A2Politico: Ann Arbor Politics Grilled To Perfection

November 30, 2009

The Politics of Semantics: Chris Taylor “Looks Forward” to Not Being a Ball Hog

Filed under: city council — Tags: , , , — A2 Politico @ 5:25 pm
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 4.6/5 (9 votes cast)

Since October 20th, A2Politico has been writing about Third Ward Council member Christopher Taylor’s attempt at a miraculous political transformation from one of the Hieftje Eight—a Council member caught via FOIA by the Ann Arbor News ostensibly calling his constituents “dim lights,” playing right along with awarding Golden Pandys for pandering to unsuspecting constituents during commentary, and trading infantile emails during Council meetings at which he was being paid by the taxpayers to pay attention, to Christopher Taylor: the go-to ethics guy who will craft an ethics policy for all to pay to play by.

I wrote in “Why Is Christo T. So Hot to Create A City Ethics Policy?” on October 20th: Has Council member Christopher Taylor demonstrated the ethical substance, style and leadership during his short year on Council sufficient to take the lead in creating an ethics policy for the Hieftje Eight to which he was named a full partner? The Hieftje Eight are the eight Council members outed by the Ann Arbor News in two separate feature articles last June and July for having the ethics of a pack of hyenas. Taylor was caught by the News playing right along with his Council buddies in their sad and possibly illegal little email games. He paid for it by waking up on a fine Sunday morning in June to see his picture on the front page of the newspaper under a headline that questioned the “appropriateness” of emails he sent during open Council meetings. He, along with Fourth Ward Council member Margie Teall, Third Ward Council member Leigh Greden and Fifth Ward Council member Carsten Hohnke were lambasted for their actions in a biting editorial cartoon.

On October 25th, I posted a Weekend Poll: “Can Council Craft An Ethics Policy For Themselves?”

Of the over 400 people who responded to the poll, 73 percent said, “You’re joking right? No way, José”

In November, I got an email tip from a citizen who’d spoken to Taylor about the ethics policy project, and the citizen was told by Taylor the intrepid Council member had no plans to include a citizen’s advisory committee in his Big Ethical Production Number. Too many ethicists will spoil the soup, alas. So, on November 25th I posted, “Sinatra, I Mean Taylor, Does the Ethics Policy His Way.” In that posting I wrote,

“If Christopher Taylor is serious about breaking the pattern of deception and disdain for the public good that runs through our current Council Majority (and he may well be), he will ask the Mayor to appoint an advisory committee that does not include Hieftje’s or Council members’ political donors, political cronies, ex-lovers, and/or blood relations. Council member Taylor will turn to the public, as well as religious leaders and academic experts on ethics in public policy and public service for guidance, input and help.

“If he doesn’t, he’ll have taken an opportunity for real change, put lipstick on it, and we’ll end up with a pig of a policy that won’t change anything. It will be enforced by the same Council Majority caught repeatedly in FOIAed emails during open meetings demonstrating the ethical depravity of Mao and his Gang.” 

Three days later, on November 28th, Council member Taylor sent out an interesting email to his Third Ward constituents. It was a one-year review of himself, by himself, for his own political gain. To his credit, he sent it out and outlined what he believes are his most important accomplishments. My Council members have never thought to self-evaluate, or provide any such substantive information about their work. I give him high marks for his initiative. This email is much like the one he sent to Ward Three constituents concerning the Percent for Art Program eliciting feedback (albeit limited since Taylor’s email list is just a few hundred people out of the thousands who live and vote in Ward Three).

That being said, I must also point out that there are some very troubling issues with Taylor’s self-evaluation related to his inability to, well, tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

In the introduction Taylor writes, “Were ours a formal employment relationship, there would be an evaluation process whereby we would reflect upon this goal, discuss achievements, disappointments, and plan for the future.  I would like to replicate that system somewhat here and hope that you find the following information useful when you review my performance during next year’s election.”

Were ours a formal employment relationship? Whom does Christopher Taylor thinks he answers to? His Higher Power? The relationship between an elected official and the electorate is a formal employment relationship. That tidy little monthly paycheck for the council work he outlined in his email comes from the taxpayers. 

The “evaluation” email goes on to list Taylor’s “achievements” and “disappointments.” Among the “disappointments” is the Council email scandal. Taylor’s November 28th email makes it appear as though he was wrongly accused of participation, and subsequently apologized to and vindicated. His misleading characterization is a lesson in careful wording, twisted logic and deception. Taylor writes to his Third Ward constituents (whom he truly must believe are “dim lights”): 

“As you may know, in a March (2009) meeting I paused for a moment between speakers to rib one of my colleagues via email.  The Ann Arbor News printed this correspondence and stated that the jibe was an expression of disrespect to the Old West Side.  This charge was false, and I demanded a retraction. The paper published an apology and  admitted their error.”

A momentary lapse? Sound Gredenesque? Taylor sent dozens and dozens of emails back and forth during open meetings. Just like Taylor’s ex-Council colleague Leigh Greden, whom Ward Three voters tossed out on his ear thanks to the email scandal, Taylor minimizes his full, frequent, and free participation in the scandal. He also neglects to list among his “disappointments” the lawsuit filed this Fall against the city as result of Council members’ allegedly deliberative emails sent during open meetings, and revealed by FOIAs. 

Under the “In Progress” heading in the email to his constituents, Christopher Taylor lists this project he’s working on:

CONFLICT OF INTEREST / ETHICS POLICY.  The City Council does not have a formal Conflict of Interest / Ethics Policy.  The presence of a reasonable, rigorous policy is a part of good government. In view of my legal training and my seat on the Council Rules Committee, I am working to develop such a policy and look forward to working with my colleagues and members of the public (A2Politico’s emphasis) to bring it to fruition.

He looks forward to working with his colleagues and the public when, exactly? When he’s good and ready? When the Messiah comes? Looking forward to working with the public is nice, warm and fuzzy. The wording makes you feel like Taylor will pick up the phone at any minute and check in with his peeps—the public. As much as warm, fuzzy and nice make everyone feel tingly all over, that Christopher Taylor “looks forward” to working with members of the public and his colleagues is nothing but political malarkey.

Furthermore, to recommend himself as the arbiter of ethics thanks to his standing as a lawyer is absurd. Christopher specializes in intellectual property law. If someone’s scamming you out of your book royalties, he’s the guy to see. As for being a member of the Council Rules Committee: that’s the Marcia Higgins-led group that did nothing for years while Council members broke every rule in the book of manners, netiquette, and, quite possible, the Open Meetings Act. I’d rather he not remind me he belongs to that 12-step group of the ethically challenged.

His November 28th email provides even more proof that Christopher Taylor is absolutely the last person who should put himself forward as the best person to craft an ethics policy for Ann Arbor City Council and Ann Arbor staff. His November 28th email with its smarmy rationalizations, careful semantics and outright deceptions are ample proof that he really does need to be held to a reasonable and rigorous ethics policy. He should stop, however, pretending he’s the best person to write one for his dear friends on City Council. 

