Jack Lessenberry Essays and Interviews

Essay: Can You Spare A Job? - 12.17.09

As the state unemployment rate continues to be in the double digits… Michigan Radio’s political analyst Jack Lessenberry thinks dealing with job loss may require us to turn to an almost forbidden word…

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Today I want to say something shocking, so if there are any small children standing nearby, you may want to cover their ears. Okay, here goes. More and more, it seems that what this state’s economy needs is a strong, swift dose of socialism.

Now I know there’s nothing I could say that would be more likely to get anonymous bloggers foaming at the keyboard.

But I am convinced this is true. No, I am not talking about collective farms, slave labor camps, and forcing everyone to share an apartment and a single toothbrush.

What I am talking about is the fact that we learned yesterday that the real unemployment number in Detroit may be nearly half of the working age population - forty-five percent, to be precise.

There are no jobs in the private sector available for these folks today. What would be wrong with a federal program to put a large number of them to work for the public good?

What if we were to create something like an American Infrastructure Corps, to fix roads and the bridges and tear down dangerous and unsightly abandoned buildings?

What would be wrong with paying some of them to prepare tracts of abandoned land for urban agriculture?

Almost certainly, we could vastly improve our state’s physical condition and give these folks a better life with new meaning for a tiny fraction of what we spent to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq.

We’re spending hundreds of billions to prop up mismanaged corporations and to bail out Wall Street. Why not a little money for the battered and shattered Main Streets of our state and nation?

Naturally, we couldn’t call it socialism. Incidentally, we sometimes pretend we no longer have taboos in our society, mainly because we can discuss sex on television in great detail.

And it’s certainly true that you couldn’t do that fifty years ago. However, back then you could freely discuss different economic systems and ideas, including capitalism, socialism, even communism. If you took it as a given that we needed what used to be called a “mixed economy,“ you could debate the proportions.

How large and vibrant should the public sector be? Today, you’ll find it far less taboo to bring up sex in conversation than to talk about what somebody might call - gasp - socialism.

Today, thanks to thirty years of what I’d call silliness founded on the charm of Ronald Reagan, far too many of us have come to believe that all government spending is evil.

That, is, of course, with the exception of the trillions spent to maintain a vast military apparatus. Nobody wants to admit this either, but -- collectively speaking -- the United States Armed Forces are the world’s largest and most successful socialist enterprise.

During the New Deal, the Works Progress Administration built post offices and schools and created classic guides to our nation’s states and rivers, along with some fine works of art.

Nobody today thinks a completely collective economy is the answer. Yet the so-called free and unregulated market doesn’t seem to get the job done either. Michigan has a lot of problems these days.

And the bottom line is that we are all in this together. Clearly, we would all be better off if everyone was better off.

So let’s park our ideological taboos in the garage, and come up with some rational policies to make that happen.

Essay: Criminal Defense - 12.16.09

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox ruled yesterday that it is, sometimes, illegal for politicians to spend campaign finance money to defend themselves against criminal charges. Michigan Radio’s political analyst Jack Lessenberry takes a look at what exactly this ruling means...

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More than four months ago, I told you about a retired law professor named Maurice Kelman who was waging a lonely fight for an important principle. He doesn’t think politicians charged with felonies should be able to use campaign funds to pay their criminal defense lawyers. Morally, he thinks that isn’t right; that’s not, after all, what people gave them the money for.

More importantly, he believes it is illegal under Michigan Campaign Finance Law. That got my attention because you would think a respected law professor would know what he is talking about.

And this is all especially relevant because it is exactly what former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick did. Records show he used nearly a million bucks this way before he pled guilty to multiple felonies, and resigned last year.

So Professor Kelman asked Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land for an opinion. She, or rather a bunch of her bureaucrats, just blew him off, saying he had no standing to ask for one.

That made no sense, since he is a citizen, a legal expert and other secretaries of state have been happy to give him opinions on public matters in the past. No sense … unless Secretary Land was trying to duck making a controversial decision.

So after I talked to Professor Kelman, I asked Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox for an opinion. He told me that legally, his opinion would have to be requested by an elected official. So I asked State Senator Gilda Jacobs to do so, and she was happy to oblige.

She formally asked Cox for a ruling. Yesterday, the attorney general finally gave Senator Jacobs his opinion. I don’t know why it took four months, but better late than never.

The ruling is twenty-five pages long, and says politicians can use campaign finance money to defend themselves against criminal charges, but, quote, “only if the expense is an ordinary and necessary business expense of the elected official … and is incurred in carrying out the business of elective office.”

I can understand that, in a case, say, when an officeholder seeks to defend him or herself against a clearly politically motivated lawsuit. But the attorney general said it is not legal to use campaign funds for criminal lawsuits that have nothing to do with an official’s duties. For example, when former Mayor Kilpatrick assaulted a detective and an investigator from the Wayne County Sheriff’s office.

