With Michigan Capitol Confidential and Tea Party organizer Jason Gillman breaking the news that the faux-"Michigan Tea Party" political party appears to be a dirty trick created by Democratic Party operatives, it's worth noting who comprises the real Tea Party movement in this state.

Posted here is the most comprehensive list available of the grass roots organizations and individuals who support the principles of limited government and have been involved in real Tea Party activities since the first protests against bailouts and excessive spending in February, 2009. There are approximately 128 listings, and the source is the Michigan Activists Calendar created and maintained by Mr. Daar Fisher, as of July 30, 2010.

List:  Michigan's REAL Tea Party groups and leaders

Oklahoma's state affiliate of the National Education Association only has 23,451 members, but has nevertheless launched a revenue-grabbing initiative, SQ 744, that will be on the ballot in November. The NEA is giving the local $3 million to promote the measure. Mike Antonucci wrote about it in his Education Intelligence Agency newsletter:

As I demonstrated in my recent article for Education Next, in education there is no such thing as a "weak union state." If there were only three OEA members, NEA could still spend $3 million in Oklahoma. The SQ 744 campaign illustrates better than anything why education labor issues in California, New Jersey and elsewhere affect every state, because that's where the money for Oklahoma's biggest political battle is coming from.

According to figures from the EIA, Michigan has the 7th most NEA members.

Stories in Michigan Capitol Confidential were the subject of recent radio interviews.

Senior Correspondent Tom Gantert, who wrote about the city of Ann Arbor spending $850,000 on a sculpture while laying off firefighters, was interviewed on The Lucy Ann Lance Show on WLBY AM1290 in Ann Arbor. You can listen to the interview here.

Jason Gillman, who writes the political blog "Michigan Taxes Too Much," discussed on The Frank Beckmann Show on WJR AM760 his research that discovered a Democratic Party operative was involved in the creation of a controversial "Tea Party" that is trying to get candidates on the 2010 ballot. Gillman noted that Michigan Capitol Confidential has covered this issue, including here and here. You can listen to that interview here.

Some economic development officials are complaining of “collateral damage” from candidates and others who publicly discuss reining in Michigan’s generous array of targeted business subsidies and incentives. Last Saturday the Grand Rapids Press covered a roundtable discussion among four of the planners in an article titled "Politicians talk of killing tax incentives is hurting Michigan, economic developers say."

The central planners say that even having this "conversation" about economic development programs is harmful to the state. What this sounds like is, "stop pointing out our failures."

Here's an excerpt from the article, which features Brigit Klohs, CEO of the Grand Rapids-based economic development agency, The Right Place Inc.

Klohs said such rhetoric only serves to hurt the state as corporations look for places to put their next factory or office. "Where we're suffering collateral damage is when we as a state publicly have conversations like this," she said. "Every site consultant in the world can read this and say, 'We're not going to Michigan because they can't decide if they're in or out.'"

If this represents the attitude of Michigan's economic development leadership, then it is no wonder they've built a wall of secrecy at the MEDC.

It's as if their goal is to prevent any independent analysis of whether their programs work and whether they're being carried out according to the law. It's difficult to imagine anything more inimical to the spirit of public service they presumably have pledged to uphold.

An article in Saturday's Grand Rapids Press contains one of the most troubling quotes from an economic development official we have ever read. It comes from Ron Kitchens of Kalamazoo's Southwest Michigan First and it continues a "stop picking on us" theme first advanced by Michigan Economic Development Corp. officials in a May letter.

The quote reads: "It is a sin in God's eyes not to create jobs..."

First, who died and made Kitchens and other government agents the "apostles" of job creation? Markets were creating jobs long before there were governments.

Second, Kitchens presumes his work actually works. There is a lot of scholarly evidence suggesting otherwise, including a Meta-Review of academic literature on the subject titled "The Failures of Economic Development Incentives," and two exhaustive analyses of MEDC and the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, which MEDC administers, in 2005 and 2009. Neither agency has ever refuted a single point of fact in either. Mr. Kitchens should familiarize himself with them.

