Elections, Politics & Policy

'Smart' meter opponents plan public meetings over new opt-out policy

2013-05-20T13:46:00.002-04:00

Opponents of "smart" utility meters being installed by Michigan's major utilities will hold two meetings in June in Oakland and Wayne counties to talk about the new "opt-out" policy approved last week by the Michigan Public Service Commission.

The new policy says DTE Energy can charge a $67 one-time fee and $9.80 per month to customers who want the radio-frequency smart meters disabled.
Critics of the smart meters say the radio frequencies they use can adversely affect a person's health, although information on the MPSC website says health risks are negligible.
Organizers of the two meetings say it's a "primer" on how the new meters "can harm privacy, environment and health," and what utility customers can do about the new opt-out policy.
The free events are open to residents in Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Washtenaw counties.
The first is 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, June 2, at the Plymouth Public Library Community Room, 223 South Main Street in Plymouth.
The second is 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, at the Rochester Hills Public Library, 500 Olde Town Road in Rochester.
Listed speakers are David Sheldon, president of Michigan Stop Smart Meters, Diana Ostermann, a retired cell phone industry manager, and Linda Kurtz, one of nine people who legally intervened in the proceedings before the MPSC.
Sheldon estimates a million of the smart meters have been installed in southeast Michigan, replacing the older analog meters.
Proponents of the smart meters say they eliminate the need for meter readers to go door-to-door, and are more accurate in helping pinpoint power outages.

Smart meters in Michigan: Opposition continues over new order

2013-05-16T15:56:00.001-04:00

Opponents of electric service smart meters say they'll likely appeal a Michigan Public Service Commission order that allows DTE Energy to continue to install smart meters and to charge monthly fees for people who want their transmitting capabilities disabled.
"You're not paying for a benefit, you're paying to avoid a harm," says David Sheldon from Ferndale. "That's what we find objectionable."
Sheldon and others oppose the installation of the digital smart meters, arguing the radio frequencies they use cause health problems.
But in its ruling Wednesday, the MPSC said utility companies, DTE in this case, can continue replacing analog meters with digital smart meters.
The MPSC said the utility can charge a $67 fee up front and $9.80 a month to customers who choose to have them disabled to cover the costs of having them manually read.
Michigan utilities are in different stages of providing or testing smart meters. The advantage to them is that it eliminates the need for someone to physically read the meters, eliminates estimated utility bills, more accurately pinpoint the causes of power outages, and improves efficiency, according to information from the MPSC.
The MPSC also addresses safety of the smart meters in its frequently-asked-questions section:
"The scientific and medical evidence to date suggests that exposure to RF fields does not cause adverse health effects, provided that exposure is within the safety guidelines. The Unites States federal government and the international health community, including the World Health Organization, plus numerous independent studies have deemed low-level radio frequency to be completely safe. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) limits for radio transmitters of all types, including smart meters. These limits also include a prudent margin of safety. Even so, smart meters operate far below the limit."
Safety is at the heart of opposition and lawsuits over the installation of the meters.
Sheldon said he refused to have a smart meter installed at his house.
"I refused and put a padlock on the meter housing," he said.
Dominic Cusumano, with property in Addison Township and Macomb County, replaced his smart meter with an analog meter because he contends the smart meter adversely affected his wife's health.
A lawsuit between Cusumano and DTE is pending in Oakland County Circuit Court.
Last summer, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution in favor of letting people opt out of the smart meter installation after a lengthy public comment session.
In February, state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, introduced legislation that prohibits utilities from refusing service to people who don't want the smart meters.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette also opposes passing the costs of the smart meter program on to customers, as DTE seeks to do through a broader rate case pending.
"We're still reviewing whether we're going to appeal this particular order," Schuette spokeswoman Joy Yearout said. "We're still involved in challenging the costs of the smart meter program.
"We're continuing to oppose passing any new costs to consumers because the utilities haven't proven the smart meters will save money," she said. "It doesn't make sense to charge consumers for unproven technology. We don't think consumers should be charged a fee if they want to opt out of the technology.

List of Michigan Republicans interested in U.S. Carl Levin's seat gets a little longer

2013-05-14T15:19:00.002-04:00

Michigan Republicans powwowed in Boyne City this past weekend, laying out a strategy to protect the offices held by Republicans in 2014. Part of that strategy includes opening up new offices around the state with the goal of keeping them open in perpetuity.
And no powwow is complete without some speculation about who Republicans might back for the open seat of U.S. Carl Levin, who is retiring at the end of 2014.

Whoever it is will likely have to run against U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Bloomfield Township who has already announced his Senate candidacy.
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak says there's numerous Republicans who can make a race of it against Peters, including former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, former congressional candidate Rob Steele.
Republicans have the most to lose in the 2014 election. As Schostak notes, they have to protect the largest number of Republican offices held by Republicans in 50 years.
Those include nine congressional seats, majorities on the supreme court and in the Michigan Legislature, and statewide offices held by Republicans including governor, secretary of state and attorney general.

Michigan teens face 'competitive' summer job market

2013-05-13T14:37:00.000-04:00

Michigan says the job market for teens ages 16-19 this summer will be "competitive." Surely, teens hunting a job for the summer will think of other adjectives for it.

The projected summer unemployment rate for teens this year is projected at 25.5 percent by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
That's a slight decrease of 1.2 percent from last summer, but still way off the more healthier summer jobless rate for teens of 17.2 percent in 2003.
In all fairness, the worst was 35 percent in 2010, so there's some indication that Michigan's economy is slowly improving.
"Despite these recent improvements, however, the teen unemployment rate remains at relatively high levels," Michigan labor analysts note. "This is due, in part, to the additional competition teens have faced from older workers in recent years."
The state projects 180,900 Michigan teens will find work this summer but that 61,900 will not. State analysts looked at traditional summer jobs like camp counselor, car washer, cashier, delivery, fast food, wait staff, clerical, golf course worker, library aide, stock clerk, usher or attendant, receptionist, sales clerk and office clerk.

