Michigan, still leading the nation in the jobless rate, is not only an economic basket case. It also, according to Attorney General Mike Cox, leads in hiding financial information about public officials under a bushel.
"Michigan is currently ranked dead-last among the 50 states because it does not require reporting of personal financial interests by its public officials," asserts a new AG's Web site that lays out assorted disclosures.
It cannot be said that Michigan is the very worst across the board. In one category, for example, the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity puts Michigan in a trio with Vermont and Idaho in last place lacking laws requiring personal financial disclosures for state legislators.
But cheers to Cox for putting his money where his mouth is about financial disclosure by voluntarily posting online some personal financial details, as well as office expenditures on his department's frequently updated Track Your Taxes Web page.
As summarized by the Associated Press, Cox and his wife, Wayne County Commissioner Laura Cox, had combined salaries of more than $193,000 last year; their home is worth about $250,000 and they owe about $209,000 on the mortgage; savings and stock holdings in Exxon, Ford and General Electric are worth nearly $27,000. Individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s and deferred compensation were worth more than $400,000.
Cox's personal disclosure last week followed his proposal for ethics reform legislation that would require the annual reporting of personal financial information by elected state officials, directors of state departments, many local elected officials, candidates for these offices, and the immediate family members of officials and candidates. It also calls for the annual reporting of gifts from lobbyists, as well as information on what boards they serve.
His flurry as a Mr. Sunshine comes, not so incidentally, as Cox accelerates his campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
But Cox is neither new nor alone in the welcome push for more transparency and openness in government.
Diverse groups outside government have agitated for more disclosure, none more doggedly than the Lansing-based Michigan Campaign Finance Network, which has been particularly vocal on "issue ads" paid by stealth contributors. MCFN Executive Director Rich Robinson said these donors are "not disclosed anywhere in the state's campaign finance reporting system."
The conservative Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy has been a champion of disclosure of public payroll details.
The Center's sprightly Michigan Capitol Confidential publication recently praised state lawmakers (including House Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Kewadin) who post the names and salaries of their staffers.
The last issue of Capitol Confidential, lamenting barriers to public disclosure in Lansing, headlined: "Cronyism easier to conceal in state capital than in Washington or Detroit."
Wherever Michiganians are on the political spectrum, they need the bright light of public scrutiny to blaze in Lansing.
Among other activities last week by gubernatorial contenders:
n Republican Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, who in 1995 was one of a few state senators to vote against creation of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, used the Mackinac Center's latest criticism of MEDC's incentives to lure business to reiterate his contention that "when government gets into the business of picking winners and losers in the marketplace, we all lose. This study proves I was right then and I'm right now."
n During a visit to the Upper Peninsula, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, displayed a thick copy of the 1,000-page federal health care bill being debated in Congress. According to the Marquette Mining Journal, he said:
"I think everybody, in general, is in agreement that we need to have some type of reform. What I sense and learned to date, what people are saying is we need reform, but we don't want a 1,000-page bill."
He said his concerns about the bill include unclear representation of abortion coverage and a health care commissioner's control over specifics of the plan.
The paper said people with signs saying "Tort reform not government health" and "Oppose Socialism" stood in the back of the packed Great Lakes Rooms at Northern Michigan University.
n As Gov. Jennifer Granholm and legislative leaders continued closed-door budget negotiations, Ann Arbor businessman Rick Synder took this shot:
"Fiscal responsibility is a foreign concept to this administration and it's time that they learn what it means. Make the necessary cuts, efficiencies and structural fixes so that we can begin the process of reinventing Michigan. Every day that they delay, the state's budget gaps, liabilities and long-term fiscal problems grow worse.
"The Granholm/Cherry administration has overseen the shutdown of state government once before; it would be inexcusable for them to allow that to happen again. The citizens of this state deserve much better than what our career politicians have offered us."
(The Michigan GOP had more press releases attacking Lt. Gov. John Cherry, leading contender for the 2010 Democratic nomination to replace term-limited Granholm. In addition to continued GOP references to the "Cherry Administration," state Chairman Ron Weiser, in a fund-raising pitch that referenced Cherry comments on the state's role in health care, said: "Whatever they call it -- ObamaCare or CherryCare -- it will harm Michigan's hard-working families."
n A positive sleeper issue for Cherry is all that is being done for Great Lakes restoration despite budget woes in Washington and Lansing. As chairman of the Great Lakes Commission, he lobbied for substantial funding, which has been slow in coming.
The Obama administration has been more responsive and has proposed boosting funding up to $1 billion in the next fiscal year for such projects as deterring invasive species and cleaning up polluted sites. Pledges of congressional support made headlines last week.
Also last week, in her endorsement of Cherry, Granholm cited, among other things, "his devotion to protecting our Great Lakes."
Equity for northern schools
A new wave of northern lawmakers seeks to get Lansing to address decades of inequities in school funding, which was one of the causes of ex-Rep. Howard Walker, R-Traverse City, and current Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard.
McDowell and freshmen Reps. Dan Scripps, D-Leland, and Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, are among co-chairs of the House School Equity Caucus. It had its first meeting last week, co-chaired by Scripps, who said:
"This bipartisan panel's mission is to work across the aisle and find solutions to the funding disparities that cheat too many Michigan students out of the best possible education," Scripps said. "Providing our children the best education possible is the goal of every school district, teacher and parent, and as leaders it's our responsibility to provide every student with an equal opportunity to learn and succeed."
He noted that as schools around Michigan prepare for another school year, funding levels for school districts continue to vary wildly. Many districts, including the Grand Traverse region, receive the minimum state allowance of $7,316 per pupil, while a select few districts, especially Oakland County, receive far more -- up to $12,443 per pupil.
George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.
