Gongwer, in an article entitled "FY '10 Plus 28: Senate Appears to Kill Dillon's Revenue Strategy," details the failure of Dillon's fling with Bishop:
A controversial tax on physicians failed overwhelmingly Wednesday in the Senate, scuttling not only the plan to use the tax as a way of triggering hundreds of millions in federal Medicaid money but also House Democrats' hope of passing revenue increases to restore some of the budget cuts they just approved.
. . .
Further, Wednesday's vote signals the apparent end of Mr. Dillon's strategy to pass budget bills based on cuts and then try to pass revenues as a way of restoring some of those reductions, Mr. Switalski said.
Gongwer describes Dillon's embrace of Mike Bishop, Dillon's flawed strategy on the Dillon-Bishop agreement, which Dillon has never made public or shared with other Democrats, and notes that Dillon is "at a loss" on what to do next:
House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) whose surprise decision to embrace the Senate Republican concept of closing a $1.2 billion deficit in the 2009-10 budget with only spending cuts and federal stimulus money, and no tax increases until after the Legislature had passed budget bills was at a loss as to what House Democrats would do now. He had sold House Democrats on the idea of passing new revenues and a supplemental to restore some of the cuts.
Suckers.
The Skubick has more. Check out how the Capitol's senior correspondent describes the Dillon-Bishop relationship:
For months House Democratic Speaker Andy Dillon and Sen. GOP leader Mike Bishop have walked pretty much arm and arm through a budget writing minefield and for a moment it looked as though they would emerge with their trusting relationship intact.
Forget that.
Apparently Andy's man-crush is waning. Gongwer again:
Mr. Dillon said he's "not happy" with Mr. Bishop's actions and added "it doesn't help" their relationship
Mike Bishop took Andy Dillon and his House Democratic Caucus to the cleaners. Mike Bishop wins. Andy Dillon and Michigan citizens lose.
Even Dillon now recognizes the problems resulting from his failed agreement, as quoted by Gongwer, Dillon says:
"And now we have a serious problem with the (Department of Community Health) budget ... nursing homes closing, a lot of kids are going to get thrown off Medicaid."
Andy Dillon has led House Democrats over a cliff like lemmings. They should have listed to Granholm, who has consistently helped Democrats win elections in Michigan since 1998, Back to Gongwer, one last time:
Ms. Granholm had viewed Mr. Dillon's strategy with skepticism, questioning why majority Republicans in the Senate would support revenues once budgets based on spending cuts had cleared the Legislature.
Skubick also agrees that Dillon got this one wrong and Granholm called it right:
And who is that over there whispering, "I told ya so?" Why it's governor Jennifer Granholm who somewhere along the line probably warned Dillon not to trust Big Mike.
So Andy Dillon and Mike Bishop signed an agreement to cut state spending over a billion dollars and provides guidelines on moving forward with the cuts. So when are these legislative "leaders" going to make a copy of this agreement public? Aren't the citizens of Michigan entitled to see a copy of the agreement that is going dramatically impact some citizens? How dare they keep it secret, who do they think they are? People need to pound on these clowns until a copy of the agreement is made public. It is clearly time that FOIA is extended to the legislature. What are they hiding? What are they ashamed of? Or are Andy and Mike lying again and it was really just a love note from their special weekend in Ann Arbor? Show us the agreement!!!
According to the Freep, Bishop strongly endorsed Dillon's "plan to insure an estimated 400,000 employees of the state, municipalities, counties and schools with a single health care plan." Cox came out earlier in the week in support of it too.
What's up with that? I thought Republicans favored competition over a "single health plan." Will we hear support for single-payer coverage for the rest of Michigan's uninsured soon?
If Bishop and Cox support Dillon's plan that makes me suspicious. Will the "pool" send business to a select few insurance cronies? Or are they in agreement with Dillon because they think it will reduce union influence? Maybe internal polling showed them Dillon got a bounce from his plan and they want to tag along and steal some of the credit.
Michigan has a dirty little secret and it's driving people out of our state.
Lindsay Duneske said she discovered how weak Michigan's Consumer Protection Act has become after the company that built her new home in Milan kept putting off needed repairs.
She said she and her husband bought the house in 2007 for $306,000, after receiving assurances that the builder would fix buckling roof shingles and vinyl siding, leaky windows and other problems.
