Home » News

By Jim Harger | The Grand Rapids Press
November 13, 2009, 4:33PM

Adam Bird | The Grand Rapids Press

Michgian Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop, right, and State Rep. Tim Melton talk about Michigan's budget woes before the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce on Friday afternoon.

GRAND RAPIDS -- No fireworks were lit nor bombs thrown when two state leaders from opposing parties sat across from each other Friday in front of several hundred business leaders in the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel's Ambassador Ballroom.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop, R-Rochester, and Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, were amiable as they discussed partisan differences that almost shut down the state government last month and threaten to divide Michigan in the future.

"It's unfortunate if you get two intelligent people in a room, that they can't make more progress," said Robert Hughes, chairman of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce's health care committee.

The local chamber sponsored the showdown between Bishop and Melton as part of its 14th annual Salute to West Michigan Business.

"You sit there and watch that and think there's no reason they can't agree," said Hughes, adding that the Michigan Business Tax has been the bane of his health insurance business in recent years.

Hughes said Lansing politics and special interests have created baffling obstacles to his business. His company offers health insurance to school systems that is 10 percent to 20 percent cheaper only to be trumped by MESSA, the insurance offered by the teachers union.

For their part, Bishop and Melton agreed that the state's prison budget needs to be trimmed; local governments need consolidation; schools need reforming, and term limits are not working.

But they quickly began quibbling about the details.

Bishop said he would support an end to term limits in exchange for a part-time Legislature.

Melton responded by saying his constituents need a full-time Legislature and warned that in other states, part-time lawmakers often hold cushy jobs with special interests, such as the insurance industry.

On education reform, both agreed the Legislature should pass reforms to qualify for $4.3 billion worth of federal "Race to the Top" grants. Grand Rapids is one of 13 Michigan districts in line for the funds.

While they both agreed on the need to consolidate local governments, Melton said it's difficult to navigate when so many people in Lansing are paid to protect the status quo.

"Every time you flip one switch, five switches light up," he said.

Afterwards, one of those special interest representatives acknowledged the problem the state faces as the economy slides into decline.

"I don't think there are many solutions that don't cause pain to some sector," said Frances "Francie" Brown, director of state government affairs for ITC Holdings, a Novi firm that operates most of the electrical power grid in the Lower Peninsula.