The November ballot will be an extremely long. It behooves you to study it before youe go to vote. This is our take on the Wayne County Questions and conservative judges.
FORM OF THE WAYNE COUNTY
BUDGET AND APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE
"SHALL THE WAYNE COUNTY HOME RULE CHARTER BE AMENDED TO ADD A
NEW SECTION 5.120 AND TO AMEND EXISTING SECTION 5.134 TO AUTHORIZE THE WAYNE
COUNTY COMMISSION RATHER THAN THE WAYNE COUNTY EXECUTIVE TO ESTABLISH THE FORM
(INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LUMP-SUM AND LINE-ITEM) OF THE COUNTY BUDGET AND
APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE; AND TO REQUIRE THE COUNTY COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH THE
FORM OF THE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE BY DECEMBER 7, 2012 AND TO ADOPT
CHANGES TO THE FORM AT LEAST TEN MONTHS BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF A FISCAL YEAR
TO BE EFFECTIVE FOR THAT FISCAL YEAR; AND TO ALSO AMEND SECTION 5.121 TO
REQUIRE THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE TO PREPARE AND SUBMIT THE BUDGET AND
APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE IN THE FORM ESTABLISHED BY THE COUNTY
COMMISSION?"
YES
INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL AUDITOR
"SHALL SECTION 3.119(E) OF THE WAYNE COUNTY HOME RULE CHARTER
BE AMENDED TO REMOVE THE RESTRICTION THAT PROHIBITS AN INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL
AUDITOR FROM PROVIDING AUDIT SERVICES TO THE COUNTY FOR MORE THAN EIGHT (8)
CONSECUTIVE YEARS; AND FURTHER TO REQUIRE INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL AUDITORS BE
SELECTED BASED ON A COMPETITIVE PROCESS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNTY'S
PROCUREMENT ORDINANCE?"
YES
MEMBERSHIP ON THE WAYNE COUNTY RETIREMENT COMMISSION
"SHALL SECTION 6.112 OF THE WAYNE COUNTY HOME RULE CHARTER BE
AMENDED TO EXPAND THE WAYNE COUNTY RETIREMENT COMMISSION'S MEMBERSHIP FROM 8 TO
9, ADDING AS A MEMBER THE WAYNE COUNTY TREASURER OR HIS OR HER DESIGNEE; AND
ALSO TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE WAYNE COUNTY COMMISSION, WHO IS ALSO A
MEMBER OF THE WAYNE COUNTY RETIREMENT COMMISSION, TO APPOINT A PERSON TO SERVE
AS HIS OR HER DESIGNEE ON THE RETIREMENT COMMISSION; AND TO FURTHER ALLOW
EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES OF THE WAYNE COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY TO VOTE FOR AND
SERVE AS MEMBERS OF THE WAYNE COUNTY RETIREMENT COMMISSION (WITH NO MORE
THAN ONE MEMBER BEING AN AIRPORT EMPLOYEE OR RETIREE) UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE
AIRPORT AUTHORITY ESTABLISHES ITS OWN RETIREMENT SYSTEM OR PENSION PLAN?"
YES
REMOVAL OF THE WAYNE COUNTY EXECUTIVE FROM OFFICE BY THE GOVERNOR
"SHALL THE WAYNE COUNTY HOME RULE CHARTER BE AMENDED TO ADD
SECTION 4.124 TO AUTHORIZE THE GOVERNOR TO REMOVE THE WAYNE COUNTY EXECUTIVE
FROM OFFICE FOR THE SAME REASONS AND WITH THE SAME DUE PROCESS AS PROVIDED BY
LAW FOR THE SHERIFF, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, COUNTY CLERK, REGISTER OF DEEDS, AND
COUNTY TREASURER?"
YES
THE WAYNE COUNTY COMMISSION'S POWER
TO APPROVE COMPENSATION
"SHALL SECTION 3.115 OF THE WAYNE COUNTY HOME RULE CHARTER,
WHICH SETS FORTH THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE WAYNE COUNTY COMMISSION, BE
AMENDED TO INCLUDE THE POWER AND DUTY TO APPROVE ALL COMPENSATION OF EVERY
EMPLOYMENT POSITION IN THE COUNTY, UNLESS THE COMPENSATION IS ESTABLISHED BY
STATE OR FEDERAL LAW?"