I’m looking forward to hearing that Christopher Taylor has asked the Mayor to appoint a Citizen’s Advisory Board on Creating an Ethics Policy. I’m also relying on Taylor to make sure the advisory board is not populated by the usual suspects who can be relied on to dutifully kiss ass, kiss the ruby rings of their Council dons, and tell the real public to kiss off until the public hearings.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Alma Wheeler Smith: Great Ideas. Horrible Execution. What Up, GF?

Filed under: campaigns, developers, education, elections — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 7:00 am
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 4.9/5 (8 votes cast)

Let me just begin this by saying that I don’t just like Alma Wheeler-Smith’s politics; I love her politics. I haven’t always agreed with her political strategy. On February 5, 2009, she voted against a 10 percent reduction in pay for state legislators. She was the only legislator who voted no. On the one hand, she was making a brave political point: the House Concurrent Resolution 3 was political composted horse manure. As Smith explained on her web site: ”…The people of the State of Michigan are looking to the Legislature now, more than ever, for true leadership. This vote was a game played at the citizens’ expense,” Smith said. “There is no language for implementation in this bill.  To decrease the salaries as proposed requires a constitutional change, which consequently requires a public vote.” The Emperor had no clothes, and Alma was the only legislator to point this out. Even Smith’s own daughter-in-law Rebekah Warren, who represents Ann Arbor as the 53rd District House Representative (and is a current wanna-be for Liz Brater’s State Senate seat), voted for the totally duplicitous and meaningless resolution. Wheeler Smith could have, of course, come up with a way to implement the pay cut. 

You gotta admire a politico who’s willing to stand alone against political games they’re playing in Lansing. Either that, or she’s so sure of her base she just figured a vote against cutting her own pay would not cut her own political throat. 

At the moment, Wheeler Smith is running a stealth campaign for governor. She launched her campaign, but has not been nearly as visible as, say, Ann Arbor Republican Rick Snyder or the Democratic Dauphin John Cherry. Wheeler Smith was at County Commissioner Jeff Irwin’s November launch party for his bid for the 53rd Dsitrict House seat. Rebekah Warren spoke. Jeff Irwin spoke. (Both badly, and with surprisingly little ability to deliver a rousing stump speech.) Alma? Alma didn’t say anything to the crowd gathered. She circulated, smiling, but I have this feeling that had John Cherry, Rick Snyder or any of the boys running for governor been in attendance, they would have elbowed their way to the front of the room and spoken to the captive audience.

Wheeler Smith recently came out with her very own Papal Encyclical calling for a massive overhaul of the Michigan tax system. AnnArbor.com covered Wheeler Smith’s proposal here. The comments on the AnnArbor.com site were almost uniformly critical of Smith’s proposal to, in short, tax Michigan residents according to their income, and not simply by using a flat rate. The top proposed rate of 9.75% for those in the highest income bracket elicited this comment: “Also she advocates a 9.75% top tax rate for individuals. I read the article and thought I was at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. The only possible explanation for this plan is that Alma is running a stealth campaign to elect Mike Cox. Alma should be on Saturday Night Live with this routine.” Another AnnArbor.com reader wrote, “Politics is this lady’s family business. When she runs out of road in the state House next year, we should introduce this lady to the concept of retirement. “Term limits” is voter-speak for Go find something else to do.”

Flat rate taxation versus graduated rate taxation. Well, Hells Bells, at least Smith is talking about the fact that the current system of taxation in Michigan isn’t working. Rick Snyder’s blathering on about his “plan” that includes fiscal policies he promises to implement in Lansing. These are policies that he never implemented in the three years he spent in Ann Arbor as the CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK. Snyder  will start by getting input from the taxpayers about how public money should be spent, along with implementing policies that would increase transparency so the public can see just where their tax dollars are going. (Yes, that’s snorting you hear, and it’s coming from me.) Under gubernatorial wanna-be Snyder, Ann Arbor SPARK was run with the “transparency” of a CIA covert operation, just like every other crony capitalism scheme.

Here’s Snyder’s bullet point on Michigan’s Tax System from his web site: “Reform Michigan’s Tax System Rick believes that we need to reduce the tax burden on families and businesses in Michigan. Rather than advocate for short-term solutions – Rick wants to reform Michigan’s tax system so that it is competitive, simple, fair, transparent, efficient and facilitates economic growth.” Will voters buy this political carp (reverse the a and the r) he’s selling? Can he be any less exact or provide any fewer details?

So, Wheeler Smith calculates the graduated tax scheme would generate an additional $6.5 billion dollars in additional revenue for the state’s elected officials to fritter away, I mean allocate. Wheeler Smith would use some of the additional money to “…fund a new income tax credit Smith is proposing that would cover all tuition paid to state universities, community colleges and vocational schools — in essence, making tuition free.”

This is where Alma Wheeler Smith and I part company. The notion of providing free tuition to Michigan college students is, well, insanely wrong-headed. It’s regressive policy. She came up with this idea with her partner in wrong-headed legislation, and daughter-in-law, Rebekah Warren. The plan hands billions in tax dollars to our state’s colleges and universities, and it would be better to make a big pile and just burn the cash. Why? Because Smith and Warren are creating higher education policy based on volume over quality and student success. Everyone who wants to should attend college (on Wheeler Smith’s Fantasy Island for free). No. Absolutely not. Why? Because Michigan colleges (both 2- and 4-year) are doing a horrible job of graduating students from their programs. 

Doling out tuition tax dollars to Michigan’s community colleges that graduate, on average, only 20 percent of their students within three years is a recipe for robbing the poor (taxpayers) and giving the money to the rich (colleges and universities). Three things will happen:

1.  Colleges will hike tuition rates and fees until all the state money made available to them is gone. College administrators are public money pigs, plain and simple. 

2.  Under Wheeler Smith’s plan hundreds of thousands of Michigan undergraduates will enroll, assume an average of $14,000 per year in student debt, and half of them will not graduate from our state’s public 4-year universities within six years. It’s what’s happening now. Drop-out rates are up; graduation rates have dropped from 76 percent in the 70s, to around 50 percent today. Colleges and lending agencies are making out like bandits. The money pours in faster and faster even as fewer and fewer graduates trickle out.

3.  Colleges will not devote significant percentages of the new money to student instruction. Thus, the issue of student retention and student success will not be addressed by throwing billions of more dollars at our state’s two- and four-year institutions.

If Alma Wheeler Smith is serious about running for governor, she’ll get a campaign manager who’s not related to her, get crack-a-lackin’ on the fundraising, hire a staff, refine her platform with some people who have a more profound understanding of economics and education, update her Twitter page, get on Facebook, and get out into the communities around the state. Since Reconstruction, there have only been three black governors in the entire United States. Alma Wheeler Smith has a devoted following in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. However, her Tax and Spend Mambo ain’t gonna play so well in other parts of the Michigan. 

