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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.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Stuff the Fire Hose

The Snyder administration has stuffed the fire hose in the back
closet in the governor's office. It will not be used this year after
getting quite a work out in 2011.
You've heard the phrase, "like drinking from a fire hose?" Well
that nails it for the new governor and his minions last year as
lawmakers were fed a gusher-like stream of legislation that did
everything from taxing pensions to balancing the budget three months
before the deadline.
The new year will be different the governor promises as he
indicates he will ask less from his "partners" in the house and senate.
He'll focuses on issues that won't garner many headlines but are still
part and parcel of the Snyder reinvention blueprint.
That will suit House members quite well, thank you very much.
They are up for re-election this new year and that becomes Job One,
even though it should not be thus.
If the governor has anything really controversial to jam through,
his window will be open for about four months or so and after that,
house members won't be voting on anything that could do them harm in
the August primary or the all-important November general election.
"The bridge will be back," intones the Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. You
know the bridge that went nowhere last year?
The gov. and company will also tackle the very unpopular Personal
Property Tax whereby businesses pay a tax to cities every time a new
piece of equipment is purchased from a pencil to a stamping machine.
Local governments are watching this puppy very closely because if
the PPT goes out the door, $800 million in local tax collections goes
with it.
The governor has promised he won't stiff the cities which he did
last year when slicing more state revenue sharing dollars from local
coffers.
So the next biggie is the second Snyder State of the State set
for Wednesday, January 18 at 7 p.m. on Michigan Public TV.
Bring you garden hose.

4 Comments:

Blogger Eric from Taylor said...

Mr. Stubick, I hadn't heard you other than on WWJ occasionally years ago. My firm conviction now is that you give political hacking a bad name. The only reason my wife and I kept the PBS interview on, at quite an effort, was to hear the Governor speak, which I really hadn't before.
Never again if I can help it with you as host.
Eric from Taylor

January 2, 2012 at 7:51 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ummm, I haven't had the impression that Tim Stubick is a hack for either party -- more of a spectator at a sporting event.

Anyway, my comment is that businesses use more public resources than anyone else. They tear up the roads, pollute the environment, and dump the health care of their workers onto the public. Why shouldn't they pay more in taxes? Why doesn't someone calculate the public cost of a business versus the amount they pay in taxes?

January 3, 2012 at 6:26 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous
You haven't read any of Mr. Skubick's pieces as he is definitely a hack for the Democratic party. In each of his pieces he tries to find a way to critize the Rep. Governor. Even when Graholm was in office his criticizm was directed at the Senate Majority leader. Michigan had to change the way it does business and Skubick is against that notion.

January 3, 2012 at 7:31 AM 
Anonymous Rocky Road said...

Terminating the PPT is a great way to bankrupt some more local governments ensuring the EFM will arrive to bust the public employee union while slashing wages or outright firing workers.

How many people would want to move here if they knew the Governor's policy is to bankrupt cities, towns and school districts not to mention impoverish workers and retires with higher taxes and fees?

If you seek a pleasant peninsula, keep driving.

January 3, 2012 at 9:48 AM 

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