Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganMeet The Candidates: District #5 Congressman Dan Kildee
Sunday , 15, June 2014 Candidates Leave a comment
Congressman Dan Kildee has represented the people of the 5th district since 2013. Already he has made a positive impact on Washington with the people of Michigan in mind. Kildee knows the people he needs to work for are the people who contribute most to the economy and communities in the 5th district – hard working families and the middle class.
Dan Kildee is a native of Flint, Michigan. He attended Flint Northern High School and earned a degree in Community Development Administration from Central Michigan University. He is married with three children. Kildee was elected to the Flint Board of Education in 1977 when he was 18 years old. He also served on the Genesee County Board of Commissioners and as Genesee County Treasurer from 2000 to 2008. In 2002 Kildee founded the Land Bank with the purpose of redeveloping neighborhoods in cities. In 2012 Kildee ran for US Congress 5th district after his Uncle, Dale Kildee, announced his retirement.
In Washington, Dan Kildee will continue to work on the issues that Americans are most concerned about. A strong middle class with low unemployment can happen when there are enough good-paying jobs. To make sure there are people qualified for those jobs, Dan Kildee wants to help with the success of small businesses, who are the real job creators. Having qualified and well trained people to work in Michigan requires strong, well funded public schools with enough teachers in the classrooms so all students get the attention and quality instruction they need. Dan Kildee also knows healthy communities need funded services to help them thrive.
Making sure the elderly have access to affordable health care is another priority. Dan Kildee supports maintaining the Medicare guarantee. He also recognizes that women are under attack from Republicans by denying them pay equity, protection from violence, and limiting reproductive health care choices. Women are vital wage earners supporting families and they need the same opportunities as men. The idea that men are the only breadwinners for their families is an antiquated notion that needs to be forgotten. Keeping Dan Kildee in Washington will make sure women and the elderly are not forgotten, or seen as a burden. Finally, for many Michiganders in the 5th district and the state, finding a job is still a daily struggle. Having the means to pay for the basics while looking for work not only helps a family survive during a tough time, but also contributes to the economy. Dan Kildee has worked hard demanding that Unemployment Insurance be restored for people who are fighting the very slow economic recovery to find a job.
The people of the 5th district and the state of Michigan need a person like Dan Kildee in Washington D.C. working for the people instead of corporate interests. On November 4, re-elect Dan Kildee for U.S. Congress.
Visit his campaign website for more information and sign up to volunteer.
One Relentless Nerd’s desire to beat public education to death sustained another delay on Thursday when the Michigan State Legislature took their ball and went home for the summer without voting on an expansion of the Education Achievement Authority for the rest of the state. The bad news is they didn’t bother to come up with any plan to fix Michigan’s roads either so we get to have a fun summer of flat tires and broken tie rods. Shared sacrifice!
This is a really good thing, because today the chancellor of the EAA, John Covington, announced he was resigning his position for a new job offer. The fact that he and other school school administrators were discovered spending thousands of Michigan taxpayer dollars on trips and airplane rides and furniture from IKEA while the schools struggled with very little money to operate had nothing to do with it. Perhaps it was the MEAP scores when they finally came out proved the schools in the program were way below the rest of Detroit Public Schools in achievement. Then there were the discipline problems, the high teacher turnover rate, many teachers were Teach For America trainees, the class sizes were close to 50 students, the lack of special education teachers that violated federal education law and so on and so on. Three years of that probably looks like a good time to bail out.
Before Detroit Covington spent two years running Kansas City, Missouri’s schools into the ground. They lost their accreditation shortly after he left for Detroit. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Covington is a graduate of Eli Broad’s school management program. Eli Broad believes all public school districts should be run by MBA’s, because public schools should be about a product, not educating people for their future. Covington brought Eli Broad’s methods of destroying public schools to Michigan so they can then be taken over by for-profit management companies, like the EAA.
Covington leaving means someone else will replace him and the EAA with all of it’s failings and scandals will continue on. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean the end of Snyder’s corporate school reform fever dream. Despite the Michigan Department of Education distancing themselves from the EAA and many critics insisting the program is a failure, Snyder is determined to expand the EAA to the rest of the state so more schools can be taken from the sphere of their local communities and put under the control of Lansing. For now, that can’t happen until September, and by then school will be back in session. On November 4 we kick out Rick Snyder and elect Mark Schauer, who will put an end to the constant attack on our public schools.
