Detroit News. March 16, 2024.
Editorial: Auditor General’s office should be fully funded
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer carved out a clear position on government transparency by proposing to slash the budget for the one office in Lansing that holds lawmakers to account.
The governor’s spending plan would cut funding for the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) by $8.3 million, or 28% of its budget. It’s a smack in the face to calls for greater government accountability in a state where transparency is notoriously weak. The OAG is the last line of defense. It should be fully funded.
The cuts to the OAG Whitmer wants are a fraction of the proposed $80.7 billion budget for 2025.
The OAG performs myriad constitutionally authorized functions, including auditing state agency finances and performance. Critically, it conducts a $3.2 million annual statewide single audit that renders Michigan eligible for federal aid.
Whitmer’s proposal puts that funding at risk.
Over the past several years, audits by the OAG have exposed systemic problems in government agencies and instances where the law has been broken. It is a vital part of a healthy functioning democracy. Without it, serious government incompetence would never see the light of day. For example, the OAG unearthed more than $10 billion in fraud and improper payments by the Unemployment Insurance Agency during the pandemic.
It has also identified other critical issues within state government and how it interacts with the public, including unreported deaths in long-term care facilities during the pandemic lockdowns issued by Whitmer, and lax enforcement by the Department of Education on fingerprinting and criminal background checks.
These are important issues taxpayers should know about.
This time, they occurred on Whitmer’s watch. But the OAG’s jobs is to hold government bodies to account regardless of party.
The governor’s response risks appearing politically vindictive. Her plan proposes to pause funding on 23 interdepartmental grants and 13 special revenue allocations that total $9.3 million.
Whitmer proposed an increase for the OAG by $1 million in the general fund, which creates a net loss of $8.3 million.
OAG director Doug Ringler sent a letter to House and Senate leaders arguing Whitmer’s plan will cripple the agency’s ability to fulfill its requirements.
He noted Whitmer did not provide a justification for calling for the cuts.
“We received no advance notice of the executive budget reductions and no direct feedback regarding the reason behind them,” Ringler wrote.
Michigan taxpayers deserve to know that their government is working for, not against, them. The OAG helps provide that information.
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Traverse City Record-Eagle. March 13, 2024.
Editorial: Support paves the way to smoother days ahead
Nine months is a long time. It’s almost enough time to grow a whole human. It’s 180 early-morning wake-ups and late dinners. And it’s a really long time to be cut off from the lifeblood of your business during the busiest time of year.
MDOT’s nine-month, $24.7-million project consists of two main phases with construction continuing through November — minus a week break from June 29 to July 6 during the National Cherry Festival.
We gripe about the traffic backups and increased travel times, but for us commuters, it’s a temporary inconvenience that ultimately results in better days ahead.
But businesses along the construction corridor, especially on the north side, are in for a long spring, summer and fall.
Nawbin Trading Co. — at ground zero with four lanes of traffic closed through May — set up a livestream traffic camera and is keeping customers updated on how to access “Traverse City’s Forbidden Zone.”
“At this point, I have no plans to ‘retire,’ ‘focus on a new direction,’ or even ‘step away from the business,’” posted owner Karl of the jewelry and curiosity shop. “I will do whatever I can, to not only survive and come out on the other side of this obstruction to my family’s livelihood gracefully, but to grow my business in the meantime to be better than ever.”
Blue Goat Wine and Provisions is “getting a new road for its 50th anniversary,” according to social media.
The positivity is admirable. We hope the 30 to 40 people on the daily construction crew and the 15 to 20 working at night will patronize these businesses. And, while it may take some maneuvering, commuters should make the effort to stop in or shop online, if possible.
Anyone who travels the moon-cratered road knows well the joy of the jaw-cracking pothole or avoids the shredded outside lanes entirely — especially in a rain. We may have adjusted to the terrible condition of our primary east-west travel corridor, but it has needed work for a long, long time.
We commuters will figure out ways to spread out around the inconvenience, but we should support the businesses in the thick of it. In nine months, we want to emerge better than before — let’s make sure we all get there.
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Alpena News. March 16, 2024.
Editorial: Quickly pass transparency legislation
The state Senate Oversight Committee deserves credit for advancing a pair of bills that would for the first time and after a decade of effort finally subject the Legislature and governor to state transparency requirements.
The committee this week sent Senate Bills 669 and 670 to the full Senate for consideration. The bills would require lawmakers and the governor to hand over most of the documents generated by their office to the public when the public asks for them.
Currently, Michigan is one of only two states that exempt those officials from disclosure requirements, robbing the public of the chance to more fully understand the inner workings of the most powerful offices in the state and hold accountable the people who occupy those offices.
The Oversight Committee deserves credit, too, for strengthening the bills. Originally, for example, the bills would have exempted all communications between constituents and lawmakers, but the committee’s changes would require disclosure of communications between lawmakers and Michiganders from outside their districts and all communications between lawmakers and lobbyists.
Efforts to require transparency by lawmakers and the governor have repeatedly failed in the Legislature for about a decade, with many previous bills never even getting a committee hearing.
So we’re glad to see the bills advance out of committee. The bills still aren’t perfect, still allowing lawmakers and the governor to keep too many secrets, but this week’s committee vote was the first real significant action toward a more transparent state government, and we welcome it.
Now, the full Senate needs to pass the bills quickly, then the state House, and then Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — who made increased transparency a campaign promise — needs to sign them into the law.
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