2010 Republican State Convention/Reinvent Michigan Caucus

I delivered the following remarks to the 2010 Republican State Convention, at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University, in East Lansing, Michigan.  The convention was being asked to pass a resolution to oppose a constitutional convention.  State Republican party chair Ron Weiser, Michigan national committeeman Saul Anuzis, and Eric Doster an attorney for the state party,  each spoke in favor of the resolution.  State Senator Tom George, Cheboygan County Drain Commissioner Dennis Lennox, and I each spoke against the resolution.  The resolution passed overwhelmingly, but I remain convinced that holding a constitutional convention in a addition to electing Rick Snyder governor is the right course of action to repair our dismal state of affairs.   

"Good morning, my name is Tim Kelly and I am the chairman of the Saginaw County Republican Party and a candidate for county commissioner. The State of Michigan has had six constitutional conventions since 1835, the most recent being held in 1962.  While opponents of a con-con have said that a convention would be too costly, chaotic, and time consuming, I believe it is in the best interest of our citizenry, and would provide the single greatest opportunity to force the kinds of systemic and necessary reforms that could make Michigan a great state once again.

If we can all agree that Michigan is badly broken, and I think that we all can, then what better opportunity will present itself in the future to fix what desperately needs to be repaired.  If not now, when?  If not us, who?   If you had asked me two years ago if I were in favor or a con-con, I would have probably responded with an emphatic NO.  But, timing is everything in politics and two years ago, conservatives in general, and Republicans in particular, were in no shape to try and dictate their wishes upon anyone.  Now that we've experienced almost two years of Barack Obama, and here in Michigan we will finally put an end to eight years of Jennifer Granholm, we see where unbridled liberalism and excess can leave us.

A con-con would provide the opportunity to fix a whole range of issues, or none at all.  148 delegates would be elected to review the current version of the Michigan Constitution and decide on what changes, across a broad range of issues, should be made.  Things like a part-time legislature, term limits, local government configuration, right-to-work, public education options, and taxation could be addressed.  Even getting Michigan to adopt a budget or fiscal plan beginning on July 1, instead of Oct. 1, like 46 other states do, could make planning things like school budgets much easier for local school superintendents.

We have been told that a con-con would be a huge distraction to a new governor and legislature.  To be sure, Rick Synder and Brian Calley are the face of reinvention in Michigan.  And they will need all the support they can get from all of us here today and across this great state.  However, a con-con held in close proximity and concurrent with even a Republican legislature could provide a powerful catalyst for those with reinvention in mind, but more familiar with trivial aspirations. 

We have also been told that a con-con would invite unwanted guests like Jon Stryker and George Soros with a bevy of liberal needs and wants.  Honestly, who really believes that an electorate poised to sweep a plurality of Republicans into office in the coming weeks, would suddenly reverse itself and elect a plurality of liberals as delegates to a constitutional convention?  We are poised for victory, not defeat. 

A con-con would also be the perfect vehicle for the tea party movement and other conservative groups to weigh in and affect the changes we so desperately seek. The infusion of their energy and passion would very likely tip the scales in favor of putting Michigan on the right track to limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedom and economic opportunity.

I urge this convention to vote NO on the proposed resolution.  Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back the balance of my time to Sen. Tom George."

Biden's Not The Problem

Talk of President Barack Obama dumping Vice President Joe Biden for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the 2012 ticket might be intriguing to some, but it's a continuing sign that the Democrats have truly lost it.  As ungifted and as untalented as Joe Biden may be,  no one can seriously say that Obama's fall from grace can be attributed to old Joe.  Helped maybe, but Obama without Biden is still a disaster.  What was that saying from the '08 campaign that got so much mileage?  Something about lipstick on a pig?

Here's The Problem

In an article from the Washington Post, Matt Miller describes the latest $26 billion state assistance bailout from the Obama/Reid/Pelosi regime, as akin to the old Saturday Night Live ad parody "New Shimmer is a floor wax and a dessert topping."  He writes that borrowing money from China to bailout the auto industry is on thing (and a wrong thing), "but borrowing from China to keep runaway Medicaid programs in New York and California free from fundamental overhaul, and gargantuan unfunded public pensions untouched, seems mad. In California, more money is spent each year on compensation and pensions for 70,000 prison employees than on the state's entire higher education system!"  Washington has given us all 26 billion more reasons to end the Reid/Pelosi nightmare in November.

