Green Party of Michigan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.MIGreenParty.org
** News Release **
** ------------ **
May 6, 2015
For More Information, Contact:
-----------------------------
Art Myatt, GPMI Vice Chair
ALMyatt@yahoo.com
(313) 815-2025
John Anthony La Pietra, GPMI Media Committee
jalp5dai@att.net
Michigan Greens Applaud "NO" Vote on Proposal 1,
Offer Policy Ideas for a Better Plan
====================================
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) welcomes yesterday's
overwhelming vote by people across the state to reject Proposal 15-1,
and has lots of ideas to offer for a better alternative.
The proposal, a legacy of December's lame-duck session, would have
amended the Michigan constitution to raise state sales and use taxes
from 6% to 7%, shift transportation funding, and delete higher education
from eligibility for school-aid funds in favor of job-training programs.
Ten last-minute bills were also tied to the amendment.
But as GPMI Vice Chair Art Myatt of Royal Oak pointed out months
ago, the amendment itself was the only thing the Legislature couldn't
easily change later if the people voted yes. “The importance of bills
to be triggered by passage should depend on how much you trust the
Legislature, and any future Legislatures, to actually work for policies
you approve.”
Myatt urged a NO vote based on what the amendment itself would have
done. Otherwise, he said, it could be 1994's Proposal A all over again:
“We could wind up with a 7% tax rate and poor, underfinanced public
transportation, just as we now have a 6% tax and financially stressed
schools and cities.”
GPMI's platform calls for a different approach. "Whatever fuel our
internal-combustion engines use, the exhaust pumps more carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. Efficiency helps – but to reduce our contribution
to climate change, we need to do less driving and much less flying.
GPMI supports building a good network of efficient public transportation
while minimizing use of destructive road salt."
Other Green policy ideas include prioritizing maintenance of
existing roads and infrastructure ahead of building more, and taxing
Diesel fuel at the same rate as gasoline – high enough to pay for that
maintenance. And citizen initiatives to legalize, regulate, and tax
marijuana and related products can also help balance the state's budget.
The 2014 GPMI platform is on line at
https://migreenparty.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/2014_gpmi_platform.pdf
Myatt's analysis can be seen at
https://migreenparty.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/vote-no-on-may-5/
To Eric Borregard of Dexter, a longtime Green endorsed by GPMI in
his campaign for Washtenaw Community College board last year, the vote
was obviously a protest. "Most voters in this election simply did not
want new tax money made available for the Democratic and Republican
Parties' political priorities, no matter how bad the roads get.
"Municipalities, schools, and colleges are financial disaster
areas. The so-called reform of health care will fix nothing. And both
parties' policies of endless war, domestic as well as abroad, are at the
root of their wasteful corporate spending habits. With this vote, the
people have drawn a line in the sand - no more money for more Democratic
and Republican Party waste!"
Doug Campbell of Ferndale, GPMI's first candidate for governor,
agrees. "It's often said that politics is like sausage, but this
disaster of a proposal was more like watching sausage being made in a
mortuary. Fortunately, voters were not persuaded by the
lesser-of-two-evils argument, intimidated by scare tactics, or
hoodwinked by a legislature trying to shirk its responsibilities."
"Yesterday, a voter at the precinct I worked at for my city
demanded to be registered as an Independent," said Sherry A. Wells of
Ferndale, a 2014 Green candidate for State Board of Education who is
running again for 2016. "The 42% who report themselves as independent
voters are looking for a standardbearer, with standards - and the Green
Party can offer that."
