Michigan state Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Weasel) still dodging questions about his ALEC affiliation

[highplainsdem]

First some background, for those who didn't see the earlier part of this (including the video): If you check the long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), you'll see a subthread starting with reply 159, posted by Hector Solon, about McMillin (who's really R-Rochester, not R-Weasel) trying to deny his ALEC membership in Rochester late last month. HS posted a link to his Daily Kos diary about McMillin and to Bruce Fealk's column about the town hall on the Rochester Citizen website (both pages have video).

Bruce Fealk has done it again.

From The Rochester Citizen last week:

http://therochestercitizen.com/representative-tom-mcmillin-refuses-to-talk-about-alec-p463-1.htm

Representative Tom McMillin Refuses To Talk About ALEC
Bruce Fealk
Mon, Apr 11, 2011

Representative Tom McMmillin was in attendance at the Rochester Chamber Legislative Update meeting at the Older Persons Commission on Monday, When it comes to his own activities and who he owes his allegiances to, Mr. McMillin is not living up to the same standard of transparency he wants to impose on government agencies, refusing to answer questions about his relationship with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).

At the conclusion of the Legislative Update meeting, we tried to ask Mr. McMillin about his affiliation with ALEC and whether he was planning to attend their Spring Task Force Meeting in Cincinnati on April 28 and 29. He refused to answer our questions and even resorted to name calling.

We also called Mr. McMillin’s office in Lansing where his staff person, Josiah, refused to answer whether Mr. McMillin had the ALEC Spring Task Force meeting in Cincinnati on his calendar.

-snip-

According to the column, McMillin’s next town hall will be April 25th in Rochester. I imagine he'll hear questions about ALEC then.

McMillin is getting closer scrutiny for something besides his ALEC affiliation, too.

Bealk writes:

The ACLU has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all of Mr. McMillin’s correspondence regarding the Emergency Financial Manager legislation that Governor Snyder signed recently.

McMillin had this to say in favor of the EFM bill, according to the Oakland Press:

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2011/03/16/news/doc4d7fc933641e0805438252.txt

Tougher emergency manager rules sent to Snyder for signing
Published: Wednesday, March 16, 2011

-snip-

Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, said the new law takes away uncertainties of the authority of emergency managers.

“We’re making things more black and white and more clear so EFMs aren’t spending their time battling in court over what they can and cannot do,” McMillin said.

“If a city has refused to deal with its financial problems, the state has to step in and right the ship,” he said. “Ultimately, all Michigan taxpayers are on the hook for the debt municipalities create.

“There’s no reason why municipalities or school districts should fall into the situation,” McMillin said. “If they stand up and make tough decisions, they won’t have to worry.”

-snip-

Making things more black and white... Interesting wording. Especially with the EFM law already being used to steal a beautiful beachfront park from the poor town of Benton Harbor, which is mostly black, for a new Jack Nicklaus golf course.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Jack Nickaus is looking less an less a hero

first Florida and now Michigan ............ shame Jack, shame

[notadmblnd]

2. Coming to a city near you

Michigan is training hundreds of EFMs. That tells me that they plan on taking over more than a few poorly performing Michigan cities. If there is a corporation out there that wants some particular asset of some particular city, All rick the Dick Snyder has to do is decide there is a financial emergency, appoint an EFM, dissolve elected officials authority and begin selling precious city assets and there won't be a damn thing anyone can do about it.