Some Democrats want Schauer against Snyder in Michigan in 2014

2013-05-08T14:03:00.007-04:00

Bolstered by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's poll numbers, driven into the negative after right-to-work legislation was passed in December, Democrats are lining up behind a possible opponent to run against the governor in 2014.
John Austin, president of the Michigan State Board of Education, announced his support Wednesday for former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer in 2014.

"We need to start early, rally around the strongest candidate, and Mark is positioned to run strong, unify Democrats, and win over independents who elected Gov. Snyder in 2010," Austin said via email to media.
The 51-year-old Schauer, a Battle Creek Democrat, hasn't formally announced he's a candidate. But recent polls indicate he'd fare well in a match against Snyder if the election were held today.
A poll of 600 people taken by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA April 13-16 indicated that 75 percent of those polled didn't recognize Schauer but that Schauer would edge out Snyder 39 percent to 38 percent.
In another hypothetical match between Snyder and former U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, a Menominee Democrat, 39 percent would vote for Snyder and 38 percent for Stupak, even though 56 percent of those polled didn't know who Stupak was.
Snyder's job approval in the poll was 38 percent positive to 58 percent negative. The governor's job approval was above 50 percent prior to the right-to-work debate in December.
Schauer was elected to Congress in 2008 but a lost a rematch in 2010 to Republican Tim Walberg.
Stupak, now a lobbyist, was elected to Congress in 1992 and served continuously until he decided not to seek re-election in 2010.
A story Tuesday by the website Politico says Schauer is being urged to run against Snyder by the Democratic Governors Association and referenced a poll taken by Geoff Garin, and his memo to the association, that indicated voters would back Schauer 48-42 percent.
In a related video, Snyder said his focus remains "jobs and kids," and said he'd likely make a formal announcement sometime later in the year.
"There's a lot to do because it's a work in progress, but I haven't made a formal announcement," Snyder said.
After winning the governor's office in 2010 by a 58-40 percent margin over Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, Snyder's approval ratings tanked in his early months in office after proposing changes to Michigan tax code Democrats criticized as favorable to corporate and business interests at the expense of the poor, elderly and middle class.
But they gradually recovered until the right-to-work law was passed in the lame duck session of the legislature in December.
This year, Snyder has found himself at odds with the Republican majority that control the House and Senate on a number of issues.
Snyder favors accepting federal money that will allow an expansion of Medicaid coverage in Michigan, but Republicans have blocked that. The governor also has proposed higher gas taxes and registration fees to deal with the state's crumbling roads, which Republicans have also balked at.
And, most recently, Snyder has encountered Republican opposition to a proposal to reform Michigan no-fault auto insurance by capping medical expenses for catastrophic injuries at $1 million, most notably from outspoken Republican Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who last week compared the Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, comments that elicited something of a firestorm and something of an apology.
Yet the 54-year-old governor, holding his first-ever elective office, says he remains excited about the progress in "fundamentally reinventing" Michigan, and noted that he isn't "a career politician."
"I was hired to do a job, I said what I was going to do and I followed up on that, and I believe Michigan voters appreciate that," Snyder said in the video. "We're the comeback state in the United States. Our brightest days are ahead of us and we're going to stay focused."

Michigan no-fault insurance debate: Apology for Hitler analogy may not be enough for some

2013-05-06T14:38:00.003-04:00

Did Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson's tweeted apology Friday comparing Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger to Adolf Hitler go far enough?
Some Republicans don't think so.

"He didn't apologize to Bolger or other Republicans," state Rep. Crawford, a Novi Republican, said Monday. "Other people have an apology coming."
Patterson made the comparison after a legislative committee refused to admit his testimony Thursday opposing proposed reforms to Michigan's no-fault auto insurance law, which he blamed on Bolger.
House Republicans called for an apology, regardless of their position on auto no-fault reforms, offended to the comparison of one of their own to the Nazi dictator.
Patterson's apology came later.
"I alienated some in Jewish comm.when I called the Speaker "Adolf." I was commenting on his leadership style. To those offended I apologize," Patterson said shortly before 6 p.m. Friday in a tweet crammed into that online platform's 140-character limit.
Republicans may be waiting a long time for anything more than that.
"I've gone as far as I'm willing to go," Patterson said Monday, questioning why Crawford didn't ask for sanctions against Bolger for refusing to allow committee testimony on the no-fault reform bill.
The more serious debate behind the verbal theatrics, of course, remains the legislation to reform Michigan's no-fault auto insurance laws backed by Gov. Rick Snyder as a way to reform the system and curb rising auto insurance premiums.

The legislation, House Bill 4612, may not be dead on arrival in the 110-member House, but it's certainly on life support.
Perhaps the most controversial part of it is replacing unlimited medical payments for catastrophic injuries in auto crashes with a $1 million cap, which Patterson said will drive accident victims to bankruptcy and to the Medicaid system.
All 50 Democrats have taken a unified position against changing no-fault auto insurance in Michigan, meaning it'll take just six Republicans to join them in order to defeat the bill, when and if it comes up for a vote.
A head count Monday indicates there's enough opposition just within Oakland County at present to defeat the bill.
All but one of the Oakland County's nine GOP lawmakers oppose the bill in its current form or lean toward voting against it.
"There's another six to nine Republicans around the state (who oppose it)," says Crawford, the Novi Republican. "That's a lot of Republicans for Gov. Snyder to be twisting arms on.
"I think seven of us (in Oakland County) are strongly opposed," Crawford said. "I just don't think it's the right thing to do."
Says Rep. Eileen Kowall, a White Lake Republican: "I'm a no. I just have a lot of concerns. I can't vote it in its current form, that's for sure."
Leaning against the bill is Rep. Joe Graves, a Genesee County Republican whose district includes northwest Oakland County.
"I was leaning no," Graves said. "Until I see something different, I'm still voting no."