@MarkSchauer Ad: Make Michigan’s Economy Work For Everyone
Friday , 13, June 2014 Candidates Leave a commentOne Lying Nerd: Proof That Snyder Cut School Funding
Thursday , 12, June 2014 Nerd Problems, Section 16 Leave a comment
The Senate Fiscal Agency released their report on school funding in Michigan. The proof that the Governor is lying about cutting money for schools is in black and white. Nearly every public school in Michigan had significant cuts in their per-pupil tuition in 2011, and the current spending levels per student this year are still lower than they were in 2006.
In his $400,000 Superbowl ad Rick Snyder claims he increased spending on education. If that’s true, then how did the Senate Fiscal Agency not show that in their report? Because Snyder’s lying, that’s why. Shuffling money around into different funds (For example, teacher pensions) to make it appear there was more money for education doesn’t mean there was an increase in public school funding. It means the governor tried to hide his tracks. Smart people didn’t fall for it then, and now there is evidence to back up what has been a fact since 2011 when Snyder took office. There’s less money for schools with no plans to try and bring funding to a level that would match the rate of inflation.
School districts all over Northern Michigan showed the same numbers for per-student funding. The high point came in 2010-2011, the last school year Jennifer Granholm was governor. The amount for that school year was $7,316. After 2011, the amount per student dropped to $6,846. By 2013, the amount spent per student was at 7,026. That may seem like an increase, but in fact it is still a serious cut from previous years’ levels. The report is broken down by county with amounts for every school district, including charter schools and the EAA. Kalkaska, Forest Park, Hale, Calumet, Traverse City, Cadillac, every school in Northern Michigan faced deep cuts which resulted in lost money to run districts. Schools have cut staff, closed school buildings, and in the case of Mecosta-Osceola County ISD, eliminated vital special education services due to lack of funds. All part of Snyder’s “shared sacrifice” to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
Educating children is an investment with a very important payoff. After graduation new graduates will consider the option of joining the work force or going to college. We educate our children so they can find work, have a career and contribute to the economy and their community. Rick Snyder doesn’t understand that, he only sees Michigan’s children as a drain on state funds that could be given to his rich friends and corporations. In 2010 Snyder promised to make Michigan a leader in transparency and Ethics. He has done neither. He fudged numbers and lied about cutting school funding, and our school children are suffering for his lies.
One Lying Nerd, do you smell smoke?
Michigan Senate Voting To Expand the Education Achievement Authorty Today
Thursday , 12, June 2014 Section 16 Leave a commentThe Education Achievement Authority that currently controls schools in the Detroit Public School District will come a little closer to taking control of more schools in the state with a vote in the Michigan State Senate, which is imminent.
The bill, if passed, would allow the state to take failing schools out of control of the school district and put them in control of a state school reform/redesign school district, or SRRSD. Michigan public schools performing at the bottom 5% would be taken from their school district and put into the SRRSD and given three years to improve.
The schools in the SRRSD, like the Detroit Schools in the EAA would use scantron performance testing that has already proved to be flawed in measuring actual student academic achievement when compared to MEAP scores. In Detroit, the EAA administration tried to hold off publishing MEAP testing data as long as possible because those scores did not match the performance tests taken and used to prove the EAA was a successful alternative program.
It’s important that your state senator know the terrible risks to our public schools with the expansion of the EAA to the entire state. It means local control of schools would be lost to what people in Lansing want. Call or email your state senator and tell them to vote NO on this bill and save the integrity of our public schools.
For the next two weeks the Reed City Fired Department will hold a unique fundraiser. People can pay to have a flock of pink flamingos put in a friend’s yard anywhere in the coverage area of the Reed City Fire Department.
The purpose of the event is to raise funds for equipment needed by the volunteer fire department. Like many cities in Northern Michigan, public services struggle to provide protection and service due to dwindling budgets. Fund raisers such as the migrating flamingos are one way to grab the publics attention and motivate them to help out.
@edvotes Rate The Five Worst Education Governors: Guess Who’s Number One?
Monday , 9, June 2014 Nerd Problems Leave a commentWhen it comes to Republican governors only caring about corporate interests and the people who write the biggest checks to get what they want, there are plenty who are more than happy to sell themselves to the highest bidder. Republican Governors have gutted essential safety net programs in their states while giving corporations and the rich big tax cuts. Education Votes took a look at the Republicans holding the office of governor and their education record. Of the five most terrible Republican governors who have really made cutting public education in their states a priority, no one does it better than Michigan Governor Rick Snyder; which is why he was chosen as number one worst education governor in the nation.
