each other."
Which is it?
Regardless he says he and the candidate have been exchanging
text messages and peace apparently is at hand...for the moment?

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

With Friends Luke These....

The governor needs a little help from her friends, as the Beatles
use to sing, but she's not getting much from house Democrats who
apparently can't carry a tune.
The little fracas is over a plan to lure some of the more senior
members of the state government workforce, who also happen to be the
most expensive, and to lure them into retirement.
Months ago, lawmakers and the governor did that for the teachers
and house Democrats walked the plank for her and took a ton of heat
from the public employee labor unions for doing it.
Now she comes along wanting to save $60 million to erase the
deficit and she can't get the votes to do it.
If the D's won't help their governor, the house R's appear ready
to fill the gap but they can only provide 42 votes and she needs 54.
Hence she needs a dozen Democrats to show her a little love.
"I'm not voting for that. No way in hell," suggests Detroit
Democrat Coleman Young, Jr.
House Speaker Andy Dillon leaned on the son of the former Motown
Mayor pretty hard the other day.
"He was more aggressive than I expected," reports Mr. Young who
was not offended by the leaning because the speaker "did it like a man."
Whatever that means?
Young is not alone. There are other members of the Detroit
delegation who want to find other ways to raise the money. And to be
sure there are many, but most of them would never clear the GOP senate,
so it is a moot exercise. Meanwhile they are cranking up the government
shutdown clock once more. October one is now within shouting distance.
Here's where being a lame duck governor makes her assignment just
a tad tougher.
What can she do to get those votes? Offer them a job? Offer to
campaign with them for reelection? Plead with them that she needs this
to polish up her legacy?
What she will do is threaten to cut aid to the cities which would
cost Detroit millions of badly needed dollars.
That would place Mr. Young and his colleagues in a real pickle
and it just might result in 12 democrats voting yes on what she wants.
Let the game of chicken begin.

Fancy Meeting You Here

The beloved news media, as it often does, got it wrong this week
when it reported Virg Bernero "crashed" a town hall meeting called by
his opponent for governor Rick Snyder. The usage of an inflammatory
word was a disservice to both gentleman and distorted what actually
happened.
Let's begin with a commonly held definition of the term crashed.
When somebody crashes a wedding, they barge in, drink all your beer,
knock over the cake and all the chairs and don't leave a gift.
In this media story, the "crasher" was actually welcomed with open
arms, much to the shock of Mr. Benero.
Here's what really happened.
Since last Friday the democratic nominee has been on defense after
the GOP candidate unilaterally ended discussions about TV debates. For
three days Bernero blasted Snyder for "ducking" the debates.
So Monday night, Bernero took matters into his own hands; his team
will describe this as real leadership. He showed up in the hallway,
with TV cameras rolling, of the town hall event in Westland where
Snyder was fixin to go on stage to do his thing.
Instead of heading for the stage, Snyder, to his credit, went to
the hallway and invited Bernero to join him.
Bernero's only agenda was to find Snyder and hand him a letter
suggesting the two of them get rid of the handlers and sit down one on
one to thrash out the debate issue. Bernero even said he was not there
to disrupt anything and "I want you to do your thing," he advised his
opponent.
After Snyder made it clear that he was cool with sharing the stage,
they did just that. They both gave a mini version of their stump
speech and then remarkably alternated taking questions from the
pro-Snyder crowd. It was grand theater.
There was no bickering and no attacks, and when one audience member
cried out he came to "hear Rick", Snyder advised him to back off and
asserted that Bernero had the stage. It was so civil that the two even
exchanged one-liners.
At the end the two shook hands and Bernero told the media they
would meet to work on debates.
The Snyder folks, however, explained that the only thing their guy
would do is meet but not discuss the debate question.
O.K. That's not even a half of loaf for all you debate lovers, but
it was progress and if there was any "crashing" going on, it was in the
backroom where all the handlers were tossing dishes wondering if they
were about to be fired by the candidates.
Not to worry. That will never happen.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

FROM THE DESK OF MR.ABUDU TOMSON.



FROM THE DESK OF MR.ABUDU TOMSON.
AUDITOR GENERAL IN AUDIT DEPARTMENT
SOCIETY GENERAL OF BANKS IN BURKINA (SGBB)
OUAGADOUGOU-BURKINA FASO.

