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by Tim Skubick
May 15, 2009

Organized labor is not happy with Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon and some of his colleagues.

Item: House Ds staged a fundraiser, but some labor folks didn’t write a check or wrote one for a smaller amount and some refused to show up. “You didn’t see me there,” confides one labor honcho who confesses he boycotted on purpose.

Item: House Democrats are pushing a bill to repair failing schools, and one union source complains, “Who would have thought Democrats would introduce anti-worker legislation?”

Item: Democrat Dillon pledges to rewrite the state tax system but neglects to invite Democrats to the table. He confers instead with the Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Renaissance (another pro-business group) and a former tax advisor to John Engler who, last time anyone checked, was not a Democrat.

“We are slightly concerned,” notes one labor player concerning Mr. Dillon and company. Another suggests, “We’re trying to explain to him what labor is all about and explain these are the things we stand for.” The lobbyist for the UAW gives a fat “no comment” on the touchy subject.

Perhaps the best way to crystallize the labor worries is to dredge up the former state GOP chair’s quote: “The next best thing to having a Republican speaker is to have Andy Dillon.”

Dillon, in fact, is a former Republican but ran for the House as a Democrat and became the leader. He has strong business ties, which is why some labor folks are grumbling.

In a closed door meeting the other day involving the AFL-CIO, UAW, MEA, the trial lawyers and the SEIU union folks, they demanded and got a place at the tax-writing table.

Labor realizes it is not going to get everything it wants, but fears Dillon is tipping the table toward the Rs.

For example, labor argues Republicans have gotten more of their bills through the Democratically controlled House than Democrats have gotten through the GOP-controlled Senate.

And a recent battle over Obama dollars has labor steaming.

Labor signed off on using $30–40 million to pay the business cost of covering unemployment checks, but when it came time to allocate upwards of $140 million to extend jobless benefits to part-time and workers in training, business did not return the favor.

Ultimately, the one hammer that labor has is money. Labor could put its moola first into the governor’s race and the state Senate and give whatever is left over to the House, thus sending Dillon another message.

“This is all about the race for governor,” comes the cryptic response from deep inside the Dillon camp to all this whining. Labor is backing Lt. Gov. John Cherry for governor. Dillon might run against Cherry. Do the math.

A Dillon backer also points out that the speaker will select former liberal Democrat Rep. Lynn Jondahl to help draft the new tax package.

As for Republicans getting preferential treatment, Dillon’s office has run the numbers showing House Democrats got 42 percent of the bills they wanted last year and the Republicans got 39 percent. They were dead-even the year before.

And does he have to be lectured about what labor is all about? Dillon himself says, “I don’t accept that.”

Bottom line for the speaker is, “I’m happy with the support from business and labor.”

Obviously, for organized labor the feeling is not mutual.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972.

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Close But No Cigar
There was so much hope. Rarely do business and organized labor agree on anything, but they were both on board.

The need was clearly there — just ask any motorist. The governor had signed off. And the last time the mighty legislature got up enough nerve to deal with this was in 1994. So the planets were aligning and the only ingredient missing was 56 votes in the House and 20 in the Senate.

And that’s not going to happen.

So much for raising new dollars to repair Michigan’s aging and pothole-pocked road and bridge system. Nice try Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the road-building lobby.

“This is on life support?”

“Right.”

“And somebody has his hand on the plug?”

“Right.”

Delivering the death knell there is Sen. Jud Gilbert (R-Algonac), who has labored hard in the vineyards for scrapping the gas tax to fix roads and going to a wholesale percentage tax on fuel oil to raise the bucks.

Last December when he tested the waters in his Senate GOP caucus, he had five votes. Now he has three — including his own. He needs those 20 votes, and rest assured 17 Democrats are not going to save the day for ole Jud.

Next year the Democrats have a shot at regaining control of that body, and they are not about to lead the charge to raise taxes. Period. End of story.

The only glimmer of hope for Gilbert is for the Democratically controlled House to take the lead and send the Senate a package of new road dollars.

“That might change the dynamics a little bit,” Gilbert says with his fingers crossed.

But the House is up for election, too, next year.

Repeat: Period. End of story.

Troopers Standing Still
Michigan’s men and women in blue get paid to cruise our freeways. Soon Michigan State troopers will be paid to sit on their behinds.

They call them “stationary patrols.”

The State Police budget is in such sad shape that in addition to laying off 100 troopers, MSP commanders are telling the troops to park their scout cars in the median to reduce miles driven by one million, at a savings of $600,000.

This policy amounts to parking all the cruisers in the garage for one full month.

Speeding motorists, rejoice.

Convicted felons on the run, rejoice.

Drunk drivers, rejoice.

Road rage addicts, rejoice.

Well you get the picture.

The last time this “sit in your car and watch crime go by” policy was used, troopers wrote 22,800 fewer tickets, drunk driving arrests plummeted 23 percent and fugitive arrests dipped by 1,200, or 17 percent, according to The Detroit News.

Let’s see: round up lawbreakers or save gasoline? MSP picks the latter. The department is doing what lawmakers ordered it to do, i.e. “balance your budget.”

Now it is likely the layoff notices slated for July 1 will be averted.

But even if the jobs are saved, what’s the difference if you have 900 troopers sitting in the median or 1,000 waving at you as you lead-foot-it up north at 85 miles an hour?

Of course, they will go after “high profile and 9-1-1” calls, so it won’t be a total Wild West out there.

But why stop at saving gas dollars?

Guns and bullets cost money, so why not scrap them, too.

Get Out of Jail Free
Folks in town got an interesting letter the other day from the local sheriff. He had his hand out asking for money.

The Ingham County sheriff, a likable chap, was soliciting money for the Michigan Sheriff’s Association to address “the ravaging effects of violence, theft, predators, drug abuse, and many other deadly types of crime.”

Can’t figure out why he left out rape, Taliban attacks, and plundering and pillaging. If you’re tying to scare the begeezus out of the citizens, why not go all the way?

Sheriff Gene Wrigglesworth, and supposedly all the other sheriffs who sent out the same correspondence, is trying to pick up the slack in the wake of state budget cuts to local units of government.

When the governor and friends whacked a whopping $41 million out of state revenue sharing last week, the locals protested it would mean less public safety protection.

Mr. Wrigglesworth says if you cough up 500 big ones, you can become, presto-change-o, an honorary sheriff. You also get an I.D. card, discounts on your insurance, special training opportunities (whatever those are) and two decals.

Ah, yes, those handy-dandy decals that go on the windshield of your car.

For sure, no one has ever proven this, but there’s always been the suspicion that buying one of the decals is like owning a Get Out Of Jail Free card. When your nasty sheriff or other local cop pulls you over and sees the decal, he just might turn friendly and let you go.

There is no guarantee, but if you have a lead foot, investing in a decal for $2.50 apiece could be like Mom’s chicken soap: it can’t hurt and it just might help.

And if you pop for the $500, you get a $100 gift certificate to purchase a sheriff’s-styled duty cap, a lapel pin and an association front license plate. You want to make sure the sheriff knows you are on his or her side.