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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Rick Snyder makes CREW’s “Worst Governors in America ...
www.eclectablog.com/2013/12/rick-snyder-makes-crews-worst...
Gov. Snyder claims he established funds to promote social welfare in Michigan, but they’ve mostly promoted the welfare of his staff and the governor himself.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Mon Dec 30, 2013 6:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:08 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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GOV. RICK SNYDER (R-MI) was elected in 2010.
TRANSPARENCY Shortly after taking office, Gov. Snyder established three funds able to accept unlimited corporate donations—the Governor’s Club, the Foundation to Reinvent Michigan (FRM), and the New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify (NERD) fund.1 The Governor’s Club, set up in March 2011 under Section 527 of the tax code, pays for the governor’s job-related expenses, including travel to political meetings and conventions, office lunches, and renovations to a press room in the governor’s office building.2 Unlike the two other funds, donors to the Governor’s Club are publicly disclosed.3 FRM and the NERD fund were set up in February 2011 under sections 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) of the tax code respectively, which
means they are not legally required to publicly disclose donors.4 FRM pays for repair and maintenance of the governor's official residences, while money contributed to the NERD fund is reportedly dedicated to “the promotion of civic action and social welfare.”5 Gov. Snyder’s predecessor used funds like the Governor’s Club and FRM for similar purposes, but did not have one similar in scope to the NERD fund.6 In tax filings, the NERD fund, which reported raising $1.3 million in 2011, disclosed spending more than $130,000 on a security system and furniture for the governor’s residences.7 It ambiguously describes the remainder, $562,866, as spent for the “common good and general welfare” of the state’s residents and visitors.8
In May 2013, the Detroit Free Press reported two of Gov. Snyder’s key advisors, a campaign staffer and a member of his gubernatorial staff, were on the payroll of the NERD fund.9 Rich Baird is Gov. Snyder’s “transformation manager,” an influential position in the governor’s administration created specifically for him.10 Mr. Baird, who recently retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers, set up a consulting firm, MI Partners LLC, with Gov. Snyder as his sole client
1 Paul Egan, Watchdog: Snyder Funds ‘Disturbing’, Detroit News, September 9, 2011.
2 Id.; Governor’s Club, IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2011, August 14, 2012. The Governor’s Club raised $396,000 in 2011. Donors who contributed $25,000 in 2011 include: AT&T of Michigan, Inc., Detroit Medical Center, DTE Energy, Health Care Association of Michigan, HNTB Corporation,
Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Michigan Credit Union League, Michigan Health & Hospital Association, and Total Health Care.
3 Id.
4 Jennifer Dixon, A Too-Good Place to Stash Donor Cash, Detroit Free Press, March 11, 2012; Foundation to Reinvent Michigan, IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2011, June 29, 2012; New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify, IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2011, August 14, 2012.
5 Id. The governor has two official state-owned residences, one in Michigan’s capitol, Lansing, and the other a summer home in Mackinac Island. See http://www.michigan.gov/miplaces/0,4634,7-244-45894---,00.html.
6 Egan, Detroit News, Sept. 9, 2011.
7 New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify, IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2011,
August 14, 2012.
8 Id.
9 Tom Walsh, Snyder's Talent Guru Steps Out from Behind the Curtain, Detroit Free Press, May 16, 2013; Chris Gautz, Key Snyder Adviser Prefers His Place Behind the Curtain, Crain’s Detroit Business, May 19, 2013; Nancy
Kaffer, Gov. Rick Snyder Must Come Clean on Details of NERD Fund, Detroit Free Press, June 18, 2013. Gov.
Snyder’s former deputy campaign manager, Rick DiBartolomeo, was the NERD fund’s assistant secretary and treasurer and its only paid employee in 2011, earning $48,366 for working 10 hours a week. During this period he also collected a salary from Gov. Snyder’s campaign committee. Mr. DiBartolomeo left both positions in June 2012 to take a $115,000-a-year job as the investment administrator for the state Treasury Department. See Kaffer, Detroit
Free Press, June 18, 2013; Paul Egan, Snyder Campaign Official Chosen for $115,000-a-Year State Post, DetroitFree Press, June 28, 2012; New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify, IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2011, August 14, 2012.
