Amendment X: Government Transparency in Michigan

Yesterday, we highlighted the fine work being done by the Show-Me Institute to open Missouri government to the public. Today, we look at the Mackinac Center's ongoing battle to shine a light on the hidden workings of Michigan's government. After been given a bill of almost $7 million for a FOIA request.

$6,876,303.90, to be exact. That's what the Michigan Department of State Police is charging for documents that I requested via the Freedom of Information Act regarding the state's handling of federal homeland security grant money from 2002 to present (see image at right). This is definitely a record for Mackinac Center FOIA requests. In fact, this may be a record for any FOIA request. Even the $3,438,151.95 down payment seems likely to be a speck above the average FOIA asking price.

The Michigan bureaucrats who are blocking public access to public records should be promptly removed from public service. Attempting to keep public data hidden away with the rouse of an unpayable price tag is obscene, and should not be tolerated by anyone claiming to value open government.

Michael Moore is making sense

No, really. I'm sure his new film is just as loaded with distoritions and fallacies as his earlier work. But the lefty filmmaker is right to criticize the film incentive program that Michigan politicians have written into their tax code.

Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose Michigan-made film “Capitalism: A Love Story” opens nationwide this weekend, told Michigan Messenger recently that he is not sure yet whether his production will apply for the film credits.

“I am under pressure from the studio to do this,” he said.

Moore said that he had personally trained a dozen people in film related work during the 18-month-long production of his current film and said he was unaware of recent criticism of the state’s film incentive program.

“If it’s not good for Michigan,” he said, “Michigan shouldn’t do it.”

Giving favored industries a tax break at the expense of others isn't capitalism. It's cronyism. I don't agree with Moore all that often, but he's right about this.

Hattip: Kathy Hoekstra, Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Amendment X: Stimulus in Michigan

The Wall Street Journal notes the work of our colleagues at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in showing the ineffeciency of government-directed economic subsidies.

For the past 14 years, Lansing politicians have offered $3.3 billion in tax credits through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and spent another $1.6 billion in outlays to create and retain jobs. The subsidies have ranged from tax breaks for Hollywood, to money for new industrial plants, to millions for TV ads starring Jeff Daniels and Tim Allen talking about business and tourism in the state.

It's one of the largest experiments in smokestack chasing in American history, but one thing it hasn't done is create jobs. An exhaustive new 100-page study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Michigan think tank, has reviewed where all the money has gone and what came of it. The study finds that for every 100 jobs that were promised with these tax credits over 14 years, only 29 arrived. Dare we call this cash for clunkers?

Amendment X: Campaign Fines in Michigan

In Michigan, if a candidates who break campaign finance laws are required to promptly pay any fines that are imposed. Kathy Hoekstra at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports that one Representative who wants to put lawmakers who become lawbreakers on the installment plan.

Some state lawmakers are considering legislation that would help them get out of legal trouble if they violate Michigan’s campaign finance disclosure laws. But why would elected officials be interested in changing the rules to make it easier on political candidates who violate the law?

State Rep. Fred Durhal Jr., the bill’s primary sponsor, says: “I was approached by an individual who won an election and who owed campaign debts — fines for failure to file in a timely manner. The debts came out to — I think it was about $4,000 or whatever.”

When Rep. Durhal found out the secretary of state required prompt payment of these fines, he introduced legislation to let his fellow lawmakers set up an installment plan to pay off the fines over the course of a year. “And if they don’t do it,” Rep. Durhal says, “then that goes back into collections, and they’ll do whatever they have to do: going to court, garnishing — whatever that situation requires by law.”

Watch the full video report at the link.

Amendment X: Michigan Film Incentive

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy investigates whether the tax incentives that Michigan provides to film movies and televisions shows in state deliver on the amount of jobs created:

When movies are filmed in Michigan, the studios have to pay Michigan business taxes. Under this program though, state government will give filmmakers a refund check for up to 42 percent of the money they spend in Michigan. That means a movie company that spends $10 million in Michigan could get a check for more than $4 million. That’s even after the film companies pay their own taxes.

In effect, Michigan taxpayers will foot the bill every time the refund is more than the movie company’s taxes, and there’s no limit as to how large the refund could be. In return the state is supposed to get more jobs and revenue.

Click the link to see the Mackinac Center's video.