Democrats continued to believe Monday that there's not enough support among House Republicans to pass the no-fault reforms.
"I think that other than Tom McMillin, all of the other Republican representatives from Oakland County are either definite no votes or likely no votes," state Rep. Tim Greimel said Monday.
Greimel is an Auburn Hills Democrat and the minority party leader in the House.
"There are at least 10 Republicans who are strongly opposed," Greimel said. "The open question is did Brooks' comments on Friday backfire and make it more likely the Republicans who have been opposed would actually vote for the thing? I think the answer is no.
"I would be very surprised if there's a vote anytime soon, if ever," Greimel said.
McMillin, a Rochester Hills Republican, delivered the most stinging comment about Patterson's remarks, calling Patterson "the Joe Biden of the Republican Party," a dig at the vice president's frequent verbal gaffes in the media.
"I laughed," Patterson said Monday.
But McMillin and Patterson have occasionally been at odds for well over a decade since they battled over control for the Oakland County Republican Party when McMillin was an Auburn Hills city councilman.
Patterson won that fight.
"Brooks and I are largely on good terms," McMillin said Monday. "I think things are going to simmer down."

As for the proposed no-fault reforms, McMillin said he's open to them.
"It seems to me that the system we have in place is fraught with a lot of incentives for fraud," he said. "There's a lot of people making a lot of money off the current system.
"Something needs to be done. If we can make some of those significant changes that can make it a better system for all of us, I would be less open to going to a cap," McMillin said. "One of the benefits of a cap is it makes people more aware of costs."

Hitler comparison inflames debate over Michigan no-fault auto insurance

2013-05-03T14:56:00.000-04:00

Politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows sometimes.
In the escalating debate over reforms to Michigan's no-fault auto insurance, Republican Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson finds himself in the rare position of being on the same team with Michigan Democrats.

Patterson, no stranger to bluntly making a point, used a pocket comb as a mustache Thursday to compare Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger to World War II Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler after the House Insurance Committee refused to let Patterson submit testimony opposing no-fault auto reforms.
The reforms proposed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and backed by Bolger include a $1 million cap on medical payments for catastrophic auto injuries. Currently, there is no cap.
"He's being a bully," Patterson said Friday about Bolger, a Calhoun County Republican, who Patterson referred to as "Herr Bolger" in his continuing criticism.
"One of my guys pointed out to me that when Hitler did take office, take power in Germany, the first thing he did was to round up the sick and the handicapped and send them off to camps, and we never saw them again because he was trying to protect the purity of the Aryan race.
"That's really what we're going to do here," Patterson said. "We're going to round up the really, really seriously injured and ship them off to nursing homes."
Patterson referred to his driver Jim Cram, who was left a quadriplegic from an accident last August in which Patterson was also injured.
"He has two nurses 24 hours a day because he can't do anything," Patterson said. "He's absolutely totally incapacitated so these nurses do everything for him. And you're going to take that away from these people."
Democrats followed up Friday with a news event of their own, continuing their attack on House Bill 4612, which the committee that snubbed Patterson reported out, shifting the political battle to the full 110-member House controlled by Republicans.
Democratic Party Leader Tim Greimel, an Auburn Hills Democrat, and others announced the entire Democratic Party caucus opposes the no-fault reforms.
Progress Michigan, a group founded by Democrats, estimates as many as 10 Republican lawmakers also oppose the no-fault reforms, indicating enough votes to defeat the bill when it comes up for a vote.
"This is a bill that every member of our caucus agrees would hurt the residents we represent," Greimel said. "It is clear to each of our members that this is another example of Gov. Rick Snyder and some legislative Republicans choosing big corporations over Michigan residents, and this time insurance companies win over the catastrophically injured."
Among the criticisms of the reforms is that a $1 million cap on medical benefits will have the effect of shifting the bill for catastrophic care to taxpayer-funded Medicaid.
Snyder and backers of the bill say rising premiums indicate reforms are needed, and that the proposal will mean a $125 per vehicle drop in auto insurance rates.
It is extremely rare for Patterson and Democrats to agree on policy.
But Patterson said some issues transcend politics.
"Sometimes you have to do what you think is right and this fight over no-fault is one of those instances," he said. "Politics be damned. I'm on the side of the angels trying to protect the most vulnerable in our society."
Patterson also said he believes there's enough votes in the Republican-controlled House to defeat the reforms. He predicted that Bolger would be leaning on Republican lawmakers in a bid to see the reforms passed.
"You need 56 to pass it," he said. "If we can pick up eight or nine Republicans, plus all the Dems vote against, there's enough to block it in the House.
"One by one, Republicans who favor the status quo are going to be brought in and waterboarded by Herr Bolger, and they're going to try to turn them and threaten them," Patterson said. "And we'll see. We'll see how tough they are."
Some Republicans, however, believe Patterson's attacks on Bolger have crossed at least a line of civility.
"In the course of discussion over controversial policy issues, sometimes tempers flare," state Rep. Hugh Crawford, a Novi Republican said in a statement. "But to compare a respected leader of the state of Michigan to Adolf Hitler is a step too far.
"Policy differences aside, Brooks has hurt us all with this personal attack. We need to bridge the gap where our differences lie, not widen it, and Brooks needs to apologize immediately for his words and actions."
In his own statement, Snyder said lawmakers need "to make a personal commitment to help establish Michigan as a national leader in restoring respect and civility to the political process."