Lastly, since when did the state's vast and expensive economic development apparatus become a faith-based initiative? Invoking religion to help maintain a policy status quo suggests an act of desperation. With a massive reform of incentive programs on the horizon, the job that Mr. Kitchens may be most concerned about is his own. The state's economic development bureaucracy has had to fight for its political life before and it appears to be doing so again.

This bureaucracy has presided over one of the biggest declines in Michigan's economic fortunes in perhaps the history of the state. Let us hope that whoever wins this year's governor's race has the good sense to rein in and ultimately eliminate the state's ineffective development programs.

A recent Michigan Capitol Confidential story about driver license renewal for people with outstanding parking tickets was cited as the source of information for two different newspaper editorials.

The Macomb Daily and Midland Daily News, which took opposite stances on the issue, both indicated the Michigan Capitol Confidential story was the source for their respective editorial boards.

According to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom published by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, there are 16 countries that do a better job of protecting private property rights than the United States.

A dismal international ranking of 17 in protecting private property rights should serve as a wake up call to Americans concerned about individual freedom and liberty. It is impossible for a people to remain free without respect for the rule of law and protection of private property rights.

The protection of private property and respect for the rule of law are fundamental constitutional principles, but these bedrock principles are being eroded by the actions of government officials at local, state, and federal levels. The actions of the federal government in running roughshod over the legal rights of secured debtors in the Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcies in order to reward politically favored unions did serious damage to the rule of law and the protection of private property. When state environmental regulators place unreasonable restrictions on the use of private property to protect mud puddles or local government officials severely restrict the use of private property citing "smart growth," Americans become less free.

Although Michigan cannot alone affect the country's poor international standing on protection of property rights, lawmakers in the state should follow the lead of other states and enact statutory changes to protect private property rights. Ohio has enacted a constitutional protection of private water rights and Arizona and Oregon have put restriction on regulatory takings of private property. Michigan officials need to make private property protection a priority to stem the gradual but relentless erosion of property rights.

A recent blog post by Michael Jahr, senior director of communications, about Michael Moore accepting a Michigan film subsidy for a movie of his that railed against government subsidies was quickly picked up by other media, including The Michigan View at The Detroit News and The Houghton Lake Resorter.

"Cry me a future/Where the revelations run amok/Ladies and gentlemen/Lions and tigers come running/Just to steal your luck." — From "Especially in Michigan," by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

United Van Lines has released mid-year data on where it takes its clients to and from in the 48 contiguous states. Once again, Michigan finds itself in the number one position. That is, 61.6 percent of all Michigan-specific UVL traffic is outbound. Fortunately, this is down from 70 percent during the same the same time frame last year. Unfortunately, that drop may be a function of having nowhere to go. 

Michigan's political class must make major changes to the state's policy landscape in order to make the Great Lakes State attractive again to people, entrepreneurs and other business leaders.

Migration has been an important area of research to the Mackinac Center because - as we have said many times - there is perhaps no better metric for measuring quality of life issues. These can encompass job opportunities, tax structure and levels, climate, recreation, crime and even smog. For some reason, people are voting to leave the Great Lakes State, and have been in significant numbers for some years now.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Michigan has lost net population for the last four years in a row and was only one of three states (Rhode Island and Maine were the others) to lose population last year. More than 87,000 people migrated from Michigan between July 2008 and July 2009 alone. This migration has profound consequences. Not only do people take their wealth with them, they take their vital talents, too.

A January 2010 report from the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy estimates that New Jersey's outbound migration from 2004 through 2008 led to a drop in state wealth of $70 billion. New Jersey was ranked 3rd highest in UVL's outbound traffic through June 30 at 59.9 percent.

How do we reverse Michigan's migration trend? Simple: Make our state a place in which people and job providers can feel free to thrive. You do that by lowering the cost of doing so. The government can help by cutting taxes and state spending, reforming labor law and reining in job-killing regulations. It can also make it easier for people to choose the best and safest schools for their kids, to get to work on safe streets and to see that courts work honorably and efficiently.

For more on what Mackinac Center analysts think should be done to improve Michigan, see "101 Recommendations to Revitalize Michigan."

The New York Times reported yesterday that "the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than expected" and that "the immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of square miles of the gulf are largely gone."