Rick Snyder would import his unique brand of crony capitalism to Lansing, as would 53 District House wanna-be Ned Staebler, who gives away our tax dollars for a living in his day job as a Vice President at the MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corporation). Want to know what Alma Wheeler Smith has to say about the crony capitalism that has grown up during the reign of our state’s first female governor? ”As Governor, I would limit the practice of granting tax incentives to select businesses and, instead, promote a climate that allows all businesses to compete on a level playing field.”

Finally. The Mother Ship has landed and off comes a gubernatorial candidate who’s willing to stop abducting Michigan’s public school dollars in the name of “economic development.” The education unions should be giving Wheeler Smith candy and flowers, not to mention endorsements. Wheeler Smith should be doing fist-bumps state-wide with MEA education union Prez Iris Salters.

Wheeler Smith wants to invest in education, as opposed to giveaways to business. However, unless she gets some serious help to refine and sell her ideas to the public, Michigan will get stuck with more of the same economic development strategies that are funded by stealing money from public schools through SmartZones and TIF financing schemes, and giving those millions to businesses in the name of “economic development”—crony capitalism that funnels money to political pals, political donors and provides wildly inflated reports of the success of the programs, and no outside evaluation of any return on the taxpayers’ investment in such outfits as the MEDC, Ann Arbor SPARK. Then there is the biggest boondoggle of them all coming down the road: the Detroit Region Aerotropolis. Here’s the Aerotropolis spin: “64,000 jobs. $10 billion of additional economic activity over the next 25 years.” Tax breaks galore with public money. Millions siphoned from public schools to “attract” businesses to the region. Washtenaw County Administrator Robert Guenzel and the other boys behind this crony capitalism scheme can barely stand-up at the press conferences, because the idea of so much tax money to giveaway to their friends is better than Viagra. As Governor, Alma Wheeler Smith could very well put the brakes on this multi-county boondoggle.  

Wheeler Smith proposes a different approach to economic development: an end to crony capitalism, and a return to the investment in our state’s education system. There’s lots of work to be done, but before Alma Wheeler Smith comes out with anymore Encyclicals, such as her graduated tax proposal, she needs to have a campaign team in place who can help her spar with critics, and get off the ropes when she comes out with the creative public policy proposals Michigan needs.

Popularity: 27% [?]

November 27, 2009

Weekend Poll: Next on Channel 16—”Surprise” Homelessness in A2 and Washtenaw County

Filed under: Washtenaw County, boards and commissions, city council, weekend poll — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 8:39 pm
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 4.8/5 (4 votes cast)

“Emergency funding” of social service programs always reminds me of those television shows one can always find late at night on the better cable channels about “surprise” pregnancies. You know the premise. The woman goes for nine months suspecting nothing then, suddenly, usually in some crazy locale, say, an amusement park, she gives birth to…..a baby! Zounds! She never even suspected she was pregnant. The nausea was “the flu,” and the unrelenting heartburn was caused by “spicy food.” The pregnancy was a complete shock, and the emergency birth of the baby an astounding revelation.

Homelessness in Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor is kinda like one of those “surprise” pregnancies. Who knew it was such a problem? Who could have guessed? All those foreclosures? Just a little gas.

The Mayor of Ann Arbor, as well as the ten members of City Council were recently shocked and amazed to discover that homelessness in Ann Arbor is a problem. The Four Ann Arbor County Commissioners of the Apocalypse, Jeff Irwin (53rd District House wanna-be), Leah Gunn, Barbara Bergman and Conan Smith were equally shocked and astounded to discover homelessness in Washtenaw County is up, up, up. At the moment, three thousand people have no place to hang their hats, rest their heads or shelter themselves in Washtenaw County. Talk about heartburn and nausea….

In Ann Arbor, funding to address homelessness over the course of the past two budget cycles has been cut, slashed and dismembered more times than a teen girl in a Wes Craven film. One of Mayor and veteran Ann Arbor City Council members’ best tricks has been to “cut” human services funding from the city’s budget in committee, only to “save” it later, when the proposed budget was presented to Council. Departed Third Ward Council member Leigh Greden called such maneuvers “scripting” outcomes. All of his pals on the Budget and Labor Committee played right along. Here’s the really evil part of the trick. Human services funding was “returned” to the budget, yes, but with nary an increase in funding. So for the past four years, the funding levels remained frozen as the need grew increasingly acute.

Thus, November’s “emergency” allocations to deal with the homelessness “emergency” in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. The funds allocated by both Ann Arbor City Council and the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners provided shelter to a fraction of the 3,000 people in need. (The County financed shelter for 10 families, and the City allocation bought 60 more beds.) The “emergency” funding still leaves the majority of the homeless out in the cold, literally.

Over the past 4 years, Ann Arbor has built just 15 new units of affordable housing per year. The Chair of the Ann Arbor Housing and Human Services Board (the other 53rd District House wanna-be, Ned Staebler) told City Council, “This [Ann Arbor] is not the kind of place where we let people freeze to death on the streets.” Since 2007, he has been the Chair of the city’s Housing and Human Services Board. Staebler’s Board advises City Council on the “needs of the city’s low income residents.” Evidently, adequate housing and a significant bump in the number of shelter spaces were not among the pressing needs of low income residents in Ann Arbor this year. Or last year. Or the year before that one. 

As a result of Ned Staebler’s ability to ignore bloating, swollen ankles, weight gain, gas, nausea and heartburn, coupled with City Council’s fiscal and political machinations, alas, Ann Arbor has become the kind of place where we will let people freeze to death in the streets. 

So here’s the question: Is something better than nothing when it comes to funding shelter for the homeless? 

Popularity: 21% [?]

Quit Yer Bellyachin’ and Get Involved…

Filed under: boards and commissions, politics — Tags: , , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 11:00 am
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Ok. Maybe you tried to get involved and realized, pretty quickly, that if you didn’t know the right people, an appointment to a Board or Commission in Ann Arbor wasn’t going to be forthcoming anytime soon. Heck, you might have even filled out one of those nifty applications Hizzoner told the AnnArborChronicle.com reporter Dave Askins you need to fill out to get an appointment to a Board or Commission, and never heard a word from the Mayor’s office. Maybe you forgot your donation to the Mayor’s re-election campaign. About 35 percent of people on Boards and Commissions in Ann Arbor routinely donate to Hizzoner and then get appointed or reappointed. In other cities, they call that pay-to-play, and the politicos often end up on the short end of a Grand Jury investigation. In Ann Arbor, we put our fingers in our ears and call the practice “La, La, La, La, La.”

Anyway, Ann Arbor blogger Janelle Baranowski, who blogs at “Some Other Viewpoint,” and who is, I suspect, much less apt to use profanity or satire than I, (but who shares my astrological sign, oddly enough) has come up with a great list of opportunities for those inclined to get involved in politics without much mess, fuss, pain and expense. I’ll blog more about running for elected office as the time draws nearer to decide on a run for, say, County Commissioner or Ann Arbor City Council. We’ll hear from candidates who’ve run and won. If you have further suggestions of ways to get involved, post a comment. 