After the builder reneged, Duneske said, she couldn't find a lawyer to help her because home builders are no longer covered by the Consumer Protection Act.
She said the builder eventually went out of business and its lawyer got a court order to stop her from pestering him.
"We have been totally and completely cheated," Duneske said, adding that she feels betrayed by state officials. "We are looking to move, and it will be anywhere but Michigan." [emphasis mine]
Builders aren't the only ones exempted from the law. Banks, mortgage brokers, debt collectors, finance companies, home improvement contractors, new and used car dealers, auto repair shops, funeral homes, and plumbers and electricians are included. And according to a State Bar of Michigan Consumer Law Section study, consumers are at risk:
The study, titled "Consumers at Risk: Are Most of Michigan's Worst Business Practices Exempt from Our Consumer Protection Act?", examined businesses on the state Attorney General's list of top 10 consumer complaints for 2008. It found that 72 percent of businesses generating the most complaints are exempt from the state's Consumer Protection Act due to Michigan Supreme Court decisions. [emphasis added] That includes nearly all the businesses in the top three complaint categories - credit and finance; gasoline, fuel and energy; and telecommunications, satellite and cable TV.
Michigan Supreme Court decisions (a Republican Supreme Court majority installed by former Gov. John Engler) in 1999 and 2007 turned the law into mush according to former State Attorney General Frank Kelley, leaving people in the lurch. Frank says he's "sick about what happened," and he added that, in his judgment, the court's interpretations have "been against the public."
A decade ago we had some of the nation's best consumer protection laws on the books, now we're ranked with Rhode Island as "the Terrible Two" by the National Consumer Law Center.
Clouds of shame cover Lansing today, March 18, as GOPNo celebrates the birth of Obstructo Man's alter ego, Mike Bishop. Through his strict regimen of rest and relaxation, Bishop has been able to slow the natural aging process, making it difficult to determine when he was born. Ever vigilant for the truth, BFM inside sources surreptitiously broke off a stick of Bishop's hair, with plans to count the rings inside. Unfortunately the sample we obtained was petrified, and can only be dated by using radioisotopes, cosmic rays, and decay. Rather than delay our report to you, we used an alternate method of investigation known as "googling," and we feel comfortable reporting that Bishop is 42 years old today.
Obstructo Man himself was born in January of 2007, and traditionally celebrates his birthday by feasting on a cake made of poor children who have been ground into flour. It is rumored that Obstructo Man's master, the unknown super-villian who runs GOPNo with an iron-fist, also presents Obstructo Man with a decanter of wine made from the sweat of a working man. This intrigues us, as our extensive investigations into GOPNo have never revealed any evidence that the sinister organization is aware of the existence of working men or women.
Keep it right here at BFM for the latest on the diabolical Obstructo Man and the sinister GOPNo organization.
And happy birthday to the decent people who have birthdays today. :-)
With Senate Republican Floor Leader Alan Cropsey leading the Senate Obtructionists' faltering crusade to say thanks but no thanks to a bridge to somewhere, here's some "Alaska-style fiscal responsiblity" that Mike Bishop (R-Tanning Salon) can believe in.
Tired of obstructing the same-old same-old Senate Dems' stuff (Kreiner, foreclosure relief, fair insurance rates), Bishop has gone lookin' for legislation that he'd be willing to pass. (And we don't mean "pass" as in, "here's a bone, leave me alone")
Crain's Detroit reports that Bishop is starting a new group called "ProMichigan" (stop laughing), because "It's time to reinvigorate government with new ideas and, in doing so, restore confidence and optimism in the public toward their government." (stop laughing)
(GOP) Lawmakers will be hosting town hall meetings (with people from their fund-raising lists) to hear (their own) ideas (repeated back to them) on how to reform Michigan government and help the state provide less better service. "ProMichigan" (stop laughing) will also have a website, where you (Joe Reader) can suggest ideas. (Fair warning: You may be censored if your idea is "questionable")
Bishop's going to take the 100 most appealing "innovative" ideas (bust the unions, get rid of minimum wage, fire all the teachers, and no more girl governors) and send them off to The Mackinac CenterMI Chamber of Commerce think tanks & the like. (stop laughing) The think tanks will then create a make-believe world where these things are good ideas. Ultimately they will be repackaged and fed back to the lawmakers as something that looks "ProMichigan" (but is actually anti-human).