With Peters in U.S. Senate race in Michigan, who will the GOP draft?

2013-05-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

Now that U.S. Rep. Gary Peters has announced his intent to run for U.S. Senate in 2014, the next question is who will step up to run for the Republicans.
Peters a Bloomfield Township Democrat, made his announcement Wednesday in Rochester, saying that there'll be a clear contrast between him and whoever the eventual Republican candidate may be.

One Republican who has enough cash to get into a statewide battle over Michigan's open Senate seat is U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Howell Republican.
But is Rogers ready to give up his chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee and the seat in Congress he's had for a dozen years to risk a loss in what promises to be a spirited election battle for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Carl Levin?
Peters has proven to be an aggressive campaigner and able to raise campaign cash. Two of his three elections to the U.S. House have been pitched battles.
So far, Rogers isn't saying.
But if not Rogers, then who?
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, a U.S. Senate candidate in 2006, losing to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow 57-41 percent, says he's already taken one for the GOP team and isn't interested.
Might Midland Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Camp be interested? He's chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and, like Rogers, he'd have to give up a powerful committee and his seat to take on Peters.
After those two, the list of Republicans who might be intersted AND can muster the cash for a statewide campaign gets pretty slim.
But it's a safe bet the GOP won't let Peters capture the seat without a challenge.
Both the Michigan Republican Party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have wasted no time attacking Peters for his support of Obamacare, indicating that some Republican candidate will emerge as a challenger at some point.

Worst kept secret: Peters to run for U.S. Senate in Michigan

2013-04-29T15:01:00.000-04:00

Washington, D.C., news outlets The National Journal and Roll Call are both reporting that Michigan U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat, will officially announce Wednesday that he's a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Peters is expected to formally announce Wednesday in Rochester Hills.

A Peters run for the Senate seat being vacated by Carl Levin in 2014 comes as no surprise.
An aggressive fundraiser and campaigner, Peters won election to the U.S. House in 2008 by knocking off a Republican incumbent, then hung on to his seat in 2010 when Republicans regained a lot of turf fueled by tea party discontent with Obamacare. And, in 2012, he was elected to a third term in a newly drawn district after a contested primary.
Peters' entry into the Senate race fills half the dance card for the 2014 election. Now it's up to U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers from Howell to decide if he's going to jump on the Republican side.
While Peters is an aggressive campaigner and fundraiser, Rogers has also amassed a pile of cash, some $1.4 million, that could fuel a Senate run in what is sure to be a dogfight for the seat.
Levin announced he wouldn't seek a seventh six-year term to focus on resolving the nation's problems, opening the door to plenty of speculation about who might, or might not, run.
Both of Michigan's two senators are currently Democrats.

Battle lines drawn in debate over reforming Michigan's no-fault auto insurance

2013-04-29T09:52:00.001-04:00

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Macomb County state Rep. Pete Lund briefly debated proposed changes to Michigan's no-fault auto insurance law Sunday morning on Fox 2 Detroit's "Let It Rip" show moderated by Charlie Langton.
The roughly eight-minute segment barely scratched the surface on what is becoming an increasingly contentious debate.
Lund and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder propose to end Michigan's unlimited medical expenses for catastrophic injuries in car crashes, capping them at $1 million. Patterson is on the side of a coalition that wants to keep the benefits uncapped.

Fox 2 News Headlines

Michigan no-fault auto insurance debate heats up

2013-04-26T14:58:00.002-04:00

The debate over no-fault auto insurance reform in Michigan heats up Sunday when author of reform legislation and one of its chief critics square off.
State Rep. Pete Lund and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson debate no-fault auto insurance at 9:30 a.m. on FOX 2 Detroit's "Let It Rip" show moderated by Charlie Langton.

Lund, a Republican from Macomb County's Shelby Township, introduced legislation Tuesday, with the support of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, to cap medical payments for catastrophic injuries at $1 million and to replace the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association with a newly formed governing corporation with a board appointed by the governor.
Patterson, still recovering from injuries from an auto crash last August, has been an early and vocal critic of capping medical payments under the no-fault system put in place in the 1970s.
He's made a 30-second advertisement opposing the legislation put together by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. In a point he's likely to repeat Sunday, Patterson said Friday that the proposed reforms are anything but.
"If it's got the name 'reform' in front of it, it's got to be good. It's like motherhood, apple pie and reform," Patterson said. "But here they're campaigning for reform on something they themselves created. It's not like the fund came out of nowhere.
"The legislature created it and now they want to reform?" Patterson said. "It's inconsistent."
The hospital association has also put together videos posted on YouTube of accident victims talking about the importance of the catastrophic injury fund to their own recoveries.
The association says the proposal "would permanently trade significant healthcare coverage for catastrophically injured auto accident victims for a one-time $125 premium rebate for policyholders."
"Attempts at cost shifting by auto insurance companies to the Medicaid system and taxpayers is a tired approach, rejected in the Legislature last year and overwhelmingly by voters in 1992 and 1994," said MHA President Spencer Johnson in a statement. "Proposals must break with that tradition to offer value — and not simply bigger bottom lines for insurers."
The governor has his own arguments for supporting changes on his website at www.michigan.gov/snyder.
Snyder, Lund and state Sen. Joe Hune, a Livingston County Republican, pitched the plan prior to the introduction of legislation by Lund.
They argue that Michigan is the only state to require unlimited lifetime medical benefits, and that a lack of cost controls has led to an average auto insurance premium $261 higher than any neighboring state.
They also say that the average insurance medical claim has increased 230 percent in the last 12 years and is now twice as much as the next closest state, and that medical providers often charge auto insurers more for covered services than to do health insurers.
"Michiganders have seen their auto insurance rates rise faster than any other state in the country," Snyder says on his webpage addressing no-fault auto insurance.
"It has been 40 years since the no-fault system has been implemented and it's long overdue for review," Snyder said. "These changes will create a policy that continues to cover accident victims far better than any other state and will create cost controls that stem the tide of rising insurance premiums while also providing immediate relief for families."