Without further editorializing, here’s Janelle’s November 24th posting titled: “5 Easy Ways to Get Involved”:

You’re tired of status quo. You feel like your opinion doesn’t count. You don’t have a lot of time. You have no desire to become a politician. What can you do? What should you do? Here are a few suggestions to get involved and make your voice heard. 

Feel free to add your own suggestions!

1) Run for precinct delegate. Precinct delegates choose the candidates for Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State for their respective parties. There are many open positions, which means as long as someone else doesn’t run against you, you get the job. Easy-peasy. 

Fill out the application below and get it notarized. (Ask around your workplace as there may be a notary public on-site.) Mail the notarized form to your City Clerk. Your name will appear on the ballot in the 2010 primaries. If you get elected *bam* your vote is one of thousands instead of one of millions in deciding the outcome of these statewide positions.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Aff-ID_Precnt_139901_7.pdf

2) Apply for open positions on local boards and committees. On the a2gov.org website, you can search for open positions on local boards and committees. Click on the link below to find open positions in Ann Arbor. There are currently seven positions open.
http://a2gov.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=4184&GUID=71AFF2BB-3AB8-48E7-ADC6-C07CBD528E5D&Search

3) Apply for open positions on county boards and committees. There are a number of county positions currently open. The Board of Commissioners will be voting on the current applicants on December 2nd, so many of these will be filled, but check the site often as people may resign leaving you the opportunity to step in. 

Some of the positions have requirements that must be met, such as the Local Emergency Planning Committee, which requires someone in the Agricultural industry for one of its open positions.
http://secure.ewashtenaw.org/bocdob/vacant.do

4) Use the power of the pen (or keyboard, as the case may be.) Write your representatives (Ann Arbor’s representatives to the Michigan House are the Honorable Pam Byrnes and the Honorable Rebekah Warren, to the Michigan Senate, our Representative is the Honorable Liz Brater, to the U.S. House we’re represented by the Honorable John Dingell). Write letters to the editor. Submit articles to websites and newspapers. Comment on articles using your real name. It’s easy to hide behind a screen name, but using your real name is a way to validate your opinions with other readers’. 

Don’t just write to the people in charge; writing to party officials or major donors is another way to get to the people that matter. Remember, the higher up you go in the chain, the more likely you’ll get an annoying “form letter” response. Start local and the odds are greater that a decision-maker will read your letter. Phone calls and emails can work too, but writing a letter makes a bigger impact.

5) Attend meetings and network. At every get together, there will always be a few master networkers in attendance. Watch the crowd; you’ll see a few people who appear to know everyone and are making introductions. Introduce yourself and briefly relate your primary interests. Chances are, they may know someone who can do something to help you. If not, they may be able to steer you in the right direction. Never forget, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Popularity: 18% [?]

November 26, 2009

Shameless Self-Promotion Until Noon Friday November 27th

Filed under: on blogging — Tags: — A2 Politico @ 8:00 am
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

I’m the kinda person who sets goals and works relentlessly toward them. It makes the time in the office here pass more quickly. I’m also a big believer in teamwork, and the power of a critical mass of people who care about the same thing—in this case, local politics. That’s where you come in!

The goal is to have 5,000+ people reading this blog before January 30, 2010. That means doubling readership between now and then. We can do it. We doubled readership between October and November! 

When we reach the goal, I have some cool new features I’m going to roll out to celebrate the 6th month anniversary of A2Politico. 

So, here’s how we start: Until noon, Friday, November 27th, when I post the next A2Politico blog entry, I’m going to ask everyone who stops by and reads this to take a moment, a second, the time it takes to send a single email, and email one friend, enemy, Democrat, Republican, Green, flaming liberal, flaming conservative, flaming Queen,  ex-flame, colleague, neighbor or A2 politico and tell them about the blog. Email your entire address book, and I’ll come to your house and cook you a meal. Some day. Not soon, though. Probably after I retire in 2040. Besides, you know you like carry-out better anyway. 

Here’s the link: http://www.A2Politico.com

Don’t keep A2P a secret. Spread the word. 

Yours in shameless self-promotion and (really) in the relentless pursuit of a goal,

The A2Politico

Nota bene: I’d never forget you on the holiday! Check back in on Thanksgiving for a holiday greeting from A2P.

Popularity: 18% [?]

November 25, 2009

Sinatra, I Mean Taylor, Does The Ethics Policy His Way

Filed under: boards and commissions, city council, politicians, politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 9:52 am
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

On October 20, 2009, I wrote about Third Ward Council member Christopher Taylor’s ants-in-his-pants rush to start crafting an ethics policy prior to the return to City Council of third Ward’s Stephen Kunselman (Kunselman, you may remember (or not) ran on a platform of returning integrity, honesty and ethics to City Council.): “Why is Christo T. So Hot To Create A City Ethics Policy?” On October 25, 2009, I also posted a Weekend Poll which asked the question: Can Council Craft An Ethics Policy For Themselves? So far, the nays have it; A2 politicos don’t believe our Council members can craft an ethics policy for themselves. I can’t say the poll results are a great shock.

It has been suggested to Council member Taylor that he should include a citizen’s advisory committee in the process of crafting the ethics policy. I know! How about one of those famously stacked citizen advisory committees? Taylor is a lawyer who, according to his bio on the Butzel Long web site, “is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Ann Arbor office. He represents businesses, institutions and individuals that wish to exploit, defend and protect their intellectual property, including technology startups, Fortune 100 manufacturers, universities, application service providers, software developers, film producers, television and radio stations, record labels, and authors.”  At the moment, it appears he also fancies himself the Saint Thomas Aquinas of Ann Arbor City Council. 

For Mayor and Council to appoint a Committee to Advise on an Ethics Policy for Ann Arbor City Council would be  as easy as rounding up nine of  their friends, work colleagues and political donors. Hell, Mayor Hieftje has been appointing his BFFs and cuddies to the DDA, PAC, Planning Commission and Historical Commission for a decade. Why do it differently when appointing an advisory committee to look into creating an ethics policy? There’s something to be said for consistency in cronyism. If appointing political donors proved too blatant a move, Mayor and Council could simply appoint their business associates, siblings and spouses to the proposed advisory committee on ethics. 

Alas, none of these trusted, tried and true methods of putting together an advisory committee appealed to Council’s Taylor, the newly ordained resident Dominican friar and expert on ethics. He has brushed off citizen suggestions for citizen input, and is doing the ethics policy his way. Sinatra would be proud. I’m sure the Council Rat Pack is relieved not to have meddling civvies involved in shaping and discussing Council ethics. That’s way too personal a topic to have civvies butting their long noses into.