DEAR FRIEND,

GOOD DAY. I AM THE AUDITOR GENERAL IN AUDIT DEPARTMENT OF SOCIETY GENERAL OF BANKS IN BURKINA (SGBB) HERE IN OUAGADOUGOU , THE CAPITAL CITY OF BURKINA FASO SITUATED IN WESTERN AFRICA .

IN MY DEPARTMENT WE DISCOVERED AN ABANDONED SUM OF US$10.5M DOLLARS (TEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) IN AN ACCOUNT THAT BELONGS TO ONE OF OUR FOREIGN CUSTOMER A GERMAN CITIZEN WHO AMONG OTHERS ON BOARD THAT DIED ALONG WITH HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AND HIS SUPPOSE NEXT OF KIN ON TUESDAY, 25TH OF JULY YEAR 2000 IN A PLANE CRASHED NEAR PARIS IN FRANCE.

PLEASE VISIT THIS SITE BELOW AND SEE THE DETAILS OF THE CRASHED,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

SINCE WE GOT INFORMATION ABO UT HIS DEATH, WE HAVE BEEN EXPECTING HIS NEXT OF KIN TO COME OVER AND CLAIM HIS MONEY BECAUSE WE CANNOT RELEASE IT UNLESS SOME BODY APPLIES FOR IT AS NEXT OF KIN OR RELATION TO THE DECEASED AS INDICATED IN OUR BANKING GUIDELINES AND IN THE LAW OF BURKINA FASO, BUT UNFORTUNATELY WE LEARNT THAT HIS SUPPOSED NEXT OF KIN DIED ALONG SIDE WITH HIM AT THE PLANE CRASHED LEAVING NOBODY BEHIND FOR THE CLAIM.

IT IS THEREFORE UPON THIS DISCOVERY THAT I DECIDED TO MAKE THIS BUSINESS PROPOSAL TO YOU AND TO RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU AS THE NEXT OF KIN OR RELATION TO THE DECEASED FOR SAFETY AND SUBSEQUENT DISBURSEMENT SINCE NOBODY IS COMING FOR IT AND WE DON'T WANT THIS MONEY TO GO INTO THE BANK TREASURY AS UNCLAIMED BILL.

THE REQUEST OF FOREIGNER AS NEXT OF KIN IN THIS BUSINESS IS OCCASIONED BY THE FACT THAT THE CUSTOMER WAS A FOREIGNER AND AN INDIGINE OF MY COUNTRY BURKINABEÉ ( BURKINA FASO ) CANNOT STAND AS NEXT OF KIN TO A FOREIGNER.

AGREE THAT 45% OF THIS MONEY WILL BE FOR YOU AS A RESPECT TO THE PROVISION OF A FOREIGN ACCOUNT, 5% WILL BE SET ASIDE FOR EXPENSES INCURRED DURING THE BUSINESS AND 50% WOULD BE FOR ME THEREAFTER, I WILL VISIT YOUR CO UNTRY FOR DISBURSEMENT ACCORDING TO THE PERCENTAGE INDICATED ABOVE.

TO ENABLE THE IMMEDIATE TRANSFER OF THIS FUND TO YOUR DESIGNATED BANK ACCOUNT, YOU MUST APPLY FIRST TO THE BANK AS A RELATION OR NEXT OF KIN OF THE DECEASED WITH A TEXT OF APPLICATION, SO I WILL LIKE YOU TO SEND TO ME YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER FOR EASY AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND LOCATION WHERE THE MONEY WILL BE REMITTED.

UPON THE RECEIPT OF YOUR REPLY, I WILL SEND TO YOU BY FAX OR BY EMAIL THE TEXT OF THE APPLICATION THAT YOU WILL SEND TO THE BANK IN CLAIMING THE MONEY AS THE BENEFICIARY TO THE DECEASED CUSTOMER, I WILL NOT FAIL TO BRING TO YOUR NOTICE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% RISK FREE AND THAT YOU SHOULD NOT ENTERTAIN ANY ATOM OF FEAR AS ALL REQUIRED ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE FOR THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF THE MONEY INTO YOUR NOMINATED BANK ACCOUNT.