10 Kaffer, Detroit Free Press, June 18, 2013; Walsh, Detroit Free Press, May 16, 2013.
The NERD fund pays MI Partners LLC $100,000 a year.12 Mr. Baird’s unusual position in the governor’s office and the NERD fund’s lack of transparency
have come under scrutiny as a result of Mr. Baird’s involvement in an ongoing lawsuit against Gov. Snyder. The lawsuit alleges that the governor’s office violated state laws in offering Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr his job before Detroit was designated as in financial emergency and before the appointment was reviewed in a public meeting by a state board controlled by the governor.13 Mr. Baird, who is not a defendant in the suit, was subpoenaed and claimed executive privilege in refusing to disclose the names of the other candidates he interviewed for the position.14Gov. Snyder’s attorney explained that while Mr. Baird is not on the government’s payroll, “he functions as if he is a state employee” with an office two doors down from the governor’s.15 In defending Mr. Baird’s right to claim executive privilege, Gov. Snyder’s attorney cited two precedents involving executive privilege: Aaron Burr’s 1807 treason trial and President Richard Nixon’s attempt to block access to records related to the Watergate scandal.16 The presiding judge, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette, dismissed Mr. Baird’s claim of
executive privilege, saying: “He is a private citizen claiming to be under an umbrella of the governor. The governor wants it both ways, apparently. He wants the ability to hide behind this orporate entity—to hide behind this umbrella and do all of this behind-the-scenes stuff and hide
it from everybody.”17
11 Editorial: It’s Time Gov. Rick Snyder Tried Transparency Himself, Detroit Free Press, June 6, 2013.
12 Id. The NERD fund’s tax filings do not disclose the $100,000 paid to Mr. Baird’s MI Partners LLC. See New
Energy to Reinvent and Diversify, IRS Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2011, August 14, 2012.
13 Chad Livengood, Judge Orders Snyder Aide to Produce Detroit EM Candidate Names, Detroit News, June 12, 2013; Jonathan Oosting, Critics Challenge Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Transparency as Court Orders Disclosurefrom Aide, M Live, June 12, 2013; Paul Egan, Snyder Recruited Orr as EM Before Financial Emergency Declared in Detroit, Detroit Free Press, June 5, 2013. The emergency manager (EM) law has been the subject of controversy throughout Gov. Snyder’s tenure. In March 2011, Gov. Snyder signed an EM bill granting EMs new and augmented powers. Under the law, the governor has the authority to designate emergency management jurisdictions and to appoint EMs, whom are tasked with taking control of financially distressed cities and school districts and have broad powers to cut costs, overrule local governments, and amend or terminate contracts. Civil rights groups challenged the law, saying it violated the Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising minority voters. In addition, civil rights and progressive groups said Gov. Snyder’s process for determining which jurisdictions required emergency management lacked transparency and accountability. In November 2012, Michigan voters repealed the EM law by referendum. One month later, in December 2012, the legislature passed a new EM law by tacking it onto an appropriations bill,
meaning it cannot be repealed by voter referendum. Gov. Snyder signed the new bill. In May 2013, the NAACP filed suit against Gov. Snyder claiming that emergency management was unconstitutionally enacted in
predominately minority jurisdictions. See Chris Savage, The Scandal of Michigan's Emergency Managers, The Nation, February 15, 2012; Paul Abowd, Michigan’s Hostile Takeover, Mother Jones, February 15, 2012; Chris Christoff, Michigan Lawmakers Approve New Emergency Manager Law, Bloomberg, December 14, 2012; Marilisa Sachteleban, Sharpton Group Sues Against Michigan Emergency Management, Yahoo! News, April 2, 2013; KhalilAlHajal, NAACP Lawsuit Claims Emergency Manager Law Violates Voting Rights of Half Michigan's African Americans, M Live, May 13, 2013.
14 Livengood, Detroit News, June 12, 2013; Oosting, M Live, June 12, 2013; Egan, Detroit Free Press, June 5, 2013.
15 Livengood, Detroit News, June 12, 2013.
16 Id.
17 Id. |
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Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:25 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Progress Michigan
Governor Snyder has signed a controversial bill doubling campaign donor limits and protecting the secrecy of “issue ad” donors, proving that he would rather put the interests of the wealthy over Michigan's middle class families.
Snyder signs controversial campaign finance bill
freep.com
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said today he has signed a controversial bill doubling campaign donor limits and protecting the secrecy of 'issue ad' donors.
Editorial: Signing campaign finance bill would betray Snyder's pledge to voters
Detroit Free Press
That grunting and straining you hear is the sound of Gov. Rick Snyder's struggle to reconcile campaign finance...
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Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:53 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Snyder signs bill doubling campaign limits, protecting secrecy of issue ad donors
8:17 PM, December 27, 2013 |
By Paul Egan
LANSING — In a move sure to become an issue in the 2014 election, Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday he had signed a controversial bill doubling campaign donor limits and protecting the secrecy of issue ad donors.
The bill includes a provision designed to thwart efforts by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson to reveal who pays for issue ads that have become increasingly influential in Michigan political campaigns.
But Snyder said in a news release it will “bring an unprecedented level of transparency and openness to the state’s political system.”
Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, said Snyder’s description of Senate Bill 661, which is now Public Act 252 of 2013, is laughable and absurd.
Snyder cited new requirements that disclaimers identifying sponsors be included with automated telephone calls, known as robocalls, and other political ads.
But experts say making public the names and addresses of the often shadowy groups that pay for such voter outreach will shed little or no light on who finances the messages.
“For nearly four decades, organizations could anonymously publish or broadcast ads, make countless phone calls to voters at their homes, and send piles of mail without any identifying information,” Snyder said.
“Voters wouldn’t know which organization was behind the effort, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to contact that organization. Thanks to these new reforms, that anonymity will be no more.”