Robust job growth forecast for Oakland County

2013-04-25T15:25:00.001-04:00

Oakland County's 28th annual economic forecast is out and, as expected, the outlook is indeed more upbeat than it has been for much of the 21st century, and certainly for the most recent years.

University of Michigan economists George Fulton and Donald Grimes are forecasting that businesses will add 42,000 jobs over the next three years.
But they note that even with those jobs added, it'll only amount to 62 percent of the jobs lost between 2000 and 2009.
Their 32-page forecast was presented in Troy Thursday, and it's worth a read by businesses in the county and by workers and those seeking work.

Michigan no-fault auto insurance reform is no slam dunk

2013-04-24T15:34:00.003-04:00

Legislation in Michigan to reform no-fault auto insurance by putting a $1 million cap on payments for catastrophic injuries won't be easy to achieve.
Announced by Gov. Rick Snyder last week, the push-back was almost immediate.

Just because Snyder is a Republican and Republicans control the House and Senate doesn't make the reforms he's seeking an automatic.

Critics like the Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault say the reforms are designed to benefit insurers and won't have the premium-reducing effect the governor and some lawmakers say is likely.

One Republican critic is Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who says it's a shameful effort by some lawmakers to get control of the $14 billion fund that pays for Michigan's unlimited catastrophic care for auto accident victims.

Patterson, in a severe auto accident last summer, stresses his recovery is paid for by workers compensation, not the no-fault injury fund. But he says he's vehemently opposed to the legislation that has been offered and opposes any cap on medical benefits, arguing $1 million could easily be spent in a matter of months for severe injuries.

Here's the short version of Patterson's thoughts on no-fault insurance reform. The longer version is at http://bit.ly/Y10V5w.

Debbie Dingell bows out of Michigan U.S. Senate race

2013-04-20T12:28:00.002-04:00

Apparently, one Dingell in Congress is enough.
Debbie Dingell, wife of U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a Dearborn area Democrat, announced Saturday she won't run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated at the end of 2014 by Carl Levin.

Dingell sent out a lengthy statement released through the Michigan Democratic Party Saturday morning.
"It's also no secret that I think we need more women in the Senate and in the House, and there was an attraction to potentially being the junior member of an all-Debbie Senate delegation," Dingell's statement said in part.
"But I think it is critical that Democrats unite behind one candidate for what will be a difficult and expensive race, and it's one of the reasons I have concluded that now is not the time for me to run for the United States Senate," Dingell said. "We have good candidates like Gary Peters considering running, and a primary would be divisive at a time that cries out for unity."
Had Dingell chosen to run, she would have faced a potentially bruising primary against Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat in his third term in the U.S. House.
Peters is also weighing a run for Levin's seat.
But Republicans are taking a close look at it too, among them U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers from Howell, who reported last week that he has $1.4 million in cash on hand in what is sure to be an expensive race.
Levin announced recently he wouldn't be seeking a seventh six-year term in the Senate in order to focus on solving the nation's problems.
Michigan's two senators are both Democrats. Debbie Stabenow is the state's junior senator. She was elected in November to a third six-year term.
Michigan's last Republican senators were Spencer Abraham, who Stabenow defeated in 2000, and Robert P. Griffin, who left office at the end of 1978.

Where in the world is Chechnya?

2013-04-19T08:55:00.002-04:00

With the drama continuing to unfold in Massachusetts over two suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon explosions, from Russia's Chechnya, the Associated Press was quick to provide a history lesson of the region dating back to the violent 1990s.
Writes the AP from Moscow:
"Militants from Chechnya and other restive regions in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus have targeted Moscow and other areas with bombings and hostage-takings, but the allegations of involvement in the Boston Marathon explosions would mark the first time they had conducted a terror attack in the West.

"The conflict in Chechnya began in 1994 as a separatist war, but has quickly morphed into an Islamic insurgency whose adepts vow to carve out an independent Islamic state in the Caucasus.
"Militants from Chechnya and neighboring provinces have launched a long series of terror attacks in Russia, including a 2002 hostage-taking raid in Moscow’s theater, in which 129 hostages died, a 2004 hostage-taking in a school in Beslan that killed more than 330 people, and numerous bombings in Moscow and other cities."

Michigan auto insurance: Whose fault is no-fault?

2013-04-18T15:30:00.003-04:00

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder plans to make good on his State of the State pledge to reform Michigan's no-fault auto insurance system.
With Republicans controlling the state legislature, he's likely to get most, if not all, of what he wants.
In a livestreamed news conference Thursday, the governor said he wants to cap unlimited medical coverage for accident victims at $1 million, a move he estimates will lower insurance premiums by $250 for the average family.

