The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, a right wing group which has been busy running a smear campaign all the way to the comments section of your Important Blog, finally has a giant triumph to show off. Congratulations!
So, what did they do? How is the MTA going to help you and me? What’s their important idea for helping you find a good job? What will they do to make our schools better, our streets safer, and our Great Lakes cleaner? What’s their idea for improving Michigan?
Here’s what they did to make things better! They just spent more than $100,000 to commit felony fraud while campaigning to recall Democrat Andy Dillon, Michigan’s Speaker of the House. If that sounds stupid to you, then you’re not alone.
The right wing extremists in the MTA believe that any project done with public funds must be “corrupt” and “wasteful.” The MTA has fought dirty because they can’t win fair and square. Since the Speaker of the House, Andy Dillon, voted for a budget which changed Michigan’s revenue system (and which included a decrease in some taxes and a slight increase in certain tax brackets), the MTA decided to make an example out of him. The MTA couldn’t just organize the people in Dillon’s district to vote him out of office this coming November (apparently not enough people think his vote on the budget was wrong). So, they decided to abuse the recall provisions in Michigan law to try to force him out early. About four whole months early.
This amounted to an abuse of the recall provisions by, first of all, moving to recall a Representative over a policy disagreement. If you don’t like the way your representative is voting, then don’t reelect your representative. Recall isn’t there for this kind of disagreement. Second of all, they abused the recall provisions by doing nearly all of their political work outside of Michigan. If a lawmaker deserves to be recalled, you’ll find plenty of angry people right there in the district. But the right wing got nearly all of their donations not only from outside the Detroit area district Dillon represents, but they had to go outside the state of Michigan — outside the Midwest. They got huge donations from ultra-wealthy right wingers in Florida and other far away places.
But they also abused the recall by breaking Michigan election law several times over. The right wing hired people to pick random names out of the telephone book, and they forged random signatures on the recall petition. Turns out that’s illegal. They did more illegal stuff, too, like lie about the petition’s purpose (”Sign this to lower your gas tax!”), they got people from outside Dillon’s district to circulate recall petitions, and they made illegal contributions of $11,000 to a right wing political action committee.
So, that’s what the MTA is celebrating. They submitted their petition to recall Dillon, a petition which will soon be invalidated. And the recall, even if it succeeds, is pointless. Dillon will be up for reelection in November, anyway.
The MTA will tell you that the reason their precious Dillon recall helps Michigan is that it moves their anti-tax agenda forward. The truth is that their crazy conservatism cannot win an actual election for anything. The vast majority of Americans understand that there are two things certain in life: death and taxes. Anyone who tells you either isn’t necessary is trying to pull one over on you and is probably insane. Since this is America, though, even the MTA is free to participate in our democracy to move their plan to abolish all taxes forward. If they’re serious about making their dreams come true, they should organize voters and convince them that they’re right. So far, they haven’t been able to do that. That’s because most people know that the MTA is crazy.
The rest of us in the reality-based community understand that government, while imperfect, is necessary. We should be sure to reward hard work and protect the rights of individuals. We have to root out corruption and waste in government, to be sure. But government is the only place where we all come together to change things for the common good. Only through government do we all pitch in to build infrastructure and schools, hire police and firefighters, to create better jobs, and to protect our environment. No one likes paying taxes, but I understand that I have to if I want a better community.
The MTA’s crazy conservatism won’t help move Michigan forward. But I’m happy they’ve decided to make fools out of themselves in this recall effort, because that makes them even more of a sideshow than they already were.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 wctaxpayer // May 6, 2008 at 9:59 am
Your blog is only the most important because it gives the prime example of how a blog can be used for misinformation. I started the recall of Andy Dillon after voting for him twice. He told me he was a fiscal conservative then went on to vote for the largest tax increase in Michigan History. I think an increase of $1.4 billion is an inexcusable increase each year without any attempt at cutting the budget. There was also an increase of 7% in the legislative budget. Explain to me how that was necessary.
As for illegal activities, I am confident the truth will come out in court as we have video tape of Dillon’s thugs and their activities. I have no worries on our part, as our activities were legal.
You can check out some of the less egregious videos at blockersrus.com .
I know this is falling on deaf liberal ears so I will not continue. If you want more information you can access my blog on my homepage http://www.wctaxpayers.org.
Rose Bogaert, Chair
Wayne County Taxpayers Association, Inc.
Taxpayers to Recall Andy Dillon
2 FellowTaxpayer // May 7, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Dear Rose, I’m a frequent reader of this blog who loves to disagree with Erik, but only when he actually IS wrong.
I can’t load your wctaxpayers website that you link to above (bandwith problem?) so I’ll pose a couple questions here in case you check back. Most of them should be pretty easy to answer.
1. I’m willing to accept the idea that petitioners have been the victims of thugs, but I looked on the blockersrus website and could only find a video of people holding up signs, and some police asking petitioners not to block a sidewalk. I don’t get it. “Thug” - is usually defined as someone engaged in violent/criminal activity. Is there video online somewhere that shows actual thuggery?
2. I hate taxes, but assume Erik is right about Dillon being up for re-election in November. When will he be out of office if the recall succeeds?
Does a recall prevent him from running in November?
Who is planning to run against Dillon in November, and what are his/her chances of winning?