Snyder’s assertion that the law will increase transparency is “a whole wagon load of hogwash,” said Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
“He’s diminished by signing the bill,” Robinson said of Snyder.
As a candidate in 2010, Snyder said the identities of those who pay for issue ads — which typically criticize political candidates but don’t explicitly urge viewers to vote for or against them — should be made public. In explaining his reversal, he said he has recently been educated to the value of anonymity in protecting First Amendment rights.
Groups such as the Michigan Freedom Fund, which backed the right-to-work legislation passed in December 2012, say anonymity is needed to protect from harassment and intimidation those who back unpopular positions.
“Freedom-loving families thank (Snyder) for protecting free speech, increasing transparency and ending hit-and-run robocalls,” Freedom Fund President Greg McNeilly said on Twitter shortly after Snyder announced he had signed the bill.
McNeilly, who managed the 2006 Republican gubernatorial campaign of billionaire Amway heir Dick DeVos, said Snyder was a newcomer to politics in 2010 and it’s commendable that the governor was open to changing his position as he learned more. Anonymous speech is a civil right, McNeilly said.
Snyder said the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, also increases transparency by requiring candidates to file additional campaign finance reports with the state during years in which they are not up for election.
The bill doubles campaign donor limits, to $6,800 from $3,400 for candidates for statewide office, to $2,000 from $1,000 for candidates for state Senate, and to $1,000 from $500 for candidates for the state House.
Snyder noted the increases still don’t keep up with inflation from when the limits were last increased. The new law requires the limits to be periodically adjusted to keep pace with future inflation.
Lon Johnson, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said Snyder’s action shows “he is only interested in taking care of the wealthy and the well-connected.”
Mark Schauer, the Democratic candidate for governor, was unavailable for comment Friday. His spokesman, Zack Pohl, said “this is just another reminder that Gov. Snyder has the wrong priorities for Michigan.”
Ruth Johnson, who like Snyder is a Republican, announced Nov. 14 she would seek rule changes to require public disclosure of issue ad donors. Almost immediately that same morning, a Republican-controlled Senate committee amended SB 661 to include wording that would prohibit such a change. The full Legislature later approved the amended bill.
The secretary of state, who was not available for comment, supports the increased frequency of financial reporting and other aspects of the bill that improve transparency, spokesman Fred Woodhams said. “She will continue to look at other ways to push for government transparency,” he said.
Attorney Steven Galbraith, who chairs the negligence law section of the State Bar of Michigan, said keeping issue ad donors secret is particularly harmful in judicial elections. Judges can’t be lobbied on issues, so there is no reason to run an issue ad in a judicial campaign other than to try to affect the outcome of the election, he said.
Galbraith noted that anonymous groups spent $2 million on attack-style issue ads in Oakland County judicial races in 2012.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” Galbraith said of Snyder’s unwillingness to veto the bill.
Scott Hagerstrom, state director of Americans for Prosperity of Michigan, joined McNeilly in applauding Snyder’s decision. He said some of his members faced threats to themselves and their families after supporting the right-to-work law, which makes it illegal to require financial support of a union as a condition of employment.
“There’s a balance there between freedom of speech and transparency,” Hagerstrom said.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com |
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Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:59 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Editorial: Gov. Rick Snyder must take charge to solve Michigan's growing crisis
December 22, 2013 |
By The Detroit Free Press Editorial Board
You’re the governor. Act like it.
When Rick Snyder took an oath to become Michigan’s 48th chief executive, he pledged to take responsibility for the health and welfare of the state’s residents.
That oath and our constitution endow him with tremendous authority to intervene in struggling cities and school districts, but it also comes with tremendous obligation: To ensure that the state’s promised services are delivered through local governments, and that those jurisdictions are properly funded and maintained.
But to hear the governor talk about his duties, you’d think Detroit and Michigan’s other financially failing cities are somehow distinct from the state’s fortunes or responsibilities. Pretty much, they’re on their own.
In an interview with the Free Press Editorial Board last week, Snyder again demurred when asked about the constitutional promise that Michigan made to the pensioners who are vulnerable in Detroit’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Even worse, he begged off an invitation to articulate a statewide strategy to deal with under-funded pensions and retiree health care plans (a problem larger than $30 billion, by some estimates) and dithered over the question of rethinking the way Michigan that funds cities all together.
■ Blog replay: Follow the Editorial Board's conversation with Gov. Rick Snyder
Those are legislative prerogatives, he said. And if someone in the Legislature wants to propose something, he’ll take a look at it. But he’s content to work his own plans, a decidedly more incremental approach, for now.
With all due respect: You’re the governor, Mr. Snyder. Act like it.
Michigan is facing a municipal challenge that is no less imperative than the school funding crisis of the early 1990s. The state needs a big-picture solution, and a leader to champion it. Republican Gov. John Engler played that role for Proposal A in 1994; agree or disagree with its wisdom or long-term effects, it decisively settled the question and prevented disaster from cascading through hundreds of school communities.
Snyder needs to be that person now for Michigan.
