Gov. Granholm Terminates 96,000 Michigan Promise College Scholarship Grants; Instead Shifts Same Amount of Scarce State Money to Gratuitously Buy Ferguson-Granger's Unnecessary State Police Headquarters Building Nearing Completion on Downtown Lansing Floodplane

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Before technicalities are completed, Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Michigan) still has a chance to reclaim some of her lost trust with statewide grassroot taxpayers by honoring her commitment to 96,000 students enrolled in Michigan's 15 taxpayer-funded universities with $112 million in Michigan Promise College Scholarship Grants.

She's in the process of cheating college students in order to gratefully pay Joel Ferguson (D) and Gary Granger (R) $113 million with borrowed debt money from taxpayers to buy their almost completed building on a Downtown Lansing floodplane for an unnecessary new State Police Headquarters.

Gov. Granholm has turned hostile to education and is arrogantly proceeding with plans to reward two of the biggest political campaign contributors active in the State Capitol with her $113 million appropriation to buy the Ferguson-Granger building with funds previously committed to Promise Grant College Scholarships. Gov. Granholm has confused priorities required for the honest distribution of State budget appropriations to best serve the public interest.

We grassroot taxpayers in Taxpayers United believe Gov. Granholm has the power and duty to cite several legal problems as excuses that enable her to reverse herself and take out $113 million from the record high $44.5 billion fiscal year 2010 State spending budget she just approved October 30, 2009. She can put $112 million back to immediately fund Michigan Promise College Scholarship Grants. She promised 1/4 of 1% of the current fiscal year's State budget would be spent on Promise College Scholarship Grants.

State legislators know vigilant grassroots citizens from Taxpayers United Michigan Foundation were in the Senate and House galleries in our State Capitol on September 30 and October 1 when funding for the education program and the Ferguson-Granger State Police project for their own personal unjust enrichment were secretly switched.

Granholm's breach of good faith by an elected public official is unprecedented in Michigan. Her gratitude-motivated priority choice to fund the fatally flawed project of two major political party contributors by breaking her promise to let taxpayers further help educate 96,000 enrolled students is scandalous and must be reversed.

We in Taxpayers United have great concern for the ethics, integrity and motives of Gov. Granholm when she first urges the governing boards of Michigan's 15 state universities to hit enrolled underclassmen this semester with 7% average increases in tuition, fees, room and board, and then imposes anxiety plagues on campus' statewide by vetoing the entire $112 million State appropriation of $1,000 to $4,000 she previously guaranteed each student in Promise College Scholarship Grants payable last month.

For seven years, two of the biggest political campaign contributors buying influence in our State Capitol have been trying to rip off grassroots taxpayers with a new five-story State Police Headquarters Building. On speculation, they've proceeded to build on a federal floodplane at the intersection of two heavily traveled roads in Downtown Lansing.

Ferguson and Granger are relying on a no-bid contract they conditionally obtained under a previous legislature from Bob Emerson, Gov. Granholm's appointed Director of the Michigan Department of Management and Budget, which did NOT obligate current legislators and Gov. Granholm to buy their almost complete but never occupied office building.

Ferguson and Granger's political influence as major campaign contributors paid off during the night of September 30 when 27 of 38 State Senators, and 64 of 110 State Representatives, approved spending for the corrupt deal Gov. Jennifer Granholm promised to legitimize by immediately signing into law.

The Oct. 1 final bill approved in closed legislative caucuses, along with Gov. Granholm's arm twisting, turned out in print two days later to be even more of a sweetheart deal for Ferguson and Granger than their two-year-old deal.

Granholm did sign the Substitute for Senate Bill 253, the $524 million Department of State Police budget, which contains separate component parts of the $113 million Ferguson-Granger deal, for the fiscal year normally ending September 30, 2009, but which was extended this year one month to Oct. 31, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010.

That state government spending for Michigan State Police alone amounts to more than the half billion dollar value of all the gold found in King Tut's Tomb.