Using campaign funds to defend against those charges was clearly improper, Cox says in a footnote that acknowledges that Professor Kelman brought it to light.

However, the attorney general says it is up to the secretary of state to do something about it. Terri Lynn Land immediately tried to pass the buck again, saying, through a spokesman that she wouldn’t act without a complaint from the public.

Yesterday, Professor Kelman told me he wasn’t overly thrilled with the opinion. Though it is better than nothing, “it still leaves considerable room for campaign spending on criminal defense.“

And yes, he intends to file a complaint with the secretary of state’s office, though, he added, “given Land’s dismal performance to date, there’s no reason to think she’d do the right thing.”

So as of now, my citizenship scorecard reads five stars for Professor Kelman, two for Attorney General Cox, and zero for Secretary Land. And the bottom line is that Michigan Campaign Finance Law clearly needs further reform.

Essay: Cherry Picking - 12.15.09

Lieutenant Governor John Cherry has a proposal to restore the Michigan Promise Scholarship by taxing water that’s bottled in the state. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinks this idea is interesting for reasons that have nothing to do with water...

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Lieutenant Governor John Cherry has an interesting proposal to come up with enough money to restore the Michigan Promise college scholarship. He wants to assess a tax of ten cents a bottle on all the water harvested in Michigan. To me, this is fascinating for reasons that have nothing to do with bottled water.

Frankly, taxing plastic water bottles is probably not the most interesting idea in the history of government finance theory, though you can certainly make the case that it bears thinking about.

Nor is it interesting because it might become law. In fact, it has no chance whatsoever to be passed, especially not this year and especially not because it might make John Cherry look good.

The main reason the bottled water idea is interesting is because it illustrates the terrible dilemma the lieutenant governor is facing, and will continue to face. He has to try to define himself as his own man, to carve out an identity separate from that of the governor.

If he doesn’t do that, he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in a foundry of surviving an election. For Jennifer Granholm is terribly unpopular. She may be the most unpopular chief executive Michigan has had in my lifetime. To be fair, a lot of that is due to circumstances that aren’t her fault and which are beyond her control. The national economy, in other words, and the collapse of the auto industry. To be sure, there is also a perception that she has failed to be an effective or consistent leader.

Whether you agree with that or not, every poll shows the voters will be more than happy to be rid of her. And just about the only thing most people know about John Cherry is that he is her deputy.

Lieutenant governors, like vice presidents, have a hard time getting elected even when they follow popular governors. For some reason, they generally get saddled with all things people didn’t like about their administrations while getting none of the credit.

Cherry is not stupid, and knows he needs an identity of his own. So last Friday, he announced this proposal. He will ask the legislature to pass a law assessing a dime-a-bottle tax on the state’s major water bottling firms, principally Nestle.

Those firms were all screaming bloody murder about this yesterday. Now, Cherry served in the legislature and knows there is no way the Republicans would ever pass his proposal.

What he wants, is for the public to get behind it. He wants to campaign for governor next year as … “the man whose brilliant idea would have saved the Michigan Promise Scholarship!”

“Except, however, that those skinflint Republicans denied your little Johnny or Susie the help they need for a college education.”

If it works, that’s not bad politics. Indeed, the Republicans appear tone-deaf to public sentiment on this issue. However, Cherry made one telling little misstep that shows how desperate he is to be seen as his own man. He told reporters that he hadn’t even told the governor about his idea, something that seems hard to believe.

And within hours, there was Granholm, facing the cameras, stealing his thunder, brightly chirping that she supports taxing bottled water too. Politically, the governor and lieutenant governor are as tied together as conjoined twins. Over the next seven months, it will be fascinating to watch John Cherry continue to attempt to break free.

Essay: Sobering Up - 12.14.09

It’s Monday afternoon, and Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinks we should all be sobered up. What’s more, he thinks our legislature should be, too…

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Generally speaking, it is better to be sober than drunk, especially on a Monday afternoon. Granted, we may not always feel that way emotionally, but trust me on this.

Your boss will appreciate it. As far as I can tell, the main reason most people get seriously drunk is to escape. Escape their problems, escape dealing with reality. And there are many other ways to do this than through alcohol. For example, instead of worrying about our problems, we can obsess over those of Tiger Woods.

Personally, I’ve had to face the fact that the golfer’s love life is unlikely to have any impact on me, since both my significant other and I are old enough to be his parents.

You, dear listener, as much as it pains me to say it, are also extremely unlikely to be involved in a romantic twist with the world’s most athletic billionaire. Yet in the last week I’ve had people ask me what I thought about Tiger with the sort of earnestness that used to be reserved for questions of war and peace.

