RIP, State Representative Mike Simpson

by: ScottyUrb

Fri Dec 18, 2009 at 20:31:26 PM EST

A memorial service to honor the life and work of State Representative Mike Simpson will be held Tuesday, December 22, at 11:00 a.m.

The memorial will be held in the East Jackson High School Auditorium, 1566 N. Sutton Road, Jackson, MI 49202.

In lieu of flowers, the family is respectfully requesting that donations be made in memory of Representative Simpson to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

MIRS and other sources are saying that State Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Blackman Twp.) has died of a heart attack. He was 47.

Simpson had represented the 65th State House District since 2007. He had chaired the House Agriculture Committee at the time of his death. Click here for a more detailed biography.

Simpson had a rare blood disorder and had to undergo treatment. A week ago, his office released this statement saying that he had been taking good care of himself, was responding very well to the treatment, and - despite his condition - was able to do a lot of work from home.

Our deepest condolences go to the entire Simpson family, and to the many others who knew him.

UPDATED 8:45PM by PerfectStormer: Reports are coming from the Capitol that the House's Sergeant at Arms has draped Rep. Simpson's chair in memorial and placed flowers on his desk. The flag at the Capitol will fly at half-staff until his funeral.

Friday Coffee Talk

by: BZP

Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 07:16:09 AM EDT

Happy Friday! Enjoy your cup-o-links...

• Observer & Eccentric: High school freshman's blog makes a case against McCotter. The Congressional watch blog "Mad at Thad" got a nice profile in yesterday's paper.
• WMR: Report from the Kent County Democratic Party March Meeting. Check out Phil's ridiculously detailed report. Wouldn't it be cool if more county parties started doing posts like this?
• Media Mouse: Levin Tells Iraqis to Pay for Reconstruction. The Mouse has some criticisms about Sen. Levin's latest remarks about Iraq.
• Freep: Mayor would attack text messages' authenticity. "There will be a lot of conversations about texts and the authenticity of all of it," he said Tuesday in a brief exchange with reporters. "So I'm looking forward to having that conversation at a later date."
• Susan J. Demas: A recall worthy of ridicule. "I asked Drolet if he really believes Dillon spends every waking moment plotting to raise taxes again. 'It doesn't matter if I think he'll rape someone again,' he told me breezily. 'He has to be held accountable for the rape he did commit.'"

• Michigan Messenger: Anti-bullying forces to descend on Capitol to get Senate to pass bill. "Hundreds of educators, students and community members are expected to descend upon the State Capitol next week to demand the Senate pass a comprehensive bill aimed at stopping bullying in schools. The bill passed the state House a year ago, but has since languished in the Senate awaiting a hearing."
• House Dems: House OKs $40 Million Expansion of No Worker Left Behind Program. "Under the leadership of State Representative Richard E. Hammel (D-Mt. Morris Township), the House today passed the governor's plan to expand Michigan's program to retrain thousands of displaced workers so they can land good-paying jobs available now in high-demand fields."
• Jackson Cit-Pat: SmartZone bill clears big hurdle. Jackson could be eligible for a new SmartZone under a bill being pushed by Rep. Simpson and Sen. Schauer.
• WOOD: Granholm Town Hall Meeting Video. Here's your chance to watch the Governor's town hall, in case you missed it (link via BFM).
• Freep Editorial: Great Lakes states must protect every drop they can. "How long can Michigan and the other Great Lakes states afford to let such problems spiral out of control? Somewhere, a potential water disaster is lurking, much as a transportation disaster struck when a Minneapolis freeway bridge collapsed last August."
• LSJ Editorial: Crumbling: Michigan needs investment in roads, not more gravel. "Businesses look at public infrastructure when deciding where to invest. If they see Michigan going backward, will it increase or decrease the chances new firms will land here?"

• Tri-Cities Biz Review: Alt-energy grows like a breeze, thanks to corporate purchasers. "Sustainability is finally becoming more than a buzzword, and morphing into a real business imperative. We salute the SC Johnsons and Steelcases, those corporations doing the right thing and proving the financial worth of alternative energy sources." You can read more stories on renewable energy in the Business Review publications here and here.
• Flint Journal: UAW's Gettelfinger blasts American Axle in local speech. Give 'em hell, Ron! "We don't have a national health care program when every other country takes care of their citizens," Gettelfinger said. "We pay more and get less... But that's why we have 47 million uninsured Americans in this country."
• WLNS: City Named as One of the Best to Live and Work. "Forbes magazine has named Jackson one of the best metropolitan areas to live and work." Yes, you read that correctly.
• [con]serving Michigan: CDC Report Adds to Growing Evidence of State's Toxic Burden. "Under pressure from the public and from Congress, including U.S. Reps. John Dingell and Bart Stupak, both Michigan Democrats, the CDC finally released the report this last week. The recently leaked report finds that thirteen Michigan communities have elevated rates of infant mortality, cancer and other health problems."
• Great Lakes Guy: X Doesn't Mark the Spot in MI. Sixty-four teams to date have entered the $10 million competition to see who can produce a market-ready automobile capable of 100 mpg. None are from Detroit, and only one is from Michigan (Ann Arbor).
• Michigan Messenger: Metro Airport expansion plan doesn't fly with neighbors. "A planned expansion of Detroit Metropolitan Airport is threatening to uproot thousands of people and dozens of businesses, but local officials and residents are fighting back."