Taylor is using as his launching pad an ethics policy drafted by the Michigan Attorney General’s office. Thus, it would appear as though Taylor’s policy were aimed at all city employees (when it rains ethics, it pours) and not just at himself and his ethically-challenged pals Fifth Ward’s Carsten Hohnke, Second Ward’s Stephen Rapundalo and Tony Derezinski, Fourth Ward’s Marcia Higgins and Margie Teall and First Ward’s Sandi Smith. 

The ethics policy on which Taylor is hard at work in his monk’s cell goes on ad infinitum about gifts. It’s  not clear whether the policy includes intellectual gifts. I’m going to inch out on a limb and say it’s safe to assume that Taylor’s constituency, the so-called “dim lights” who teach at U of M, and whom Taylor swears to the gods of the underworld he never meant to refer to as “dim lights” in that Council email that was published in the Ann Arbor News, have nothing to fear from the “gifts” clause of the ethics policy. Cash gifts to your Council member are out, Sweetie. I wonder if that includes the finder’s fees being collected by one of the real estate pros on Council from local developers? How about tickets to Michigan football games and University of Michigan Musical Society events, and the ever popular breakfast meetings at the Northside or Broken Egg?

The ethics policy also cracks down on leaks. Thank the artist formerly known as Prince (or whichever god you worship). I’m not talking about the roof of the Larcom Building that leaked for years, and was used as a pretense to spend $40 million on the new Temple to the Three judicial deities. I’m talking about disclosing information before disclosure is “authorized.” This seems particularly important to the current Council majority, the lot of whom were nabbed conducting business in secret via email, and whose penchant for withholding information that should have been made public has resulted in a lawsuit against the City for violating the Open Meetings Acts.

Thus, stopping up leaks is crucial to this City Council. First Ward City Council member Sabra Briere will, of course, be routinely subjected to interrogations using sodium pentathol, and chocolate truffles of her own creation. Fifth Ward Council member Mike Anglin will get the sodium pentathol treatment minus the truffles. Staff will simply be given routine lie detector tests (certain high-level staff will, however, be exempt, as it is written into their job descriptions to spin information to deceive the public, as well as withhold information from certain sodium pentatholized Council members ).

Yes, plugging “leaks” seems a crucial part of any ethics policy crafted by Taylor for use by our Ann Arbor City Council members.

Pay-to-play? In Illinois the pay-to-play game got Blago impeached. In Ann Arbor, the Mayor looks forward to collecting regular campaign “donations” from about 35 percent of the people he appoints to boards and commissions, from people to whom city contracts are awarded, and various “colleagues” at the University of Michigan, where he and is wife were given high-paying part-time jobs some years ago. Pay-to-play is not addressed in Council member Taylor’s ethics policy. Thank goodness, too. Mayor Hieftje would have to run his campaigns on 35 percent less money, and you know what that would mean, don’t you? He’d actually have to fundraise from the rabble. 

Friar Christo’s ethics policy doesn’t touch on the issue of conflicts of interest, either. Again, this omission is for the best. Repeat after me slowly, while staring at a shiny object: “The are no conflicts of interest among the members of Ann Arbor City Council. The are no conflicts of interest among the members of Ann Arbor City Council. The are no conflicts of interest among the members of Ann Arbor City Council or city staff.” 

It’s a coincidence that our Mayor, with a BA, is one of the highest paid lecturers at the University of Michigan School of Public Policy. That slacker in the department with the MacArthur Genius Award on his mantle can’t hold a candle to Mayor Johnny H. It’s a coincidence that Hieftje’s wife landed a part-time job at the University after her husband was elected to office. It was a coincidence that the most recent $36,000 consulting contract went to the law firm where City Attorney Stephen Postema once worked. It was a mere chance that Mayoral appointee Bonnie Bona’s design firm was awarded the 2005 contract to redesign the Argo Pond Park shelter, landscaping and building. I could go on, but that’s a whole different blog entry I’m saving for later.

Christopher Taylor is plowing ahead with his ethics policy like a pot-bellied ball hog paying the whole outfield at a Sunday afternoon softball game. His actions are a bush league attempt to have an issue to run on next summer when his constituents are reminded of his part in the City Council email scandal, and his part, perhaps, in giving one developer a huge leg up over five others in a supposedly “fair” bidding process to choose what get built atop the public land next to the library.

“But I crafted an ethics policy that was adopted by Council,” Taylor will repeat ad infinitum between the months of April and August 2010 as he runs for re-election. In reality, closing out the public demonstrates quite clearly that what he’s doing is simply using ethics for his own political gain. It’s an egregious ethical lapse, and it can still be remedied.

If Christopher Taylor is serious about breaking the pattern of deception and disdain for the public good that runs through our current Council Majority (and he may well be), he will ask the Mayor to appoint an advisory committee that does not include Hieftje’s or Council members’ political donors, political cronies, ex-lovers, and/or blood relations. Council member Taylor will turn to the public, as well as religious leaders and academic experts on ethics in public policy and public service for guidance, input and help.

If he doesn’t, he’ll have taken an opportunity for real change, put lipstick on it, and we’ll end up with a pig of a policy that won’t change anything. It will be enforced by the same Council Majority caught repeatedly in FOIAed emails during open meetings demonstrating the ethical depravity of Mao and his Gang. 

Saint Thomas Aquinas believed that truth is known through reason. I can see no reason, to tell you the truth, for Council member Christopher Taylor to exclude the public from this important policy decision.

Popularity: 27% [?]

November 24, 2009

U of M Deans “Endorse” Conference Center Proposal, and Demonstrate Why Prostitution Is Not Confined to Street Corners

Filed under: developers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 1:13 pm
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 4.8/5 (8 votes cast)

The City officials finally released the proposals submitted to build atop the as-yet unbuilt underground library lot parking garage. The movie title? “Conference Center of Dreams.” Mayor Hieftje will be played by Kevin Spacey (not Costner). The “Keep the plan secret from the public, then ‘out of the blue’ issue an RFP, all the while having secret discussions with one developer” school of downtown development originated in Sodom and Gomorrah. I’m just waiting for someone on Council to get turned into a pillar of salt after looking back longingly on the 2007-2009 budget. Those halcyon days when now-departed third Ward Council member Leigh Greden assured everyone on City Council that the city’s herd of tax cows supposedly generated enough property tax milk to build a $40 million dollar Temple to the Three Judicial deities (Easthope, Creal and Hines) and a $55 million dollar necropolis to house 800 cars. 

After the library lot proposals came in, it was unclear whether anyone at City Hall would be able to remember the combination to the vault where the bid envelopes were stashed. It’s the same vault that houses ex-Council member Joan Lowenstein’s deleted emails from when she served on City Council, and the $100,000,000 Mayor Hieftje brags he has “saved” Ann Arbor over the decade he has been in office. It was also unclear anyone in City Attorney Stephen Postema’s office could locate the actual wording of the Freedom of Information Act that called for all of the bid information, once received by City officials and opened, to be released to the public. Why AnnArbor.com and a citizen had to “request” (file FOIA’s) to get  the information released is yet another mystery to be investigated by Mulder and Scully. Once the PDF proposal summary was leaked to A2Politico and I blogged about it on November 20th, City officials put the PDF proposal summary online. Here’s a link to the city’s library lot proposal RFP page. Here’s a link to a November 23rd AnnArbor.com piece by Ryan Stanton with pictures of the six projects.

