Senator Bishop

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="044005a0exvipq.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC33" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eastside Republican Club"><U><B>Home</B></U></A><B>  </B><B> </B></FONT><B>  | </B><B> </B><B> </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" ><B>Eastside Republican Club</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="erc_meeting_dates.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><U><B>Events</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="eastside_republican_review_summary.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ERC Review"><U><B>ERC Review</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="michigan_s_13th_district.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Congressional District News"><U><B>Congressional District News</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="civic___governmental_links.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="erc_officers.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U><B>About Us</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Senator Bishop</B></div> <div> <A HREF="link_to_michigan_gop.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michigan Republicans"><U><B><IMG SRC="05358580.gif" border=0 width="88" height="88" ALT="Michigan GOP" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="michigan_s_13th_district.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Congressional District News"><U><I><B>Congressional District News</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="erc_testimonials.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What Theyre Saying About Us"><U><I><B>Read what they've said about us</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="erc_meeting_dates.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Events"><U><B><IMG SRC="81b871f0.gif" border=0 width="135" height="31" ALT=">>Events" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  <A NAME="top_of_page"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <I><U><IMG SRC="192cf4d80.jpg" border=0 width="244" height="472" ALT="Michigan Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop addresses November 2009 ERC Forum" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="8" VSPACE="6"></U></I><I><U>Candidate for Attorney General</U></I></div> <div> <B>Michigan Senate Majority Leader</B></div> <div> <B>Mike Bishop Calls for Government Reform</B></div> <div> Government reform, not higher taxes, is what Michigan needs now, according to Sen. Michael D. Bishop, Senate majority leader, speaking to the Eastside Republican Club Forum at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial on November 17.</div> <div> For example, he told the audience, “A change in our `right to work' status would send a message to the rest of the U.S. that Michigan is ready to grow and change.”</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="243" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 259 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="192eecfd0.jpg" border=0 width="236" height="253" ALT="ERC chairman John Chouinard with Sen. Mike Bishop" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 305 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="1930ec2b0.jpg" border=0 width="236" height="299" ALT="Sen. Mike Bishop talks with audience members after ERC Forum" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 311 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="1932ec310.jpg" border=0 width="236" height="305" ALT="Jermain Jones greets Sen. Mike Bishop following November ERC Forum presentation" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> “We should consider a pilot program in limited zones,” he suggested.</div> <div> Casting his vision for the future, the term-limited Senator said, “Michigan's next governor has to address the `labor' issue--this governor won't.”</div> <div> Then as a caution to the partisan crowd, he said, “[Lt. Governor] John Cherry is an honorable person, but because of his philosophy of government he is more dangerous than Gov. Granholm.”</div> <div> Bishop, who is stumping Michigan in his bid for the Republican nomination for Attorney General, said, “I've never seen the kind of energy I'm seeing around the state right now!” >><A HREF="http://www.MikeBishop.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.MikeBishop.com"><U><I>Visit the Bishop campaign web site</I></U></A>.</div> <div> He added, “Many of these participants are being called an `angry mob,' and I take great offense to the idea we don't have the right to speak up.”</div> <div> “Let your voices be heard!” As encouragement, Bishop quoted his father, former State Senator Donald Bishop, as saying, ”Democracy is only as great as the people who participate.”</div> <div> <I><B>Michigan's Budget Crisis</B></I></div> <div> In his role as majority leader of the Michigan Senate, Bishop has been smack in the middle of the State's contentious budget deliberations.</div> <div> For background, he explained that in mid-summer under GOP leadership, the Michigan Senate approved a balanced budget proposal with no tax increase.</div> <div> He noted that the Democratic majority in the Michigan House of Representatives had not taken the initiative, and neither had the governor.</div> <div> Bishop said, “Eventually, a balanced, annual State budget was passed in a bipartisan, bicameral way!”</div> <div> As part of balancing the State budget, the Legislature had trimmed $165 per student from all districts. However, the governor then ordered an additional $127-per-pupil reduction.