This letter was sent to Rick Snyder and Virg Bernero

September 24, 2010

From: My Father

Subject: Art. IX, S29, Constitution 1963 ignored for 32 years.

Dear Gubernatorial Candidate

Your attention is invited to the following website: HTTP://council.legislature.MI.gov.htmlI am sure you will find that Art. IX, S29 Michigan Constitution 1963 is being violated almost on a daily basis by the Governor and State Legislators for ignoring this part of our Constitution that was approved by the electorate in 1978.

According to the Headlee Blue Ribbon Committee (appointed by Gov. Engler), there is a committee (in statute) to enforce the provisions of Article IX, S29, no one has ever been appointed to the committee.

Any attempt to correct this horrible situation must have fallen on deaf ears. It must be obvious that local units of government are burdened with state mandates (unfunded) to the tune of more than 2.5 billion dollars a year forcing local units to enforce state law without state compensation unless they sue the state.

I want to make sure that you understand if legal action is necessary, I am prepared to go down that road. State legislation requiring any expenditure by local units of government is a violation of our Constitution. In other words, the state Legislature and the Office of the Governor are prohibited from passing any costs to local units of government. As governor, you must think about this when you take the oath of office it means you must enforce the entire Constitution especially Article IX, S29.

The very purpose for including Article IX, S29 Michigan Constitution 1963 was to prevent the state from spending more than clearly defined limits of the Headlee Amendment and prevent the state from shifting the burden onto the backs of the taxpayers in our communities.