Minimum Wage Rage

Happy Announcement (photo from press announcement)

You should be pissed if you are a minimum wage earner

I haven’t gone off on a good rant in quite some time, so this has been building for a while. Today, I reached my boiling point over the passage of the new minimum wage law by the Michigan legislature. This end-run around the desires of Michigan citizens just goes too far.

The Raise Michigan Coalition has been coordinating a petition drive for the past 180 days to raise the wage in Michigan to a paltry $10.10 by 2017. That isn’t much when you consider that if the minimum wage had kept up with inflation for all these past many years we would be paying McDonald’s and Wal-Mart employees at least $21.00 an hour. But that isn’t the case and the minimum wage is currently $7.25 nationally and $7.40 here in Michigan. I won’t even discuss the tipped wage because that is just CRIMINAL!
 
A few weeks ago the folks at Raise Michigan announced that they had gathered enough signatures to put the minimum wage proposal before the legislature for approval as specified on the petition. If the legislators had taken no action or voted against the proposal, the matter would automatically be placed on the November ballot for voters to decide.

I wish Raise Michigan would have turned the petitions in right then, but they opted to finish out the allotted 180 day span and continue collecting “insurance” signatures. They put in more hours, sent out more volunteers, got tons more signatures. May 28 was their scheduled turn in date. They worked their butts off to get minimum wage employees a fair shake – especially those tipped wage earners that have been getting screwed for years.

During the last few weeks of the petition drive, the no-load legislators in the Michigan House and Senate got busy, led by Republican Randy Richardville, the Senate Majority Leader. They crafted legislation raising the minimum wage in Michigan to an even paltrier $8.50 by 2018. It was crap legislation that would repeal the minimum wage law on the books and nullify the citizen-led petition drive. The ONLY purpose of the introduction of this legislation repealing the existing law was to thwart the citizens of this state and interrupt democracy.

”His strategy — which he readily copped to in a phone conversation Friday afternoon — is to make sure that, even if Raise Michigan succeeds in its bid to amend the current minimum-wage statute, it won’t count, because the statute they want to amend will have ceased to exist.”

 

Richardville, the Senate Majority Leader, admitted that the intended purpose of repealing the current law was to put a stop to the petition drive. How petty can you get? This is a man that was elected to serve you and I. He is supposed to be looking out for you and I in Lansing and ensuring that our voice is heard. Instead, he is drafting legislation that is intentionally designed to STOP US from having a democratic voice in the laws enacted in this state. And he has the NERVE to call that democracy?

If you have been paying attention to Michigan politics, Governor Snyder is constantly using “democracy” to justify his positions on issues. For instance, in 2004, the citizens in Michigan voted to ban gay marriage. There was no argument at the time about that ban being unconstitutional, so it was passed and enacted and allowed to stand for 10 years. Now, in 2014, the mood in Michigan has changed and an estimated 70% of the citizens now support gay marriage.

A recent court challenge was made against the ban on gay marriage and it was determined that the ban was unconstitutional. An immediate appeal of the ruling was made by Attorney General Bill Schuette, claiming that the voters democratically decided they were against gay marriage. Despite all current polling on the subject showing that the opinion has changed in this state, AG Schuette and Governor Snyder are using “democracy” and the "upholding of the Constitution" as the reason they are wasting tax payer monies fighting a battle that cannot be won. They are using “democracy” to force citizens to treat gay citizens unfairly.

"You know constitutions aren't meant to be convenient and casually dismissed," Schuette said during a visit in Grand Rapids Tuesday. He was in town to announce plans to run for re-election. He says no matter the issue, it's his job to defend the constitution. "Right now I am defending Michigan's constitution that protects the pensions of cops and firefighters," Schuette said. "The constitution is worth fighting for and Michigan is worth fighting for."

What about defending the right to petition the government that is clearly spelled out in the Michigan Constitution? Oh, wait - that part isn’t “convenient” for the GOP, so they’ll just ignore that part and get on with screwing the citizens.

In the minimum wage battle, the democratic thing to have done would have been to allow the petition drive to turn in their signatures, let the legislature ignore the request for 40 days or vote against it, and then put the matter on the ballot for the voters to decide. But it is “inconvenient” for them to allow democracy to work that way so they have passed legislation repealing the law that is affected by the petition drive. They did that specifically to stop the voters from having a voice.

They gave their creation Immediate Effect which means that is it law as soon as the governor signs it, which happened before the ink was dry from the Senate and House votes.

So now, when people see what has happened, will they rejoice because the minimum wage is being raised? Or will they be upset because they got shafted once again by a legislature that doesn’t represent the citizens of this state? Personally, I hope that every minimum wage employee in this state is pissed the heck off. Instead of raising the wage to $10.10 by 2017 and tying it into the rate of inflation, we are now stuck with raises to $9.25 by 2018 (yes that is an extra year). Those tipped wages? They get a raise too, but not to the $10.10 they would have received with the ballot proposal. Now they get all the way up to $3.51 an hour. Yep – you can raise a family on that – NOT! 

