State records reviewed by The Detroit News also show the budget for the Legislature has increased 14 percent since 2000, when the state's economy started the nosedive from which it has yet to recover. The state budget as a whole increased 11 percent during that time, mostly to pay for higher costs in health care for the poor and for prisons, roads and public schools.
By comparison since 2000:
State aid to universities has fallen 7.4 percent or $140 million, leaving parents and students to pay ever-escalating tuition.
State employees -- whose ranks have been thinned by 13 percent and now total 53,200 -- have agreed to forgo pay hikes, trade pay for annual leave and other concessions.
Revenue sharing to local governments during that span has plummeted by one-third, or more than a half-billion dollars. As a result, municipalities have been forced to cut back on essential services such as police and fire protection, road repair and garbage pickup.
Spending for the governor's office is down by 5 percent to $5.4 million.
Records show state senators and representatives and staff also spent about $650,000 between 2000 and 2005 in taxpayers' money for travel expenses -- some of it within the state, including to Mackinac Island -- and to attend conferences in Texas, California, Utah, Washington, Louisiana and Colorado.
Later in this article...
Gary Newell defends government waste!
Once again, he's only for small government when it helps you and not him:
Senators also get an operational expense account of more than $59,000 they can use for travel, mailing and other office expenses. That budget increases by about 2 percent a year, said Carol Viventi, secretary of the Senate. There has been a moratorium on state-paid out-of-state travel by Senators over the past several years. Senate staff has remained stable at about 300 salaried and hourly workers over the past five years.
There's no such moratorium in the House. Members can spend up to $5,000 on out-of-state travel approved by the speaker. For instance, 11 House members traveled to Seattle in August to attend the National Conference of State Legislatures meeting at a total taxpayer cost of $17,500.
Rep. Gary Newell, R-Saranac, spent $4,810 last year and his travel included legislative conferences in Lake Tahoe, Seattle and Grapevine, Texas. He said he attended those meetings to learn more about health care information technology, an area he's tackling in the Legislature.
"I go to see what other legislators have to say about emerging trends. I've introduced bills directly related to information I've gathered at these conferences," Newell said.
He said the Senate's out-of-state travel ban is shortsighted.
"In this era of term limits, it's hard enough to make contacts," he said. "I don't know how else you do it."
There's no such moratorium in the House. Members can spend up to $5,000 on out-of-state travel approved by the speaker. For instance, 11 House members traveled to Seattle in August to attend the National Conference of State Legislatures meeting at a total taxpayer cost of $17,500.
Rep. Gary Newell, R-Saranac, spent $4,810 last year and his travel included legislative conferences in Lake Tahoe, Seattle and Grapevine, Texas. He said he attended those meetings to learn more about health care information technology, an area he's tackling in the Legislature.
"I go to see what other legislators have to say about emerging trends. I've introduced bills directly related to information I've gathered at these conferences," Newell said.
He said the Senate's out-of-state travel ban is shortsighted.
"In this era of term limits, it's hard enough to make contacts," he said. "I don't know how else you do it."
Apparently Newell has never heard of a telephone or Google. Instead he gets to spend your money while telling your kids they don't need after school programs or help with college tuition.
Please go to Fire The Senate and do your part to fix this mess.
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