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Jun 2010
Big changes ahead for Michigan
Posted by Scott Spielman
at 12:43 PM | Comments (1)
My Memorial Day Weekend got off to an unusual start on Thursday.
It was relatively early on Thursday afternoon and I was driving up north, son in tow, in anticipation of the first trip to the cottage.
I was on the phone with State Sen. Bruce Patterson—and yes, Mr. Patterson, I was talking ‘hands free.’
A couple weeks ago I wrote an editorial about one of Patterson’s recent ideas, which was to call for a deposit on the purchase of newspapers the same way there is a deposit bottles and cans. The concept was to generate money for the School Aid Fund—probably promote recycling, too—by requiring that any ‘deposits’ not collected be funneled that way.
I became aware of the legislation through a bulletin sent out by the Michigan Press Association, in which it was labeled ‘The Newspaper Death Act.’ A bit dramatic, perhaps, but if approved it would certainly help push the industry in that direction.
Normally, I would give a call and ask the Canton representative what he was thinking, but since it was a particularly harried day and since the legislation had only been introduced and didn’t seem destined to go anywhere quickly, I merely wrote that it wasn’t a good plan. Okay, I called it ‘a hair-brained idea.’
Patterson said that he didn’t introduce the legislation in order to have to moved and voted on. He did it for the same reason he introduced another piece of legislation—which would ask members of what he called ‘the legitimate news media’ to voluntary register themselves—in order to call attention to a problem.
The problem, he said, is that the impending election cycle will spell a huge changeover in state government—from the top on down—due to the implications of term limits. There will be dozens of legislators in both chambers—as well as a governor and attorney general—that haven’t been in that position before.
At the same time, the hemorrhaging ‘legitimate’ news media has fewer and fewer resources to spend in Lansing, so the dearth of experience in Lansing is compounded by a lack of real information about what’s going on.
He introduced the legislation, he said, to rile up us newspaper people and provoke them to get in touch—and stay in touch—with decision makers at the state level.
I don’t think the plan worked the way he thought it would—he only received a few calls—but he brings up a good point. It is a bit ironic that part of the issue he was concerned about—the lack of newspaper resources—was the only reason why I wrote the piece without shooting off a quick phone call.
The incoming legislature will have a major impact on the future of the state. They’ll be given the task of solving the budget crisis for the long-term—or at least I hope to God they will—as well as drawing out new legislative districts in response to the U.S. Census. It is not a time for residents to cast an uneducated vote or follow straight party politics.
It will be difficult for me to follow all the pending elections throughout our little portion of western Wayne County, but I will give it my best. I only ask that every weighs what the candidates have to say, what we have to say and what everyone else has to say, consider it carefully, and make what they feel the best choice in August and/or November.
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