Jack Lessenberry Essays and Interviews

Essay: Energy Blues - 4/30/2008

Everyone I know is for energy conservation. That is, they are firmly in favor of other people wearing more sweaters in winter and refraining from using the air conditioning in summer.

And I would be happy to do that too, but, well, it’s hard to keep sweating down on the farm after you’ve seen the wonders of climate control. Which is why efforts at conservation are always a hard sell, as long as we can easily afford to be comfortable.

However, the environmentalists have made progress, at least to this extent: Nowadays, many of us now think we should at least feel guilty about adding to that immense hole in the ozone layer.

We like to feel that we are doing our part for the environment, as long as it isn’t very painful. For example, virtuous little me carried a bin with all my cans and plastic bottles out to the curb this morning.

I’ll bet Al Gore would be proud.

Seriously, I am skeptical about the current package of energy bills, partly for that reason. Renewable energy sounds great. But as my research assistant Emmarie points out, other states that have set renewable energy targets are failing to meet them, because of a lack of technology, a lack of money to overhaul systems, or both.

And there are a lot of other things in this package that ought to raise a few eyebrows. For example, these bills would mean that residential electric rates would go up, while businesses would pay lower rates. My guess is that most voters wouldn’t like that idea.

That is, if they knew about it. Funny, I don’t recall the politicians telling us about this. These bills also would allow proposed rate increases to take effect automatically, if not acted on by the Michigan Public Service Commission. For people on fixed incomes, that may be scarier than living next to a nuclear power plant.

But what bothers me most of all is that it is designed to destroy competition, and give the state’s two dominant utilities a guaranteed customer base and near-monopoly status. That would be fine if we were in the business of promoting Soviet-style state socialism.

However, I thought what we wanted was good old capitalist competition. Giving the utilities a monopoly has been a particular passion of Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, an alleged Democrat.

He even suggested solving last year’s budget crisis by giving one utility guaranteed monopoly status in exchange for a lot of cash.

You may think all that is a great idea. But the fact is, these bills were rushed through the House without most voters knowing what was in them. Now, they are before the Senate. If you trust the utilities to have your best interests in mind, there’s nothing to worry about.

However, you might want to think about it, read the fine print first, and let your own state senator know how you feel. Especially because this just might be your last chance.

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Interview: Randy Richardville - 4/30/2008

Earlier this month, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a package of energy bills. They would promote renewable energy. But, they would also limit the amount of competition that the state’s big utilities have to face. State Senator Randy Richardville is a co-sponsor of the energy bills in the Senate. Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry spoke with him.

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Essay: Taxing Concerns - 4/29/2008

I can think of a number of words for the present situation involving the Michigan Business Tax, but the only one I can say on the radio is SNAFU: situation normal; all fouled up.

Whether the legislature and governor will now fix this, no one knows. But it is worth reviewing how we got there.

Last year saw the mother of all budget battles. The state was running nearly a two billion dollar deficit, thanks to years worth of irresponsible behavior on the part of both parties.

Much of it came at the hands of term-limited legislators who didn’t have to worry about long-term responsibility. Democrats, led by the governor, were unwilling to make more deep cuts in state services or cripple our universities, and therefore the state’s future.

So, the governor timidly came out for extending the sales tax to all services. But she was so wishy-washy and timid about it that her own proposal didn’t have a chance. The Republicans, on the other hand, were big tough and manly. They insisted on tax cuts.

They said the state needs to live within its means, and stop taking so much of the taxpayers’ money. The rich taxpayers, anyway.

But when they were asked what services they wanted to slash, they ran and hid, or offered science fiction solutions.

There was one area where the notorious big-spending Democrats did feel the budget could be cut: prisons. We spend more on prisons, per capita, than any nearby state. We spend more on prisons than on higher education.

But Republicans did not want to cut prison spending. For they were big and manly, and needed to look tough on crime.

So the lawmakers dithered to the very last moment. As originally passed, the new Michigan Business Tax looked good.

What should have happened next was clear. Make what cuts could be made, and raise the income tax from 3.9 to 4.8 percent.

That would have meant some pain for everyone. But Michiganders are used to income tax rates going up and down.

When I was buying my first house they were as high as 6.35 percent, but we all survived. But last year, the lawmakers were only willing to raise taxes to 4.35 percent. Then they briefly enacted a patchwork quilt of taxes on services that didn’t have powerful lobbyists protecting them, like fortune tellers.