TRUSTING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

MR.ABUDU TOMSON.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Surprise Guest

Funny thing happened on the way to the Snyder town hall meeting. Virg
Bernero showed up, sat in the front row and then afterwards, in front
of the Snyder audience, asked his opponent to sit down over coffee to
work out the debate over debates.
The two shook hands but Mr. Snyder did not agree to the sipping
coffee stuff.
He agreed to read Mr. Bernero's letter about the debates.
It was not quite a half a loaf, but it did represent some progress.
Up to this point, Snyder, acting on the advice of his handlers, had
said there would be no debates. Period.
Benero went on the offensive calling on TV stations to hold a debate
and he would show up with or without Snyder.
It looked like this would be a stand-off with the voters the real
losers in all this.
This state has a long history of televised debates for governor even
though Mr. Snyder opined the other day "this isn't necessarily this
great tradition." It is and it deserves to be extended especially in an
election where the citizens know squat about these guys.
Having said all that, the next move is up to Mr. Snyder. After he
reads the letter, what will he do?
If he decides to do the mano-a-mano thing he will get high marks for
that. If they both agree, without the handlers, to have debates, they
are both winners, but the score right now puts Bernero one up as he had
the guts to show up and try to move the debate ball down the field.
Snyder gets high marks for allowing his opponent to talk in the
meeting and when the audience seemed upset, Snyder lectured them to let
the mayor speak. Good move.
So a good gig for both of them with more to come?

Let's Have a Coffee

Funny thing happened on the way to the Snyder town hall meeting.
Virg Bernero showed up, sat in the front row and then afterwards, in
front of the Snyder audience, asked his opponent to sit down over
coffee to work out the debate over debates.
The two shook hands and agreed to do just that.
Holy cow!
Double holy cow!!
This is a first. The two candidates have decided to give the
handlers and their lawyers the day off which means they have an actual
shot at getting this thing resolved.
Super high marks to both of these guys for having the guts to do
this and Bernero will pick up some leadership points for taking this
debate dispute into his own hands and trying to get this thing done.
Up to this point, Snyder, acting on the advice of his handlers, had
said there would be no debates. Period.
Benero went on the offensive calling on TV stations to hold a
debate and he would show up with or without Snyder.
It looked like this would be a stand-off with the voters the real
losers in all this.
This state has a long history of televised debates for governor
even though Mr. Snyder opined the other day "this isn't necessarily
this great tradition." It is and it deserves to be extended especially
in an election where the citizens know squat about these guys.
Having said all that, Mr. Snyder did not sign off on debates saying
he had not read Mr. Bernero's letter, but they have agreed to talk
about it.
That's progress and voters should be hoping the two can work this
thing out.

Kids vs. Cops

As state lawmakers struggle to nail down the new state budget
before that pesky October first deadline, an interesting special
interest battle is unfolding playing the schools against the cities.
It's a classic case of "if you don't do this, something worse will
happen."
Here's the drill: The governor wants to transfer money from the
surplus in the school aid fund and use it to buy down the deficit in
the state's main check book.
Of course the school lobby is not overjoyed as it sees the surplus
as "its" money and that's that.
The governor sees it as a way to avoid a tax increase and she is
warning lawmakers, if they side with the schools, she will be forced to
cut the last state aid payment to the cities.
That in turn would impact police and fire services since those
costs eat up most of the budgets at the local government level.
Obviously the cities don't want that, so they are lobbying with the
governor to raid the K-12 school aid fund.
Caught in the cross-fire is the guy who chairs that budget in the
House, Rep. Terry Brown (D-Pigeon.) The schools have leaned on him but
he is reluctantly siding with the governor.
"If there are no police and fire services in the cities, that puts
the schools at risk," he concludes. He doesn't like it, but says he
has no choice.
And many house Democrats concur as they ponder their re-election
bids this November.
No politician wants to be held responsible for layoffs in the
public safety arena. It's a one-way ticket to the unemployment line if
somebody gets killed in a city and it's discovered that the local
lawmaker voted to cut revenue sharing.
That's why the schools will lose this round.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Family Deposit

From James Ikechukwu,

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out the modalities.

