Letter: Lending a watchful eye for politicians' voting track records

To the editor: Since Proposal A passed in 1994 it has only been used to pay for K-12 education. A few weeks ago a vote was taken in the Senate to use money from the K-12 school aid fund to help pay for colleges and universities. When the Senators voted on the controversial measure, it came out a tie. Seven Republicans voted against the measure but Lieutenant Gov. Calley broke the tie and the bill passed. Had our local banker turned Senator Darwin Booher voted against the measure, it would have failed. Many of the programs to be cut at your local school over the next several years may have been prevented by Sen. Booher. A check of Mr. Booher’s campaign finance donors shows that the Friends of Ferris (State University) is one of his largest campaign contributors, and four other such college political action committees also donated to him. But Booher’s vote didn’t save colleges and universities. It only eased their pain. The Chamber of Commerce and the Banker’s Association are some of Senator Booher’s other big donors. The people they represent stand to gain a great deal from what some are calling the biggest tax cut in the history of the state. I encourage all of you to check out your local official’s campaign donors by going to

www.michigan/gov/sos and clicking on voter information and then campaign finance disclosure. You may be surprised to see what groups, companies and individuals are supporting these campaigns. It makes you wonder if our elected officials have our best interest at heart when they are casting their votes down in Lansing. You may want to give them a call to make sure they know that they work for you and not for special interest groups.

Chad A. Phillips

Lake City