What did Snyder do to win the award for worst of the worst? After all, he beat Rick Scott of Florida, Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and even Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Our very own Nerd in Chief cut over one billion dollars from the state education budget and then tried to shuffle some numbers around between K-12 education and higher ed to make it look like he put more money in. He really didn’t. Robbing kids of funding for a good education wasn’t enough, so next he raised taxes on poor people and old people so they could share in the suffering with Michigan’s school children. All of this, which he called ‘shared sacrifice’, so he could write bigger corporate welfare checks to large corporations and the wealthy in Michigan. What did they do with that money? Anyone from Michigan can tell you they didn’t use it to create any jobs.
Congratulations to Michigan’s One Horrible Nerd, Rick Snyder.
You’re number one … for being the worst governor in the United States when it comes to education.
While a couple of businessmen and a state senator battle it out for the Republican nomination in August, one Democrat will face the winner of the Republican primary on November 4. That Democrat is Dr. Jeff Holmes.
Dr. Holmes is a lifelong Michigan resident. His family’s arrival to the state can be traced back to 1832. He attended Lansing Eastern High School and Michigan State University. For Medical School he went to Wayne State University. Jeff Holmes lives in Alma with his wife. He has four children.
Holmes is no stranger to leadership. In his work with Gratiot Medical Center he has served as Chief of Staff. His family medical practice serves thousands of patients. Dr. Holmes has served on Alma Public Schools’ school board for ten years. He currently holds the office of treasurer.
Through his medical practice, his experience with Alma Public Schools and his volunteer work Dr. Holmes has what it takes to become the U.S. Congressman for the fourth district. He has held important leadership positions throughout his career, and he’s ready to take that leadership to Washington D.C.
“It will take a huge effort to win this seat, but I am encouraged by the support I have received in my community from friends and colleagues who are Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Together, we can produce the effort to win this election.”
If you would like to get involved and support Dr. Jeff Holmes, you can contact him at jeffholmes4congress@gmail.com
Benishek Voted Against VA Benefits And He Should Know Better
Friday , 6, June 2014 Uncategorized Leave a commentCongressman Benishek is the only Michigan representative on the House Committee of Veterans’ Affairs. Being a former VA hospital surgeon it would seem logical that he would vote in favor of increasing VA benefits, funding and making it easier for veterans to do things like buy a home or get health care when they need it. The opposite is true. Dan Benishek voted in solidarity with the other Republicans in Washington D.C. who vote based on the belief that if President Obama wants it, they must do the opposite.
From 2011 to 2013 Benishek voted to make it more difficult for low-income veterans and Social Security recipients from hiring a lawyer to file civil cases against the United States Government. He also voted against helping vets with mortgage relief and a bill that would have provided $75 million to help homeless veterans find a place to live.
And that was only in 2011! In 2012 Benishek voted against housing assistance for veterans again. He went on to vote against medical and prosthetic care research that would have benefited veterans. Something that is very odd for a former VA hospital surgeon to do.
In 2013 he voted against the Veterans Backlog Reduction Act. You know, all of those sick and wounded veterans dying while waiting to see a doctor? Benishek voted against doing anything about that. This is the same issue that Republicans have used to force Erik Shinseki to resign and hold over President Obama’s head as if it’s his fault. When the government shut down in the fall of 2013, Benishek stood with his fellow Republicans and supported it. He even turned down the chance to keep veterans services open by voting no on a new budget with the rest of the Republican Party.
A former VA Doctor from Iron Mountain who served for 20 years treating veterans knows how important it is that these men and women get the best care America can provide them, it’s only a small part of the debt this nations owes these people for serving their country. Shame on Dan Benishek for playing party politics instead of doing the right thing and taking care of our veterans. It’s time for him to retire from Washington D.C. this November.
The Morel mushroom hunting season is likely close to being done for the year, but that doesn’t mean the outdoor fun in Northern Michigan is over.
June 7 and 8 is Michigan’s free fishing weekend. No license required to go fishing. Grab your pole and favorite bait or lures and head to your favorite fishing spot.
Finally, the National Asparagus Festival is happening in Hart, Michigan, this weekend, June 6 through 8. The warmer weather has brought in plenty of asparagus plus there will be lots of other fun activities all three days of the festival.
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, make sure to have lots of fun.