Vote4Biz

Mayor of Detroit

Dave Bing is current mayor of Detroit and is founder and chairman of The Bing Group, a diversified base of unionized manufacturing companies housed on 30 acres in Detroit’s North End that employs some 500 people.

Detroit City Council

Saunteel Jenkins is director of the residential treatment program at Mariners Inn. Prior to her current position, Saunteel was National Business Development Director for a private education company, Platform Learning. As an entrepreneur, she started Petite Sweets, a dessert catering company. Saunteel served as chief of staff to Maryann Mahaffey while she was president of Detroit City Council.

Gary Brown is the former Detroit Police deputy chief. During his 26 years of service with the DPD, he served the community as Commander of the 1st, 3rd, 9th and 11th Precincts, and also provided executive direction in a variety of critical areas, including Gang Squad, Narcotics and Internal Affairs. Gary is currently the founder and owner of Brown & Associates, which provides objective and professional case consultant services for law enforcement and private security litigation.

Charles Pugh has worked as a reporter and anchor on FOX 2 News. Pugh was also a host and newscaster on FM 98 WJLB. Pugh left his careers in radio and television and on May 3, announcing his candidacy to run for Detroit City Council.

Ken Cockrel, Jr. is the current president of the Detroit City Council. He served as interim mayor for the city in 2008-2009, is a former journalist for the Detroit Free Press and a former Wayne County commissioner.

Jai-Lee Dearing, in addition to owning a small business, serves as Detroit Housing Commissioner, where he manages his department’s budget and nearly half a billion dollars in federal funds. Brought on to clean up the housing commission, Jai-Lee Dearing was forced to eliminate 80 percent of the department’s workers to wipeout widespread corruption in our city.

Fred Elliott Hall is founder and president of Novatech Computer Services Company and president of H&P Protective Services. He completed an MBA in finance from Wayne State, and in 1989 founded Novatech. It was one of the first computer services companies of its kind, providing computer training and networking. He also co-founded Project Exposure, an African American young male mentoring program.

Detroit City Charter Revision Commission

Jenice Mitchell-Ford is senior counsel in the Detroit office of Foley & Lardner LLP, specializing in Commercial Litigation. Mitchell Ford was a steering committee member for Michigan Lawyers for Obama, coordinating voter protection efforts during the historic 2008 election. She has served on transition teams for elected officials and worked on presidential, gubernatorial and mayoral elections.

Sarah D. Lile served as director of the department of environmental affairs for the City of Detroit from 1995 to 2005. Before coming to city government, Lile was a partner in the law firm of Fink Zausmer P.C., where she specialized in environmental litigation and planning, eminent domain and commercial litigation. In addition to her legal and government experience, Lile served as Assistant Dean and Lecturer in Law at Wayne State University Law School from 1982-84, where she taught employment law.

Patty Fedewa has practiced labor law since 1995, after graduating from Detroit College of Law cum laude in 1994. Since 2002, she has been the bus improvement project chair of Transportation Riders United (TRU). In this role, she has lobbied the mayor, city council, and DDOT to improve transit.

Kenneth L. Harris is the founder, president and CEO of the International Detroit Black Expo, Inc., an economic empowerment agent for African-American businesses in the State of Michigan. Over the last few years, the nonprofit organization has grown exponentially to more than 7,500 African-American business members across the State of Michigan providing a stronghold in the community.

Jonathan Kinloch has served on the Detroit Library Commission and has initiated several programs to increase literacy in Detroit. Kinloch also believes that revising the charter alone is not sufficient if council members are not willing enough or courageous enough to use the provisions of the charter for the best interests of Detroiters, and that it is essential for the City Charter to be a clear, concise and binding document in order to accomplish this.

John Eddings served as Macomb County ombudsman for a year, after having served 10 years as Detroit’s city ombudsman. He believes that the city council should be elected by a combination of district and at-large elections. He also believes that the city attorney needs to be completely independent in governance of the city law department.

Cara Blount retired as deputy chief, Detroit Police Department. She serves as an adjunct instructor at Wayne State University and Wayne County Community College District. Blount believes the city would be better served by having council members elected by district.

Ken Coleman is former legislative assistant to former Detroit City Councilwoman Brenda M. Scott, State Senator Irma Clark-Coleman and State Senator Buzz Thomas. He serves as the director of the Office of Community Relations and Office of Governmental Relations for Detroit Public Schools, as well as reporter and senior editor for the Michigan Chronicle.