• Phil Power: We must change bad attitudes. "What Michigan needs to realize is that the auto industry has transformed its manufacturing basis from a brawn-based to a brain-based model. It's no longer enough for a new hire to get to work more or less on time and not get into fights with his or her foreman."

Wednesday Coffee Talk

by: BZP

Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 07:24:01 AM EST

Happy Hump Day! Enjoy your cup-o-links...

• CNN Wisconsin Results: Obama 58% - Clinton 41%; McCain 55% - Huckabee 37%
• CNN Hawaii Results: Obama 76% - Clinton 24%
• DetNews: Obama, McCain win decisively. You can read the AP story here.
• The Fix: The Fix's First Take on Wisconsin Results. Chris Cillizza examines the primary results from Wisconsin.

• Michigan Messenger: Campaign seeks state Supreme Court election reform. "A busload of activists from Northern Michigan is headed to Lansing today to lobby for voluntary public financing of state Supreme Court campaigns. Current Michigan law does not require financial disclosure for television issue ads about the state Supreme Court."
• Dawson Bell: Mich. GOP chairman relishes game of politics. The accompanying profile of Mark Brewer by Chris Christoff can be found here: Brewer takes heat in stride.

• Flint Journal: A casino in Flint? Mayor says yes. "'It's going to be very difficult,"' Kildee said. 'I can't predict what's going to happen in the House, but the biggest hurdle is going to be in the Senate.' Kildee said U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has expressed "strong opposition" to the bill establishing more casinos."
• GR Press: Drug law hearings sought. More stonewalling on the push to repeal Michigan's shameful drug immunity law from Sen. Wayne Kuipers.
• Saginaw News: Groups upset with Kahn over drug law. ''Roger Kahn took a Hippocratic oath when he became a doctor,'' said Gleason, a Flushing Democrat, ''and yet he joins those who would delay justice. He's not only wrong politically, he's wrong professionally as well.''
• Walt Sorg: Interview with Rep. Mike Simpson on Drug Immunity. Kudos to Progress Michigan, Sen. Gleason and Rep. Simpson for turning the heat up on this issue.
• Macomb Daily: Rep. Bieda wants coin sellers to come clean. "Bieda's new proposal would require mints, issuers or foreign governments that advertise in Michigan to 'clearly and conspicuously disclose'" that such coins 'cannot be exchanged or redeemed at face value for U.S. currency in the United States.'"
• LSJ: Universities asked not to hire smokers. The Republican solution to rising health care costs? "Sen. Thomas George, R-Kalamazoo, challenged the presidents of the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University to find ways to make Michigan's population healthier, going so far as to ask the presidents to refuse to hire smokers."
• Freep: Patterson: Plans for Cobo going nowhere. "Most of that benefit [to the local economy] flows from the annual North American International Auto Show, and organizers have warned for years that the show's preeminence would fade if aging Cobo isn't expanded and upgraded."

• Michigan Messenger: High-tech firm plans to make super-tiny nanotech particles in Lansing neighborhood. "XG is seeking a tax break of more than $100,000 to put its production facility in Lansing. In return, XG will locate two or three jobs in the city. The proposed facility would be a test site to show potential buyers the production possibilities."
• Michigan Messenger: UP nickel mine clears DNR hurdle, opponents dig in. "This lease will leave the DNR and Michigan taxpayers vulnerable to bearing clean-up costs from pollution," NWF attorney Michelle Halley said, "and it would put the DNR in the inappropriate role of facilitating a mining district in the U.P."
• BFM: The Pile is Just Too High. The latest blog post from financial literacy expert Lois Gibbons.
• Saginaw News: Power plant battle hot. "Environmental groups are gearing up to block a $2 billion coal-fired power plant near the mouth of the Saginaw River in Bay County, along with another plant proposed for Midland by two out-of-state companies."

• BFM: Governor Granholm at Activate '08. Bruce has video of Gov. Granholm from last weekend's blog training.
• CNN Money: Delta-Northwest deal could mean fewer cheap seats. It now looks like the deal might be in jeopardy.

Friday Coffee Talk

by: BZP

Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 07:25:56 AM EST

Happy Groundhog Day Eve. Be safe on the roads out there, folks... lots of schools closed this morning. Enjoy your cup-o-links...

