Sunday, March 13, 2011

Wolverine Blues

I’m still confused about the spelling of skullduggery. My computer’s spell check and its dictionary seem to disagree. For me this remains one of life’s mysteries so I’ll move on to another subject, the State of Michigan. Its EFM (Emergency Fund Management) laws have now passed both Houses of the legislature, with a few differences to be reconciled before the final bill is signed into law by newly elected Governor Snyder. Both give the state control over financially distressed cities. The Senate bill, the lesser of two evils, would limit appointed overseers to individuals, excluding groups such as corporations. 


In either case the bill would allow the governor to declare a fiscal emergency in any city he decides is in need of this remedy and appoint a manager of his choosing.  This is about more than unions, which the new manager could dissolve along with related salaries and benefits.  Forget about even the mayor. It’s about the entire municipal government, school board, city council, police department, you name it. Current officials, those being dismissed, would be barred from running for office for ten years. A Democratic sponsored amendment to limit the manager’s salary to that of the governor was defeated. The new manager could sell city assets, presumably to whomever and at whatever prices he chooses. Think about that one for a minute. A split second should suffice. Is there something wrong with this picture?


Well one thing wrong is all those smudges with Tea Party fingerprints. For anybody with a short memory these people are against “government,” but apparently not state government. I’ve lived in the same town for 43 years and, as I see it, my local government leaves something to be desired. But I wouldn’t want any governor of my state, one of whom was elected three times before doing prison time, to have complete control of the entire city, particularly its assets.


For a state such as Michigan to make such an abrupt change in its manner of governance would be suspect, except that we don’t suspect, we know! It’s an inappropriate partisan reaction to hard times, not as much by those who are suffering from them, as from those who aren’t, but fear that they may have to help those who are. The people shoving us in this direction remind me of pre-schoolers who have struggled through the veggies and are clamoring for dessert. 

No comments:

Post a Comment