The State of Michigan’s October 1 deadline to enact a new budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is now behind us. Nonetheless, we still do not have a budget plan in place. After a week’s worth of marathon sessions held by the Michigan Senate and the House of Representatives that often ran from the morning until late in the evening , lawmakers and the Governor’s office failed to reach consensus on a deal to address the $2.8 Billion budget deficit. Votes on difficult issues, from a 3% cut in school aid funding to cuts in revenue sharing dollars for local units of government stalled on multiple occasions. The House of Representatives even voted to restore certain cuts without passing a plan to raise the corresponding new revenue as a way to garner adequate support. The end result was the passing of a continuation budget that funds State government, at reduced levels, through the end of October.

While it is disappointing that a full year’s budget was not passed, there are still positive ideas on the table. In September, a deal struck between Senate Majority leader Mike Bishop(R-Rochester) and Speaker of the House Andy Dillon(D- Redford Twp) to fix the hole in the budget with cuts, not taxes, was refreshing news coming out of Lansing. The deal included a reduction in overall general fund spending from $9.71 billion to $7.93 billion and minimized its reliance on one-time funding from federal stimulus dollars. Legislators should accept the necessity of the difficult decision to pare back the size of state government now, lest we be doomed to the chaos that comes with the yearly reprisal of budget crisis and economic uncertainty. The message from the business community must be clear; it is not acceptable to return to the status quo in the days leading up to October 31. Only two short years ago, legislators balanced the budget with tax increases, including the creation of a surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax.

Working with a coalition of 12 major business organizations, including groups representing everything from manufacturers, retailers and other chambers of commerce, the Detroit Regional Chamber has advocated consistently that structural and spending reform measures, not tax increases on job providers, are the only way to get Michigan’s fiscal house in order today and achieve lasting results into the future. Our work to right-size State government has successfully led to a bi-partisan agreement to make significant cost-saving reforms to the Michigan Department of Corrections, whose budget accounts for 20% of all State General Fund spending. We intend to hold policymakers to this agreement as they meet to finalize the FY ’09-10 budget. Go to WWW.VOTE4BIZ.COM to hold the Governor and your elected officials accountable!

To: Governor Granholm and Michigan Legislators

From:  Michigan’s Business Community, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Detroit Regional Chamber, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Lansing Regional Chamber, Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, Kalamazoo Regional Chamber, Michigan Association of Home Builders, Michigan Manufacturers Association, Michigan Association of Realtors, Michigan Restaurant Association, National Federation of Independent Businesses, Business Leaders for Michigan, Small Business Association of Michigan, Michigan Grocers Association, Michigan Retailers Association, Michigan Bankers Association

Date: September 25, 2009

RE: Hold the Line!

We are writing you today, with five days left in the fiscal year, asking you to hold the line and pass the budget deal that was agreed to by leaders in the Legislature.  With a 15% unemployment rate, Michigan’s business is already unstable and uncertain.  We stand unified in our opposition to any tax increase on job providers.

In 2007, each business was faced with a 22% tax increase in the form of the MBT surcharge, while the Legislature and Governor promised structural reforms to insure this would not happen again.  The business community has engaged in the process of making structural reform a priority, encouraging conversation among legislators and offering menus of possible reforms and has expected as much for two years.  It is a drastic mistake to raise taxes and make Michigan less competitive when even the simplest reforms have not been considered.

Further, we are concerned about the conversation that has begun of passing a continuation budget that does not include the targeted cuts.  A continuation budget that does not reflect the agreement between legislative leaders will only make it harder to make the difficult votes that are required during this challenging time.  Moreover, a continuation budget will unnecessarily concentrate the impact of the reduced spending into a concentrated fiscal year. Michigan cannot afford to once again kick the can down the road.

Make no mistake, Michigan’s business and trade organizations are ready and willing to be part of the solution to set Michigan on the path to reform and revitalization.  Based on the rumors coming out of the Capitol, we are not sure how many members of our government are ready to do the same thing.

For Immediate Release ; Jaime Patlevic; (313) 596-0344

The Detroit Regional Chamber Political Action Committee Endorses City Council and Charter Commission Candidates and Mayor Bing

DETROIT, September 16, 2009 — Today, the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Political Action Committee (PAC) announced its endorsement of several candidates in the upcoming 2009 November City of Detroit general election. The endorsements include city council, charter commission and mayoral candidates.

