In the November 15, 2010 edition of
This Week in Lansing:
TOP NEWS
Legislative Schedule
MRA Applauds Legislature for Passing Sunday Morning Sales, Sampling Bill
House, Senate Select Leaders
Snyder Taps Dillon, Posthumus to Administration Posts
State Tourism Up in Third Quarter
Clemente Relative and MRA Member to Continue Representing the 14th
Restaurant Employee to Become the Next State Representative in the 32nd
ODDS AND ENDS
TOP NEWS
Legislative Schedule
The state House of Representatives and state Senate are not in session this week or next and will be back for one week following Thanksgiving. That week is expected to be the last week of legislative business for the 2009-2010 Legislature before formal adjournment in late December.
MRA Applauds Legislature for Passing Sunday Morning, Sampling Bill
MRA applauded the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives for their action last Wednesday to pass two key state liquor control policy changes.
The Michigan Senate first passed the bill early Wednesday that would allow for Sunday morning alcohol sales by permit and allow restaurants and bars to offer free samples of beer, wine and spirits to patrons. The Michigan House followed suit and agreed with the Senate bill and sent it on to the desk of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has said she will sign it.
“We would like to thank the Michigan Senate and House for their strong, bi-partisan action to pass this important legislation,” said Rob Gifford, president and chief executive officer of the MRA. “Republicans and Democrats came together and identified the importance of this industry in Michigan and passed good public policy which will improve sales and increase awareness of Michigan products.”
Sunday morning alcohol sales
For a fee of $160 annually, liquor licensees will be able to apply for a Sunday morning sales permit from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission which will allow them to sell and serve alcoholic beverages on Sunday mornings starting at 7:00 a.m. This new permit will allow licensees to expand product and service offerings to patrons and increase sales. The permit is not mandatory and a licensee is not required to obtain the permit if they do not wish to serve alcohol before noon.
On-premises alcohol sampling
Michigan restaurants and taverns will be allowed to offer free samples of beer, wine and spirits to patrons. Each patron may be allowed no more than two samples of either beer, wine or distilled spirits. The sample size shall not exceed three ounces for beer, two ounces for wine, and a half ounce for distilled spirits. This new provision will help drive additional sales of higher-end products in restaurants and taverns and increase awareness of craft beers, wines and spirits, especially those made in Michigan.
For the last several months, MRA led the way to pass Sunday morning alcohol sales and spirits catering provisions into law. The governor vetoed that bill but MRA regrouped and continued working with other Michigan alcohol industry organizations and came back to the Legislature with the Sunday sales and sampling provisions. MRA will ask the Legislature to consider the spirits catering provision again in the next session.
In particular, MRA is grateful to: state Sen. Alan Sanborn of Richmond, the chairman of the Senate committee who carefully negotiated and crafted the final version of the legislation and ensured the proper wording and inclusion of these two provisions in the bill; state Rep. Andrew Kandrevas of Southgate, the bill’s sponsor; and state Rep. Rick Hammel of Flushing, who has long been a champion of the Sunday morning provision and worked closely with the MRA to press the issue in the House.
“The MRA is thankful to these three legislators in particular for their leadership,” said Gifford. “Despite the odds, they stood strong and prevailed.”
While the governor has not yet signed the bill, she has indicated she will do so.
House, Senate Select Leaders
The new leadership teams for the state House of Representatives and the state Senate are largely in place. Following the November 2 elections, where Republicans seized control of the state House and increased the size of their majority in the state Senate, the Republicans and Democrats in each chamber got together and chose their leaders for the next few years.
In the state Senate, state Sen. Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) was formally elected by his peers to be the Majority Leader for the next four years. The Senate Republican Caucus will grow in January from its current 22 person roster to 26 after they picked up four seats on November 2. He had been in competition for the post with state Sen.-elect John Proos (R-St. Joseph), a current state representative, before Proos dropped out and urged support for Richardville. State Sen.-elect Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive) will be the Majority Floor Leader, and state Sen.-elect Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton) will serve as Senate President Pro Tempore. Both Meekhof and Schuitmaker are current state representatives. On the Democratic side, state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) will serve as the Minority Leader of a 12-person caucus. State Sen. Tupac Hunter (D-Detroit) will be the Minority Floor Leader. Other leadership posts for the Senate Democrats had not yet been filled.
In the state House, state Rep. James “Jase” Bolger (R-Marshall) had been the shoo-in to become the next Speaker of the House as all his competition had dropped out and endorsed him for the spot. He was officially chosen by his caucus last week, as were other leaders for the new House Republican majority. Rep. Bolger’s endorsed candidates were swept into leadership spots after their stunning 20 seat pick-up on November 2. After the 2008 election, it had been a 67-43 majority for the Democrats, but the incredible performance of House Republican candidates on election night handed a 63-47 majority to the Republicans. MRA member and state Rep. Jim Stamas (R-Midland) won a tight race for House Majority Floor Leader, fending off a challenge from state Rep. Bob Genetski (R-Saugatuck). State Rep. John Walsh (R-Livonia) won the race for Speaker Pro Tempore. On the Democratic side, state Rep. Rick Hammel (D-Flushing) won a tight race over state Rep. Woodrow Stanley (D-Flint) for the House Minority Leader post. State Rep. Kate Segal (D-Battle Creek) will run the floor for the Dems as the House Minority Floor Leader.