As expected, the conference center proposal from Valiant Partners closely follows the proposal that was secretly circulated and pitched by City Administrator Roger Fraser to City Council members in January 2009 at the City Council’s retreat.  According to documents unearthed by local blogger, 2008 Fifth Ward City Council candidate and past County Commissioner, Vivienne Armentrout, Valiant has been working on this proposal since April 2008.  In fact, Valiant Partners was formed in April of 2008 for the specific purpose of pitching a proposal for a conference center to Ann Arbor City Council. That nice head start gave the Four Princes Valiant (Bruce Zenkel, an investment banker and developer from New York, Michael Mailkin, an attorney from New York, Ann Arbor business consultant Fritz Seyferth, and attorney Bruce Elliott)  lots of time to schmooze the folks at the city and Downtown Development Authority (DDA), as well as at University of Michigan. 

The proposal includes two letters of recommendation from University of Michigan deans. The first is Dr. James O. Woolliscroft, MD, Dean. Is it me, or does his letter of “endorsement” sound like it was written while sitting under a naked bulb with water boarding apparatus nearby? The two sentence (seriously, two sentence) letter says, “A conference center that will allow Ann Arbor to host large events is desirable, and I support efforts to make this reality.” Replace “conference center” with bawdy house, and we have a space to meet Dr. Woolliscroft’s needs, n’est pas? The other “endorser” was the Dean David C. Munson, Jr., Dean of Engineering. “We have a strong need for a space for plenary sessions with 500 participants and break-out sessions of 75 participants,” writes the Dean of Engineering. Oh, it should be “centrally” located, as well. Yo, Dr. Munson, the Second Floor Ballroom at the Michigan League holds 500 nicely. In fact this handy room capacity document shows that the Michigan League has all the space for which Dr. Munson says Ann Arbor has a “strong need.” Thus, why he “strongly endorses the need for a conference center” remains a mystery….or not.

The deans’ “endorsements” are blatant pimping out of their titles given to them by the University of Michigan. Munson’s letter of “endorsement” borders on the outright deceptive, and as for Woolliscroft’s “endorsement” of Seyferth’s conference center project, Fritz Seyferth worked for Dr. James Woolliscroft as a development officer at the University of Michigan cardiovascular center until November 30, 2008. It appears that friends never let friends pitch multi-million dollar conference centers without providing letters of “endorsement.” The supposedly unsullied “endorsement” would have read somewhat differently had Dr. W. written, “I support the efforts of my former employee Fritz Seyferth to make this conference center a reality.”

It reminds me of U of M former Provost Dr. Paul Courant’s “endorsement” of John Hieftje on the Mayor’s web site and in Hieftje’s campaign literature. Courant goes on about Hizzoner’s “remarkable leadership and skill in a tough budget environment.” Of course, Paul Courant hired Hieftje (who holds a B.A. from Eastern Michigan) to teach in the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy. They work together. So, think about how the “endorsement” for Hieftje would read if it were written, well, honestly: “My employee and work colleague has shown remarkable leadership and skill in a tough budget environment.” That endorsement might kinda leave you with a different impression Courant’s ability to give an unbiased evaluation of Hieftje’s “remarkable” work, might it not?

Back to the Princes Valiant. They had time to interview either 60 or 75 people about the need for a conference center, depending on which page of the proposal you are reading.

They could also teach the folks at Ann Arbor SPARK a thing or two on inflating the economic development impact of their proposal.  They’ve managed to turn some temporary construction jobs and low paid service worker jobs into millions of dollars in benefits for Ann Arbor.  Water into wine. And on top of all that, the Brothers Valiant are building a 32,000 square foot state of the art conference center that will cost Ann Arbor nothing!  That’s right—absolutely nothing!  Well, there are a couple of minor things they need.  They’d like the city to back the bonds for the project. So, if the the development project goes belly up, like Lower Town and the Georgetown Mall development projects, Ann Arbor taxpayers will be on the hook for the money, and not the developers. But not to worry.  There will be no trouble paying the bonds because a big hunk of the property tax revenue from the hotel/condo part of the project will be diverted to pay the bonds, and the developers would like a large part of the room tax to be diverted to paying off the conference center bonds as well.  Just because Michigan is in the worst recession in decades and just because the last downtown hotel went belly up and the city could not even sell it for the back taxes doesn’t mean this project won’t be wildly successful.

Despite Valiant’s huge head start, and the substantial support from city insiders, the Acquest proposal is coming on strong.  Their cover letter says they have talked to Washtenaw County Administrator Bob Guenzel, Hank Baier (U of M VP for Facilities and Operations) and Jim Kosteva (U of M Director of Community Relations and VP of Government Relations)  of the University of Michigan about a public/private opportunity to develop  a 40,000 to 50,000 square foot public event/conference center on the YMCA site.  In a brilliant move to overcome Valiant’s head start, Acquest has hired the DDA’s construction manager and the parking structure engineer who will be building the underground parking garage.  Acquest is proposing a phase 1 consisting of a hotel and about 5,000 square feet of conference space.  But have no fears, there are still plenty of opportunities for the public to finance this private development.  Acquest is willing to rent the first floor space at “cost” to the city.  Acquest even offered to lease spaces in the new parking structure (yeah, the one your tax dollars are being used to build).

The fly in the ointment of the competing Guenzel-Fraser conference center proposals is the Dahlmann proposal for a park.  Damn Dennis Dahlmann and his ice rink. Dahlmann’s proposal says he does not need financing, and he clearly has the track record to do the proposed project.  If his project is selected, the DDA can save millions because they don’t have the extra cost of supporting a large building.  Those savings would make a nice endownment for the parks department. Is it any wonder city officials didn’t want to let the public see the proposals? The spinmeisters need time to figure out how a conference center and hotel paid for by taxpayers beats out having local developer Dennis Dalhmann give the city a large downtown plaza.

Maybe more letters of endorsement? I hear from a reliable source, there are local politicos (County Commissioner Leah Gunn, Representative John Dingell, and State Senator Liz Brater come immediately to mind) who would endorse Satan for the right political reasons. Would they endorse a Temple to Satan? That’s a hell of a good question.

Popularity: 36% [?]