Last week, Snyder placed the blame for Detroit’s under-funded pensions on the systems’ trustees. That’s fair. For decades, trustees have made bad investments and engaged in risky financial practices such as issuing bonus checks that the systems couldn’t afford to pay. But the governor went a step further, taking to task the city workers and retirees who elected those trustees. You made bad choices, the governor seemed to imply, and now you’ve got to live with the consequences.
It’s a fiction of fairness that doesn’t acknowledge the reality of what pension cuts mean for elderly retirees who planned their lives around constitutionally protected benefits.
As the man who swore that oath to protect the welfare of the state’s citizens, Snyder has an obligation to step up. Find a solution. Keep the pensioners whole.
He’s right that there’s ongoing litigation, and that he must be careful about interfering. But nothing prevents him from standing for the proposition that the most vulnerable interests in the bankruptcy won’t be sacrificed, for any reason. Nothing bars him from asserting a moral imperative that the pensions should be kept sacrosanct.
No doubt, he should also be articulating big changes for local pensions; the pension profligacy and mismanagement in Detroit is echoed in plans statewide. In exchange for a statewide solution, Snyder should require a fix that either mandates full funding of local pensions, or eliminates them in favor of state-controlled retirement plans.
But as a leader, he needs to take the reins on both the promise to current pensioners and the fix going forward. He shouldn’t be waiting around for someone else to propose it.
Similarly, Snyder balks when asked about state investment in cities like Detroit, and how Michigan might alter the way local services are delivered to not only be more efficient, but more effective for citizens.
Sure, Snyder can point to a list of ways that the state has helped Detroit: By deploying Michigan State Police to assist local cops, bringing in new resources to test rape kits, adding resources for workforce development, partnering with the Detroit Land Bank Authority and so on.
He points to similar efforts in other cities as proof that he is focused on and dedicated to their economic health. It’s a fine start, but it’s incremental and hardly commensurate with the profound revenue challenges that cities face.
They have all lost millions in taxable property value, further diminishing revenues that had already taken big hits from reductions in state revenue-sharing over the past decade.
And even as property values recover, cities’ revenues will lag because of limitations in Proposal A and the Headlee Amendment. Add to that the Snyder administration’s huge tax-cutting excursions, which felled the personal property tax (a vital source of city revenue) last year.
Six cities are in emergency management now, and many more are on the verge of review or other distress.
It’s a crisis, not a temporary crunch. And it merits a big-picture solution from a visionary leader. It can’t be handled piecemeal, or incrementally.
Snyder can’t wait any longer for someone else to step up. |
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Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:18 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| The video interview with Snyder is available on Progress Michigan (Facebook) site as well as both stories. The Free Press sometimes limits the time in which their links work without going to the paid archives. |
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Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:20 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Tim Skubick: Just try getting a straight answer out of our Michigan governor
Politics Columnist for MLive.com By Tim Skubick | Politics Columnist for MLive.com
on December 29, 2013 at 6:01 AM, updated December 29, 2013 at 6:11 AM
With nothin' going on in Lansing, Progress Michigan filled some empty space last week with a new video to the tune of Silent Night berating the governor for being silent on a variety of issues.
Welcome to the world of covering Gov. Rick Snyder and trying to weasel something out of him that even remotely resembles something newsworthy.
The liberal leaning folks at Progress Michigan wondered where the governor was on Marriage Equality, women's health care, equal pay for equal work for females, and his inability to nail the number of jobs that his Right to Work law created.
He has no figure. "It's tough to quantify," he brushed away the legitimate inquiry.
But the list does not end there. What about Medical Marijuana and its son of issue, decriminalization of grass? What about using the computer to take the politics out of legislative redistricting? And you name pretty much any social wedge issue, and you get used to hearing this from the governor: "It's not on my agenda."
That, as they say in the biz, is now inoperative given that RTW wasn't on his agenda but somehow he ended up signing it.
So now, his standard line to rebuff inquisitive reporters, is "I'm focused on jobs and bringing Michigan back" - which is Snyder-ese for "you can ask me as many times as you want, but there is no way I'm going to give you a straight and revealing answer."
The governor acknowledged the other day that such a "no-talk-no-tell" attitude does make it "more challenging" for reporters to do their jobs, but that's not his worry. In fact awhile ago he informed one reporter that it was not the governor's job "to help you make news."
And, of course, he is correct but what about the poor voters who want to know what this man stands for?
All you have to do is look at his first campaign for governor when he refused to say diddly squat about what he would do if he was elected except in general and unrevealing sound bites.
"I promise to re-invent Michigan."
"We must change the culture in Lansing."
"We must do more for education."
Well, you get the point. There was no meat on any of those bones which is just the way he wanted it three years ago.
If he did not lay out any specifics, there was no way for the electorate to judge whether they liked his policies.
Just imagine had he disclosed before the election that he would boost the pension tax on some seniors?
Democrat Virg Bernero would today be the happiest governor in the nation.
Suffice it to say, not getting dragged into a back and forth on this hot-button issue or that is totally consistent with the governor's perception of his role. "You elected me to run the state" and he sees any diversion into other issues as counter to that objective.
For example, the other day when he was asked about running for president.