While scientists continue to study the effects deeper in the ocean from dissolved oil, the Gulf is subject to natural oil seeps on a continual basis (although not of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon spill), and the warm waters of the Gulf break down the oil through natural biological processes that include bacteria eating the oil.

People often underestimate the vast power of nature to respond to ecological threats through natural mechanisms. The greatest threat in the long run from the Gulf oil spill may not be ecological but rather economic and political. The Obama administration, eager to "not let a good crisis go to waste," is doing serious economic harm to Gulf residents through a moratorium on off-shore drilling. I suspect most Gulf residents would rather work than be dependent on handouts from a deal negotiated between the Obama administration and BP behind closed doors.

We may not know the full environmental impact from the Gulf oil spill for some time. The impact from government policies, however, is already being felt by many Gulf residents as they see their jobs disappearing as oil rigs pack up and head to foreign waters where they are more welcome.

Donald J. Kochan, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center and an associate professor at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif., wrote Monday in the Los Angeles Times about Ben Franklin's views on "luxury" and how they apply to today's society.

On July 26, 1784, some 226 years ago yesterday, Franklin argued in a letter against the need for a "remedy for luxury." Kochan writes that among politicians today, "Luxury is a demonizing four-letter word that plays well with the public."

The Traverse City Record-Eagle yesterday reported that filmmaker Michael Moore expects to receive between $650,000 and $1 million in state film subsidies for producing part of "Capitalism: A Love Story" in Michigan.

Actually, the Record-Eagle reported that Moore has "a new project - revitalizing derelict, depressed downtown theaters in communities across Michigan." The fact that he would use taxpayers' money to pay for his philanthropy was barely noted. The irony that Moore might receive state funds for a film that denounced government handouts to the wealthy and politically favored went completely unremarked.

The Mackinac Center reported in January that a production person working for Moore had applied for a tax refund of up to 42 percent of the filmmaker's total spending in Michigan on the "Capitalism" documentary. Because of Michigan Film Office secrecy, it was not known if the money would be awarded. The office seemed unconcerned that Moore's membership on the Michigan Film Office Advisory Council might present a conflict of interest.

But there appears to be something conflicted taking place. While promoting his documentary on "legalized greed," Moore conducted a lengthy interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer and argued that the United States does not have a true democracy because wealthy people have access to politicians who provide them with taxpayer handouts:

"I'm saying that we do not have a complete democracy if the economy is not a democracy," Moore told Blitzer in September 2009. "You can't call it a democracy just because I get to vote every two or four years. There has to be democracy in the economy, there should be democracy in the workplace. What's wrong with democracy? Why do these companies hate America? What is it about America and our love of democracy where they just go, 'oh, no, that's not good - we think the one percent, the richest one percent should be calling all the shots, should be buying the politicians, making the decisions.' That's the kind of democracy they like - where the one percent control everything. It's just not right, it's not fair, it's not American..."

Yet today, Moore indicates he's willing to take up to $1 million from the taxpayers of the hardest-hit state economy. Where is the democracy in that? Michigan residents didn't vote to give a wealthy filmmaker a generous subsidy.

Sure, Moore says he plans to use the windfall to revitalize derelict theaters. It's easy to be generous with other people's money. If handled with the right PR effort, a gift might just take the spotlight off the inconsistency of a favored, well-heeled industry getting benefits from politicians at the expense of downtrodden taxpayers.

A Dearborn Times-Herald Op-Ed by Mike LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, points out the obvious: tax hikes kill jobs and tax cuts create them.

LaFaive's Viewpoint on the same topic is highlighted at "The Corner" on National Review Online today.

Michigan public schools received and spent more money per pupil in 2008-2009 than in any previous year for which figures are available, according to new data from the Michigan Department of Education.

Combined taxes from local, state and federal sources pumped $19.59 billion in the public school system last year. This gross receipts figure was actually down $200 million from the previous year, but since the number of students dropped by an unprecedented 31,000 from 2007-2008, the amount of money spent per student increased by $200, to just over $13,000.