Corruption is evident in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's plan to illegally divert $113 million in State funds to aid and abet windfall profits for political campaign contributor activists Joel Ferguson and Gary Granger who want their new office building to replace the still serviceable $1-a-year State Police Headquarters building in use on the MSU Campus in East Lansing. State taxpayers have maintained and upgraded that building and surrounding facilities and acreage annually ever since State Police Troopers officially became part of State government in 1937.

Taxpayers United, a non-profit, non-partisan statewide organization founded in 1976 by Dick Headlee (deceased 2006) and Bill McMaster to successfully support statewide grassroots citizen adoption of the 1978 Headlee Tax Limitation Amendment into our Michigan Constitution, filed a 53-page lawsuit in 2002 against then Gov. John Engler (Taxpayers United vs State of Michigan et al, Ingham County Circuit Court File No. 02-1404-AZ) seeking an injunction to keep Joel Ferguson and Gary Granger from building the same State Police Headquarters at issue today on the same downtown Lansing floodplane.

Over four months of court litigation still on permanent record, during which Jennifer Granholm, in her then capacity as Michigan Attorney General, defended Engler, the state legislature and the Michigan Dept. of Management and Budget, Taxpayers United recorded evidence proving the pending 2002 State deal with Ferguson and Granger would violate provisions of the Headlee Amendment and State law.

While still Attorney General responsible for representing Defendants Engler, et al, Granholm was elected Governor in November 2002. In anticipation of taking office on January 1, 2003, Granholm was quoted on the Ferguson-Granger State Police Headquarters issue in a December 24, 2002 Lansing State Journal news story headlined 'Project worries Granholm, Engler hoping to OK lease for $113M offices': "Whatever happens must take into account the state's bottom line in light of the deficit," Granholm said. "I'm not interested in pursuing endeavors that are going to create even further crisis than already exists.

"The state faces a potential budget deficit of between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 (2003). The Michigan Constitution requires the state to have a balanced budget, which will necessitate budget cuts."

Dick Headlee's failing health after retirement to low-tax state Utah prohibited him from further participation in Taxpayers United after the MI State Administrative Board declined, on the last day of Gov. Engler's term in office in 2002, to finalize a $113 million State bond financing for Ferguson-Granger's proposed new State Police Headquarters building.

After Engler finally killed the 2002 Ferguson-Granger deal, Plaintiff Taxpayers United voluntarily discontinued its fight to defend the Headlee Amendment in court. Judge Thomas L. Brown agreeably dismissed the case on his way out of the courthouse to retirement in early 2003.

By 2006, Taxpayers United had evolved into the current non-profit, non-partisan, statewide 'Taxpayers United Michigan Foundation'. Bill McMaster is still State Chairman (Volunteer). Now a tax deductible educational foundation under IRS Code 501(c)(3), its mission is: 'Helping educate grassroots taxpayers how to defend and control their Constitutional Rights despite exploitation by units of government'.

After steadily increasing political campaign contributions, Joel Ferguson and Gary Granger were confident they had bought enough Democrat and Republican political influence by 2008 to again push the State of Michigan to prioritize appropriation of $113 million to be collected from overtaxed grassroots taxpayers to pay for the same Ferguson-Granger State Police Headquarters building scheme stopped by Taxpayers United's action in 2002.

It's also significant that Ferguson is more powerfully situated after serving as the successful Michigan Campaign Chairman for the 2008 Obama for President Campaign and on the Democratic National Committee.

Opposition to Gov. Granholm's present decision to take $112 million from 'Michigan Promise College Scholarship Grants in order to give $113 million to Ferguson-Granger for rushed State Police occupancy in their building on Jan. 1, 2010 is based on many of the same questions answered on the 2002 court record. They include:

    1- State law and our Michigan Constitution are violated when Gov.
    Granholm enters into a no-competitive bid contract worked out in secret to
    build a $113 million state office building in Downtown Lansing without
    following legal procedures for such a 'Capital Outlay Project'.