The only redeeming thing is that they did leave in the part that ties the wage to inflation – but it still isn’t enough since, had it kept pace with past inflation the wage would be more than $21.00 an hour. They’re starting out $14.00 below what the minimum should be, based on inflation that has already occurred, and will never reach that level – EVER.

Remember in November – these legislators that claim to be supporting the Constitution of this state are screwing every minimum wage earner to support their big dollar donors. How many commercials did they earn from Wal-Mart, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Rick DeVos, and the Koch brothers? Prepare to be inundated during the next Tigers game with wonderful tales of how they worked out this fantastic bipartisan deal screw job that will improve the lives prolong the misery of Michigan’s minimum wage earners.

   

 

 

 

 

 

The Only Campaign Promise Snyder Has Kept - Part 2

This is Part 2 of a multi-part series of articles discussing the prediction made by Snyder a mere two days before the election that won him the governor’s office and how he has done everything possible to see that his prediction comes true. This series is just the beginning. I will be publishing a book in August (co-written with Randa Morris) about the first three years under the Snyder administration.

 

It was mentioned in Part 1 that on October 31, 2010, Rick Snyder made the following statement to the Ann Arbor News in answer to why services need to be consolidated by municipalities.

“Literally there’s a fairly significant likelihood that you could have hundreds of jurisdictions going insolvent in the 2013, 14 time frame, if not sooner. It’s not just a Michigan issue. This is the next hidden national issue.”

No one caught the dire prediction and he was elected by a wide margin. Since gaining office, he has implemented austerity measures much like those attempted by former Governor Engler in the 90s. Many of the policies were directly out the play book of the uber-conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, primarily funded by folks like Dick DeVos, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a bill mill primarily funded by the Koch brothers.

In order to ensure that his “prediction” would come true, Snyder began eviscerating the state budget as soon as he got into office. His first budget for 2012 (submitted in 2011) claimed huge cuts for education and even larger tax breaks for large corporations. By cutting funding to education, Snyder deprived school districts of the needed funding to provide an adequate education. This forced many districts to the brink of financial despair, and forced several over the cliff into deficit-land.

As soon as the original PA4 law was passed March 16, 2011, Snyder also began training Emergency Managers. Although he assured citizens that he only intended to use the law “sparingly,” there were more than 400 Emergency Managers trained to take over school systems and municipalities. When applying common sense and thinking about the “sparing use” promised by Snyder, one would likely determine that a maximum of maybe two dozen EMs would be needed to have a fully trained contingent of personnel to select from in the event an EM was assigned. But yet there were more than 400 people trained within the first year of the passage of the law.

Some people began to see the direction the governor and the legislature were headed and they began to take action. A recall campaign was started in March 2011, with ordinary citizens organizing and calling for action. Sadly, the unions still put their trust in Snyder, the legislature, and smoky, back room deals made in secrecy.

 

 

 

Shortly after the recall effort began, a different group of organizers began a repeal effort to bring the Emergency Manager Law before voters. That effort was supported by AFSCME 25 and Michigan Forward. They managed to collect enough signatures to put the matter on the ballot, but faced a legal battle over a trumped up charge about incorrect font sizes on the petitions. The fontgate battle against the repeal effort was headed by the same lawyer that argued against the language in the recall ballot against Governor Snyder.

Eventually the fontgate issue was settled favorably and the matter of the Emergency Manager Law, PA4, was put on the November 2012 ballot for voters to decide.

During the same timeframe, the recall effort failed to gather enough signatures, but did manage to collect almost 500,000 signatures. Since the effort was an all-volunteer force and the organizers spent less than $75,000, the volunteers did a phenomenal job.

The entire recall effort was made without the support of any unions (because they were double-dealing behind closed doors at this stage in a futile attempt to avoid the threatened Right to Work legislation) or the Michigan Democratic Party, which is largely controlled by the power of the unions. In fact, many unions and the MDP were actively working against the recall effort in 2011 by sending communications to their members recommending that they not participate, even as volunteers in any recall efforts.

In spite of that, there were numerous union members actively gathering signatures, and especially many MEA teachers, who saw the writing on the wall before union leadership admitted it. Those teachers should be commended for their participation, determination, and drive to make things right for the state against the desires of their union leaders.