November 23, 2009

After Trustee Friedman Buys “Second” Home in B-ham, AA BOE Meeting Attendance Rate Plummets to 17.8 Percent

Filed under: education — Tags: , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 12:00 pm
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 5.0/5 (3 votes cast)

Going to work 72 percent of the time is enough is get most employees reprimanded and, if there were no improvement, fired. Showing up at work 17.8 percent of the time is enough to get an employee canned even faster. Ann Arbor Board of Education member Randy Friedman was recently quoted in a piece posted to AnnArbor.com by writer David Jesse, as saying, “…The purchase of a home in Birmingham shouldn’t disqualify him from serving on the school board since he still owns a home in Ann Arbor.” Since it’s a second home, it does not, in fact, legally disqualify him from serving. Friedman also was quoted as saying, “I don’t have to have my kids in the district to care for education in Ann Arbor,” Friedman said. This may be true, as well, though certainly among district parents who commented on the AnnArbor.com site, as well as A2Politico, there is some disagreement about this. 

What Friedman was saying, in essence, is that the July 2009 purchase of the second home in Birmingham so ease the commute time to school at Detroit Country Day for his four children, does not impact his ability or desire to serve on the Ann Arbor Board of Education. 

Attendance records posted to the Board of Education web site show that as far as Friedman is concerned the political spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. His attendance at regularly scheduled Board of Education meetings prior to the purchase of his “second” home was 72 percent. He was there more often than not, but compared to other trustees his absences at board meetings, executive meetings, committee meetings and study sessions stands out.

It’s not until we look at Friedman’s attendance record beginning in July 2009, shortly after he purchased what he told AnnArbor.com’s David Jesse was a “second” home, that we get a better idea of the impact the purchase of the house has had on Friedman’s performance as the Treasurer of the Board of Education. Friedman refused to divulge to the AnnArbor.com reporter how many nights a weeks he and his family stay in the B-ham home as opposed to their home in Ann Arbor.

Beginning in July 2009, Randy Friedman’s attendance at regularly scheduled Board of Education meetings, committee meetings, executive meetings and study sessions plummeted. Over the course of the past five months, since the purchase of his house, Friedman has attended only 1.25 out of 7 meetings. He arrived at one 7 p.m. meeting at 7:50 and the meeting ended at 8:15 p.m.  

Clearly, Randy Friedman’s attendance at only 17.8 percent of BOE meetings since the purchase of his “second” home at which he spends an undisclosed number of evenings, is adversely impacting his ability to serve the parents and students of the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Board of Education Treasurer Randy Friedman is now absent from meetings most of the time, and at a particularly critical moment in the district’s financial struggles.

Below you’ll find the 2007, 2008, 2009 meeting dates and Friedman’s attendance noted.

FRIEDMAN SWORN IN ON JULY 9,  2007

REGULAR Board of Education meeting attendance:

 

July 7, 2007: Trustee Friedman was sworn in (Present)

 

September 5, 2007: Present

 

September 19, 2007: Absent

 

October 24, 2007: Absent (Skyline Study Session)

 

November 14, 2007: Absent

 

November 28, 2007: Present

 

December 12, 2007: Present

 

January 9, 2008: Present

 

January 23, 2008: Absent

 

February 20, 2008: Present

 

March 12, 2008: Present

 

March 26, 2008: Present

 

April 16, 2008: Present

 

April 30, 2008: Absent

 

May 14, 2008: Present

 

May 28, 2008: Present

 

June 11, 2008: Present

 

June 18, 2008: Present

 

18 Total Meetings: 

 

PRESENT AT 13 MEETINGS

ABSENT FROM 5 MEETINGS

 

Attendance rate: 72 percent

 

JULY 2009: FRIEDMAN PURCHASES HOME IN BIRMINGHAM, MI

July 8, 2009: Absent


August 19, 2009: Absent

 

September 9, 2009: Present

 

September 23, 2009: Absent


October 1, 2009: Absent

 

October 14, 2009: Present (arrived at 7:50 p.m. Meeting began at 7:04 and adjourned at 8:15 p.m.)

 

October 28, 2009: Absent

 

7 Meetings:

 

PRESENT AT 1.25 MEETING

ABSENT FROM 5.75 MEETINGS

 

Attendance rate: 17.8 percent

 

2009 Perfomance Committee Meetings

 

September 17, 2009: Absent

 

1 Meeting:

 

PRESENT AT 0 MEETINGS

ABSENT FROM 1 MEETING

 

Attendance rate: 0 percent

Popularity: 18% [?]

When Welfare Daddies Greatly Exaggerate To Keep Their Benefits

Filed under: money, politics, taxes — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — A2 Politico @ 7:00 am
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 5.0/5 (8 votes cast)

On November 20, 2009, Ann Arbor SPARK Managing Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Elizabeth Perkins, posted this piece of propaganda to the AnnArborChronicle.com site. It is typical SPARK scat (and not of the Jazz singing variety). Perkins writes,

In a nutshell, our [SPARK's] 2006-2008 ROI:
•101 project successes – $925 million new investment commitments
•7,054 new jobs and 5,740 jobs retained
•155 innovation start-ups through SPARK Business Accelerator
•Leveraged community investments to $32.5 million — through acquisition of Federal and State of Michigan funding and equipment donation to Michigan Innovation Equipment Depot
•Assisted 350 regional companies with employee searches
•Assisted 3000+ job seekers with employment searches

Did you pause at the spot in the ROI fairytale where Perkins has a break with reality and claims SPARK has created 7,054 new jobs and “retained” 5,740 jobs? In April 2009, LDFA Chair Richard King (the LDFA board members are appointed by Ann Arbor City Council to supervise SPARK) reported to Ann Arbor City Council that SPARK had created 600 jobs since 2006. When the LDFA recently hit up Council for an additional $205,000 to hire a staff member for SPARK to answer the phones and check the email, the November 16th presentation included the number of jobs SPARK had “created” between April 2009 and November 2009: 60. 

So, since 2006, SPARK has created 660 new jobs, according to the Chair of the City Council-appointed Board that oversees the entity, and City Council member Stephen Rapundalo. It was Rapundalo, who sits on the LDFA Board, who brought the $205,000 funding resolution to City Council. First Ward Council member Sandi Smith even gave Council member Rapundalo, and Skip Simms, the managing director of entrepreneurial business development at SPARK, an opportunity to take credit for creating 7,054 new jobs when Smith asked a follow-up question about the 60 jobs created. Skip didn’t correct Council member Smith and say that SPARK had created 7,054 jobs. Instead, Simms answered her question about the 60 jobs created.

So what’s going on? Is it 7,054 jobs created or 660 jobs created? To answer that, we’re going to have to bring in another character, former SPARK CEO Rick Snyder.

