Andy Dillon has just announced that he has received the maximum 30,000 petition signatures in support of his candidacy for Governor, and will be submitting the petitions to the Secretary of State's office today. Michigan law requires a candidate for Governor to file a minimum of 15,000 signatures and a maximum of 30,000 signatures by May 11 in order to be placed on the primary ballot.
What impresses about this isn't that he received the signatures, as Virg Bernero will almost certainly be turning in petitions of his own at some point, rather it is how quickly he was able to collect them. You may recall that Dillon didn't officially enter the race for Governor until February 28, which means the 30,000 signatures were collected in only 60 days.
Dillon also received the endorsement of another labor union yesterday, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324. The IUOE Local 324 represents roughly 17,000 workers in Michigan that build and maintain our infrastructure, and having those hardworking individuals on Dillon's side is a big win in garnering the support of union workers statewide.
By being the first in with his signatures, and getting the support of the IUOE workers, it's been a strong week for Dillon in establishing himself as a candidate that can not only win the primary, but can draw support from different bases in a general election.
We obviously have a LONG way to go before the primary election, but the broad support that Dillon has been able to bring into his camp so far is impressive.
Two Statewide Polls by Different Firms Find Strong Opposition
With two surveys of Michigan voters now finding strong opposition to House Speaker Andy Dillon's proposed mandatory state government-run health insurance plan, it's little wonder hearings on legislation to implement the plan have been halted and key witnesses have not been allowed to testify.
On Monday, EPIC*MRA released a new survey of Michigan voters that found strong opposition to House Bill 5345 among Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. In September, a survey of Michigan voters conducted by Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group (MRG) also found wide opposition to the scheme to force all public employers in Michigan and nearly 1.5 million residents to give up their private health insurance and instead get their insurance from a state government plan that would be created by the Legislature and run by 13 political appointees of the governor and Legislature.
In both surveys, voters expressed concerns with the mandatory nature of the legislation, the risks and costs to Michigan taxpayers, and state government's ability to manage the plan.
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.
Dave Hornstein at the Examiner doesn't think Dillon's public health insurance proposal is bold enough, and he's particularly concerned because coverage would still be provided by private insurers.
But why give one insurance company such a potential windfall, as well as too much power over health care in Michigan?
I like the alternative he proposes:
Why not save even more money by putting public employees and retirees into the beginning of a statewide Single Payer plan?
The House Committee on Education and Labor did in fact approve such a plan last week.
The amendment, offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), grants states a waiver from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) which has in the past been used to prevent the expansion of state or local health care programs. The amendment would shield states' single payer health care option from an ERISA-based legal attack.
The amendment was approved by a vote of 27-19, with 14 Democrats and 13 Republicans voting yes.
Getting back to Hornstein, he believes Dillon means well, but...
he has failed to think as far outside the box as his proposal looks at first blush. He fails to recognize that the insurance companies are the prime culprits for our broken health care system, with its out of control costs, and that the U.S. is the only country in the world that ties health insurance to employment. Single Payer, by separating health insurance from employment, would save enormous amounts of money for both governments and businesses, and cut health care costs by eliminating the insurance company middlemen who put profits before people.
And embracing statewide single payer might have made Dillon a hero. According to John Nichols:
Canada did not establish its national health care program with a bold, immediate political move by the federal government.
The initial progress came at the provincial level, led by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation's Tommy Douglas when he served from 1941 to 1960 premier of Saskatchewan. The universal, publicly-funded "single-payer" health care system that Douglas and his socialist allies developed in Saskatchewan proved to be so successful and so popular that it was eventually adopted by other provinces and, ultimately, by Canada's federal government.
For his efforts, Douglas would be hailed in a national survey as "The Greatest Canadian" of all time.
Republicans don't want any "heroes," which is why they're threatening to make health care reform Obama's Waterloo. Sadly, I don't think Michigan's current crop of politicians will ever be called "The Greatest."
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.
"Democrats in the House and the Governor are committed to tackling Michigan's challenges head on," Dillon said. "Tonight, the Governor shared some bold ideas for how we can act today for a stronger tomorrow. The House is ready act quickly to move Michigan in a positive new direction."