Per-pupil spending for instructional salaries and benefits rose by 3.1 and 3.7 percent, respectively. Overall instructional costs increased by 3.9 percent. School administration costs also increased: On a per-pupil basis, salaries and benefits paid to principals were each up by 2 percent, and overall spending on superintendents and top administrators increased slightly.

The only areas where schools spent less per pupil was on transportation (down 1.6 percent) and "other support services," which includes things like human resources and business office personnel (down less than 1 percent).

The same pattern emerges when looking back a bit further. In the 2003-2004 school year, gross receipts were also higher — about $20.5 billion after adjusting for inflation. But enrollment was nearly 100,000 greater than it is now, so spending per-pupil was lower.

In the just-completed school year (for which final per-pupil figures are not yet available) state and local tax school receipts were down slightly, both in the aggregate and on a per-pupil basis. However, some $2.2 billion in federal money — a portion of which was temporary "stimulus" spending — made up for these small decreases.

The data are sortable by district and available online at: http://www.mackinac.org/depts/epi/fiscal.aspx

Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The Legislature did not meet this week, so instead of votes this report contains eight newly introduced bills of interest:

Senate Bill 1308, Strengthen "protectionist" auto dealer contract regulations, passed in the House (104 to 2) and the Senate (33-0)
To impose additional restrictions on auto manufacturers seeking to downsize their dealer networks, including a 50 percent increase in the size of protected dealer "territories." Other provisions would prohibit dealer contracts that have a disparate impact on low-volume dealers. The package that includes Senate Bill 1309 and House Bills 6099 and 6100 would generally strengthen provisions in this state's dealer protectionism laws, which essentially create a de facto "entitlement" for existing new car dealers to retain their status, regardless of market changes or impacts on consumer choice. The bills would also make litigation cost awards to a dealer who wins a complaint under this law optional rather than required.

Complete House Roll Call Vote Tally

Complete Senate Roll Call Vote Tally

Senate Bill 797, Appropriate "stimulus" money for food stamps, passed in the Senate (31 to 2)
To appropriate $121.7 million of federal "stimulus" money for additional food stamp spending. Also, to reduce current year appropriations by $46.6 million to reflect state employee "banked leave time," furlough days, the elimination of pre-shift meetings and other savings.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

Senate Bill 1077, Facilitate for-credit high school firefighter courses, passed in the Senate (33 to 0)
To add various provisions to current law that facilitate fire departments providing for-credit courses in high schools leading to a student becoming qualified to become a volunteer fire fighter. Among other things the bill would waive the "certified" teacher mandate that restricts who can teach in Michigan schools.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

Senate Bill 1284, Require failing school student intervention programs, passed in the Senate (33 to 0)
To require the 5 percent lowest-achieving public schools to provide additional instruction to students identified as needing intervention by screening the bill would also require in various grades. These schools would also have to notify parents when a student failed to meet grade level content expectations, assign adult "advocates" to high school students at risk of dropping out, and more.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

House Bill 6099, Strengthen "protectionist" auto dealer contract regulations, passed in the Senate (33 to 0)
To impose additional restrictions on auto manufacturers seeking to downsize their dealer networks, including a 50 percent increase in the size of protected dealer "territories." Other provisions would prohibit dealer contracts that have a disparate impact on low-volume dealers. The package that includes House Bill 6100 and Senate Bills 1308 and 1309 would generally strengthen provisions in this state's dealer protectionism laws, which essentially create a de facto "entitlement" for existing new car dealers to retain their status, regardless of market changes or impacts on consumer choice. The bills would also make litigation cost awards to a dealer who wins a complaint under this law optional rather than required.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, nonpartisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, nonpartisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Please visit www.MichiganVotes.org.

It is good news that cap-and-trade legislation passed by the U.S. House will not be taken up by the Senate as announced by Senate leader Harry Reid yesterday. However, it is too early to celebrate the death of this job-killing legislation that would increase the cost of energy for American consumers and businesses. As Mark Twain famously quipped: "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Bad ideas coming out of Washington die only to be resurrected in another form.