The following individuals will receive the chamber PAC’s endorsement: Jai Lee Dearing; Gary Brown; Fred Elliott Hall; Lisa Howze; Saunteel Jenkins; incumbent Brenda Jones; Charles Pugh; Andre Spivey; James Tate and incumbent Ken Cockrel, Jr. The chamber PAC also endorsed the current Mayor of the City of Detroit, David Bing.

The following individuals running for the Detroit City Charter Revision Commission will receive the chamber PAC’s endorsement: Jenice Mitchell-Ford; Sarah Lile; Jonathan Kinloch; Patty Fedewa; Ken Harris; John Eddings; Cara Blount; Ken Coleman and Jeffery Robinson.

“The chamber endorses these individuals because we believe they will be collaborative in efforts to change our economic future, and will bring integrity to the decision making process,” said Sarah Hubbard, senior vice president of government relations for the
Detroit Regional Chamber. “These candidates all bring experience that can be transferred to decision making that will be required to turn around the problems in the city of Detroit.”

The Detroit Regional Chamber PAC Board of Directors regularly meets to identify and support pro-business candidates and policies that support the chamber’s public policy priorities.

About the Detroit Regional Chamber

With over 20,000 members, that employ over three quarters of a million workers, the Detroit Regional Chamber is the largest chamber of commerce in the country. The chamber’s mission is carried out through business attraction efforts, advocacy, strategic partnerships and valuable benefits to members. For more information please visit, detroitchamber.com (http://www.detroitchamber.com/index.php)

Michigan’s Business Community Speaks with One Voice for Structural Reform
Leaders of Business Organizations Statewide Call for Action in Lansing

6 minute video of press conference:  Business Community Calls on Legislature To Pass Structural Budget Reform

September 9, 2009

LANSING – Leaders of multiple statewide business organizations today spoke with one voice in calling on Governor Jennifer Granholm and State Legislators to significantly structurally reform state government prior to the beginning of the October 1 fiscal year.

“Passing a budget that once again patches things together and kicks the can down the road another year or two would be considered a complete failure of state government,” said Jim Holcomb, Vice-President of Business Advocacy and Associate General Counsel of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “Michigan’s business leaders expect that Michigan’s elected leaders will go beyond their minimum constitutional duty and set Michigan on a path to reform and revitalization.”

“The business community knows that the time for single house or single branch solutions is over and real structural reform must be enacted prior to the start of the October 1 fiscal year,” said Sarah Hubbard, Senior Vice-President of Government Affairs for the Detroit Regional Chamber.

“The business community is cognizant of the fact that reform is never easy,” said Jared Rodriguez, Senior Vice-President of Government Affairs for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. “We stand committed in supporting those Legislators that will provide the leadership to properly solve this on-going budget crisis by enacting long-term reform to revitalize Michigan government.”

“Business organizations from around the state are ready to assist Legislators and the Governor in rallying support for significant structural reform,” added Kristin Beltzer Senior Vice-President, Government Relations and Public Affairs for the Lansing Regional Chamber. “To help guide the discussion, we’ve provided each legislative office with a list of reforms that should be part of the discussion.”

To be clear, individually, our organizations see various degrees of merit in the individual reform proposals. Without question though, we agree that the worst option is to do nothing.

The major business and trade organizations joining the call for reform include the Michigan Association of Realtors, the Small Business Association of Michigan, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Detroit Renaissance, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, the Michigan Association of Home Builders, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, the Michigan Bankers Association, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, the Lansing Regional Chamber and the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber.

The list of suggested reforms for consideration include:

● Pool all health care plans for public employees
● Establish an Office of Medicaid Inspector General to specifically investigate Medicaid fraud
● Reform Public Act 312 to change arbitration standards for police and fire
● Reform Urban Cooperation Act and two other similar acts to eliminate requirement that when a service merger occurs, the higher wage and benefits must be paid
● Require all new teachers hired by a date certain in the future to have defined contribution, rather than defined benefit, retirement plans
● Move all administrative functions of local schools to the ISD, leaving local school boards with only academic and athletic functions
● Privatize food service, mental health services, and transportation in prisons
● Increase minimum retirement/years of service for all public employees to be eligible for retirement benefits
● Increase state employee and retiree health care premium co-pays
● Exempt government construction from prevailing wage statutes
● Eliminate road patrol function of Michigan State Police and let county sheriffs take over that function
● Require that school districts competitively bid all non-core functions, including transportation, food service, and custodial work.
● Reduce the number of school districts
● Reduce mandatory minimum sentences and increase parole rates for all crimes
● Make Michigan Promise scholarships a forgivable loan, rather than a scholarship, requiring participants to work in Michigan for two years following completion of their degree.
● School Employees Pay 25% of Health Insurance Costs ($650m – Mackinac Center)
● Reduce State Worker Benefits to Nat’l Average ($269m – Public Sector 2008)
● Cap School Superintendant Pay ($6.1 million – The Center for Michigan)
● Require program efficiency studies in all government programs to eliminate waste
● Eliminate undocumented and potentially fraudulent child care payments ($231 million – Auditor General Report 2008)