Please call me or sms directly through my private phone
number.+234-80-59090694.Thanks as I expect to hear from you.

James Ikechukwu

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Faylene vs. Colleen

Of all the Big Three universities governing boards, the trustees
on the MSU Board have always provided the most and the best political
intrigue over the years. Maybe it's the water they drink from the Red
Cedar River but whatever it is, the back-biting, cat-fighting and
in-fighting never fails to entertain.
Recently the Faylene vs. Colleen scrum has been interesting as the
two female Democrats, Faylene Owen and Colleen McNamara, were locked in
a battle over McNamara's renomination to the board.
With almost twenty years of service, it was assumed Mc would win
going away. You never assume anything when it comes to the Green and
White board.
Here's the story line that nobody really wants to confirm. Ms.
Owen would like to be board chair woman but to do that she has to get
rid of fellow Democrat Joel Ferguson who sits in that spot. Ms.
McNamara is close to Joel and would never flip a vote from him.
So the Owen strategy was: Get rid of McNamara by denying her a
spot on the ticket at the state democratic convention.
Prior to this, someone let it be known that Ms. Owen, who chairs
the board finance committee, was having her own financial problems
namely she and her former governor candidate hubby Larry were in
bankruptcy. Sources wondered to the media, how did that look to have a
person in the red running the finance committee?
Now there is a web site suggesting other more nefarious
allegations surrounding the Owens. This could get messy.
Anyway, by the time McNamara figured out she was in trouble it was
almost too late. That resulted in a flurry of back and forth phone
calls to save her neck and finally the UAW President Bob King declared
McNamara saved and that was that.
So why did Ms. Owen think it was time for change?
"I sort of feel, and even for myself, that 16 years is a very long
time…it's time that we have younger folks on all three of these boards."
Nice spin, but not very convincing.
Did you want to get McNamara out so you could become chair?
"No, not guilty," she retorted.
Are you interested in being chair?
"If the time comes, but I'm happy where I'm at" as chair of finance.
End of story?
Not on your life. Remember this is the MSU Board where memories
are long and the family feud never ends.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

220 vs.180

China 220. Michigan 180.
Game over.
Not so fast entones the governor. She thinks this state needs to go
beyond the 180 days the kids spend in school and inch closer to the 220
they have in Communist China. Japan has the same thing btw.
Ah yes, it is back to school week and the governor and other top
educators think it is also time to restart the debate on how much time
junior spends in the classroom.
We need "more time in seats," demands the governor who wants
lawmakers to tackle this issue after the November election.
Dr. T.C. Wallace, who use to run the Mt. Clemens school system is
also on board. In fact before he took the superintendent's job in the
Capitol City, he administered a 220 day calendar in Macomb County.
"It worked extremely well," he recalls and the "parents loved it."
But it cost more money…a bunch more money about 16% more to tack on
the extra four to six weeks of learning.
The governor did not address that issue when she embraced the
longer school year this week.
As for the opposition to this, besides the students themselves, you
can expect to get an earful from the motel-hotel and recreation bunch.
Remember after years of cajoling, lawmakers finally agreed to keep the
schools closed until after Labor Day so owners could squeeze every last
red cent out of Mom and Dad before the school bells rang.
Imagine what that lobby would say if Johnny and Janey were sitting
in a stuffy classroom in the middle of July. Oh my. Can you say,
"There goes my profit margin?"
Consequently this is by no means a slam dunk.
It might make academic sense to compete with those foreign
countries, but at the end of the debate it could be the dollar bill
that wins out. And if lawmakers get too much grief from the opponents
of the longer school year, you know what that means: China 220.
Michigan 180.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

MY Kind of Town...