"That's way out...that's just wild," he laughed off the speculation.
Well if he was not interested, when given the chance to say, "I will not run for President," he punted.
"I see no value in that," he demurred.
"Why not just take it off the table" by saying that, asked the silly reporter, trying to get blood out of a turnip.
He explained it would just be a distraction and counter to his objective to "stay on message" about bringing Michigan back.
And so it goes with Richard Dale Snyder. Progress Michigan can run all the cute videos it wants, and he won't budge an inch. And likely Democratic challenger Mark Schauer will try to press him. Lots of luck with that.
The only true way to smoke him out is to have the electorate tell him, it will not vote for him unless he does some self-disclosure. Voters didn't do it last time. Why the heck would they demand it this time?
The governor is hoping you won't.
Watch "Off the Record with Tim Skubick" online anytime at video.wkar.org |
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Sun Dec 29, 2013 1:21 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| And in other news Barack Hussein Obama has secured his place in history as the worst US president ever. Jimmy Carter breathes sigh of relief. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Tue Dec 31, 2013 9:28 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Stephen Henderson: Snyder's broken promises don't give us a reason to trust him
January 3, 2014 |
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder had promised more transparency in campaign finance — and then signed a bill doing the exact opposite. / July 2013 photo by Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
By Stephen Henderson
| Detroit Free Press Editorial Page Editor
It’s the rare politician who says what he means and does what he says. So only the uninitiated are shocked when a public official takes naturally to equivocation or tortured semantic gymnastics to go back on promises made.
Still, Gov. Rick Snyder’s struggle to wed his deeds to his words has wandered into the realm of ridiculous, with him now shredding central promises that he made during the 2010 campaign. At this point, Snyder’s oft-repeated pledge to value and trumpet transparency from the governor’s office is as laughable as his insistence that right-to-work “wasn’t on his agenda,” or that his brand of conservatism was pragmatic rather than ideological or vindictive.
Heading into 2014, the governor will begin building a case for voters to return him to Lansing for another four years. But he’s not just fighting for a second term now — he’s seeking forgiveness (or hoping for forgetfulness) for the growing sense that he says one thing and does another.
■ Related: A second term for Gov. Snyder? Election will attract national attention
Me? As of now, I’m not buying. Snyder is no more trustworthy than any other politician I’ve dealt with. Given the hordes of political liars prowling this city — and this state — that’s quite a distinction.
Just before Christmas, Snyder reached rock bottom, signing a campaign finance “reform” bill that raises individual contribution limits and preserves the right to anonymity for donors to third-party issue-advocacy groups.
■ Related: Snyder signs bill doubling campaign limits, protecting secrecy of issue ad donors
You might as well call it the Political Polluter Protection Act. It holds the floodgates open for money to warp and perturb the political process, and allows the perpetrators of those acts to hide their faces in the process.
No one who is serious about getting better control of the intermingling of money and politics could have supported this bill — and that includes Snyder, who said just a few years ago that he would work to be sure that citizens would know who was trying to influence the political process. Snyder also had an easy political out here. Yes, the bills were passed by the same Republican Legislature that has jammed him into uncomfortable spots before, but Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, also a member of the GOP, wanted tougher restrictions on donations. So did several other Republicans.
That could have been important political cover for someone who wanted to stick to his principles.
Now, of course, Snyder’s an officeholder staring at the business end of a re-election campaign expected, by some measures, to attract as much as $30 million in support. Much of that will be so-called dark money — given anonymously to third-party organizations that are technically unaffiliated with the candidates, but free to praise or trash either side.
The simple explanation for Snyder’s about-face is that expediency trumped principle. He told the Free Press in December that he had come to see the issue differently. When he signed the bill, he ridiculously said it would enhance transparency — tantamount to arguing that you can increase light by spreading darkness.
The problem for me is that simple explanations of any kind are no longer sufficient to wipe away the stains of the governor’s pattern of deceit on the issue of transparency.
Think of all the sneaking around with his New Energy to Reinvest and Diversify fund, which collected millions in anonymous donations before he agreed to shut it down and start a more upfront organization. We still won’t find out who gave to NERD, though, and he used much of the money to fund projects that could raise conflicts of interest, if only we knew who’d given the money.
Think of the Education Achievement Authority — a perfectly decent idea for a turnaround district for low-performing schools, but one whose funding has also been shrouded in secrecy and whose initial creation outside of existing law and out of the control of the Department of Education suggest something much less than openness.
This newspaper’s support of Snyder in 2010 was a philosophical bargain. We knew he would indulge some policies with which we disagreed; we knew that the Republican-led Legislature would push him to extremes. Snyder, however, had the better plan to get the state’s economy moving, and his embrace of transparency, honesty and integrity were abiding and convincing.
That’s all badly tarnished. So badly, in fact, that, at this point, it’s difficult for me to see how Snyder can reclaim any semblance of openness. Forget about the instances where a radical Legislature has forced him into uncomfortable positions. If Snyder so willingly trashes ideals he claimed for himself, he simply can’t be trusted.