But the Michigan Chamber of Commerce then went bananas. So to balance the budget, as required by law, the lawmakers repealed that and slapped a surcharge on the Business Tax.

Now they need to fix this, pronto. Here‘s what to do. Go back to the drawing board and raise the Michigan income tax. Get rid of the surcharge on the Michigan Business tax, fast.

Then adjust that tax so that it rewards job creation and stable growth. That‘s something our lame-duck governor and legislature could accomplish for the good of us all. However, that would require a few profiles in courage. So don’t hold your breath.

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Interview: Gary Olson - 4/28/2008

The state legislature passed the new Michigan Business Tax last year, after repealing the much-despised Single Business Tax. Now, however, new tax bills are arriving and some businesses aren’t happy with the amount they have to pay. Economist Gary Olson is Director of the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency. Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry spoke with him.

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Essay: Political Privacy - 4/28/2008

When it comes to government, I normally think the more openness we have the better. I think the Freedom of Information Act, both on the federal and state levels, may have been the best thing to happen to democracy since the Bill of Rights.

But openness has its limits, and everybody has a zone of privacy that any free society is obligated to respect. And whatever your politics, one of the most sacrosanct of these has always been the voting booth. Democracy requires a secret ballot.

Nobody has the right to put a camera under the curtain. In Michigan, we take that even more seriously than most other states. We don’t even have party registration.

If any one tells you they are a registered Republican or Democrat, they really aren’t. When I walk out of a voting booth in August, nobody will have the right to know who I voted for.

And I am also allowed to keep secret whether I voted in the Democratic or Republican Primaries. That’s how it’s been here forever, giving voters a maximum of privacy and freedom.

And I’ll bet that’s how a majority of us like it.

This time, however, the politicians attempted to hijack the process. Anyone who wanted to vote in this year’s presidential primary not only had to declare a party. They had to do so with the expectation that their name and how they voted would be turned over to both major political parties, to use in whatever way they wished.

In other words, they could plaster on a billboard that “Mrs. Millicuddy voted in the Republican primary,” if they wanted to.

Right from the start, I thought that was outrageous. Now as you know, I don’t mind hanging my opinions out for everybody to see.

But not everyone is like that – nor should they be required to be. I personally know three people who didn’t vote in the primary because they didn’t want anyone to know what party they were voting for. I think that was one factor in why the turnout was so low.

What’s even more outrageous is why the parties did this. They wanted to get lists of people they could hit up for contributions.

When I found out that the law said the parties could have copies of these lists and nobody else could, I was first outraged.

But then I was reassured, because I knew that meant the law was almost certain to be declared unconstitutional. And it was.

So since collecting these lists was illegal, it stands to reason that they should not be public information. That means they should be destroyed, or at the very least, sealed until we are all dead, in case they prove of interest to future historians.

However, if it helps, I will offer a compromise.

You can have my voting record. You’ll find I voted in the Republican primary, and everyone is welcome to hit me with their best fund-raising junk mail anytime.

My garbage can, by the way, is very close to the street.

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Interview: Mark Grebner - 4/28/2008

The lists of who chose a Democratic or Republican ballot in the January 15th presidential primary were supposed to be turned over only to the state’s political parties. But a federal judge ruled that that law was unconstitutional. Now, political consultant Mark Grebner wants access to those lists… and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for them. But, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land denied the request. Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry spoke with Mark Grebner.

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Essay: Eyes On The Prize - 4/25/08

Twenty-five years ago I went to Japan for a month and toured some auto plants with a bunch of other American reporters.  Afterwards, one of them asked me what percentage of the American market the Japanese could have if they went for flat-out competition and there were absolutely no trade barriers.

I said, “about 90 percent.“  I was being a little facetious, but not much. Those of us who had been in Detroit nodded.

The auto plants of my youth were dirty, nasty and contentious places.  I never worked in one, but I had plenty of friends who had.  They told stories about coke bottles left inside car doors, something I was later able to verify actually happened.  Workers in another plant were said to have dropped an engine block on the head of a foreman who was giving them some grief.

The Japanese plants were something entirely different. Granted, they were showing me their best, and everyone there realized they were being watched that day by American reporters.  Still, the floors looked clean enough to sleep on.  The workers were neatly and nearly identically dressed, and seemed to go about their jobs with a sense of purpose.

