by Tim Skubick
September 4, 2009

Things are going to get ugly around here. As lawmakers nudge against an October 1 deadline for adopting a new budget, the finger pointing will commence in epic proportions.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop appears to the most trigger-happy at this read. On one front he is spot-on with his criticism that at least his side has presented a draconian budget cut plan while the governor remains tight lipped, closed mouthed and downright recalcitrant about releasing her solution to the budget mess.

Others have said it more eloquently, but it is time for the governor to cough it up, and ditto for House Democrats.

Bishop has also insinuated that the governor wants to push lawmakers to the edge of a government closing to enhance her chances for a revenue increase.

The governor, asked for a response, kept her powder dry, saying, “I’m not going to take the bait.” But in a rare flash of passion she did suggest it was “utterly preposterous” that she wanted to close government.

This is just the beginning.

But while the politicians suit up for another round of the blame game, where are the citizens in all this?

Do they give a hoot?

If political reporters were hooked up to a lie detector, betya a bunch would confess that they are frustrated that most citizens are more interested in sport scores than knowing the score in Lansing.

And now with a mushrooming scandal in the University of Michigan football program and with college and pro football about to kick off, the dateline state Capitol stories on the budget meltdown will be shoved further down the media news rundown.

What a shame, because public attention focused like a laser beam, as the pols like to say, could actually have an impact.

To be sure, the special interest groups that have skin in the game are paying attention. The anti-tax cabal is engaged, as is the social safety net gang, but their Johnny-One-Note rants of “We hate taxes” or “We need more taxes” are old news.

So where are the emails from the non-special-interest citizens?

Don’t people storm the Bastille around here any more?

Once they close the government, the public outrage will be a day late and a dollar short.

When unemployment checks sit in an idle state computer, when welfare checks are there, too, when you can’t get into a state park or file papers with the Secretary of State, it will be too late.

Cries of “Why didn’t they do something earlier?” will ring out, but complacent citizens must share in the blame game, too. Where were you when Lansing was burning?

They call it a representative democracy for a reason. You elect folks to make tough decisions on your behalf, but when they won’t or don’t, it’s time for you to reclaim your power — which, after all, belongs to the people.

The choices here are crystal clear. Citizens can veg out on how the Lions are doing or whether the Tigers will make the playoffs, or they can get in the political game and demand some action.

As the old commercial goes, “try it, you’ll like it” — and it might work to get the Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight, masquerading as leaders, off the dime.

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

Tim Skubick Extra Extra… (A weekly bonus for Dome readers)

Drill Baby, Drill
We haven’t really had a dandy, red-hot environmental issue to kick around for a long time…until now.

Seems the oil boys are looking at harvesting more stuff from underneath the Pigeon River region and elsewhere to the tune of 230 million barrels, and once the environmental folks get in the game, the fur could fly.

For you oldtimers, you’ll recall that the giant oil companies during the Milliken administration back in the ’70s made the same pitch. Former First Lady Helen Milliken took on big oil and turned it into a real us vs. them donnybrook. When the dust settled, a scaled-back exploration program was launched and continues to this day with apparently no major impact on the Elk herd, other vermin and the forests.

Greased with new and supposedly safer technology, the oil guys are back for another bite of the apple, and this time they are dangling a nifty $1-billion jackpot in front of a cash-strapped state. Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Jackson) is hoping to find some takers.

In fact, he and one of his buddies are fixin’ to stick in the Department of Natural Resources budget bill the language to create a five-month pilot program using existing wells already in production.

With this updated equipment, Simpson says, they will use the present wellheads, stick some pipes underground and “spider web out” to the liquid gold.

The first blush reaction from the Greens was not unexpected. They wanted no part of it, no how, no way.

Simpson has not made his pitch yet, but he’ll have to convert them and the DNR director, who told a House committee recently that she is not signing off either.

The governor, on the other hand, has asked for a “white paper,” although she expressed concerns about the Pigeon River, too.

So grab a good seat folks. Here we go with another round of economic growth vs. protecting the natural resources that make Michigan what it is.

Anybody got Ms. Milliken’s phone number?

More Gambling Coming
Michigan lottery devotees, heads-up. There could be a new game in your future if the horse racing industry and others have their way.

Called Lucky Tab II, the new game has players pulling a piece of paper out of a glitzy Las Vegas-type machine. If the numbers on your tab match those on the machine, you’re a winner.

And state coffers would be too if the backers are right. With a budget deficit looming, added lottery profits of between $500 million and perhaps a billion smackers over three years would help a lot.

For the first time, the governor publicly checked in on this, although her office has been aware of it for over two years. She says it would be a “very wise move” for budget writers to explore this option and others, including slot machines at race tracks.

The gov wants to link the profits to funding the Michigan Promise grants for college students and maybe displaced employees in the No Worker Left Behind program. Voters in 2004 rejected “racinos,” however.

Rep. Mike Simpson is carrying the water for the industry and lobbyists on Lucky Tab II. While it would be tough to get this through the legislature with stiff opposition from Detroit and Indian casinos, there’s a chance they can stick language in a budget bill ordering the lottery czar to just do it.

But their first option is for the governor to just order her lottery guy to do it. Her lawyers are telling her don’t do it.

Whatever happens, if Lucky Tab II comes to life it will likely head for the courts first, where the lawyers will have at it before you have a chance to become rich.