YES
WAYNE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
DISTRICT
MILLAGE PROPOSAL
Shall the limitation on the amount of taxes which may be imposed
on taxable property in the Wayne County Community College District be increased
by one dollar per thousand dollars (1 mill) of the taxable value of all taxable
property in the College District for a period of ten (10) years, the tax years
commencing July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2022, inclusive, as new additional millage
to provide funds for community college purposes authorized by law? It is
estimated that 1 mill would raise approximately $21,746,964 when first levied
in 2013.
NO
Justice of The Supreme Court-8 Year
Term (2 positions)
There
are eight candidates for two openings.
Justice Stephen Markman is a conservative Justice running for
re-election to his current seat. The
second 8 year term position is for the seat currently held by Marilyn Kelly,
who cannot be reelected due to age limitations. Of the other candidates running
for that seat I recommend Judge Colleen O’Brien. I recommend a vote for:
·
Justice
Stephen Markman
·
Judge
Colleen O’Brien
Justice of The Supreme Court-Partial
Term
Justice Brian Zahra, a conservative Justice who was appointed last year by Governor Snyder, must now be elected to complete his partial term ending 1/1/2015. Justice Zahra deserves to be elected to complete his term. My recommendation is a vote for:
· Justice Brian Zahra
3rd Circuit Judge of the
Circuit Court Incumbent–6 yr. Term (16) positions
There are seventeen (17) candidates for the sixteen (16)
positions. There are five (5) judges in
this group of sixteen incumbents whom I consider to be conservative. They deserve your vote even if you don’t vote
for any of the others. They are:
·
Annette
J. Berry
·
Gregory
Dean Bill
·
Kathleen
M. McCarthy
·
Maria
L. Oxholm
·
Daniel
P. Ryan
3rd Circuit Judge of the
Circuit Court Non Incumbent – 6 yr. Term (3) positions
There are six (6) candidates for these three (3) positions. There are only two of them whom I consider to be conservative. I would encourage all conservative voters to vote for:
· Kevin Cox
·
Kelly
Ann Ramsey
3rd Circuit Judge of the Circuit
Court Incumbent–Partial Term ending 1/1/2015 (2) positions
There are three (3) candidates for two (2) positions. Of the two who are incumbents, Margaret M.
Van Houten is the only one that I consider to be conservative.
·
Margaret M. Van Houten
7 comments:
Great article. I've enjoyed this contribution. Its nice to see every questions answered in a blog post like this. I will add this post on my blog and link to it. Thanks for a clear informative post, I've learned a lot. I hope to see videos though as I can be A.D.D and reading articles is not my favorite thing to do online. So what I do sometimes is just print the whole thing and read offline.
I am concerned about a yes vote to eliminate the limit on external auditors to 8 years. It seems these auditors get a little too cozy with those they are working for and I believe it should be even more stringent, maybe 4 years or less. Can someone explain why this is a bad thing?
It seems to me that removing the 8 year limitation on external auditors could be dangerous. They appear to get a little too cozy with those they are auditin, providing boon doggles and such for those hiring them. I agree with the need for a competitive process, but that alone doesn't prevent those making the decisions from picking their auditor of choice. I believe the limit should be more stringent, 4 years or less maybe. So i'm thinking a No vote. Can someone shed some light on this?
I am not concerned about that because the firms that bid are reputable. There is some advantage too for the auditors to repeat year after year as well. Knowing the system and what to look for is important. For auditors of that size there is little advantage to tarnish their reputation as it would mean the end of their business.They also send a team of auditors to do the work so it is not just one or two people looking over the books like in a small school district as an example.
I do understand your concern but auditors for Wayne County which is so poorly run and in such debt would be crazy to try and hide it. What is the problem is our lack of attention to hold Wayne County accountable for its bad habits.
I very much appreciate the guidance and research performed on the Wayne County Proposals and even more so on the Judges... this has allowed me to fill out my ballot more completely.
My question is, do you have any comments on the other races? (e.g. Court of Appeals 1st district, Probate court incumbent position, and perhaps even the local 36th district court races?)
I know it's probably difficult to list every court race on your blog, but perhaps you do have some thoughts on these races.?.?
For the Court of Appeals and Probate Court the number of those running are the same as the vacancies,so they all win. Your on your own for your for 36 district court.
Great research put together with a conservative look. Guidance like this is always needed. Keep up the good Work!
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