Legislation he supports would also end the practice of medical providers charging more for auto related injuries, which Snyder says leads to claims more than twice as high as the next no-fault state and which are passed on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums.
Not surprisingly, opponents were quick to blister the proposed reforms as leaving "the public's best interest in the hands of greedy insurance industry."
The Coalition Protecting Auto No-Fault called the reforms reckless, ill-conceived and weighted heavily in favor insurance companies.
CPAN has scheduled three town hall meetings to talk about the "unintended consequences" of the proposed reforms:
• 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 22, at Dearborn Heights City Hall, 6045 Avenue in Dearborn Heights.
• 9 a.m. Thursday, April 25, at the MPHI Interactive Learning Center, 2436 Woodlake Circle, Suite 380 in Okemos.
• And 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 29, at the Traverse City Library, 610 Woodmere Avenue in Traverse City.
Michigan says the state's no-fault system was adopted in 1978, when moderate Republican William G. Milliken was governor and Democrats controlled the state House and Senate.
Michigan is one of a dozen states to offer some sort of no-fault auto insurance.
At its core, no-fault insurance was actually supposed to keep premiums lower by avoiding the costs of litigation over the causes and blame for accidents.
But after more than 35 years, rising premiums and Republicans at the helm of state government, the GOP says it's time for a change.
They may be right.

Michigan congressmen pooling money for Senate run?

2013-04-17T15:44:00.000-04:00

Quarterly campaign finance reports show two of the potential candidates to replace U.S. Sen. Carl Levin out in front when it comes to raising money.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Howell Republican, leads the pack. His quarterly finance statement filed with the Federal Elections Commission shows $1.4 million in cash on hand.

That's nearly twice as much as the $813,385 that U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat, has on hand.
Both men are weighing a run for U.S. Senate in 2014 since Levin decided not to seek a seventh six-year term.
Peters declined comment on a possible run for the Senate through a statement issued from his office.
"I'm grateful for the support from Michiganders who want good jobs and a strong future for our families," said the statement from Peters, whose quarterly report listed $76,716 in contributions from individuals and $294,200 in contributions from political action committees.
Rogers listed $40,734 from individual donors for the quarter and $123,766 from political action committees, and another $1,398 in other receipts for a total of $165,898 for the quarter.
Peters represents a new S-shaped 14th Congressional District that starts in Pontiac and ends in Detroit.
Rogers' 8th Congressional District represents north Oakland County plus Livingston and Genesee counties.
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, whose 9th Congressional District represents southeast Oakland County and part of Macomb County, showed $155,478 in cash on hand with contributions for the quarter of $115,728.
U.S. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, from Milford, who replaced former Rep. Thaddeus McCotter in the 11th Congressional District and is in his first quarter in Congress, listed cash on hand of $26,706 with quarterly contributions of $30,101 but campaign debt of $203,854.
Bentivolio's quarterly report led at least one Republican to question whether Bentovolio is strong enough to keep the seat in the 2014 election.
Paul Welday, a former county Republican Party chairman from Farmington Hills, posted on Facebook Tuesday about Bentivolio's finances.
"Like it or not, a reality and necessity in politics is fundraising," Welday wrote with a link to Bentoviolio's quarter campaign finance statement.
"It's a measure of support and indication of strength," he said. "By those standards, surprise Congressman Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI/11) is exceptionally weak politically and puts this district in the toss-up category.
"You simply cannot compete in a congressional district with only $30k in the bank and over $200k in debt," Welday wrote. "This should be a huge "Red Flag" across the 11th District of Michigan and a very real concern for GOP leaders everywhere."
Though Michigan Republican managed to keep control of the state House, Supreme Court and GOP congressional seats, they're still stinging over President Barack Obama's large 54-44 percent victory over Republican Mitt Romney in last November's election.

Boston Marathon: No way to totally prevent a determined attack

2013-04-16T15:43:00.001-04:00

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard talked at length Tuesday about the difficulty in preventing attacks at events like the Boston Marathon, in which attendance is free and there are no gates for spectators to enter where security measures can be put into place.

In the short version of their comments, Bouchard notes that Americans are more naive than people in other countries who have lived with attacks for decades.

In the longer version, Patterson talks about the country's loss of innocence. Bouchard talks about the need for increased awareness by the public.

Inside the GOP: The great looming divide

2013-04-09T15:16:00.001-04:00

First, there was the incendiary remarks of Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema from Michigan, who made a Facebook post was entitled "Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals," citing a doctor that claimed in part that gays are to blame for half the murders in large cities.
So started the firestorm.

Agema has refused to apologize, and many Republicans have rallied in his defense, even as other Republicans called for his resignation.
If nothing else, the divide between Republicans over Agema shows a larger philosophical divide in the GOP.
And if emails sent out by the tea party are any indication, there's not doubt the Republican Party is internally fractured.
Sunday, the SE Michigan 9.12 tea party group sent out a "freedom alert" referencing a blog post with the title, "Local Grassroots Leaders to RNC: 'Join Us or Get the Hell out of the Way'," which pretty much sums up the split between the tea party folks and social conservatives, who remain adamantly opposed to things like Obamacare and same-sex marriage, and more moderate and pragmatic Republicans in their party's mainstream.
At least on the issue of gays, gay marriage and the like, the GOP is missing the boat to widen what they complain about is an ever-shrinking umbrella of influence in America.
Here's an idea for them: Embrace same-sex marriage and other same-sex issues as economic issues rather than social issues.
Just using same-sex marriage as an example, wedding planners could see a boost in their business if it were approved. Lawyers eventually would, too, since there's nothing to suggest that gays would marry and divorce at a rate that's any different than straight people.
Just a thought for the struggling GOP trying to find its identity before the 2014 elections.

Democrats launch push for higher minimum wage in Michigan

2013-04-05T15:29:00.001-04:00

One Oakland County commissioner says it's time to raise the state's minimum wage.
Royal Oak Democrat Dave Woodward has launched an online petition drive at www.raisemichigan.com to push state lawmakers to hike Michigan's $7.40 an hour minimum wage.