Shocking or not, that’s a bitter and disappointing framework for the governor’s re-election bid in 2014.
Stephen Henderson is editorial page editor for the Free Press and the host of “American Black Journal,” which airs at 12:30 p.m. Sundays on Detroit Public Television. Follow Henderson on Twitter @ShendersonFreep, or contact him at 313-222-6659 or shenderson600@freepress.com. |
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Sun Jan 05, 2014 7:58 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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"And even as property values recover, cities’ revenues will lag because of limitations in Proposal A and the Headlee Amendment. Add to that the Snyder administration’s huge tax-cutting excursions, which felled the personal property tax (a vital source of city revenue) last year."
The Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau reported on 2-26-14 (Kathleen Gray) reported on the new package of bills designed to help local governmental units affected by the legislation passed in December 2012 phasing out of the Personal Property Tax. About $470 million in annual revenues would be lost, mostly to communities that were at-risk and vulnerable.
The State Senate introduced new bills to replace the lost funding. These bills would create an "essential services assessment" for companies that would assist in supporting police and fire services. Additionally the 6% use tax on out-of-state purchases would go to local governments. Additionally a number of ast tax credits will expire.
Local governmental entities with a considerable amout of various size businesses and industries would benefit the most while smaller bedroom communities received little personal property taxes.
Reporter Kathleen gray can be reached at 517-372-8661, kgray99@freepress.com |
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Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:50 pm |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Mon Mar 17, 2014 5:51 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Scandal? News reports indicate Republican Governor Rick Snyder's administration rigged a state contract to benefit the governor's cousin. Read more ---> http://politi.co/NOYcro
Michigan Democrats say Rick Snyder administration helped cousin
By JUANA SUMMERS | 3/25/14 7:35 AM EDT Updated: 3/25/14 7:41 AM EDT
Michigan Democrats charge that officials in Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration moved to protect the business interests of the governor’s cousin from a round of steep budget cuts shortly after Snyder took office in 2011.
A batch of new documents and emails obtained by the state Democratic Party and shared with POLITICO suggest that George Snyder — the owner of furniture company DBI Business Interiors — lobbied a top administration official to protect a multimillion-dollar furniture contract with the state on behalf of Haworth Inc., a Michigan-based office furniture company with a history of supporting GOP candidates and causes. Democrats say not only were the cuts ultimately nixed, but the furniture contract was increased that year.
Snyder’s gubernatorial office has flatly denied these claims, calling it a “manufactured story and issue.”
The allegations come as Snyder’s reelection campaign heats up. Democrats see the state as one of their top 2014 targets, along with Pennsylvania, Florida and Maine.
In an April 2011 email, documents show, George Snyder contacted Richard Baird, a top Snyder adviser, saying that he was “very upset and nervous about the language in the Senate budget bill on furniture.”
Baird forwarded the email to John Nixon, then Michigan’s state budget director, who responded, “we are on it.”
In a subsequent email between Baird and Nixon, Baird identifies that George Snyder is the Republican governor’s cousin, forwarding along a second request for information about the state’s “furniture process.”
In his successful 2010 campaign, Snyder had promised sweeping changes to state government. Snyder’s 2011 budget proposal did just that, including huge spending cuts and lower taxes for businesses. Snyder’s budget proposed $1.2 billion in permanent spending cuts to schools, local governments and other areas to help deal with the state’s $1.4 billion budget deficit.
He also called for significant restructuring of Michigan’s tax system, including replacing the state’s business tax with a 6 percent corporate income tax, which would lead to $1.8 billion in tax cuts for businesses.
While Snyder campaigned for governor as “One Tough Nerd” with the promise of transforming the state’s government, Democrats at the time criticized his budget proposal as favoring businesses and corporations while harming working families and seniors.
The release of the emails is likely to revive that argument. Democrats charge that Snyder’s goal wasn’t shared sacrifice, but instead politics as usual where Snyder picked and chose favorites, allowing his family and associates to benefit.
“While parents and seniors were being told by the governor they must sacrifice to balance the state’s billion-dollar deficit budget, Rick Snyder’s family and political friends were being taken care of,” Lon Johnson, the Michigan Democratic Party chair, said in a statement to accompany the release of the emails. “This scandal reveals hypocrisy reaching directly into the governor’s office and is a serious and disturbing breach of public trust.”
Michigan Democrats were expected to unveil the emails formally at a press conference Tuesday in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit.
A spokeswoman for Snyder’s campaign referred questions to the governor’s office. A spokeswoman for Snyder’s gubernatorial office said that the emails were “taken out of context.”
“George Snyder and DBI have had well-established and competitively bid business contracts with the state, long before Gov. Snyder was ever elected into office,” spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said. “That track record and history can and does speak for itself.”
An official from Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget, the office that deals with state procurement and budget issues, said the “accusation that there was some sort of preferential treatment given because the governor’s cousin works there is absolutely false.”
Democrats are seeking to tie the administration’s emails to the NERD Fund, the now-dissolved, Snyder-backed nonprofit advocacy group that critics have charged is cloaked in secrecy.