I suppose there is no great harm in this. Except that evading reality is usually a bad thing, if you keep it up long enough. The City of Detroit is now emerging from an unreality binge that lasted years, and did a lot of damage. The Motor City was run for years by mayors who refused to deal with the city’s shrinking economic base, other than to blame it on racism. That culminated in the reign of a self-indulgent man-child who thought the city was his playpen.

Today, the city is being run by grownups who are trying to assess and cope with the damage. The same is true of Detroit‘s public schools, which at last are being run by a rational and competent expert, Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb.

However, the state of Michigan still hasn’t come in from the cold. The state legislature has a week left before they take yet another long vacation, and they are still dithering over some basic education reforms. If they don’t get them done, they will lose $400 million dollars in federal “Race to the Top” education money.

When they come back in January, they have another serious issue to deal with. Our roads are falling apart, and lack of funds has forced construction projects to be delayed.

Unless we get them going again, we’ll lose millions more in federal funds.

Everyone wants the roads to be fixed. The easiest way to get the cash and secure the federal money that is just sitting there would be to boost the gas tax nine cents a gallon. That makes sense… except for that hated word: Tax. Republicans have sworn to oppose any tax, no matter how much sense it makes.

But there may be hope. Pam Byrnes, the House transportation committee chair, has a solution. She knows her colleagues are allergic to any talk of taxes, so, she intends to “present this as an investment in economic development.” After all, she added, “we are not going to be able to attract people to our state when our roads are crumbling and our bridges are being closed down.”

That may be the most sensible thing said in Lansing all year. How her fellow lawmakers react ought to give us some indication as to whether there is any hope of sobriety in our state capital yet.

Essay: Making a Difference - 12.11.09

The legislature passed a workplace smoking ban yesterday. Governor Granholm is expected to sign it into law. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinks what went on behind the scenes in Lansing holds some important lessons…

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Yesterday, after years of struggle, the Michigan Legislature passed a bill banning smoking in restaurants, workplaces and bars throughout the state. That’s old news by now to most of us.

Yet there are three important lessons in this that have nothing to do with the smoking ban itself. They are, simply put, these. First of all, the common citizen can make a difference.

If enough people care about an issue, confront their legislators and keep up the pressure, it will eventually have an effect. The second lesson is the corny old proverb:

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And finally, at some point, you’ve got to be willing to compromise, as long as we aren’t talking about dealing with Nazis or child molesters. You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

If you insist on a solution that is perfect, you’ll never get one that is either perfect or good. But you also have to realize that you can’t compromise too early. Here’s how all those things played out in the smoking ban wars. The hero of the story is a state senator from blue-collar, downriver Detroit named Ray Basham.

He’s someone you might think would be more likely to be a smoker than the champion of the smoking ban. He was born on the hills of Virginia, served in the U.S. Air Force and then came up here to work for Ford for thirty years. He got involved in the union, and was elected to the legislature a dozen years ago.

But he’d seen what tobacco did to the lungs of people he knew, some of whom were the victims of second-hand smoke. He introduced a bill calling for a smoking ban his very first term.

The restaurant industry, as he now cheerfully admits, outmaneuvered him easily, and used his early willingness to compromise against him. He learned from this. From then on, it was take no prisoners. He pushed for a total smoking ban, period.

Year after year. Meanwhile, smoking became more and more unpopular, and more people became aware of the perils of second-hand smoke. Other states, notably neighboring Ohio, passed smoking bans. Lobbyists for restaurants and bars had predicted financial doom if smoking bans were passed. But that didn’t happen. In some cases, business actually increased. This didn’t lessen the opposition of the Michigan Restaurant Association, but it made their claims less credible. Lawmakers began hearing from constituents who insisted on a ban, and who wouldn’t go away.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop was still opposed, but for once, wasn’t going to be able to prevent a vote. Ironically, it was Basham’s own Democrats who were the final obstacle, because they feared the loss of casino jobs. That held things up for a year.

But then Ron Jelinek, a Republican state senator, proposed a compromise exempting casino gambling floors, tobacco shops and cigar bars. For Basham, it was a Kenny Rogers moment, meaning, “you've got to know when to hold them and when to fold them.”

And so the deal got done.

Thanks to term limits, Basham leaves the senate forever in a year. He’ll be 65, and his political career is likely over. But he got something big accomplished. By the way, one colleague proposed naming the smoking ban bill after him. He declined. He wanted it to be named for a doctor who died last year.

Sometimes, the system works.

Essay: Saving a Piece of History - 12.10.09

The state has published the Michigan Manual every two years since the 1830’s. Now, some want to do away with the reference book. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinks that’s a terrible idea.

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You may not know this, but the State of Michigan publishes one of the best books that you have probably never seen. It is called the Michigan Manual, and in my opinion, no home should be without it.

You can certainly see one at your local library. It is a big, beautiful, red-bound book full of pictures, facts, maps and, as the official state description indicates, “fundamental reference information about Michigan - its history, constitutional development, governmental organizations and institutions.” There are generally well-written articles on everything of importance in the state.