The think tanks will never reveal that all of the ideas submitted by "ProMichigan" (stop laughing) had originated with them in the first place.
Finally, Bishop will have something to pass. (stop laughing)
After the incidents last week, it is almost assured the Senate Republicans and Democrats have widened the gap that has paralyzed this government and state for far too long.
What we need now is something to try to re-introduce a spirit of cooperation. That thing could be the resoundingly bi-partisan Sudan divestment bill that has still not been brought to a vote despite passing the Homeland Security and Emerging Technologies committee over a month ago.
It's time to give these politicians one final chance! Call or e-mail the Senate leadership to make them do the right thing and let the Senate vote!
Suggested script: "As a concerned constituent, I would like to ask Senator_______________ to call for an immediate vote on House Bill 4854 and support it to help save the people of Darfur at no cost to us!"
Please, call and e-mail today!
The contact information for the leadership is is below:
Senator Mike Bishop: (517) 373-2417
senmbishop@senate.michigan.gov
Metro Times has a must-read list of dubious achievers who made 2007 laughable, including one infamous memorable person with a BFM connection:
Free speech is a good, but only if we agree with you
There was a wave of outrage when a staff member of Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, a Republican from Rochester, put up a block on the Senate's IP server that kept senators and their staff from accessing the left-leaning Blogging for Michigan site. The block was removed after one day, following loud and numerous cries of censorship. Bishop's office justified the move, saying that surfing the Internet on state time is not an appropriate use of taxpayers' money. That didn't explain why it was only a liberal site that got blocked and not, say, the site of Ann Coulter wannabe Debbie Schlussel.
Don't know who Schlussel is? Click the link to read about her and other dubious achievers like Mitt Romney, Erik Prince, Kid Rock and Tim Walberg.
When misbehaving children don't do as they are told, they get in trouble with their parents....now I believe that same logic needs to be applied to our state's legislature.
As most of you know the Michigan Constitution mandates that the legislature pass a balanced budget, or it forces a state shutdown. As of the time I am writing this, neither the House or the Senate has passed their own budget, much less passed a budget both bodies agree can be sent to the Governor for her signature, a fact I am at a total loss for words to explain.
The punishment to state citizens, state visitors, and state employees is pretty obvious, but there is disproportionately little punishment to the people most responsible for the shutdown, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority leader.
(Sweet. He gets a pep talk from Gingrich the day before the vote.
- promoted by Z)
Senate Obstructionist Leader Mike Bishop (R-Hair Gel) has revealed his playbook. He wants to be Michigan's own Newt Gingrich. Just like Newt shutdown the federal government in 1995, Mike Bishop appears ready to do the same in Michigan.
The Detroit News reports that Bishop met with Gingrich this past weekend and likes what he hears. After Gingrich spoke, Bishop commented:
"He's talking my game," whispered Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop near the end of the talk. Bishop intended to meet privately with Gingrich later today.
Let's hope that the so-called Democratic Speaker of the House, Andy Dillon, finally realizes that his "good friend" Mike Bishop is no friend.
(Thanks SO ... let's ask these folks how they feel about Mike Bishop's hourly wage. - promoted by Christine)
During the first six months of 2007, the Michigan Senate under the "leadership" of Mike Bishop worked a total of 66 session days and about 120 total hours, averaging barely more than 90 minutes of work per session day.
At Mike Bishop's $105,650 annual salary, that means that he was paid more than $440.50 per hour for the Senate's work in the first six months of this year. This does not include additional payments to Bishop for his $12,000 annual "expense allowance" or the additional tax money he receives to pay for his office expenses and staff.
$440.50 per hour. That's working out pretty well for Mike Bishop, but how's that working out for you?
Clouds of shame cover Lansing today, March 18, as GOPNo celebrates the birth of Obstructo Man's alter ego, Mike Bishop. Through his strict regimen of rest and relaxation, Bishop has been able to slow the natural aging process, making it difficult to determine when he was born. Ever vigilant for the truth, BFM inside sources surreptitiously broke off a stick of Bishop's hair, with plans to count the rings inside. Unfortunately the sample we obtained was petrified, and can only be dated by using radioisotopes, cosmic rays, and decay. Rather than delay our report to you, we used an alternate method of investigation known as "googling," and 