As the NERD Fund could accept unlimited campaign donations and its donors didn’t have to be disclosed, Democrats — including challenger Mark Schauer — have argued that it’s impossible to know whether special interests could be influencing state policy.
The NERD Fund reportedly paid for the housing of Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and for a time paid the salary of Baird, a top Snyder aide until he joined the government payroll.
Snyder announced that he would shutter the fund late last year, arguing that though the nonprofit had complied with all laws, it had become a distraction.
The Michigan Democratic Party said that Snyder’s use of the NERD Fund to “protect lucrative state contracts of family members and political allies from budget cuts certainly gives new meaning to the phrase putting friends and family first.”
Snyder formally announced his plans to run for reelection last month, touting his plans to reinvent Michigan, which he called the “comeback state” during his official campaign launch. |
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Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:14 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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E-mails renew controversy over identity of Gov. Snyder's NERD fund donors
3:13 PM, March 25, 2014 |
By Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau
LANSING — There were renewed calls for Gov. Rick Snyder to disclose the identities of corporate donors to his now dormant NERD Fund Tuesday after e-mails revealed a top aide who was paid from the fund intervened in the purchasing process on behalf of at least two companies, including one headed by Snyder’s cousin.
Snyder, speaking to reporters in Battle Creek, dismissed the controversy as election-year politics.
Richard Baird, who until October was paid from the New Investment to Reinvent and Diversify Fund, contacted former Department of Technology, Management and Budget Director John Nixon in July of 2011 after George Snyder, who headed DBI Business Interiors of Lansing, sent Baird an e-mail saying he was “very upset and nervous” about wording in the Senate-approved budget bill that would have capped purchases of furniture from DBI at $1 million a year.
The e-mails, released at a Tuesday news conference, were obtained by the Michigan Democratic Party under the Freedom of Information Act.
“He is Gov. Snyder’s cousin,” Baird said in e-mail to Nixon in which he tried to arrange a meeting between George Snyder and Nixon.
“We are on it,” Nixon said in an e-mail to Baird.
Nixon, who is now chief business officer for the University of Utah, said his “we are on it” message indicated he was already working on having language removed from the budget bill that would have unfairly directed all state furniture purchases over $1 million to one company, Kentwood Office Furniture of Grand Rapids.
Though removing the language may have helped DBI, who supplied the state with furniture long before Snyder became governor, “I was on it because I needed to protect the integrity of our procurement process,” Nixon told the Free Press.
Nixon said he already knew George Snyder was the governor’s cousin and believes Baird, who could not be reached for comment, only mentioned the relationship to flag a potential conflict and assure George Snyder was dealt with strictly by the book.
But House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, doesn’t interpret the e-mail exchange that way.
“Obviously, he pointed out in the e-mail that it was the governor’s cousin because he thought it was relevant to the decision-making process,” Greimel said during a news conference in Southfield.
Lon Johnson, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said public records show officials from DBI and its contract partner, Haworth Inc. of Lowell, were donors to funds headed by Snyder and other Michigan Republicans, but there is no way of telling whether they contributed to the NERD Fund, which paid Baird $100,000 a year, unless Snyder agrees to release the list of donors.
The NERD Fund raised about $1.3 million in 2011 and about $368,000 in 2012, records show. Snyder’s spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said he used the nonprofit to pay for travel and other expenses that shouldn’t be charged to taxpayers.
“While parents and seniors were being told by the governor they must sacrifice to balance the state’s billion-dollar deficit budget, Rick Snyder’s family and political friends were being taken care of,” Johnson said in a news release
Snyder attributed the allegations to “part of that season of electioneering.”
“That’s really being done by the Democratic Party and it’s an election year, so you find all kinds of stuff being made up,” Snyder said.
Baird, described by Snyder as an expert in talent recruitment, has been a regular source of controversy in the Snyder administration, having been involved in the recruitment of Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, the administration’s aborted “skunk works” education reform project, and the awarding of pay increases of as much as 90% to investment advisers in the Treasury Department.
Snyder tried to put an end to the controversy in October when he moved Baird onto the state payroll and announced he was shutting down the NERD Fund and replacing it with a new nonprofit fund whose corporate donors would be disclosed. But Snyder continued to reject calls to disclose the identities of the Nerd Fund donors.
Messages left with George Snyder were not returned.
In one of the July e-mails to Baird, George Snyder also thanked Baird for helping his accountant’s daughter get a job with the Michigan Department of Human Services.
Democrats, who sent a letter Tuesday to the U.S. Attorney for the western district of Michigan, requesting an investigation, also pointed to a second state contract on which Baird contacted Nixon in 2011.
E-mails show Baird was contacted by Steve Trecha, president and CEO of Integrated Strategies Inc.. who wanted help with a contract his company had with the Michigan Department of Corrections that was up for bid. Baird forwarded the e-mail he received from Trecha to Nixon, with the message: “Per our discussion.”
Four months later, in July 2011, Integrated Strategies was awarded a $2.2 million Corrections Department contract.