The Obama administration and many democrats in Congress are committed with a religious zeal to limiting conventional energy production and use regardless of the economic consequences. Cap-and-trade legislation has become a political liability in an election year, but much of intent of the legislation can be implemented through individual legislation and administrative fiat. Examples include:

• EPA regulations on CO2 under the Clean Air Act,
• Proposed low-carbon fuel legislation,
• EPA regulations classifying coal fly ash as a hazardous material,
• Alternative energy mandates and subsidies, and
• Increased CAFE standards.

Not to be outdone by the feds, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has issued an executive order that places a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in Michigan. It is a serious mistake to underestimate the power of the ruling class when they are committed to implementing their political ideology — as Americans discovered when health care reform passed despite it not having the support of a majority of the people.

The Tuesday, July 22, Michigan Capitol Confidential story "The Art of the Ann Arbor City Budget" reached millions of readers, starting with an appearance on national news aggregator, the Drudge Report. The American Spectator quickly followed with a column expanding on similiar "creative" arts funding in other states. USA Today, Instapundit and Neal Boortz picked up the story as well.

This story has also received the attention of a national television network. This morning at 11:30 a.m., Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Director Michael D. LaFaive is scheduled to discuss the story on Fox News with Jon Scott and Jenna Lee.

Presented without comment, this excerpt from an item by John Peterson on the "AltEnergyStocks.com" site, which describes itself as a provider of "high-quality, original research into alternative energy, renewable energy, and clean technology companies":

At the close of business on Thursday, the electric vehicle complex including Tesla Motors (TSLA), A123 Systems (AONE), Ener1 (HEV) and Valence Technology (VLNC) had combined 12-month revenues of $258 million and sported a combined market capitalization of $3.4 billion, including $900 million in stockholders' equity and $2.5 billion in blue sky premium.

In comparison, the lead-acid battery complex including Enersys (ENS), Exide Technologies (XIDE), C&D Technologies (CHP) and Axion Power International (AXPW.OB) had combined 12-month revenues of $4.6 billion and a combined market capitalization of $1.6 billion, including $1.2 billion in stockholders' equity and $460 million in blue sky premium.

Something is out of kilter when the electric vehicle complex has 6% of the sales and 77% of the stockholders equity of the lead-acid battery complex, but trades at twice the price.

A123 is one of two companies written about recently in Capitol Confidential for each being the recipient of at least $100 million in cash subsidies from Michigan taxpayers:

Michigan Taxpayers Writing Check to Second Electric Car Battery Maker for $100 Million
Michigan Taxpayers to Write $100 Million Check to Korean Battery Maker
Cost to Revive Economy With Battery Plant Subsidies: $5 Trillion

A newly introduced bill in Michigan gives new meaning to the phrase "politically correct economic development." Included in Ed Clemente's introduced House Bill 6242, which would create a new government economic development commission, is a stipulation that members appointed by the governor must "be representative of this state geographically, racially, and with regard to gender."

Michigan favors industries that have been deemed politically correct. The idea behind this bill would require the people recommending incentives to be as well.

And though the bill proposes a "new economy commission," it includes no definition of the "new economy" among its rules for activities and committee membership.

When it comes to which model of vehicle Americans should buy, the federal government knows best — or believes it does. Not content with merely requiring that vehicles get better fuel economy, Congress is now considering legislation that favors the newest fad in green cars — the plug-in hybrid. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, a Senate committee yesterday approved two bills aimed at promoting hybrid vehicles, one of which would expand a $25 billion loan program aimed at fuel-efficient vehicles and the other a $3.6 billion bill sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., aimed specifically at plug-in hybrids.

Perhaps we have moved so far away from free-market capitalism that is has not occurred to some in Congress that it is not their proper role to favor one model of vehicle over another, particularly in light of a potential conflict of interest when the federal government owns General Motors, which has much riding on their planned October launch of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. To be fair, General Motors is not the only car company to benefit from the feds' generosity with taxpayer money: $8.6 billion in loans have already been awarded to Ford, Nissan, Tesla, Fisker and Tenneco.

It remains to be seen if plug-in hybrids with their higher price and limited range will be popular with car buyers, but is clear they are a hit with many in Congress who are willingly to spend taxpayer money to help ensure their success.