Snyder Taps Dillon, Posthumus to Administration Posts
Governor-elect Rick Snyder has appointed state House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) and former Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus (R-Alto) to key posts in his new administration. Mr. Snyder said last week that his decision to name Democratic Speaker Dillon as state Treasurer along with former Republican Lt. Gov. Posthumus as a special adviser for legislative affairs is part of building his “A-Team” that relies on a mix of private and public sector experience instead of partisan labels.
“We all have a background of solving problems. Let’s stop that fighting over the extremes and recognize Michigan is in a crisis and we’re going to move forward and roll up our sleeves,” Mr. Snyder said at a news conference on the University of Michigan campus to announce the appointments. “I think it’s that combination of experience that adds value. I think we’re going to get a good running start and we need a running start.”
For Speaker Dillon, the decision to join the Snyder administration came quickly. He said Mr. Snyder reached out to him after the election results were in and while he wasn’t certain at first, he ultimately decided to accept the treasurer’s spot because of the great challenges facing the state and Mr. Snyder’s message of working together to reinvent Michigan. For Mr. Posthumus, the role as senior adviser came about after he sent a message to the then candidate in October urging Mr. Snyder to bring people on his team with legislative experience so that Mr. Snyder could become a historic governor in the same vein as former Governors John Engler, George Romney and G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams. “Coming from the outside things are a little different. To accomplish things in the Lansing mode, to accomplish things in the legislative process, are different than the private sector,” Mr. Posthumus said.
Mr. Snyder’s choice of Mr. Dillon for a Cabinet position is historic not only because of the speaker’s party affiliation, but also because Speaker Dillon himself ran for governor earlier this year (although he was ultimately defeated in the primary). The pick is also controversial because Speaker Dillon is associated with the state Legislature’s approval of the income tax increase and a sales tax on services that was eventually dropped and replaced with the 22 percent Michigan Business Tax surcharge.
Mr. Dillon, who worked in the venture capital industry prior to winning office in 2004, said the role as treasurer will be different than his current position because he will not be setting policy but instead advising Mr. Snyder of the options of balancing the state budget, which is expected to have a $1.6 billion shortfall for the 2011-12 fiscal year. But Mr. Dillon, who was heavily involved in the crafting of the MBT that Mr. Snyder has characterized as a dumb tax, said he would push to change the gross receipts portion of the MBT, which he said is the cause of most of the problems. He also said he would look forward to being part of a team that changes state government, including Mr. Snyder’s push for value for money budgeting.
Mr. Posthumus is expected to step down from his board position with Compatico, a Grand Rapids furniture manufacturing company where he served as chief executive officer until last summer. He previously served as state Senate Majority Leader for eight years and served in the state Senate from 1983 to 1998. He said the advisory role will focus most on taking Mr. Snyder and Lt. Governor-elect Brian Calley’s message and turning that into specific legislative policy, which he expected would put him in Lansing daily.
Mr. Snyder said he expects to continue the pace of naming his other Cabinet positions on a weekly basis at least.
State Tourism Up in Third Quarter
According to a quarterly index produced by Comerica Bank measuring tourism activity in Michigan, tourism showed an uptick in the third quarter of 2010 to generate a score of 93. That reading is up five points from the year-ago level, and is up six points, or seven percent, from the cyclical index low of 87. Over the past three quarters, the tourism index averaged 92 points, up two points from Index average for all of 2009.
“The rise in our index in the third quarter was driven primarily by increases in air travel and hotel occupancy,” said Dana Johnson, chief economist at Comerica. “Slowly but surely, households and businesses have become more willing to increase their spending on travel as they sense that a sustained, moderate expansion is likely to come.” Johnson said he expects the Comerica Michigan Tourism Index to continue “to perform modestly better over the next several quarters, particularly if the state starts growing fast enough to begin generating increases in jobs.”
The Comerica Michigan Tourism Index is a quarterly summary of six equally weighted, seasonally adjusted travel, lodging and entertainment data series.
Clemente Relative and MRA Member to Continue Representing the 14th
Paul Clemente may owe you a telephone call. He apologizes if he does and he hasn’t gotten to it, yet. It’s not personal. The successor to his cousin, outgoing state Rep. Ed Clemente (D-Lincoln Park) in the Downriver-based 14th state House District, said he hasn’t been on the phone much returning telephone calls because he’s on the phone.
Even though his district features a 30 percent Republican base, the co-owner and manager at Clemente’s Bar, Restaurant and Bowling Alley, an MRA member establishment, said he wanted to take nothing for granted. He knows Lansing presumed he would defeat Republican Patrick O’Connell on November 2. He did 67 to 33 percent. He said he wasn’t going to take anything for granted. “I didn’t want to presume anything, so I just kept working,” he said.