    2- Other developers were never given the opportunity to submit bids or
    competing proposals to the State on a Development Fee/Management Fee only
    basis.

    3- Only Ferguson-Granger's property at the busy intersection of Grand and
    Kalamazoo Streets two blocks from the State Capitol were allowed to be
    considered as an appropriate location for an if-eventually-needed new
    State Police Headquarters. Existing State Police facilities at MSU, on
    Collins St., at Capitol City Airport, or even logical expansion of that
    section of hundreds of secured acres in Michigan's remote Secondary
    Complex ten miles from the Capitol and already home to some State Police
    facilities were NEVER considered.

    4- Building a State office building on a floodplane is prohibited by
    Executive Orders from several previous Michigan Governors.

    5- Gov. Granholm is ignoring the Department of Management and Budget Act
    which requires the State to go through the full Capital Outlay process of
    open bidding for design, construction, and cost transparency services
    mandated to hold down costs to taxpayers.

    6- Michigan has long-standing policy prohibiting placement of state
    facilities in a floodplane. According to the Federal Emergency Management
    Agency (FEMA), Federal Home Security operations and State terrorism and
    natural disaster emergency response units cannot be located in a
    floodplane as proposed for Ferguson-Granholm's State Police Headquarters.

    7- High tech equipment and personnel currently functioning well in the
    State Police Headquarters on the Michigan State University campus can't
    be transferred, improved or insured at Ferguson-Granger's site because
    it's on a floodplane.

    8- Compared with the current State Police Headquarters, the Downtown
    Lansing location cannot physically accommodate any helicopters, large
    emergency vehicles, first response units and equipment, or sensitive
    communications facilities including installation, operation, maintenance
    and replacement of a telecommunications tower and equipment as originally
    promoted by Ferguson-Granger.

    9- Inadequate on-site parking required by Lansing zoning laws and State
    labor union agreements mean taxpayers would have to immediately incur
    additional expense by purchasing or leasing more required free parking
    space for 550 of State Police employees. Those employees would/will also
    have to start paying the Lansing Income Tax they don't have to pay in the
    current East Lansing State Police Headquarters.

    10- Backpack bombs could be easily lobbed over the new five-foot fence
    next to the sidewalk by pedestrians or drive-by terrorists. Still very
    serviceable State Police facilities at MSU don't have such security
    problems.

    11- The full costs to the State for the Ferguson-Granger project have not
    been publicly disclosed. The real cost to taxpayers to purchase the
    Ferguson-Granger building would surpass $113 million when bond finance
    management costs, moving and new furnishings and equipment costs for
    employees are figured into the deal.  Not included were additional costs
    for real estate taxes, building management and maintenance fees, and
    payment of interest rate charges requiring grassroots taxpayers to pay
    back the proposed basic $71 million loan (bond).

    12- Despite calls last summer by State Representative Rick Jones (R-Grand
    Ledge) for an official State Auditor General audit "to determine how
    developers Joel Ferguson and Gary Granger were profiting from the deal,"
    the majority of legislators agreed Oct. 1 with Granholm to implement part
    of the old 'agreement' by adding a $409,100 payment from the State of
    Michigan to Ferguson-Granger for one month's rent on their unfinished,
    vacant building starting this month.

    13- Several western Michigan legislators who had opposed the deal for two
    years changed their votes to support the $113 million expenditure during
    the midnight Oct. 1 legislative session in our State Capitol.  Bank and
    Ferguson-Granger lobbyists got word to Democrat and Republican backroom
    caucuses, legislators' laptops and cell phones on the Senate and House
    voting floors that Huntington National Bank in Grand Rapids, which had
    already been losing millions, would be pushed over the edge if Ferguson
    and Granger were not able to complete their State Police Headquarters
    building deal with Gov. Granholm and repay their loan to Huntington Bank.