The calisthenics in the morning and the singing of the company songs were a bit unnerving.  They reminded me of old newsreels about the Strength through Joy movement. But they appeared to help morale here.

The Japanese workers were unionized, and when interviewed, they said they would indeed like more money. But I don‘t remember any of them complaining about working conditions.  More importantly, they felt they were all in this together, workers and management. They took pride in what they were doing, and also in what their company had accomplished.

Now, that hasn’t been the American model. Ours has been one of confrontation and conflict; of management struggling to get more out of their workers for as little as possible, and the unions struggling to get more for less.

That model worked in America for a long time, especially in the first decades after World War II. Strikes still happened, but the bitterness lessened. America was so rich and was growing so fast in those years that there was more for everyone.  The unions made demands; the companies gave in, more or less, and the costs were passed on to the consumers.

Well, it couldn’t last forever, and it hasn’t. The auto companies aren’t what they were. They are making better cars these days, but they aren’t making money. Nor are Ford, General Motors and the new stand-alone Chrysler recapturing lost market share.  Toyota is number one worldwide now, and increases sales in this country every year.

Some of the Japanese workers I talked with were at a plant in Hiroshima. I wondered whether their spirit of cooperation was due partly to the fact that there, both workers and management had seen everything destroyed. They had to recreate it from scratch, together.  It would be nice if our auto industry didn’t have to go through something quite that drastic.

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Interview: Dustin Dwyer - 4/25/08

The domestic auto industry was already struggling before a strike at American Axle and Manufacturing began to affect production at General Motors.  Now, a number of G-M plants are threatening to go on strike over local issues. But why is this happening now?  Michigan Radio’s Dustin Dwyer covers the auto industry.  Jack Lessenberry spoke with him.   

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Essay: Democratic Dithering - 4/24/2008

I’ve known Joel Ferguson for years, and I can tell you he is a brilliant guy. He is a self-made multi-millionaire developer who put himself through college working on the line at Oldsmobile.

While he has held elected office, including several stints as a Michigan State University trustee, he has been more important as a major player behind the scenes. Old-timers still remember his brilliant coup in 1988, when he organized a stealth campaign to bus voters to that year’s mostly ignored Michigan Democratic caucuses.

The result was a stunning and totally unexpected victory for Jesse Jackson, humiliating the party leadership.

So when Ferguson talks, it is a good idea to listen. Though he is often working a number of angles, his argument about the superdelegates makes a lot of sense. They were supposed to be seated automatically, regardless of whether the party selected the rest of their delegates in a primary, a caucus, or a marzipan contest.

His argument about the elected delegates is a lot weaker, however, and he knows it. First of all, if Michigan’s elected delegates are seated, it will make a mockery of the whole rules process.

If they get away with having a primary three weeks before the rules said they could, what’s to prevent some other state from having its 2012 primary in December 2011? Or December 2009, for that matter?

But I am glad he has filed this challenge, because it illustrates what some of us have known all along. If both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still standing when the primaries end in June, this will go to the Democratic National convention in Denver.

The convention will decide in the last week of August whether to seat Michigan and Florida, and their decision will determine the nominee. If they are seated, Clinton likely wins. If not, Obama does.

And taking it to Denver might not be a bad thing. Nothing wrong with a little democracy in action – as long as neither side feels robbed.

But what continues to amaze me is the absolute boneheaded stupidity of the Michigan Democratic Party. Last weekend, local democrats met in district conventions to pick some of the delegates elected in January, in case they ever get seated.

Based on the way the vote broke down, Clinton won 47, and the leadership let her camp pick all those folks.

The uncommitted slate won 36 delegates, and the Obama people logically thought they should get to name those, since he is the only remaining candidate left.

But the party bureaucrats only let them pick half of those, and shoved their own people into the remaining slots. They took the selection of another 45 delegates away from the people entirely.

They will be picked by the state central committee of party insiders. As the Free Press’s Brian Dickerson observed, what a wonderful way to alienate the new voters the Obama campaign has brought into the Democratic Party. That seems crazy, until you realize that for apparatchiks, the process isn’t really about winning. It is about control.

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Interview: Joel Ferguson - 4/24/2008

The Democratic National Committee is still refusing to seat Michigan’s democratic delegates. The committee says Michigan broke party rules when it moved the state’s primary to January 15th. Joel Ferguson thinks the committee’s decision is illegal and is challenging them with breaking their own rules. He’s a superdelegate and a member of the DNC. Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry spoke with him.

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