PRO-UNION REPUBLICANS

Michigan's largest public school employee union is the Michigan Education Association. This labor union has spoken out against: merit pay for teachers; hiring non-union private contractors to provide transportation, food and custodial services at public schools; and a right-to-work law that would allow individual teachers to opt out of the union and related membership dues.

Each election cycle, the labor union recommends candidates for contested offices at many levels of government. For the 2008 general election, the MEA claimed a greater than 90 percent success rate, having helped 93 out of 103 recommended candidates to victory, including 71 out of 79 of those seeking election to the 110-member state House of Representatives.

As is often the case, a large majority of these recommendations are given to Democratic Party candidates. However, there are often exceptions — this year the MEA recommendation was awarded and carried to victory by 11 of the 43 Republican state representatives who will serve in the 2009-2010 legislative session.

The list of MEA-recommended Republican lawmakers includes seven incumbents and four new members. Each of their names and the campaign Web sites for the new members is listed below. More complete contact information for the incumbent lawmakers is listed on page 11. The full list of MEA recommendations and additional contact information is available at www.meavotes.org/candidates.

Incumbents
Richard Ball, R-Laingsburg
Kevin Green, R-Wyoming
David Hildenbrand, R-Lowell
Rick Jones, R-Oneida Twp.
James Marleau, R-Lake Orion
Tim Moore, R-Farwell
Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights

New Members

Gail Haines, R-Lake Angelus (www.gailhaines.com)
Eileen Kowall, R-White Lake (www.votekowall.com)
Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc (www.votepaulscott.com)
John Walsh, R-Livonia (www.electjohnwalsh.com)

CEOs FIND LEADERSHIP MIA IN MI

In competing with other states on matters of taxation and regulation, Michigan's grade is currently an 'F' according to Ed Kopko, chairman and CEO of "Chief Executive" magazine, speaking to the MIRS Capitol Capsule newsletter on Sept. 16 (www.mirsnews.com - subscription required).

The Web site for the magazine claims that the publication is "the only magazine written strictly for CEOs and their peers and is the leading source of intelligence for and about CEOs." MIRS reports that "Chief Executive" takes an annual survey of CEOs regarding the best and worst states in which to do business, and Michigan is currently ranked near the bottom at 43rd.

Though many in-state politicians profess to believe that Michigan's workforce is an asset relative to competing states, the magazine gives the Great Lakes State only a C+ grade for "workforce quality." Kopko attributes part of this mediocre rating to unionization, noting that Texas, the highest ranked state on the overall list, scored a B+ on the workforce quality subcomponent. Kopko tells MIRS that studies show a $5,000 additional annual cost of hiring the same worker to do the same job in Michigan, as compared to right-to-work Texas.

A "significant overhaul" of Michigan's political environment, taxes and regulation is the remedy recommended by those surveyed. But according to Kopko, these business leaders also "don't view Michigan as having the leadership to do it."

For additional information and an opportunity to comment on these issues, please see www.mackinac.org/9955.

Dear Readers:

The graphic above shows the text of a recent e-mail sent to Michigan Capitol Confidential. A reader reports confronting a Republican state representative about his spending record as reported in the article titled "Are We Nuts?" from the July/August 2008 issue of Michigan Capitol Confidential. The lawmaker allegedly responded that we had reported his vote incorrectly, causing the reader — whose name we have redacted to protect his privacy — to write us and demand an apology.

We replied to the e-mail, saying that we appreciate and encourage fact-checking of our stories and want our readers to keep both this paper and the lawmakers informed about their thoughts regarding what they read.

But the truth of the matter is that the lawmaker in question did vote as we reported, at least according to the Journal of the House of Representatives, the official — and thus far uncontested — record of the event. He was one of five Republicans voting to approve a spending level that was $32 million in excess of estimated revenue for the school aid budget.

We bring this to your attention because it marked the beginning of a trend. A few days after mailing the Sept./Oct. 2008 edition, we received a phone call from a reader who said she spoke to a Republican senator about his decision to vote in favor of an amendment that would have — in the opinion of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce — turned ownership of groundwater "over to the government." As before, the confronted legislator allegedly denied the act; this time, according to our caller, telling her that "you can't believe what you read" in Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Once again, we checked right away and verified that Michigan Capitol Confidential and the Journal of the Senate both agree on how the senator in question voted. In this case, the legislator was one of two GOP senators to vote in favor of the amendment, with the 18 other Republicans in the senate voting against it.

These stories and other feedback indicate that a lot of you are talking to your lawmakers about what you're reading in these pages. Of course, we want to know all the juicy details about that! So we're going to start a little contest.

If you reference what you've read in Michigan Capitol Confidential while writing a note to a politician or in a published letter that appears in one of Michigan's newspapers, then we want a copy. If the politician writes you back, we want to see that as well.

Please send your entries to:
Michigan Capitol Confidential
c/o Contest
140 West Main Street
Midland, MI 48640
or email micapcon@mackinac.org

We'll start publishing some of these entries, along with your name, in forthcoming issues of Michigan Capitol Confidential. The most creative and thoughtful ones, as judged by our staff, will win a framed, original print of one of the cartoons that adorn our front page.

So have at it. We can't wait to see what YOU have to say for a change!

(Please remember to include your own name and address.)