3. A lot of politicians (most notably George Bush) would lose a “yes/no” vote on whether they should be in office. But that doesn’t mean they would lose a comparative race against a real opponent. Are you seeking a recall because you think Dillon is likely to win re-election in November against real opponents?
4. If you think Dillon is likely to lose in November, then what is the advantage of the recall? Are there more taxes that you think Dillon is going to raise in the time between when he would be removed by the recall and the election in November?
Hope to hear back from you in this space or elsewhere,
A Fellow Taxpayer
3 wctaxpayer // May 7, 2008 at 6:19 pm
First let me say that some people find it a lot faster to Google us and then click on the link. It should take you to our website with no problem. You can also access our blog from there.
Now to your Questions. If you go to my blog you will see some of my personal experinces. While we may not have gotten pictures of all the thuggery, believe me when I say there behavior was bad. Sometimes there were six or seven at a time. They lied to store owners the stood in circles around us. Even the Redford Police were in their pocket due to the Redford supervisors involvement. It was bad.The followed us home. They followed us whenever we left our house. We started leading them on wild goose chases sometime just to give others a chance to collect signatures.
Dillon is up for reelection. But the publicity to get him recalled would not have been possible do to the others running for office for president, congress and others. And yes he can run again in November but even so if Recalled he would be removed from office the day the election is certified. It is my belief that he would not be eligable for lifetime benefits because he would not have served three full terms unless he was elected to the senate.
It is up to the Democrats and the Republican to decide who runs against him. I did find out today that a bill to appropriate more money to education, which he and the Governor think is very important, lost by one vote. The reason is, he is on vacation in Mexico this week. Certainly a great place to be when everything is such a mess in this state. Its not like they don’t get a lot of free time at other times of the year. Then there is the budget he should be working on. Oh well we all have our priorities.
He has already indicated he would would vote for a gas increase after the November election. I can only hope that he is not reelected. I will try my best to see that it does not happen.
4 FellowTaxpayer // May 8, 2008 at 6:06 am
Hi WCtaxpayer. Thanks for the reply. I think something weird must be going on with one of your web servers because sometimes your site loads just fine and other times it doesn’t. Anyway, I have seen it now, and your blog. I’ll try to be brief with my comments/questions:
1. First, thuggery: I still have a hard time finding anything other than pictures of people standing in place, and vague descriptions of harassment. I’m willing to believe that you all felt intimidated, but the descriptions of the actual behavior are pretty subjective in nature. I guess I’m wondering:
first if the “blockers” violated any laws, and
second, whether it’s only their tactics that you object to, or do you object to their right to express their opinions at all in the same place where you are expressing your opinions?
And if you don’t object to the latter, how could they do it in a way that would be acceptable to you? I.e. - what’s the most assertive way that they could express their opinions in your vicinity and still have you be okay with their conduct?
2. I see they hired a convicted felon, but his felonies appear to be two armed robberies committed 18 years ago. I doubt anyone at wctaxpayers would deny that this person has a right to work and try to earn a living (correct me if I’m wrong!), so it seems like this would only be relevant if he had violated his parole. -And in fact, that should be easier to prove than a straight violation of the law by a citizen, since rules for parolees are far more strict than the “laws of the land” for regular citizens. So did he violate his parole and has any legal action been brought against him?
3. You said Dillon would be recalled on the day the election is certified. I don’t know exactly how the election “certification” process works. Could you be a little more specific about when that is relative to the day of the election? Is it possible that he gets recalled, but wins re-election and therefore never has to leave office? -or goes right back into office after a short absence?
4. Do you happen to know the HB number of the education bill that was voted down by one vote? I can’t find it on the Michigan legislature website but there are a lot of bills listed there and I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for. Also, for my own sense of fairness, how does Dillon’s overall vacation time compare to other legislators that you’re aware of, and have you been equally critical of President Bush, who will (or already has) surpassed Ronald Reagan for taking more vacation days than any president in history?
5 wctaxpayer // May 8, 2008 at 10:11 am
I must be brief as well. I am glad you got through to our website and blog.
Of course I believe in there right to explain their position. It does not take six or seven people to express an opinion. They do not have to lie, swarm at a voter or misrepresent. They do not have to use the “by any mean necessary” approach to insure that they acheive their position.
One of their major complaints, is that we have outsiders. It is true but not one of them collected any signatures. Their thugs were not all from the district including the felon. Yes he has a right to work and to be in the district stating his opinion but the tactics they employed did not extend the same courtesy. Our police reports fell on deaf ears.
Certification of the election usually happens within a day or two of the election.
The vote happened yesterday You will have to look up thee bill as I have a fuoll day. You can go to Michiganvotes.org.
Last, it is not the vacation time, or maybe it is, but it is the when. This is budget time. We will find ourselves in the same situation as last year if something is not done. This time it is education next time it will be police and fire. Then they will say I told you so. This is nonsense. They should do their jobs.
6 VegasConnection // May 14, 2008 at 6:29 am
it is TRULY sad to see how much ignorance (i.e. hicks without non of that there book learnin’) and straight stupidity is emersed in a once great state of a once great country. Apparently if you are not with them(that is the 18% or so) then you are against them(”terrorist”/”liberal”). Deeply caring and intelligent people have no need to deal in absolutes, then again some “people” would consider that a ‘liberal’ statement. Enjoy hipocracy while you can, WC, power truly returns to the people in 2012 (one way or another)
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