Nixon said it’s common for all kinds of people to contact him asking that he look into purchasing issues and “Rich had nothing to do with the procurement process.”
Justin A. Hinkley of the Battle Creek Enquirer contributed. |
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Wed Mar 26, 2014 6:02 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Proposed EVIP/Revenue Sharing Changes Major Blow to ...
www.mml.org/newsroom/press_releases/2014-3-25-mml-statement-evip...
A League study released last week showed the state has diverted $6.2 billion in revenue sharing dollars from Michigan communities ... services to their communities ...
Press Release
Contact:
Matt Bach, Director of Media Relations
Michigan Municipal League
(734) 669-6317
mbach@mml.org; www.mml.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 25. 2014
Proposed EVIP/Revenue Sharing Changes Major Blow to Michigan Communities
The following statement is from Utica Mayor and Michigan Municipal League President Jacqueline Noonan about proposed changes to the revenue sharing/Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP) approved by the House Appropriations General Government Subcommittee this morning (March 25, 2014).
Michigan Municipal League is staunchly opposed to these changes. The action also indicates a complete disregard for concerns raised directly to the subcommittee by League members in testimony last month. View a blog about the hearing here. In addition, League board members at their meeting in January talked with Rep. Earl Poleski (R-Jackson), the committee chair, about their frustration with the level of revenue sharing funding to local units of governments and challenges with the EVIP program.
“EVIP is not working. We have testified, we have talked to legislators, and there is not a single local unit of government who thinks this program creates more efficient government,” said League President Jacqueline Noonan, mayor of Utica. “But this action taken by this House subcommittee today shows that the Legislature is not listening. We are not only extremely disappointed, but fearful that these proposed changes would send even more Michigan cities into financial distress and possibly even emergency management or bankruptcy.”
A League study released last week showed the state has diverted $6.2 billion in revenue sharing dollars from Michigan communities in the last decade. Had the funds not been diverted by state lawmakers, the fiscal crisis facing many local Michigan communities today might not be so severe. The proposed changes to the EVIP program takes Michigan’s communities in the wrong direction.
For additional information contact the League’s Samantha Harkins at sharkins@mml.org or (517) 908-0306.
The Michigan Municipal League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials; and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services.
###
MML Home :: League Services :: Advocacy :: Training/Events :: Resources :: Insurance :: Legal :: Classifieds :: Links :: About MML :: Privacy :: Webmaster
Michigan Municipal League :: 1675 Green Road, Ann Arbor MI, 48105 :: 734.662.3246 l 800.653.2483 |
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Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:19 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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State office renovation contract criticized because of link to Snyder's cousin
Apr. 10, 2014 | 2 Comments
Gov. Snyder responds to allegations: Gov. Snyder responds to allegations that his cousin got favororable treatment. (John Grap/The Enquirer)
Written by
Scott Davis
Snyder dismisses allegations cousin was protected from budget cuts as 'electioneering'
Gov. Rick Snyder is drawing criticism his office says is unwarranted for a contract that will renovate the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s downtown Lansing headquarters.
In January, the MEDC., a quasi-government agency that receives state funding for economic development purposes, awarded a $731,119 contract to Holland-based Haworth Inc.
DBI Office Interiors, owned by George Snyder, Rick Snyder’s cousin, is a Lansing-based dealer for Haworth and will perform much of the work.
Lynne Feldpausch, MEDC’s vice president of human resources and corporate services, said the MEDC awarded the contract to renovate and repurpose its Lansing headquarters to accommodate 20 employees being moved to the building at 300 N. Washington Square.
She said the MEDC is not renewing a lease for space at Victor Office Centre, 201 N. Washington Square.
In recent weeks, Democrats have criticized Gov. Snyder for state contracts awarded to his cousin’s company, mostly prior to when he began as governor in 2011.
“It sure is good to be Gov. Snyder’s cousin these days,” Michigan Democratic Chairman Lon Johnson said in a statement “Not only does Snyder’s cousin see his furniture contract doubled to $41 million ... but he gets the inside track on no-bid contracts awarded by the MEDC.”
Feldpausch said Snyder’s office had no involvement in the MEDC awarding the contract to Haworth Inc.
Sara Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Snyder, characterized Johnson’s statements as “flat out, shameful lies.”
She said every existing contract issued through the state Department of Management, Technology and Budget was issued before Snyder became governor. She added the $41 million contract was issued to Haworth, not DBI.
“More ridiculous and unfounded accusations that are completely false and with not once single ounce of merit – very disheartening to see more of politics as usual,” Wurfel said.
Johnson said he hasn’t mischaracterized anything involving the contracts, noting the $41 million Haworth contract lists DBI as a key point of contact.
“I take great offense at being called a liar,” he said. “These are facts.”
Adam Russo, spokesman for Haworth, said Wednesday that MEDC asked that all media inquiries go through Feldpausch. DBI officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Feldpausch said the contract involves the purchase of some new office equipment, along the reconfiguration of existing furniture and cubicles. She said the work began in mid-February.
The contract states that the work will end June 30. |
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Thu Apr 10, 2014 5:20 pm |
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