</div> <div> Making matters worse, she then vetoed $52 million of the “section 20j” supplementary funding budgeted by the Legislature for the nearly 40 better-funded school districts such as Grosse Pointe.</div> <div> Bishop said, “The governor used her line-item veto to cut the authorized K-12 funding in an attempt to provoke voters in selected school districts to pressure the Legislature into raising State taxes. That use of school children as pawns was unwarranted.”</div> <div> According to Bishop, the result of the governor's action has been turmoil for public school districts, “We need stability, yet school districts don't know where the bottom is!”</div> <div> “The governor will have to accept the fact that the budget is done--no tax increases!” he stated.</div> <div> “Besides,” he said, “a tax increase would be only a temporary measure, unless we also control spending by cutting the size of government. We can't keep looking to the future for reform.”</div> <div> He said that on December 1, the Senate Republican caucus would announce its agenda to reform government.</div> <div> The majority leader said, “It would confront the special interest groups that are dragging our state down.”</div> <div> Of Michigan's public school teacher's union, he noted, “The MEA will have to accept that reforms have to happen.”</div> <div> Bishop emphasized, “The need is to control spending-to create a competitive environment for employers.”</div> <div> <I><B>Candidacy for Attorney General</B></I></div> <div> Bishop said, “As a term-limited member of the Senate, I am prepared to return to the private sector.”</div> <div> But, he quickly added, “There is also an opportunity to serve in a new role.”</div> <div> As qualifications, he pointed to his record as a business attorney, a family attorney, a prosecutor, and as a legislator.</div> <div> As an elected official, Bishop said, “We've advocated for more efficient government, improved child protection with the first Child Protection Registry in the country, established ID theft as a felony crime, and I am ready to apply all this to the office of Attorney General.”</div> <div> <I><B>Bishop's Public Service</B></I></div> <div> Bishop, a lifelong Rochester resident, is in his final term representing Michigan's 12th Senate District (northern Oakland). Following the 2006 election, Bishop was nominated by his caucus, and chosen by his peers as Senate majority leader. As head of the Republican caucus, Bishop directs the agenda, and is spokesman for GOP legislative policies.</div> <div> Since his 1998 election to the House of Representatives, Bishop has been an advocate for smaller, more efficient government. He has consistently championed making government live within its means, whether through introducing legislation to create a part-time legislature, passing public employee healthcare reform, or advocating cuts to state elected official compensation.</div> <div> As an advocate of improved child protection in the digital age, Bishop sponsored legislation to create the Michigan Child Protection Registry (CPR), the first of its kind in the United States. The CPR is a secure database allowing parents and schools to register electronic contact points accessed by children, and prohibiting distributors of tobacco, alcohol, pornography and other adult materials from soliciting children.</div> <div> In 2003, Bishop, authored the Identity Theft Protection Act which established identity theft as a felony. Cognizant of the impact identity theft can have on an individual's life, his legislation also prohibits denying or reducing credit to victims of identity theft.</div> <div> As a long-serving member of the Legislature, Bishop has been served on a number of important committees in during his tenure in both the House and Senate. Most recently, he chaired the Banking & Financial Institutions Committee and was vice chair of the Judiciary Committee.</div> <div> In his role as Senate majority leader, Bishop chairs the Government Operations Committee, which is charged with recommending to the full Senate whether or not to accept the governor's appointments to agencies and commissions.</div> <div> Bishop is recipient of a host of honors, including Credit Union National Association legislator of the year; Small Business Association of Michigan legislator of the year; Dads & Moms of Michigan legislator of the year; Citizens for Traditional Values leadership award; Michigan Bankers Association economic impact award; Michigan Food & Beverage Association and Michigan Business & Professional Association distinguished service award; and in 2006 he was named one of the<I> Crain's</I> ”40 Under 40.“</div> <div> Looking ahead, Bishop remains steadfast in his commitment to making the state an even more attractive place for families to live and companies to invest. Among his priorities are consolidating and restricting state government to find savings, reducing taxes for families and business, and protecting our state's cherished natural resources.</div> <div> An attorney by trade, Bishop is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and received his law degree from Detroit College of Law in 1993. He also has a real estate broker's license and served as president of his own real estate firm.</div> <div> He rates his most important roles as that of husband to his wife, Cristina, and father to their three children, Benjamin, Gabriella and Nathan.</div> <div> The Eastside Republican Club Forum is normally held on the third Tuesday of the month from September through June.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#top_of_page" TITLE="Senator Bishop"><U>back to top</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>