Woodward said Friday that tax policies of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOP majority in the state House and Senate have rewarded corporations and hurt the middle class to the point that the state's minimum wage is poverty level.
"Right now, minimum wage workers and middle class families are doing their taxes and they're finding their taxes going up because of policies by Gov. Snyder and Republicans in Lansing," Woodward said. "It's long overdue that Michigan families get a raise and raising the minimum wage helps do that."
Woodward referenced a survey by the Democrat-leaning group Progress Michigan that claims 70 percent of Michigan residents favor an increase in the state's minimum wage, including 34.2 percent who favor a minimum wage of $10 an hour or higher.
"Seventy percent support an increase," Woodward said. "That's more popular than any politician right now."
The last time the minimum wage was increased was 2006.
Woodward said raising the minimum wage isn't a partisan issue since Republicans controlled the state House and Senate the last time the minimum wage was increased.
Republicans currently control both legislative chambers.
"The ball's in their court now," Woodward said.
The push for a higher minimum wage was launched as the U.S. Labor Department released a jobs report Friday that showed just 88,000 jobs were created nationally in March, a number that rattled financial markets because it was lower than anticipated, even as the national unemployment rate declined a bit to 7.6 percent.
In Michigan, the unemployment rate remains above 9 percent.
But official unemployment rates count only people looking for work in the past four weeks.
Another gauge of unemployment includes people who are underemployed and have stopped looking for work. Nationally and in Michigan, that rate remains in double digits.
Critics of a higher minimum wage claim it costs jobs, but Democrats reject that. President Barack Obama called for a higher minimum wage in his State of the Union address in February, asking for $9 an hour nationally by 2015.
Woodward said it's safe to say that jobs and the economy will be the No. 1 issue heading into the 2014 election, when the governor and all 148 members of the state legislature are up for election.
"Jobs is the No. 1 issue every day, and jobs that ensure people can meet their financial obligations," Woodward said. "If you work full-time, you shouldn't be living in poverty, period."

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin pushes for end to corporate tax loopholes

2013-04-04T15:10:00.001-04:00

With the April 15 individual tax filing deadline just around the corner, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin wants to close tax loopholes used by the nation's largest corporations.
The Michigan Democrat, who announced last month that he'll forego a run for a seventh six-year term in 2014 to focus on the nation's problems, says offshore tax-dodging by the biggest corporations is on that list.

Offshore tax loopholes used by corporations costs the individual Michigan taxpayer $674 and small business taxpayer $2,108, Levin said Thursday, referring to an annual report released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
The report, titled "Picking Up The Tab," claims that offshoring by the country's largest corporations costs taxpayers $150 billion a year that could be used to reduce the federal deficit.
Named in the report are household names like Google, Microsoft, Pfizer, Caterpillar, Citigroup, Bank of America and General Electric.
Even if legal, PIRG claims U.S. taxpayers have to pick up the tax burden when corporations use offshore havens to lower their tax bills.
In that claim, they have an ally in Levin, who continues to push for closing tax avoidance loopholes used by corporations offshoring cash.
"It's more and more clear that we simply cannot afford the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars to these egregious tax loopholes," Levin said by phone with representatives from PIRG Thursday.
"Corporate profits, while they're at an all-time high, which is 14 percent plus of their income, it's the largest share at any time since 1950," Levin said. "Individuals have the smallest share of income gains in nearly 50 years. In fact, middle income folks have lost ground."
Levin claims the average U.S. corporation has a real tax rate of about 12 percent even though the top corporate tax rate is 35 percent.
He cited an unnamed study that said 30 of the country's largest corporations with combined profits of more than $160 billion paid no income taxes for the years 2008 to 2011.
"It's time to close the loopholes to reduce the deficit ... and to bring some fairness back to the tax code," Levin said.
Levin proposed an amendment to a recent deal reached on the federal budget in the U.S. Senate to give federal budget writers the authority to end offshore tax strategies used by large corporations.
But a weaker amendment was included to give budget writers the option of clamping down on offshore tax havens as part of broader tax reform, says the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan.
Levin has tended to be one of the Senate's more liberal members during his lengthy tenure, and he has more than once called for an end to corporate tax loopholes.
The latest push with PIRG comes as unemployment remains stubbornly high, as corporations report large profits that have sent the stock market on a bull run since the first of the year, and as Congress struggles to break a partisan stalemate over federal deficit reduction.
In Michigan, Levin’s departure from the U.S. Senate at the end of 2014 sets up a political battle for his seat, and Republicans and Democrats are both testing the waters to see if they can win the seat.

Michigan Gov. Snyder rating unchanged, consumer confidence mixed

2013-04-03T15:23:00.001-04:00

A new poll from Michigan State University's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research shows the approval ratings of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder unchanged with consumer confidence mixed and the approval ratings of President Barack Obama improving.
The survey taken between Jan. 14 and March 4 of 1,013 Michigan adults via cell phone and land line gives Obama a good or excellent rating from 48.4 percent of those surveyed, an improvement from 42.8 percent last fall.
Just 34 percent of those surveyed gave a good or excellent rating to Snyder, however. His approval ratings tanked after the lame-duck session of the legislature in December hurried through some unpopular measures, including controversial right-to-work laws that have just taken effect.
The poll notes Obama is much more popular in southeast Michigan while the governor is much more popular on the conservative west side of the state.
Among those surveyed, 52.6 percent said their financial condition was good or excellent, an improvement from 47.8 percent last fall. However, only 34.9 percent said they're better off than they were a year ago, down from 41.7 percent.