JJ Horgan

Saginaw County lost a good man earlier this week when former Democrat party chair J. J. Horgan died at age 72 of brain cancer.  Diagnosed in May, JJ was running in the Democrat primary for state representative up until his death.  A New Yorker by birth, JJ had the best interest of Saginaw/Bridgeport, Michigan in all that he did for his community.  He was quite a character and I counted him a good friend.

Despite our political differences, we often shared information over phone calls or lunches.  Like so many others, I often felt that I got more from these conversations then perhaps he did.  He had a great wit, abundant Irish charm, and I loved hearing about his days growing up on the rough and tumble of New York City streets.

He will be greatly missed by his loving wife Geri, his family and friends, and all those who came in contact with him.  As Geri wryly told me, "he's God's problem now."  Rest in peace JJ.

Gusher?

What's with all the wild assumptions and half-assed calculations for what might be leaking out of the busted well in the Gulf of Mexico?  Early estimates put the leak at 5,000 barrels a day.  At 42 gallons a barrel, that would be 210,000 gallons per day.  Now some are estimating that it could be a million or more  gallons per day.  Why is this so tough?  I am not an oil and gas expert, but how much oil was being produced daily before the blowout?  Someone, somewhere, has the answer to this simple question.

Some cursory research on the internet provided me with an average production for a typical oil well of between 100 and 300 barrels per day.  This seems kind of low to me, so for the sake of argument let's assume that the BP well was producing 1000 barrels per day.  That would equate to 42,000 gallons of crude per day.  I also learned that wells can produce a large amount of water along with the oil and gas that is produced.  How much of what we see on the ubiquitous gushercam is oil?  A spill is a spill, so no amount of petrochemicals in our waters are a good thing, but let's not go off half-cocked when trying to estimate the real size of the problem.  In any event, why should we care about the real size of the leak.  Our fearless president will keep his boot on the neck of BP until all is well.  Right?

Dis*con*nect

Following up on the 2+2=4 post, consider the following:

• First Lady Michelle Obama wants to fight childhood obesity.  A high percentage of poor and low income kids are overweight due to poor eating habits.  Mrs. Obama points to school lunch programs as a source for poor nutritional foods.  Free and reduced priced public school breakfast and lunch programs have served millions of kids for decades.  
• Extending unemployment benefits to ninety-nine weeks will not reduce the number of unemployed.
• Progressives want to shut down any BP drilling operations until the leak in the Gulf is stopped and investigated.  The Obama administration wants BP on the hook for untold liabilities.  Driving BP out of business will greatly reduce its ability to cover any and all claims.
• 1700 people work in the Minerals Management Service (MMS) that oversee oil drilling in the Gulf.  Democrats and the Obama administration want more regulation.  If 1700 can't do the job, what number of employees will?

2+2=4

I had the pleasure to hear Newt Gingrich in Mr. Pleasant the other day for a 4th Congressional District fundraiser.  Newt's simple message that day was for the audience to always remember that "two plus two makes four."  With President Obama in the White House it's difficult at times, especially when we are repeatedly bombarded with statements, actions, and policies that attempt to promote 2+2=5.  Newt gave the analogy to George Orwell's famous book 1984, where the state promotes obvious untruths as gospel in their attempt to brainwash the populace into submission and passivity.   Two plus two makes four becomes a kind of coda then for those who understand the real truth and will not be dissuaded by popular "truths."

Some examples of the progressives two plus two equals five dogma:

• For twenty-five years, we were pushed and prodded (with Republican help I might add) into the belief that your income need not be a deterrent to owning the home of your dreams.  No money down, interest only loans, and perennially low interest rates fed a voracious appetite that led to eventual collapse in '08.
• Finance reform without addressing Fannie and Freddie.
• That the trillion dollar Obamacare will reduce the deficit.
• The President will not sign a bill that includes congressional earmarks, then promptly and repeatedly does so.
• The President promises the most transparent administration in history, then presides over a series of midnight votes, back room deals and pay for play Chicago style politics.
• Blasts the State of Arizona for passing a law that essentially reinforces federal law and current U. S. policy.
• Dismisses the rightful ownership of a public company (GM and Chrysler) and basically divvies up their assets to powerful friends and allies.   

So for the next thirty-two months, remember two plus two always makes four.

P.S. Newt's daughter has determined that Obama's campaign slogan "Change we can believe in," should really have been "Change what we believe in."