Sen. Tupac A. Hunter: Fight Foreclosures, Save the Dream

by: Tupac Hunter

Wed Feb 27, 2008 at 16:31:17 PM EST

As the Democratic Vice-Chairman of the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, I recently helped usher the bills implementing the Save the Dream initiative through the committee process.

One of the main goals of the Save the Dream campaign is to establish an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Refinance Program that will help homeowners switch to a lower-interest, fixed-rate loan. These ARM's have been one of the major factors contributing to our state's foreclosure crisis, which is why I am proud to have sponsored Senate Bill 948 to make sure homeowners in this state can transition into a stable, long-term mortgage that they can actually afford.

Friday Coffee Talk/Open Thread

by: BZP

Fri Aug 31, 2007 at 07:37:51 AM EDT

Thanks to JPowers155 for picking up my Wednesday Coffee Talk shift. Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy your morning cup-o-links...

Elections

• Capitol Journal: Dems, Obama winning online. Spartan Internet Consulting Corp's new Internet Political Performance (SIPP) Index proves what we already knew... Dems are kicking ass online.
• AP: Michigan House OKs moving presidential primary to Jan. 15. It looks like the 1/15 presidential primary is moving forward. Yesterday Wyoming jumped ten days ahead of us on the primary calendar, so I say we really mess with their heads and re-schedule ours for next Tuesday.
• Lessenberry: Primary Concerns. Jack weighs in on all the primary date hopping. You can listen to his interview with Rep. Stupack about the primaries here. You can also read Brewer's statement about yesterday's news here.
• Michigan for Edwards: The Carpenters Union Endorses John Edwards. Here come the labor endorsements. Sen. Dodd picked up the support of the IAFF this week.
• Walberg Watch: David Nacht Is Out. An interesting development in the 7th. You can read more in the Ann Arbor News and over on Swing State.

Legislation

• Skubick: Racinos revive on tax issue. The Skoob updates us on the latest scheme idea floating around Lansing to close the budget deficit.
• Senate Dems: Sen. Basham Introduces Climate Change Legislation. Read more about Sen. Basham's package of bills which aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in Michigan.
• Senate Dems: Hunter Neighborhood Improvement Authority Bill Headed to Governor. Sen. Hunter's bill allows municipalities to create neighborhood improvement authorities within certain geographical locations to stimulate housing and other economic development projects.
• LSJ: Senate bill would let a quarter of state workers retire early. BFM has more on yesterday's action in the Senate. You can watch Sen. Switalski's video response right after the vote here.

Labor

• Conservative Media: Celebrate Labor Day and unions contribution to the country. The Comm Guru takes a look at the real meaning of Labor Day, and the labor movement's contributions to Michigan's middle class.
• Stone Soup Musings: AFL-CIO: Quality health care for ALL in 2009. The labor movement gave us the weekend... now they have their sights set on quality healthcare for all Americans by the end of the decade. Kathy has more.
  

Friday Coffee Talk/Open Thread

by: BZP

Fri Aug 10, 2007 at 07:50:14 AM EDT

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend.

Current & Pending Legislation

• Sen. Hunter to Senate Republicans: Support Must Come Soon. Part Three in the Senate Dems' Top Ten series. Hop on over to BFM to check out Sen. Hunter's post about various consumer protection efforts.
• LSJ: Anti-bullying bill stalls in Senate. Anyone else notice a pattern developing here?
• LSJ Editorial: Tax credit: Republicans shouldn't blame poor for budget mess. "Cassis should drop this punitive bill and use her time for more productive pursuits for all the people of Michigan."
• Sen. John Gleason: Don't let fleeing criminals outrun stricter sentencing. Following the death of a Flint police officer during pursuit of a fleeing suspect, Sen. Gleason (D-Flushing) introduced legislation that, "will make all offenses of fleeing and eluding a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment for two years."
• Conservative Media: SOS plays politics with branch office closings. House Dems fight back: "Later in the day on Wednesday, the House passed House Bill 4492 that will thwart Land from continuing to play politics with the further closing of branch offices and inserts some accountability. The bill reorganizes funding for SOS branch offices from a single line item to numerous line items. The bill could potentially restrict the ability of the Secretary of State to reorganize branch office operations."

Elections

• Capitol Journal: Congressional election ratings. Derek weighs in with his assessment of where all of the Michigan Congressional races currently stand.
• Peters for Congress: Republican Bloggers Target Peters. Jordan is really going to bat for Gary Peters, and is asking folks to chip in $9 for the 9th district.
• Walberg Watch: For and Against a Schauer Candidacy. Fitzy weighs the pros and cons.

Odds & Ends

• State News: Blocking blog site shows political bias. Nice to see my alma mater's student paper sticking up for the blogs. More editorials like this, please.
• DFP: Arrest the hysteria on sentencing. "Patterson's ridiculous rant in the Detroit News reflected the kind of divisive rhetoric he built a career on as county prosecutor. For pure hyperbole, he managed to outgun Attorney General Mike Cox, who earlier tied some of the proposed changes to terrorism, and a Michigan Sheriff's Association official who predicted murder and mayhem. Let's take a chill pill and look at the facts." Zzzzing!
• Auto Blog: Buick ties Lexus in quality. This is pretty cool. The Buick Enclave is built locally in Delta Township (near Lansing).
• AP: State, union begins talks on next contract. Eggert reminds us that Mike Bishop wants to balance the budget on the backs of state workers: "Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, has said workers should not get scheduled pay increases in the last fiscal year of their current contracts to help save money."

Did I forget anything? Drop your links in the comments section...