    14- Last August, State Attorney General Mike Cox advised legislators
    and Gov. Granholm that the State was under no contractual obligation to
    occupy the Ferguson-Granger Building if Gov. Granholm simply decided not
    to pay the first month's rent of $409,100 by October 31, 2009.

    15- News stories this week quote Gov. Granholm repeatedly saying she
    doesn't really consider the ($113 million) expense for a new State Police
    Headquarters Building will count to exceed the limitation on expenses
    of state government as stated in our Michigan Constitution, Section 28,
    (part of the 1978 Headlee Tax Limitation). 'We'll issue bonds and the
    Headlee Amendment doesn't apply to bonds,' Granholm alibis. Gov.
    Granholm is not being truthful. She learned in 2002 that the Headlee
    Amendment DOES apply to bonds she would attempt to issue this year to pay
    Ferguson-Granger.

    16- Bonds issued by the State of Michigan, by definition, are loans based
    on the good faith and credit of grassroots taxpayers who are obligated
    to pay back the loans with interest and finance charges from law firms,
    banks and bond brokers over a stated period of years.

    17- The State $113 million expenditure for the project would/will, by law,
    count against the State's bond cap in a period of State budget
    instability. A new bond obligating the good faith and credit of
    grassroot taxpayers statewide to now buy the still not completed or
    occupied  Ferguson-Granger building for State Police Headquarters,
    would/will take up room under the cap which could be used for deserving
    education or other competitively bid Capital Outlay Projects.

    18- If Gov. Granholm doesn't edit a new State Police Headquarters building
     out of Senate Bill 253 she signed on Oct. 30, 2009, she is authorizing
    State Budget Director Bob Emerson to again privately negotiate a blank
    check payment to Ferguson-Granger. A section of the bill states: 'This
    state is also authorized to pay any ancillary costs including estimated
    real estate taxes.'

As Gov. Granholm's chief Cabinet advisor on fiscal matters and State accounting functions, Emerson illogically declared on Oct. 1, 2009 that whatever money Ferguson-Granger ask for changing their lease/buy deal for their building to an outright purchase should be appreciated 'because buying the building with State-issued bonds will save taxpayers $40 million compared to the lease/buy,' which he advocated for two years up to Oct. 1. Taxpayers can't trust Emerson either.

THERE'S MORE TO THE FERGUSON-GRANGER STATE POLICE HEADQUARTERS BUILDING STORY OF CORRUPTION

City of Lansing Property Tax Appraiser Maria Irish reports the Ferguson-Granger building has a '2009 True Cash Value of $13 million. Gov. Granholm and the legislature's appropriation for the proposed new State Police Headquarters building mysteriously increased during the Sept. 30 late night legislative session from a $39 million lease/buy deal valued by Ferguson-Granger to a $52 million price tag for the State to buy it now.

Joel Ferguson, a statewide elected member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, created a prosecutable conflict of interest when he used his elected office to publicly suggest to MSU administrators and Trustees, as reported by The Lansing State Journal, that there would be savings for taxpayers if the State Police Headquarters building on the MSU campus would be razed for an MSU parking lot and the Headquarters moved to a new building (his) in Downtown Lansing.

Kelly Rossman, head of one several Lansing public relations/lobbying firms retained by developers Ferguson and Granger, was permitted the unique privilege of maintaining contact with voting legislators throughout the evening of September 30 and early morning of October 1 by manning free food and non-alcoholic drink tables set up on the second floor of the State Capitol, between Gov. Granholm's office and the Senate and House chambers in session on the same floor.

NEED FOR ACTION

Gov. Granholm must scrap the Ferguson-Granger rip off of grassroots taxpayers and shift the $113 million back to keeping state government's $112 million obligation to 96,000 students dependent on Michigan Promise College Scholarship Grants.

SOURCE TaxPayers United Michigan Foundation

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