AULD LANG SYNE: To: Guv, Legislature - Cancel Vote in May, Fix Roads Now!
January 2, 2015
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At least this old Michigan county road in the 1920s was smooth.
ATTENTION MICHIGAN LEGISLATORS:
Despite what you have heard from the Tea Party, it is not a liberal, Commie pinko Democrack plot to fix the roads, support local governments and public schools.
It's YOUR JOB!!!
Susan J. Demas almost said it all.
In her column in The Bay City Times Friday, the mlive.com commentator pointed out the failures of Gov. Rick Snyder and his Republican band of brothers fully in charge in Lansing.
Mr. Snyder's gang didn't get the road fix in place, as he promised, caving to Tea Party conniver Jase Bolger and his cult (she charitably called them his "narrow minded caucus") and punting the decision to voters in May -- with a $20 million election bill to boot.
Ms. Demas nailed it -- all except for the final necessary words -- you can fix the messed up situation by storming back to Lansing, canceling the May election, thus saving $20 million and getting the crews to work on our horrible roads right away.
While not giving Snyder a pass (an editorial writer's imperative), we all Michigan citizens need to go a little farther and hold some GOP cold feet to the fire until they do what they were hired to do -- make tough decisions...
...In the PUBLIC INTEREST!
"Apparently it's terribly impressive that a Republican governor called for a tax increase," Ms. Demas quipped, noting a previous impression from the 2011 tax hike on seniors' pensions.
Even more impressive to this corner is that the Honorable Mr. Snyder did the right thing on tying Michigan into the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and allowing expansion of Medicaid.
Taking care of the helpless, sick, poor? Goodness Gracious, how gauche!...Shades of the very honorable Bill Milliken!
Those liberal-like moves may have snatched some words out of challenger Mark Schauer's mouth during the November election campaign and helped give Snyder his fairly modest margin of victory. What was it, something like 4 percent? while his first term win over the Lansing mayor was about three times more.
Re the chicken-livered Plan B-- tossing the ball to we voters in May -- Ms. Demas noted "tax increases (if approved) wouldn't kick in until October and improvements wouldn't start until 2016.
This is the ultimate money-wasting hypocrisy for a party that gets hysterical about any tiny tax increase the Democrats propose.
Besides, some voters responding to the story on INTERNET websites are threatening to vote "no" on the tax as a protest. What will the Caspar Milquetoasts of the Legislature do if that happens? Half a year will have gone by and they will face the same problem -- bad roads getting worse by the day.
The Cheboygan Daily Tribune's editorial board put the political dilemma in perspective: "Ultimately, tea party Republicans who have been the voice of public outrage will have to translate their energy to responsible governing and a willingness to compromise when necessary now that they have a more prominent role in the halls of power. At the same time, establishment Republicans must recognize that it was public revulsion at 'insider politics' that helped fuel the tea party movement, and they can't continue playing politics as usual."
Even if voters approve in May, the delay will add another bundle to our bill by upping the cost of road deterioration and mass vehicle repairs by multiple millions. Can you say inexcusable? Or, as we carped in our Dec. 20th LAME CALL column, "dereliction of duty"?
Let's see, $3 million a day increased road costs times 365 days delay (at least), that's $1.1 billion as I figger it...
...plus about $1,000 a year for repairs on every one of the 4.7 million vehicles on Michigan roads, (my calculator broke, so let's just say PRICELESS!)... or $4.7 billion...
...plus $20 million for the May election as frosting on the cake --
"SHOULD OLD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT,"
-- Happy New Year Michigan Voters!!!
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