• Crain's: Governor impresses business leaders. "The type of economic development incentives she presented really are right on," said Richard Blouse president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce. "It's very much in line with what we need to have in our tool kit to bring those companies here."
• Observer & Eccentric: DeRoche recall just a distraction, legislator says. "I think the voters of the Novi and South Lyon area know I was fighting for them. I hope they see it for the political stunt that it is." This man has no concept of irony.
• Observer & Eccentric: Corriveau's 2007 voting record spotless. Congrats to Corriveau for never missing a vote in 2007. As for the Republican Minority Leader? "House Republican Leader Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) was recently listed as one of the most absent voters in the Michigan Legislature for 2007."
• Lessenberry Interview: Paul Condino. "State Representative Paul Condino of Southfield chairs the state house Judiciary Committee. And he thinks people who make a mistake as children deserve a second look when they are adults. Michigan Radio's Jack Lessenberry spoke with him."
• Tim Melton: Promise Zones can help push kids into college. "The Kalamazoo experience suggests that once the promise of higher education is extended to every family living within the boundaries of a community, property values will experience a significant increase. By establishing a Promise Zone, a community will be able to use that positive impact on property values to partially finance the scholarship promise."
• Freep: Granholm: universities should dip into endowments before hiking tuition. Is anyone else concerned with the fact that we keep shifting the burden of funding public universities onto the schools themselves?
• DetNews: Granholm: Reform prisons. "Asked how she intends to save the $200 million on budget cuts and reforms she proposed in her State of the State address this week, Granholm said: 'Corrections is a big piece. Are there people in the system who can be released in a cost-effective and safe way? Yes there are.'" The full Q&A is here.
• WILX: Bullying On The Rise In Schools. Too bad there isn't a bill in the legislature to help stop bullying. Oh, wait... there is. That's right, Mike Bishop put "Matt's Safe School Law" in the circular filing cabinet back in March of 2007.
• FARLEFTFIELD: Mike Cox Attacks Workers. The Left Fielder comments on Mike Cox's latest effort to attack state workers by blocking payroll deductions that support union-backed candidates.

• Jackson Cit-Pat: Signs point to heated 7th District contest. Schauer is breaking fundraising records while Tim Walberg begs the radical Club for Growth to bail him out. Go Mark, Go!
• Walberg Watch: Walberg's 4Q Fundraising. "Walberg, a freshman congressman from Tipton, reported raising about $151,000 during the same span and ended the period with about $438,000 in his account." Schauer out-raised him by $200k! Walberg's days are numbered.
• Freep: Granholm likes a Clinton-Obama ticket. "I would love to see her ask him to run as her vice president," Granholm, a supporter of Clinton's candidacy told the Free Press editorial board. "And if he gets it, I would hope that he would do the same."
• WLNS: Lawmaker Speaks Out About Recall Effort. There's a similar article in the LSJ, and Simpson's quote is priceless: "I will fight this to the bitter end because we are not going to allow outsiders and a little two-bit punk like Leon Drolet to come into our district and try to take control and try to convince people ... that they need to get rid of their state representative," Simpson said.
• Skoop's Blog: Governor to Stay Put. Skoob discusses the rumors of Granholm leaving for a post in a Hillary Clinton administration, which seems increasingly less likely.

• AA Biz Review Op-Ed: U-M projects enhance area. "The institution is a major economic driver for the region in obvious ways - like student enrollment - and in subtler fashions, such as through the multitude of research products that yield spinout companies and private hiring."
• AA Biz Review: State still divided over Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance bills. "I'd like them to address risk pools and insurer of last resort as mechanisms to make insurance affordable," said [State Sen. Tom] George. "Should we have one, the other, both, neither? The committee needs to make a judgment on that."
• BFM: Today is National Earned Income Tax Credit Day in Michigan. Yesterday was National EITC Day. Wizardkitten has more.

• BFM: Progressive Michigan Job Bank Launched. Looking to hire talented workers? Need a new gig? Check out Progress Michigan's new Job Bank.

MichLib Exclusive: House Dems Speak Out on State of the State

by: LiberalLucy

Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 12:45:21 PM EST

After last night's uniting State of the State address by Gov. Granholm, I had the opportunity to speak with several Democratic members of the State Legislature. I asked them to name an issue that they had been working on that they heard the Governor mention in her address.

While I only got to interview just a handful of legislators, I think you might be surprised on the breadth and depth of the issues that they are at work fighting hard for you on. The issues range from protecting our natural resources, fighting for the economy, promoting alternative energy, to fighting corporate interests and promoting Michigan's film industry, and they're all located below the fold. 

Many thanks to Reps. Brown, Donigan, Meisner, Miller, Simpson and Valentine for their time and participation last evening.

Will all of our "friends" vote to invest in Michigan's future or will they chicken out?

by: Lamar-T

Wed May 23, 2007 at 12:11:39 PM EDT

A few friends and I were talking and they said that there were a few Democrats in the House who probably won't vote to increase revenues because they're afraid of big bad repuglicans labeling them as a tax hiker.  How can this be true?  When Speaker Dillon brings a revenue enhancement before the House of Representatives will they actually vote to invest in Michigan or will they chicken out and run away from our future?