DETROIT REGIONAL CHAMBER DOES NOT SUPPORT TAX INCREASES TO BALANCE THE BUDGET
State Needs Long-Term Structural Reform to Revitalize Michigan

DETROIT, September 1, 2009 — The Detroit Regional Chamber supports short, medium, and long-term government reforms as a solution to the State of Michigan’s budget crisis. Budget solutions that would raise taxes create further long-term problems for businesses and individuals to solve a short term crisis.

The chamber applauds Governor Granholm for utilizing her executive authority to step-up parole for prisoners serving past their earliest release date. We also commend Speaker Dillon for his thoughtful approach to public employee healthcare. Collectively, we support the Senate Republicans and Majority Leader Mike Bishop for passing a budget that didn’t increase taxes.

“In 2007, the legislature and Governor forced taxpayers to accept tax increases to pay for the status quo,” said Sarah Hubbard, senior vice president of government relations for the Detroit Regional Chamber. “We then called on the Governor and Legislature to take action on real medium and long term structural reform that could have saved the state from much of our current financial problems.” Hubbard continued, it isn’t appropriate for state government to come back and ask tax payers to bail them out from their own inaction.”

In 2008 the chamber proposed a seven point plan to save hundreds of millions of dollars from the Department of Corrections by right sizing the prison population, and increasing administrative efficiency within the Department. The Detroit Regional Chamber also joined other business groups and the Center for Michigan in supporting $1.5 billion in structural reforms.

“Leadership in the Legislature and the Governor’s office should be having a frank conversation about the appropriate functions of State Government and how to pay for it,” stated Richard E. Blouse, Jr., president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “We strongly encourage all parties to continue productive discussions that will result in a balanced budget that doesn’t ask more of taxpayers and includes statutory changes that will result in real, long-term, structural reform that will help our state and revitalize Michigan for the future.”

About the Detroit Regional Chamber

With over 20,000 members, that employ over three quarters of a million workers, the Detroit Regional Chamber is the largest chamber of commerce in the country. The chamber’s mission is carried out through business attraction efforts, advocacy, strategic partnerships, valuable benefits and quality products and services to members. For more information please visit, detroitchamber.com (http://www.detroitchamber.com) .

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Detroit Regional Chamber
One Woodward Avenue
Suite 1900
Detroit, MI 48232

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=== Detroit Regional Chamber ===

For Immediate Release
Jaime Patlevic
(313) 596-0344
jpatlevi@detroitchamber.com (mailto:jpatlevi@detroitchamber.com)

The City of Detroit’s Primary Election
The Detroit Regional Chamber’s Statement

DETROIT, August 5, 2009 — Today, the Detroit Regional Chamber issued the
following statement regarding the City of Detroit’s Primary Elections.

“The chamber is encouraged by the results of yesterday’s Detroit primary election — voters are ready for change in the city’s government,” said Richard E. Blouse, Jr., president and CEO, Detroit Regional Chamber. “By nominating experienced and respected community leaders to run for election this fall both the Detroit regional business community and the cities residents will benefit.”

The chamber’s Political Action Committee endorsed several candidates for the primary election, including the current Mayor of the City of Detroit, David Bing. The Detroit Regional Chamber PAC Board of Directors regularly meets to identify and support pro-business candidates and policies that support the chamber’s public policy priorities.

About the Detroit Regional Chamber

With over 20,000 members, that employ over three quarters of a million workers, the Detroit Regional Chamber is the largest chamber of commerce in the country. The chamber’s mission is carried out through business attraction efforts, advocacy, strategic partnerships and valuable benefits to members. For more information please visit, detroitchamber.com (http://www.detroitchamber.com) .
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AMERICA’S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:

August 4, 2009
Robert Zirkelbach
202-778-8493

AHIP Statement on Status of Health Care Reform

Washington, DC – Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health
Insurance Plans (AHIP), gave the following remarks at a media
teleconference this morning:

“At this point in the summer of 2009, the country should be in the
midst
of a transformative national conversation about health care reform.
Instead, a campaign has been launched to demonize health plans and the
men and women who work hard every day in their communities to provide
health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans.