At the same time as the recall against the governor and the repeal effort for PA4, there were petitions filed against every sitting Republican Senator and many Republican Representatives. In total, there were more than 30 recall petitions running simultaneously in an effort by the citizens to stop the bloodbath that was unleashed in early 2011. A few haphazard petitions were filed against Democratic Representatives by the Tea Party, in an attempt to threaten them into voting for the cracked policies of the GOP/Tea Party in the House and to use their influence to make the citizen-led recall efforts stop.

This is the end of Part 2. As this continues, please bear in mind that many more details will be revealed in the book coming out in August. Stay turned for Part 3 coming out soon.

 

 

It’s Official – Cows Like Jazz

Photo originally appeared at amy-amy.com

Cows Really Like Jazz

The video at the end of this article, which has had more than 9 million views, was shot in Autrans, France and showcases the effectiveness of jazz music to “tame the wild beast.” Well, the cows weren’t exactly wild, but they sure did seem to enjoy this impromptu concert.

The band, The New Hot 5, is a New Orleans-style jazz band that performs throughout the United States, with occasional stints in venues around the world just for fun. The group is lead by Dr. Steve Call, a professor of music at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Call plays Tuba for the band and has an arm’s length list of accomplishments to his musical credit.

The rest of the members have the distinction of having all been students of Call’s at some point in time.

Clark Burnside plays clarinet for the group, is an Electrical Engineer who works at Intel designing computer chips. He plays worldwide in various venues in addition to his work with the New Hot 5.

Dr. Daniel Henderson, who plays trumpet, currently lectures on Music at Harvard University, where he also teaches Jazz Harmony and Jazz Improvisation.

Dr. Will Kimball is an Associate Professor of Trombone at BYU, and of course, plays trombone for the group. He has had an illustrious career thus far, appearing in many venues, including on the soundtrack for the sound track of several movies, including “Sandlot.” He maintains a website if you would like to learn more about him.

Last, but not least, Joshua Payne plays banjo for the group. He originally got his start as a busker (street musician) on the busy streets of New York City. Payne has an affinity for his vintage instrument, a 1928 Epiphone Concert Special Recording tenor banjo.

Photo originally appeared at amy-amy.com

Enjoy the video (the cows sure did), and check out some of the band’s other work on their web site.

I love good jazz and these guys have really got a good sound.

The Only Campaign Promise Snyder Has Kept

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series of articles discussing the prediction made by Snyder a mere two days before the election that won him the governor’s office and how he has done everything possible to see that his prediction comes true.

We should have known... 

On October 31, 2010, then Michigan gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder made the following statement to the Ann ArborNews in answer to why services need to be consolidated by municipalities.

“Literally there’s a fairly significant likelihood that you could have hundreds of jurisdictions going insolvent in the 2013, 14 time frame, if not sooner. It’s not just a Michigan issue. This is the next hidden national issue.”

This prediction was made a mere 2 days before the election that put Snyder in the governor’s office. It was the first time he had elaborated much on his campaign platform during the entire months-long campaign. Nobody caught it. He was elected by a large margin.

What else did we miss?

Were there other hints of pending problems in Michigan that were missed? Within a few weeks of the successful election of Snyder, former governor John Engler returned to Michigan, buying a home in Lansing a few miles from the governor’s mansion. One might ask what prompted his return to a state that counts his governorship as one of the worst times in the entire history of the state. Did his return have anything to do with the overwhelming number of Republicans elected to both houses of the legislature and the election of Snyder in the governor’s seat?

Snyder and Engler have a long history together but that doesn’t get much press time. Engler gave Snyder his first-ever job in the public sector when he selected him to head up the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, created by Engler under Executive Order1999-1. 

Why does it matter?

Why bother mentioning Engler at this stage in the game? Because the things that Snyder and his GOP heavy legislature are pushing are the exact same policies that Engler tried to get passed during his tenure as Michigan’s governor. The problem for Engler was that he didn’t have a cooperative legislature and common sense and cooler heads prevailed in the then Democratic leaning legislature. Snyder and the Republican Party control all three branches of the Michigan government right now and there are absolutely no checks and balances in place to stop them from steamrolling over the citizens in a haphazard fashion that is creating havoc along the way.

The dire prediction of municipal financial distress has been exacerbated since Snyder took office in January 2011. One of the first laws pushed through was the “local government and school district fiscal accountability act.” This law, better known as Public Act 4 of 2011 or the EM Law, is a thinly veiled paraphrased version of the Enabling Act of 1933. It allows the governor to legally remove democratically elected officials in municipalities that are determined to be in financial distress.
The citizens did not approve of the sweeping nature of this law. A petition drive was organized and successfully managed to put the law on the ballot in November 2012. A vote was taken and the citizens of Michigan voted overwhelmingly against this law. But that isn’t the end of the story…

This has been Part 1 of this series. Please stay tuned for Part 2 where I will discuss the timeline of events since Snyder took office that has put Michigan in the dire position she is currently in.