Medical Marijuana: Do new Michigan laws bring clarity?

2013-04-01T16:05:00.001-04:00

New laws took effect Monday that further define medical marijuana in Michigan for patients, caregivers and doctors.
Medical marijuana advocates say the new laws, to some degree, help clarify Michigan's 2008 voter-approved amendment allowing the medical use of marijuana. And, to some degree, the new laws don't.

"In some ways, the Legislature's intent was to fill in the holes," says Michael Komorn, a Southfield attorney and president of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Association. "All the confusion should be put aside and all the clarity should be there.
"But I don't really know if that's the case."
The new medical marijuana laws are among many passed by lawmakers in the lame-duck session of the Michigan Legislature in December.
Among the changes:
• State-issued cards given to patients who have a doctor's approval are good for two years rather than one.
• People who have committed a felony in the past 10 years or ever committed an assault won't be allowed to be caregivers. And, caregivers will have their registrations revoked and face felony charges if they sell to someone who isn't allowed to use medical marijuana.
• Doctors are now required to do face-to-face evaluations of patients, review their records and follow-up afterwards to assess whether medical marijuana is working.
Komorn said he doesn't understand the legislative intent of barring 10-year felons from being caregivers when there's been nothing to indicate that prior felons are a problem.

"A lot of patients with long-standing relationships with their caregivers are going to have to look elsewhere," he said. "So why pick on existing caregivers when there's been seemingly no reason to do so?"
Clarifying the roles of doctors and expectations of patients, however, is a step in the right direction.
"There's no question this gives us some direction," Komorn said. "My real concern is that anytime you start allowing the government to judge what takes place inside the doctor's office, it becomes slippery slope for disaster.
"No other physicians are being held to the type of scrutiny that medical marijuana physicians are," he said.
Implementing Michigan's voter-approved medical marijuana law hasn't been easy.
It has largely been left to the Republican-controlled legislature since it was passed in 2008 to write the rules for it.
But increasingly, it's the court system that's sorting it out.
With marijuana remaining a schedule 1 drug and illegal under federal law, medical marijuana providers are increasingly having their cases heard in the courts once they've been cited or arrested by police.
Eventually, that may change, too, says Komorn.
"When juries begin to hear cases and judges dismiss charges, then you'll see prosecutors and police taking a different approach," he said.

No joke: April 1 is day health alerts hit Twitter

2013-04-01T14:49:00.001-04:00

It's no joke.
April 1 is the day the Oakland County Health Division will use Twitter as major source of getting health information out to the public.

The county Twitter site at www.twitter.com/publichealthOC will provide emergency updates, latest health news, prevention tips and links to public health resources.
Twitter, for those who don't use it yet, is a social networking site that allows people to connect and share instantly.

Obamacare advocates say tax credits will offset health insurance premiums

2013-03-28T13:57:00.000-04:00

More than 250,000 people in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties will qualify for federal tax credits to help them pay their health insurance premiums, Democrats and advocates for Obamacare said Thursday.
The tax credits will go to 147,000 in Wayne County, 72,000 in Oakland County, and 59,000 in Macomb County, says a new report from health advocacy group Families USA.

Statewide, 745,000 Michigan residents will qualify for tax credits to help them pay health premiums when Obamacare takes full effect next January, the report said.
The tax credits are meant to subsidize lower-income people for the cost of health insurance premiums, which critics say will surely rise under Obamacare, more formally known as the Affordable Care Act.
"The tax credit subsidies are a game-changer," Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack said via conference call.
Joining Pollack were U.S. Reps. John Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat, and Gary Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat, along with Don Hazaert from Michigan Consumers for Health Care.
Hazaert said the key components of Obamacare are an expansion of Medicaid to cover people at 130 percent of the federal poverty level, establishment of tax credits to help pay premiums for people up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, and establishment of health exchanges to foster competition and allow people to shop for the insurance they want.
Obamacare also requires most people to have health insurance.
Michigan's Republican-controlled House and Senate has yet to act on an expansion of Medicaid, despite support of the expansion by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.
Michigan lawmakers also opted not to approve a state-federal partnership for a health exchange, meaning the federal government will operate Michigan's by default.
People can start enrolling in the exchange Oct. 1.
"No longer is the American going to have to confront the problem that health care is going to be privilege and not a right," Dingell said. "Now it's going to become what it always has been and should be — a right."
Peters said the tax credits will help people afford quality health care they may not have been able to afford without the credits.
"I represent parts of Oakland County, parts of Wayne County, and I'm particularly pleased when I look at these numbers of over 70,000 in Oakland County and nearly 150,000 in Wayne County, folks who are working hard and playing by the rules who simply cannot afford to provide the health insurance that is so important to the stability of their families," Peters said.
"Now, in January of next year, they will be able to do that," Peters said.
Critics of Obamacare have argued that the Affordable Care Act fails in its promises to keep health insurance affordable for people, and predict steep average hikes in health insurance premiums once Obamacare takes effect.
The Heritage Foundation has published a chart showing how much premiums could rise once Obamacare is implemented. In Michigan, that percentage ranges from 35 percent to 65 percent on average.
The Heritage Foundation says the source of the chart is minority party staff (Republicans) on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The AARP, an advocacy group for people age 50 and older, has tried to debunk inaccurate rumors on its website.
In particular, it notes that fraudulent emails are being circulated claiming that premiums for Medicare Part B will rise to $247 a month. The standard Part B premium in 2012 was $99.90 monthly.
"There is no way of accurately predicting what the premium will be in 2014 or any future years," AARP writes on its website at www.aarp.org.