You can learn about all of our great universities. The prison system. Find out about the state bird, flower, mineral, all that stuff. Look up something in the state constitution. See how the politicians spend your money. You can see pictures and read biographies of all our state’s elected officials, and get exact, complete, primary and general election returns for every recent race.

Picking up the current one and flipping through it, I learned just now that it was exactly a hundred years ago that the world’s first mile of poured concrete roadway was built on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. That was the year, by the way, that Michigan had more railroad track than ever before or since - nine thousand miles.

I use this book almost every day. As far as I know, the state has published the manual every two years since we became a state. I collect these wonderful books, which are a treasure trove of Michigan history. I have every one since 1897, and a few earlier than that.

My Michigan Manual from a century ago looks almost exactly like the current one, except that it is hardbound -- the state went to a paperback a few years ago to save money. It also has a couple of beautiful, pull-out maps of the state’s railroad lines.

Michigan has published this book through thick and thin, even during the depths of the Great Depression. But now it is endangered. In a penny-wise and very foolish move to save a pittance, the legislative services bureau wants to publish it only on-line.

This would be a terrible mistake. Cyberspace is fine for here and now. But the Michigan Manual is, as Inside Michigan Politics publisher Bill Ballenger puts it, “literally the only documentation of this state extending back to the beginning of our existence in 1837.”

Here’s something people wiser than me know. We are nothing without our shared history, and the books that record what happened before we came. So far this year, we lost first the state Department of History, Arts and Libraries to budget cuts, and then the Michigan State Fair. Now our official book of records is threatened.

Fortunately, State Rep. Pam Byrnes, a member of the legislative council, says she wants to save the manual, and is trying to find support for doing so. Speaker of the House Andy Dillon has also expressed support. I hope anyone who values our history, and wants this state to have a future, will contact them.

Forty years ago, there were those who wanted to tear down our state’s Victorian capitol building. Instead, the legislature rallied to renovate it. It is now one of the most beautiful state capitols in the nation. Saving the Michigan Manual would cost far less. But for our identity and our future, it may be just as important.

Essay: Our Schools, Our Selves - 12.9.09

Yesterday, we learned that Detroit Public School students had the lowest math scores that have ever been recorded. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry thinks we need to reexamine our priorities… fast.

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Two things happened yesterday which, taken together, ought to blow your mind, as we used to say back in the day.

First, we learned that both fourth and eighth graders in the Detroit Public Schools recorded the worst math results in the entire history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress test.

That’s a highly respected test that’s been given nationwide since the 1960s. Essentially, what the test revealed is that the Detroit schools are creating tens of thousands of dysfunctional illiterates every year. This, in a world where only well-educated kids with a set of skills have any hope of prospering in today’s high-tech economy.

Michael Casserly, executive director of the Washington-D.C. based Council of Great City Schools, told the Detroit Free Press that the test results were essentially “what one would expect by chance alone - as if the kids simply guessed at the answers.”

What these test results should say to Detroit and to Michigan and to all of us is that we have an enormous cancer in the center of our state, one that will, if not treated, destroy us.

Do you really believe this state can do well and prosper if it is home to hundreds of thousands of young adults who cannot really read, write, or do simple sums? True, this test measured only the performance of fourth and eighth graders.

But there’s no reason to think these kids are going to make a miraculous educational recovery in high school. Every statistic we have suggests their scores will get worse and worse. Many of them won’t even finish high school. For the few who do, what then?

Unemployment among black teenagers in the city is off the charts. They have no hope and no prospects, other perhaps than crime. What kind of scenario for our state’s future is that?

There are those who, openly or otherwise, would make this about racial inability to succeed, intellectually. It’s not. To quote what the schools’ Emergency Financial Manager, Robert Bobb said yesterday, “there’s nothing wrong with these children’s minds.

There’s a lot wrong with the adults that have been educating them.“

That statement is likely to set off a howl from the teachers’ union, but I don’t think he was talking just about them.

What we often forget is that the problem starts at home with the parents or primary caregivers. Mayor Dave Bing once told me his parents weren’t educated themselves, but made him sit at the table every night until they saw he had his homework done.

Unless and until this society from top to bottom embraces the value of education and realizes it is the single most important thing, we have no hope for a better future and a guarantee of a worse one.

Now, here’s the other mind-blowing thing that happened yesterday. Even as we got this news of complete educational failure, our legislature gave up on the idea of starting school before Labor Day. We can’t afford to hurt the tourism industry, our lawmakers said.

Well, that’s fine. If, that is, we are prepared to employ for life hundreds of thousands of kids who can’t add simple sums and pay them to pick up litter in state parks. We might want to ask ourselves as a people and a state whether we really have our priorities in order.

Everything I see suggests that the answer is no.