In the two weeks of Michigan campaigning before packing up his tent and moving the circus to Ohio and parts South, Mitt Romney warned that the application of his Massachusetts health-care overhaul at the federal level would consume that part of America’s soul the auto bailout hadn’t already devoured. Gov. Rick Snyder didn’t offer a […]
Peter Luke
A guest author for Bridge Magazine.
Posted inMichigan Government
Legislature + lobbyists is a match made with money
Willie Sutton reputedly said he robbed banks because that’s where the money was. Freshmen lawmakers new to the ways and means of Lansing find the same principle applies when replenishing their campaign accounts mere weeks after taking the oath. Where the money is for that purpose can be a quick step across the street from […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan 'weak' in lobbying oversight
Two relatively narrow economic interests come to Michigan’s Legislature seeking movement on issues that have tied the place up in knots for years. The primary argument of both lobbying efforts to a House and Senate dominated by Republicans is that consumers deserve choice from among the options free and open markets can provide. Other interests […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Loose rules allow lobbyists to fatten lawmakers
When it comes to ethics guidelines, or ordering off the menu, the Michigan Legislature has long set a low bar for itself. Other states bar lobbyists from buying meals and drinks for lawmakers. Others set limits on how much food and beverage a lawmaker can accept from a lobbyist in a single setting — $50 in […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
The 'tough nerd' sidesteps a fight
For all the talk, from Clint Eastwood on down, that Michigan is turning the corner, Gov. Rick Snyder’s new budget fails to match the moment. Instead, the administration has agreed to play “small ball” with Republican lawmakers worried about re-election prospects. This budget appears to be carefully crafted to protect GOP House incumbents in 2012. […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Capitol conundrum: Fewer inmates, same high costs
Round numbers can provoke course corrections because they are easier to understand and, if large enough, shock the system. Here are a couple: 50,000 and $2 billion. The first is the inmate population barrier breached at the Michigan Department of Corrections in 2006. The department’s budget first exceeded the latter figure in fiscal year 2008. […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Snyder's message wasn't friendly to Capitol majority
Gov. Rick Snyder may not be a typical politician, but he’s also no fool. With fresh good news to share in his second State of the State address before a statewide television audience, Snyder led with it. And he invited Republican lawmakers in the House chambers to take credit for the positive unemployment report released […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Deja vu: Biz tax cuts head agenda in Lansing
“At the end of the day, we’ll be a stronger, more vibrant state,” Gov. Rick Snyder asserted a year ago in his first State of the State speech that offered the first outlines of his 2011 legislative agenda. But he didn’t say what day that would be. As he prepares to deliver his second “SOS” […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Snyder will dance with social conservatives in 2012
Gov. Rick Snyder’s quest to reinvent Michigan apparently won’t be extended to his own Republican Party. Given the chance to confirm the suspicions of cultural conservatives that he’s a different kind of Republican far more concerned with rebuilding the economy than deploying government force to advance a social agenda, Snyder punted at the end of […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Snyder gets his changes; consequences unclear
Michigan won’t be reinvented in a day. Or a dog year. But as Gov. Rick Snyder concludes his first (human) year in office, the general course he defined as a candidate is coming into view as legislative markers are set. Eight years of partisan division and economic decline prompted public interest groups such as The […]