That’s the same Rick Snyder, who’s now running for Governor, and whose budget reform plan includes:

-Determine priorities in spending
-Create measurable goals for spending priorities
-Create a multi-year budget based upon spending priorities
-Publish regular assessments of progress towards goals
-Identify strengths and weaknesses of programs based upon achievement of goals
-Publish all spending online so citizens can ensure their tax dollars are being spent effectively and responsibly

Snyder was the CEO of SPARK from its creation in July 2006, through May 22, 2009, when he left to concentrate on his political aspirations. The movie will be titled: The Wizard of SPARK goes to Lansing. If you wonder how Snyder would do dealing with billions of public dollars, you need only look as far as how he dealt with a few million public dollars as the CEO of SPARK. Annual reports, issued by SPARK while Rick Snyder was in charge claim the “creation” and “retention” of thousands of jobs. Snyder’s Annual Reports make for better reading than Melville’s Moby Dick—both Snyder and Captain Ahab pursue the White Whale come hell, high water, standard practices of accounting and the inconvenient truth. 

In fact, Snyder was still in charge at SPARK in April of 2009 when Richard King went before City Council and (to his credit) told the truth about the actual number of actual jobs created in Ann Arbor between July 2006 and April 2009. 

This distinction between promised and actual jobs is a critical one, and one that the SPARK Spin-o-matic Machine, devised and set into motion by Rick Snyder, has never found necessary to distinguish. In fact, SPARK’s PR Director Perkins and SPARK’s CEO Michael Finney, (as did Rick Snyder before them), are in the business of counting their chickens before they’re hatched. They’re not only counting their chickens before they’re hatched, they’re telling taxpayers the fairytale that they’re got 7,054 chickens. Richard King and the LDFA board that oversees our traveling minstrels and bards from SPARK have told the whole truth—that 660 of those eggs have hatched. Richard King also made clear that those 660 eggs would have hatched without a penny’s worth of help from the Ann Arbor taxpayers. So why have our City Council members continued to give money to the LDFA to give to SPARK? 

Well, because the lot of them still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the SPARK Job Creation Fairy. 

Here is a perfect example of how the Job Creation Fairy works. In 2008, Google came to town promising to create 1,100 jobs by 2011. SPARK, then, took credit for having “created” 1,100 jobs. Press releases were written and flashed over the transom to every newspaper this side of Beijing. It’s almost 2010, and Google officials will no longer speak to the Press about exactly how many employees the company has or will have at the Ann Arbor office. I’ll tell you. There have been about 210 actual jobs created by Google thus far, or 19 percent of the jobs promised. Will Google add 900 more actual jobs during 2010? We can all hope. What no one should do is go around bragging to people that there have been 1,100 jobs “created” by Google’s move to Ann Arbor. That is exactly what SPARK does, and what our local elected officials do. They mislead taxpayers about the actual accomplishments of SPARK so that their friends and political cronies can keep their jobs. Those friends and political cronies then donate money to keep our elected officials in office. Matching up SPARK and LDFA Board member names with names on campaign finance donor records for Ann Arbor’s Mayor, Washtenaw County Commissioners, and Ann Arbor City Council members is an interesting game of connect-the-political appointment to the political donations.

The relationship between City Council, SPARK and the LDFA is a classic political circle jerk from start to finish. 

I was amazed when I read Snyder’s budget reform plan for the state of Michigan. Not because I think his ideas are unique in any way, but rather because he implemented few of those same tools during his tenure at SPARK. In fact, in October of 2008 the Treasurer of the LDFA Board resigned over shoddy record keeping, conflicts of interest, accounting irregularities, and lack of internal financial controls at Rick Snyder’s SPARK. 

According to the October 2008 piece in the Ann Arbor News, that stick-in-the-economic-development-mud, LDFA Treasurer Mike Reid found, “instances where SPARK employees or family members of employees were paid to consult for their own companies…Mike Reid said he was resigning as treasurer of the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti SmartZone Local Development Finance Authority in protest over what he sees as the board’s failure to hold Spark responsible for ‘pervasive contractual deficiencies’ in its record-keeping and use of funds.” Ouch.

In 2007, about 30 percent of SPARK’s $2.3 million dollar budget came from taxpayers. By 2008, that percentage had risen to 38 percent of a $3 million dollar budget. On November 16th, City Council voted unanimously to give the LDFA a $205,000 handout of our tax dollars to pass on it’s only child, SPARK. All of the money “captured” by the LDFA’s TIF comes from our local public schools. Thus, every dollar the LDFA gives to SPARK is a dollar not available for public education. 

I have no doubt that Republican candidate Rick Snyder would rely on the same kinds of tactics as Governor of Michigan that he devised while CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK. Look at his track record: In less time than a single gubernatorial term, Snyder created a legacy of deception, cronyism, and misuse of taxpayer money while at the head of Ann Arbor SPARK. I imagine Rick Snyder would go hog wild doling out political welfare to his political pals, donors and cronies if set loose on our state’s multi-billion dollar budget.

Ann Arbor’s City Council and Mayor have allowed the LDFA to divert millions of tax dollars from public education since 2006, and kept SPARK on the public dole long enough. It’s time for all those Ann Arbor SPARK welfare Mamas and Daddies created by Rick Snyder, and whose six-figure salaries are funded by our local politicos with our tax dollars, to get off welfare and get honest jobs. Hey, maybe SPARK CEO Michael Finney can get one of those jobs he “created.” Unfortunately, such a job probably won’t pay him the $200K per year and great benefits his job at SPARK does.

Popularity: 24% [?]

November 21, 2009

Weekend Fun: A Quiz. The Week In Review

Filed under: weekend fun, weekend quiz — Tags: , — A2 Politico @ 9:52 pm
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rate this posting
Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

So, you’ve been frittering away your time at the A2Politico blog along with the other A2 politicos who stop by, sometimes 2-3 times per day, sometimes more often.

But how closely do you read the blog? This week’s quiz is about the content that was posted over the course of the past week. If you get 8/8, you move to the head of the class.

Good luck!

This past week a member of the Ann Arbor Board of Education resigned for "personal" reasons. Who was it?





This past week, on A2Politico a comment broke the story of an Ann Arbor Board of Education member whose children are sent to a private school outside Ann Arbor. Who was the BOE member?





On Friday, A2Politico was the first site in A2 to post a PDF of the library lot proposal summary. The PDF showed how many proposals had been submitted for projects to be built atop the yet unbuilt library lot parking garage?





This week's Weekend Poll is: Should AA BOE Members Accept Campaign Donations from the Teachers’ Union? Without peeking, what do the majority of the 332 A2 politicos who've voted thus far think?





On November 19th, A2Politico posted on campaign donations accepted by current (and past) members of the Ann Arbor Board of Education. Which BOE member has accepted the most money in donations from the MEA-PAC (the teachers' union), as well as other union PACs?





The November 13th Weekend Poll is: Keeping Up With the Joneses! Should AAPS Follow Saline’s Lead and Re-Open The Teachers’ Contract? Without peeking, what do the majority of the A2 politicos who've voted in the poll thus far think?





Which A2Politico blog post was the most commented on last week?





On November 16, "The Politics of Mooching: Panhandler Asks Council for a $205,000 Hand-out," was posted to A2Politico. Who was the panhandler referred to in the blog posting?







Popularity: 12% [?]

Older Posts »
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes