Yesterday, February 6, three Democratic candidates for statewide office appeared on a panel to discuss their candidacy and to answer questions from the audience. The event was sponsored by People of Diversity United for Equality (PODUE) and was held at the Brown Chapel AME in Ypsilanti. In attendance were Alma Wheeler-Smith -- candidate for governor, Jocelyn Benson -- candidate for Secretary of State, and Richard Bernstein -- candidate for Attorney General. The forum was moderated by Rep. Rebekah Warren -- with opening and closing remarks by House Speaker Pro Tempore Pam Byrnes, both candidates for State Senate.
From L-R, Rebekah Warren, Alma Wheeler-Smith, Jocelyn Benson, Richard Bernstein, Pam Byrnes, Pastor Jerry Hatter
Tenthers are people who basically think that the Tenth Amendment renders everything the federal government does unconstitutional. They also conveniently chose to ignore over two hundred years of court decisions where the relationship between the states and the federal government has been shaped.
These efforts are all part of a movement whose members are convinced that the 10th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits spending programs and regulations disfavored by conservatives. Indeed, while "birther" conspiracy theorists dominate the airwaves with tales of a mystical Kenyan baby smuggled into Hawaii just days after his birth, these "tenther" constitutionalists offer a theory that is no less radical but infinitely more dangerous.
Tentherism, in a nutshell, proclaims that New Deal-era reformers led an unlawful coup against the "True Constitution," exploiting Depression-born desperation to expand the federal government's powers beyond recognition. Under the tenther constitution, Barack Obama's health-care reform is forbidden, as is Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The federal minimum wage is a crime against state sovereignty; the federal ban on workplace discrimination and whites-only lunch counters is an unlawful encroachment on local businesses.
The emphasis is mine.
He concludes:
After years of raging against mythical judges who "legislate from the bench," tenther conservatives now demand a constitution that will not let anyone legislate at all.
Nationally prominent "Tenthers" include Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Senator Jim DeMint (R-NC), Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas. Now that's some mighty fine company for State Senator and State Attorney General hopeful Patterson.
The Cox-Secchia Slush Fund Scandal story hits the capitol: State Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) questions why Michigan's Attorney General Mike Cox directed bank fraud settlement funds in Grand Rapids toward parks, instead of consumers suffering from foreclosures.
My full transcript:
Fact of fiction? First, big mortgage corporation takes advantage of the little guy. Then, big corporation refuses to work with little guy and forecloses. Then, Attorney General [Cox], purportedly on behalf of the little guy, joins a lawsuit against big corporation. Then, the little guy wins, only to have their Attorney General treat a portion of the settlement as his own personal political slush fund. Then, the Attorney General gives half a million dollars for a park not currently being used by the public at the advice of a big GOP player. Unbelievably, this appears to be fact.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love the parks, but I can't help but conclude that at $1,800 per victim that that half million dollars should have helped another 278 consumers, rather than pad the AG's campaign for higher office.
Solution: maybe Attorney General settlements should automatically go to the general fund. If not that, then a grant type process should be implemented to guard against political kickbacks with settlement funds earned on behalf of our consumers. Maybe the Attorney General can send a quarterly accounting of all settlement moneys to the General Government Budget Committees in the House and the Senate. And, if money is distributed to parks, for example, the Attorney General should send a report on the selection process and a protocol used in determining which parks receive that money.
I think the facts I listed at the onset of my statement demonstrate conduct that is unbecoming of an Attorney General, especially on that likes to talk of transparency.
The questions are now:
* Where is Kent County Republicans stand? Where are Senators Bill Hardiman and Mark C. Jansen and Representatives Kevin Green, Dave Hildenbrand, Tom Pearce, and Justin Amash on this issue? Do Kent County Republicans support backroom dealings and Mike Cox's secret slush funds or will the renounce Cox's ill-conceived plan to misallocate funds that were supposed to go to support Kent County families hurt by the foreclosure crisis?
* Will Cox admit his mistake and ask the Kent County Commission to submit another application?
* Will Kent County Commission Chair Roger Morgan support the push to reject this "gift" and support a more prudent, reasoned and non-partisan use of the settlement money so that it actually does "help fight the devastating effects of the home foreclosure crisis"?