State Rep.-elect Clemente sewed up the Democratic nomination in August by winning in a four-candidate field. Clemente benefited from a strong family name recognition in the area through his cousin’s work and the restaurant. A lifelong district resident, Clemente said he decided after his job at Coopers and Lybrand took him to all four points on a compass that he and his wife wanted to raise their three children in his hometown.
Eight years ago, he began managing full time the MRA-member family restaurant started from scratch by his parents. Earlier this year he said he began to question what he wanted to do with the next phase of his life. Public service rose to the top of the list. “There are a lot of challenges in this state and I just felt like I wanted to put myself in the middle of that and hopefully make good decisions for this state,” he said.
When his father made it clear that after 63 years of working seven-day weeks he wanted to take up an auto parts store’s proposal to buy the building, Paul said he began to act strongly on his new goal. “Business was still good at the restaurant,” Clemente said. “But the reality is that it was a wonderful offer and it was time for him to retire.”
As he began to dial up his political ambitions, one of the first calls he made was to his cousin, Ed, who he called a “trove of political knowledge.” “It was wonderful to have Ed,” he said. “He put me in a position to know where the rocks were before I saw them and how to run a successful campaign.” But the best advice Ed gave: “Fewer words.”
The key in communicating as a political candidate is to be straightforward. Be direct. Start with core values and the values of your constituents and focus on those areas you want to focus on, his cousin told him. “It's unfortunate that the state is losing him,” he said.
MRA is thankful to state Rep. Ed Clemente for his service to the district and to the state and for his friendship throughout his six years in office. MRA is also looking forward to working with Paul as he begins his service.
Restaurant Employee to Become the Next State Representative in the 32nd
Andrea LaFontaine is young and, for better or for worse, she looks it. The 23-year-old was recently carded for buying a lottery ticket. As she was knocking doors for her run in the 32nd state House District, one man mistakenly believed she was selling Girl Scout cookies. The Michigan House of Representatives is looking into whether the Richmond Republican is the youngest woman ever elected to the House.
“That was the most common question I’d get at the doors, ‘How old are you?’ It was so funny. I wouldn’t be doing all of this work if I wasn't old enough to run,” Ms. LaFontaine joked.
And the lifetime resident of the northern Macomb County/southern St. Clair County district put a lot of work into her successful bid to unseat freshman state Rep. Jennifer Haase (D-Richmond). From dawn until dusk, everyday from May until November 1, LaFontaine could only be found knocking on doors and meeting constituents. The recent Central Michigan University graduate took leave of her job waiting tables at Ken’s Country Kitchen in downtown Richmond with the singular focus of meeting voters and winning.
It worked. LaFontaine was among nine Republican challengers statewide to defeat incumbent officeholders. She defeated Haase 51 to 45 percent. A Libertarian candidate received four percent.
Rep.-elect LaFontaine believes her hard work ethic, developed in the restaurant, is what made her successful on November 2. “Some people have told me, ‘You rode the Republican wave,’ and they can think that. I know that I knocked on 13,000 doors. That’s all I did. I talked to so many people in a given day. There wasn’t one day I wasn’t meeting constituents."
LaFontaine isn’t an expert in everything and she knows that but she’s eager to learn. To better understand the Michigan Business Tax, she sat down with a local certified public accountant who ran down why a repeal of the Michigan Business Tax surcharge was necessary. What she heard astonished her. The CPA told her businesses are urged to slow down productivity near the end of the year because they would be taxed higher for it. “Why is this going on?” she asked aloud. "We are discouraging growth.”
Along the way, she had a second family in the crew and regular customers at Ken’s Country Kitchen. They were her ears in the community, telling her that state Rep. Haase had been in this neighborhood or handing out that flier, etc. She said she appreciated all of their support. “I’ve been waiting on some of the same people for the last eight years and they would remind me, ‘You always said you’d run for office. Now you’re doing it and we’re so proud of you,’” LaFontaine said.
But the big question is “why?” Why did Andrea LaFontaine decide to take the plunge now at such a young age? The answer is one that would resonate with restaurant owners. “Somebody once told me that you’re a fool to shut the door of opportunity. I just told myself that I was going to give this a shot. It’s been an awesome adventure.”
ODDS AND ENDS
State Rep. Terry Brown (D-Pigeon) said Thursday that he would request an official recount of the general election results that showed him losing to Republican challenger Kurt Damrow by 28 votes out of 30,334 cast. Rep. Brown said he has been encouraged to request a recount based on initial confusion over whether he or Damrow won Tuscola County.
U.S. Reps. Candice Miller (R-Harrison Twp.) and Mike Rogers (R-Brighton) were named to a committee to manage the transition to a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 112th Congress. The 22-member Majority Transition Committee team will review all U.S. House procedures and structures, with the goal of ensuring the new Congress can get to work immediately on the priorities of the American people.