GPMI's next statewide membership meeting is Saturday, June 6 at
Michigan Migrant Legal Aid in Grand Rapids. For more information about
GPMI and its standards, visit
http://www.MIGreenParty.org/
You can also “like” the Green Party of Michigan US Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/migreens
and follow GPMI's Twitter feed @MIGreenParty
https://twitter.com/migreenparty
# # #
created/distributed using donated labor
Green Party of Michigan
PO Box 504
Warren, MI 48090-0504
313-815-2025
www.MIGreenParty.orgf
www.MIGreenParty.org
** News Release **
** ------------ **
May 6, 2015
For More Information, Contact:
-----------------------------
Art Myatt, GPMI Vice Chair
ALMyatt@yahoo.com
(313) 815-2025
John Anthony La Pietra, GPMI Media Committee
jalp5dai@att.net
Michigan Greens Applaud "NO" Vote on Proposal 1,
Offer Policy Ideas for a Better Plan
====================================
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) welcomes yesterday's
overwhelming vote by people across the state to reject Proposal 15-1,
and has lots of ideas to offer for a better alternative.
The proposal, a legacy of December's lame-duck session, would have
amended the Michigan constitution to raise state sales and use taxes
from 6% to 7%, shift transportation funding, and delete higher education
from eligibility for school-aid funds in favor of job-training programs.
Ten last-minute bills were also tied to the amendment.
But as GPMI Vice Chair Art Myatt of Royal Oak pointed out months
ago, the amendment itself was the only thing the Legislature couldn't
easily change later if the people voted yes. “The importance of bills
to be triggered by passage should depend on how much you trust the
Legislature, and any future Legislatures, to actually work for policies
you approve.”
Myatt urged a NO vote based on what the amendment itself would have
done. Otherwise, he said, it could be 1994's Proposal A all over again:
“We could wind up with a 7% tax rate and poor, underfinanced public
transportation, just as we now have a 6% tax and financially stressed
schools and cities.”
GPMI's platform calls for a different approach. "Whatever fuel our
internal-combustion engines use, the exhaust pumps more carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. Efficiency helps – but to reduce our contribution
to climate change, we need to do less driving and much less flying.
GPMI supports building a good network of efficient public transportation
while minimizing use of destructive road salt."
Other Green policy ideas include prioritizing maintenance of
existing roads and infrastructure ahead of building more, and taxing
Diesel fuel at the same rate as gasoline – high enough to pay for that
maintenance. And citizen initiatives to legalize, regulate, and tax
marijuana and related products can also help balance the state's budget.
The 2014 GPMI platform is on line at
https://migreenparty.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/2014_gpmi_platform.pdf
Myatt's analysis can be seen at
https://migreenparty.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/vote-no-on-may-5/
To Eric Borregard of Dexter, a longtime Green endorsed by GPMI in
his campaign for Washtenaw Community College board last year, the vote
was obviously a protest. "Most voters in this election simply did not
want new tax money made available for the Democratic and Republican
Parties' political priorities, no matter how bad the roads get.
"Municipalities, schools, and colleges are financial disaster
areas. The so-called reform of health care will fix nothing. And both
parties' policies of endless war, domestic as well as abroad, are at the
root of their wasteful corporate spending habits. With this vote, the
people have drawn a line in the sand - no more money for more Democratic
and Republican Party waste!"
Doug Campbell of Ferndale, GPMI's first candidate for governor,
agrees. "It's often said that politics is like sausage, but this
disaster of a proposal was more like watching sausage being made in a
mortuary. Fortunately, voters were not persuaded by the
lesser-of-two-evils argument, intimidated by scare tactics, or
hoodwinked by a legislature trying to shirk its responsibilities."
"Yesterday, a voter at the precinct I worked at for my city
demanded to be registered as an Independent," said Sherry A. Wells of
Ferndale, a 2014 Green candidate for State Board of Education who is
running again for 2016. "The 42% who report themselves as independent
voters are looking for a standardbearer, with standards - and the Green
Party can offer that."
GPMI's next statewide membership meeting is Saturday, June 6 at
Michigan Migrant Legal Aid in Grand Rapids. For more information about
GPMI and its standards, visit
http://www.MIGreenParty.org/
You can also “like” the Green Party of Michigan US Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/migreens
and follow GPMI's Twitter feed @MIGreenParty
https://twitter.com/migreenparty
# # #
created/distributed using donated labor
Green Party of Michigan
PO Box 504
Warren, MI 48090-0504
313-815-2025
www.MIGreenParty.orgf