“For a country that is trying to accomplish what it has failed to do
for
a century – pass health care reform – the same old Washington politics
of ‘find an enemy and go to war’ is a major step backward, not a step
forward. Indeed, this is the playbook of consultants, not consensus.

“Attacking our community will not help get anyone covered, nor will it
help our country bend the cost curve and make care more affordable for
working families and small businesses. These are the issues that
should
be the focus of a national conversation this summer. That is what the
country expected. Not politics as usual, but an effort to forge the
consensus that will be necessary to get reform passed.

“For our part, we will set the record straight about our community’s
contribution to the reform effort. It was with the hope of helping to
create a more constructive climate that health plans began three years
ago to develop a set of reform proposals linked by common themes – to
build on the strengths of the current system, provide all Americans
with
health security, ensure that no one falls through the cracks, and put
the entire health care system on a financially sustainable path.

“In recent days, policymakers have embraced health insurance reform -
the concept we proposed in 2008. Health plans were the first of the
stakeholders to come to the table with a comprehensive proposal to
reform our own sector. Our proposal brings everyone into the system,
guarantees coverage for all Americans, does away with pre-existing
condition limitations, and ends rating based on health status and
gender.

“We also pledged to earn a seat at the table and our members have been
good faith participants in every significant reform effort involving
stakeholders from across the spectrum.

“That did not mean that we would sit at any table in silence when
confronted with proposals we knew to be flawed. For months, we have
explained why we believe a government-run plan would dismantle
employer-based coverage, bankrupt local hospitals, and break the
promise
that if you like your present coverage, you can keep it.

“A government-run plan would inevitably rely on its price-setting
ability to offer artificially low premiums – effectively subsidized by
the private sector through cost shifting. This would force employers
to
drop their coverage, creating a death spiral for private insurance and
financial catastrophe for many hospitals and doctors.

“Physicians, hospitals, employers, and concerned citizens have joined
us
in voicing these concerns. As the American people have learned the
facts, support for a government-run plan has plummeted. In response,
there has been an all-out effort to make support of a government-run
program the litmus test for reform.

“If the intent is to place the nation on a path to a single-payer
system, as some have recently acknowledged, then that question should
be
debated candidly and openly.

“We believe that is not the path that the American people support.
Instead, they want policymakers to recognize that neither the
government
nor the private sector can fix health care alone and that the stakes
are
too high to revert to the usual Washington poll-driven playbook that
has
been a barrier to progress and could create another missed opportunity
to achieve health care reform.

“The country is at a critical juncture. August will be the month when
the country decides whether it supports reform and what shape it
should
take. It is crucial that the American people understand the broad
consensus that exists on the essential building blocks for bipartisan
reform.

“With that in mind, there are five facts we believe all Americans
should
know:

* Health plans have proposed comprehensive health care reform
to
cover all Americans, make care more affordable, and improve quality.

* Health plans proposed health insurance reform last year.

* Health plans have proposed far-reaching initiatives to bend
the
health cost curve and make care more affordable for individuals,
families, and employers.

* Health plans are advocating and advertising in support of
bipartisan reform.

* Out of every dollar the nation spends on health care, one
penny
goes to health plan profits.

“Our community includes thousands of dedicated, conscientious
Americans
who are working hard across the country to try and improve health
care.
They are ordinary Americans from all walks of life who are raising
their
families and contributing to their communities. They do not deserve to
be demonized or vilified as part of a campaign to distract attention
away from the sinking support for a government-run program.”

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America’s Health Insurance Plans – Providing Health Benefits to More
Than 200 Million Americans

Go to www.voteforDetroit.com for up to the minute (or every 15 minutes
as the site says) election results from the City of Detroit.

The Detroit Regional Chamber Political Action Committee endorsed the following candidates for the August 4, 2009 Detroit Primary election.  Please vote!

Detroit Mayor: 

Dave Bing

Detroit City Council:

Ken Cockrel, Jr.

Jai Lee Dearing

Gary Brown

Fred Elliott Hall

Saunteel Jenkins

Charles Pugh

Detroit Charter Review Commission:

Jenice Mitchell-Ford

Sarah Lile

Jonathan Kinloch

Patty Fedewa

Jeff Hunt

Ken Harris

John Eddings

Cara Blount

Ken Coleman

Lisa Walinske

Andrew Linn