Ray Franz, R, and Dan Scripps, D, are running for the 101st District State representative race, and apparently they are also vying for the title of most ridiculous flyer makers.  My household has received four flyers on this race with a bunch of claims and allegations, but only two flyers about other candidates.  I have dealt with the first in the "DanScrippstic" thread, and personally concluded that it was a little over the top in its claims even though I agreed with its premise. 

 

The next one came from the Democratic Party and was an anti-Franz ad.  It insinuates that he supports a radical plan that could eliminate Social Security and Medicare and leave seniors 'out in the cold'.  Besides 'risking' the elimination of these two staples, it puts our old folks at the mercy of bureaucrats at Big Insurance and millionaires at Wall Street.  It then attacks his support of the MI Fair Tax, a consumer-based tax, saying it would eliminate income taxes for the very rich. 

Truth is, we probably need a 'radical' plan to repair SS and Medicare of which the new Healthcare laws don't address, and everyone would lose their state income tax with the adoption of the MI Fair Tax, which is supported by more than just Ray Franz.  It neglects to say that the Fair Tax has 'prebates' which would likely offset any immediate increases in consumer goods for poorer folks.  When the flyer says all this and says Ray Franz is putting special interests ahead of middle class families with no proof other than his conservative bent, it loses all credibility to me.

http://www.mifairtax.org/index.html

 

The next came from the Republicans with a cow on the front saying "Got Health Care?"  It then calls Scripps a moooocher for  voting for lifetime health care benefits for 54,000 qualified state government employees.  In reviewing the two bills this claim is based on (HB 4073 and HB 4075), one of which is now law, it is correct in claiming state employees now have more coverage than they did before, even though most non-government people are getting less coverage from their employers nowadays. If the second is passed, look ahead for city and county employees getting extra coverage also from their employer (the taxpayers).  This flyer was fairly factual, a little humorous, and makes a point about this type of spending in these times.

 

The last came from a group called the Michigan Coalition for Progress, a so-called independent-progressive voice railing against the conservative republicans standing in the way of change in Lansing. 
http://www.miprogresscoalition.org/about

 

This pro-Scripps flyer tells us he has passed legislation that will lead to 63,000 new jobs in Michigan, and that he has worked to bring accountability to Lansing by cutting legislator's pay by 10%.  Fact checking on this group showed that the legislation he "passed" (HB 4083-4094) were still bills quite a way away from being law, and it does seem to be bills that  will quell competition and choice among bidded contracts; I'll bet the MI unions like this bill.

  http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billanalysis/Hous...

 

As for the cutting of pay, he did vote for this, but when he did it was about one month of his taking his seat, and he voted with over 80% of his fellows.  It was not part of his campaign that year.  If these two reasons were the best two for voting for Scripps, it led me wanting more.

 

Since this flyer was unauthorized by the Scripps' Committee, I weighed its handling of the facts a bit less than if it was distributed by him.

 

In considering the flyers as a whole, I made the assessment that the friends of Dan Scripps are not really doing him any favors by making outrageous claims about Franz or fibbing about Scripps accomplishments.  Whereas Franz' flyers did lead me to question Scripps' record on groundwater rights and health care bonuses for state workers, and was less sensationalistic than the incumbent's flyers.

 

Personally, I admire Dan's dedication to his work, his attention to detail, and his enthusiasm.  But I do question his loyalty to the general citizen, and so will vote for Franz unless he holds up a bank or something before the election.  But that's my opinion, what's yours?


 

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the daily news had a good set of candidate opinions for franz and scripps yesterday. sort of addressed these issues and more. i hope nobody especailly learned peeps of the torch has to make there decisions based soully on these maddog flyers. they were also debating tonight at the college. missed it but i know who i am going to vote for.
back on to the thread i got the same flyer about his cutting salaries and passing a law that makes 63000 jobs. thought this was a load of crap and your link shows that. his bill is a competition killer which will work against the state in the long run.

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