Who does Rick Snyder think he is? The political reincarnation of
Gov. Bill Milliken?
You could make a case for that based on the so-called "Detroit"
issue.
If you have watched any Michigan politics over the decades, you
know that anybody who wants to be elected does not cuddle up to Motown,
unless of course you live inside Eight Mile Road..
State senators don't do it. State representatives don't and
you sure as heck stay away from that if you are running for governor.
Not Mr. Snyder.
There he was the other day standing in front of one of the most
conservative down home on the farm bunch of guys you'd ever want to
meet…members of the Michigan Farm Bureau.
The Ann Arbor business guy was giving his stump speech for the
umpteenth time, you know the one about the Ten-Point Plan, etc. etc.
etc.
As he often does he inserted a line about wanting to help
Detroit.
Say what?
The silence in the room got even more silencier, if that is a
word.
Snyder says Detroit is key to Michigan's economic growth. He
didn't use the line that former Gov. Milliken used, i.e. "as Detroit
goes, so goes the state," but it was close enough.
His tact is in direct contrast to other Republicans who score
points with the voters in out state Michigan by running against
Detroit. In fact in some campaigns the pictures of former Mayors
Kilpatrick and Young in TV commercials were so pervasive, you thought
they lived up there.
Republicans on the West side of the state got so fed-up with
their tax dollars going to Detroit cultural services under a deal
hammered out by Milliken and Young years ago, that they swiped the
money and shifted to their neck of the woods.
Yet Snyder will not back off. He even made the same remarks at
the state GOP convention recently.
It's a risky move that could cost him votes, but then he has not
attached any tax dollars to his comments. So maybe the anti-Detroit
crowd won't go nuts until he does and that's not likely to happen
during the campaign.

Monday, September 6, 2010

DATE CHANGE

PLEASE NOTE: THE DATE FOR THE SCHUETTE-LEYTON DEBATE IS NOT OCTOBER
FIRST, BUT SEPTEMBER 24. THANKS. TS

He Said. He Said Back.

Oh boy, this one will be a hoot.
Circle your sked for October first cause that will be the first and
perhaps last televised debate between the two guys who would be the
state's next attorney general.
And Republican Bill Schuette and Democrat David Leyton are already
going at it even though they have never met face to face.
"The race is about a prosecutor, me, vs. a career politician, him.
He's been in and out of politics and elective office for 30 years."
That would be Mr. Leyton speaking about Mr. Schuette.
Not to be outdone Mr. Schuette suggests, "There out to be a sign
on top of the attorney general's office that says, "Inexperience need
not apply."
And that's just the beginning.
Schuette goes on to claim that the Genesee County Prosecutor has
failed at protecting the folks in Flint noting that local officials
wanted the National Guard to come in to calm things dow when the
shooting got too loud.
Leyton asserts, "I've been prosecuting criminals, 20,000 for the
last five and a half years, with a 92% conviction rate." And he tosses
in for good measure that while he's been on the front line fighting the
bad guys, Schuette was ensconced on the high court bench. Leyton
doesn't say it, but he implies not many bad guys show up there with
their guns drawn.
Undaunted, Schuette rejoins, "My being a judge for six years
trumps anybody out there."
You can see the pattern here. It's tit for tat and pretty soon
this will degenerate into rat-a-tat-tat which of course will make for a
dandy televised debate on WKAR.org. Can hardly wait.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Climb Every Mountain

If you are one of those who has declared the race for governor over,
you do so at your own peril.
However, for the democratic underdog to pull this one out, he has a
steeper than steep summit to mount and he needed to start hiking
yesterday.
To underscore the assignment for Virg Bernero one need only look at
the polling numbers.
The GOP guy Rick Snyder is strong across the board except in Wayne
County. In fact if the election was held there today, the EPIC-MRA
survey shows Democrat Bernero the winner by a comfortable 40-31% margin.
You can hear the cheers in the D camp.
Ah but…and there is always an ah, but.
Snyder sweeps every place else including Bernero's home town of
Lansing where the local Mayor is behind by 12 points. Home town boy,
not doing so hot.
The numbers are mind-numbing. Traverse City: Snyder 71%-Bernero
18%. Grand Rapids: It's 60-25%. The usually democratic vote rich I-75
corridor near Flint and Saginaw? Snyder with a 17 point spread. And
as it that is not enough, the Snyder squad even beats Bernero in
Detroit by a 14 point margin.
Ouch and double ouch.
Take a deep breath, Bernero's team asserts gasping for air.
First they point to the cool $8 million that Mr. Snyder spent to
win the GOP primary with about $6 million of that coming out of his
children's's inheritance. So much for the grassroots opening their
check books for him.
Second, most of the $2 million that Benrero spent for his TV
commercials was not poured into a positive campaign to boost Benero's
image. Nope. Most of it went into attacking his opponent in the
primary Andy Dillon.
Now that strategy worked to defeat Dillon but some of the voters
who saw the ads came away with a negative attitude about Bernero. So
his commercials actually drove up his negatives rather then reduce them.
So game over?
Not by a long shot.
Recall nobody laid a glove on Mr. Snyder during the GOP primary.
Suffice it to say, Mr. Bernero will not be nearly as kind.
However if by October first or so, Mr Bernero has not established a
base camp higher up the Snyder mountain, his chances of getting enough
oxygen to make it to the top could fade.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

