It's official: Brandon Dillon running for MDP Chair

Michigan Democratic State Central Committee members (including myself) just received this email:

We respectfully request your support for Brandon Dillon for Michigan Democratic Party Chair and Lavora Barnes for MDP Chief Operating Officer. 

Given the challenges facing the Michigan Democratic Party and the urgent need to rebuild for 2016 and beyond, we believe our aggressive approach, deep experience at winning campaigns and complementary skill set create a strong partnership capable of bringing our party together and moving us forward. Our partnership can also unite the rich and diverse elements that make up our party, as well as the diverse geographies which make our party great.

A little about us:

Brandon Dillon serves as a State Representative from Grand Rapids. A former Kent County Commissioner, Brandon has been a leading voice on and strong advocate for progressive causes, labor, women’s issues, public education, LGBT rights and Michigan’s middle class. Brandon previously served as the campaign chair for the Michigan House Democrats, where he recruited top-notch candidates and oversaw competitive races in districts across the state. He is a strong fundraiser with a deep understanding of local issues from Marquette to Muskegon to Monroe. Having himself won a hard-fought race in a highly-competitive seat, Brandon has the experience and attitude necessary to win tough campaigns in tough areas.

Lavora Barnes is a veteran political strategist and operative with extensive leadership and management experience in public relations, communications, politics and media at the national, state and local levels. An appointee of Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, she serves as deputy clerk and register of deeds. Before serving in that position, Lavora was state director for Obama for America and served as a director in the White House Office of Media Affairs during the Clinton Administration and a press secretary for the Clinton-Gore campaign. As communications director for the Michigan House Democrats, she oversaw a team of more than 40 people and led the political operation.

Because our partnership is based on trust, a clear understanding of our roles and a willingness to work together, we believe we represent the strongest team to move our party forward. As State Central Committee Members, you have the responsibility to elect a new Chair. Should you elect Brandon, we will work shoulder-to-shoulder together as a team of equals, using our complementary skill sets and our shared commitment to rebuilding the Michigan Democratic Party to succeed.

We respectfully ask for your support for our partnership. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We are available to meet with you and answer any questions you may have.

We appreciate your consideration and look forward to the opportunity to work closely with you as we move the Michigan Democratic Party forward.

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:-)

Exhale: Court protects Obamacare subsidies in Michigan, 33 other states

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans - including myself - can be confident that a serious illness won’t force us into bankruptcy. Subsidies are an important part of the ACA’s formula for success.

Three years after losing a Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of Obamacare - and with the help of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette - conservatives made another attempt to gut the law through the Courts.

So much for that.

In a 6-3 ruling, the Court found that, yes, the subsidies do apply to states which take part in the federal exchange.

A couple of key liked from the ruling:

So when deciding whether the language is plain, the Court must read the words “in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme.”

Here, the statutory scheme compels the Court to reject petitioners’ interpretation because it would destabilize the individual insurance market in any State with a Federal Exchange, and likely create the very “death spirals” that Congress designed the Act to avoid.

That's what the plaintiffs were trying to go for - at least that's what the cynic in me thinks. But despite the Court's known conservative lean (the majority from Citizens United is still there in its entirety), the latest attempt to dismantle life-saving Obamacare has run out of steam.

I stand by my prediction that in 40 years, the Tea Party of the 2050s will be holding up signs that say, "Get your government hands off my Obamacare!"

Cotter vs. Jesus and Reagan

Last month, State House Speaker Kevin Cotter announced his attempt at a road funding proposal. It's about what you'd expect: Accounting gimmicks, high-minded rhetoric, and other malarkey we've come to expect from the Party of Palin.

Perhaps the worst aspect of Cotter's "plan" is the elimination of the state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The plan would "save" $117 million dollars - a tiny fraction of what is needed to fix our infrastructure - by taking that money away from the working poor. With less money to spend, the working poor would be unable to spend more money - which would hurt the economy and reduce sales tax revenues (thus negating any "savings" from cutting the EITC).

Put another way, while tax cuts and credits for the rich have no economic benefit, tax cuts and credits for the poor have a significant effect on the economy.

This wouldn't be the Republicans' first attack on the EITC since coming to power in 2011. In 2010, EITC-eligible Michiganders could claim up to 20% of the federal-level EITC on their state returns. In 2011, Republicans reduced that to 6%.

Kevin Cotter thinks even that is too much. Ronald Reagan thought otherwise. Reagan called the EITC "the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress." Indeed, it was the last Republican president before Reagan - Gerald Ford - who first signed the EITC into law.

But of course, Reagan - and especially Ford - would be far to the left of today's Republicans.

And Jesus Christ? The Nazorean whom Republicans like to trot out during campaign season? Well, perhaps a look at Matthew 25 would be in order.

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

So by targeting a credit that helps working people, Kevin Cotter is shunning Jesus. So are those who support eliminating the EITC.

For Cotter's sake, one hopes that he learns the error of his ways... before it's too late.

President Obama's eulogy for Beau Biden

To know Beau Biden is to know which choice he made in his life. To know Joe and the rest of the Biden family is to understand why Beau lived the life he did. For Beau, a cruel twist of fate came early –- the car accident that took his mom and his sister, and confined Beau and Hunter, then still toddlers, to hospital beds at Christmastime.

But Beau was a Biden. And he learned early the Biden family rule: If you have to ask for help, it’s too late. It meant you were never alone; you don’t even have to ask, because someone is always there for you when you need them.

And so, after the accident, Aunt Valerie rushed in to care for the boys, and remained to help raise them. Joe continued public service, but shunned the parlor games of Washington, choosing instead the daily commute home, maintained for decades, that would let him meet his most cherished duty -– to see his kids off to school, to kiss them at night, to let them know that the world was stable and that there was firm ground under their feet.

As Joe himself confessed to me, he did not just do this because the kids needed him. He did it because he needed those kids. And somehow, Beau sensed that -– how understandably and deeply hurt his family and his father was. And so, rather than use his childhood trauma as justification for a life of self-pity or self-centeredness, that very young boy made a very grown-up decision: He would live a life of meaning. He would live a life for others. He would ask God for broader shoulders.

The full version is here.

Bieber is new Michigan AFL-CIO chief. Ron, not Justin.

As you may know, Karla Swift stepped down as president of the Michigan AFL-CIO after four years. Taking her place is Ron Bieber, a longtime UAW leader.

Ron Bieber is a third-generation UAW member, and the son of former UAW President Owen Bieber. Prior to serving as CAP Director, Bieber served as Assistant Director of the UAW’s General Motors Department. Bieber joined UAW Local 730 at age 18, after hiring into General Motors Metal Fabricating plant in Wyoming, Michigan. He currently lives in Warren with his wife, Patti.

I can't say I know too much about Ron, although I've seen him at MDP events. Hs father is still quite involved in political and labor activities on the west side of the state, as is his brother.