One Too Many Questions

Everything was going along swimmingly. The media was having at Rick
Snyder and Mr. Snyder was standing there taking the questions and
providing some pretty decent answers just like a regular politician.
Oops. Sorry.
There were inquires about who should run the Detroit schools?
Another about Michigan's economy coming back, and the candidate was
"this" close to ending the thing on a high note.
And then the boom fell.
While Mr. Snyder was performing, a reporter remembered an earlier
story with the state Democratic Party chair.
In the wake of the rather tumultuous and sometimes disorganized
state GOP Convention, Mark Brewer raised a poignant question: If the
Nerd can't run a party convention, how can he possibly run the state?
Since "fairness" is the name of the game, it seemed only fair to
have Mr. Snyder check in on his reaction to the Brewer swipe.
First he paused as he digested the inference that he could not run
the government and then he began, "Our convention went fine again and
there were some logistical issues that the party had on how they
organized it…."
For those who missed it, the "logicistical" issues included
hundreds of the GOP faithful standing in line for two hours or more in
a boiling sun because the party did not have a mechanism to get them
safely into the Breslin Center.
Party Chair Ron Weiser took the bullet and confessed that somebody
screwed up.
Mr. Snyder deftly declined to share in any part of the screwing
up.. (See he really is another career politician.)
Just as the reporter was poised to ask a follow up question, Mr.
Snyder's media guy jumped in. "Thanks a lot guys.' End of scrum but
not the end of the questioning.
Snyder is now looking for the escape hatch but gets this, "As a
good business guy should you not have had a plan in place to take care
of that?"
Pretty good question, don't you think? After all Mr. Snyder says
he's got a plan for this and a plan for that. Why didn't he and is hot
shot team check and cross check what his party was doing to make sure
the convention ran like a top? And like any good business executive,
why didn't he have a Plan B set to go, if a problem arose.
So what was Mr. Snyder's response as he strolled toward the door as
the TV cameras chronicled his walk out the door?
Nothing. Not even a no comment. Just a little laughter and a
march straight to the exit.
Make of that what you will, if anything.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Cool It on the Career Politician Stuff

The democratic candidates for Secretary of State and Attorney
General have been watching too many Rick Snyder commercials where he
blasts all those nasty "career politicians."
It's pretty clear that bashing them is the most popular indoor
sport these days but Jocelyn Benson and David Leyton may have gone too
far.
"It's a prosecutor vs. a career politician," Leyton the Genesee
County Prosecutor laid into his GOP opponent for A.G. Bill Schuette on
the convention floor in Detroit Sunday.
And it seems Ms. Benson took the same tact when she took on her
opponent Ruth Johnson.
The Oakland County clerk is a career pol and most folks would
agree Schettee is too even though he denies it.
So why can't Benson and Leyton take advantage of this anti
politician mood to whip up some support with the anti-government cabal?
Take a gander at the top of the Democratic ticket for the answer.
Oh. Oh. Virg Benero's resume looks like a career office holder
and his running mate Brenda Lawrence is not exactly wet behind the ears
either. Benson and Leyton can't have it both ways. If career
politicians are bad, all of them are bad including Bernero and Lawrence.
The issue came up in the Leyton interview when he hit Schuette
for being part of the political establishment.
The reporter noted that the same thing applied to Bernero.
Leyton, grasping for a life line, complained, "You didn't ask
about governor."
Pa-shaw.
That didn't matter since the inconsistency of his argument was as
plain
as the nose on his face.
"I didn't hear the inconsistency," he tried to cover his
you-know-what.
And as for Ms. Benson, wonder if she was taken to the wood shed by
somebody in the party about her comments?