Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

Jill Stein is coming to the Mitten. Come and experience Green Power - meet and hear Jill. Meet the other Michigan Green Party candidates from around the state. Admission is FREE - click here: To Reserve Your Spot.

If you have talked to me or read my campaign literature, you have probably heard me reference the opening words of the Michigan Constitution:  "All political power is inherent in the people . Government is instituted for their equal benefit , security, and protection." Article 1, Section 1 emphasis added. I am not a lawyer, but I do not believe one needs a law degree to realize the intention of our Constitution here. The power lies in the hands of the people of Michigan. This means ALL people of Michigan, not certain people - not ultra rich people, everybody.  Furthermore, the equal benefit, security, and protection portion does not require an advanced degree to comprehend. We are all supposed to benefit in an equal manner.  There are 32,090 households in the 86th District. My job as a Representative is to see that these promises of the Constitution are applied to all of those households in an equal manner. Right now that is impossible because of the ma...

The Pink Arrow Project was the brain child of Noel Dean, the football coach at Lowell High School. It began nine years ago and has helped many people in the Lowell community battle cancer (including me!). Compassion is the driving force behind Pink Arrow. Elect Cliff and send some Pink Arrow Thinking to Lansing.

 Above you will see my kick drum - below you will see my friend Fran Shor.  I am drumming up support for Fran. (hyuck hyuck hyuck) I spent the day with Fran at the State Convention in East Lansing. He wants to be on the Wayne State University Board of Governors - take a look at his CV below, he is qualified for sure. He taught there for 40 years. Anyway - all of us in Michigan get to vote for this position, so no matter what District you are in, please give Fran your vote in November. He has been a Green since the inception of the party. Hey has an official Facebook Page for his campaign. You can get there by clicking the link below. Stop by, hit the "like" button and let Fran know you will be voting for him. Fran Shor Facebook Page Link Here is some information about me:

Our legislators pay themselves 43% more than  the median annual salary in Michigan. They voted themselves a huge pay increase at a time when Michigan had the 2nd worse economy of all the 50 States. Even after reducing it 10% after the housing crash, the $71,685 salary is still 43% more than the median salary of $49,384. Put me in office and the first bill I will propose will tie legislator pay to the median pay.

A 3 minute look at my Green Party Candidacy for the 86th District Michigan House of Representatives.

From the outset, I determined NOT to make a bunch of promises I cannot keep.  Well here are three campaign promises I will keep. 1. I will put the best interests of the tax payers of Michigan as a whole, and the 86th District in particular, ahead of my own interests and ahead of the interests of large corporations and companies. 2. I will STRONGLY support the existing effort by State Senator Rick Jones (R-24th District) to shut down Pipeline #5. The 63 year old pipeline that runs almost a million gallons of crude oil an hour underneath the Straits of Mackinac. Owned and operated by Enbridge Oil. If that legislation has died away, then I will introduce a new bill with the same goal in mind: Turn off the pipes NOW and then come up with a solution. 3. Introduce a bill that will tie the paychecks of all 110 State Representatives to the median (average) pay in Michigan. The pay checks of our 110 State Representatives are 43% more than the average wage of the people they ...

Someone once said, "Timing is everything." I have had several instances lately of wonderful timing. The morning after the Michigan primary election, the realization hit me that no matter which of the 5 Republicans won, my real opponent in this election is a family that lives in the 86th District and has spent more money influencing elections and policies than any other family in Michigan. Ever since Dick DeVos lost his bid for governor in 2006, he and his wife Betsy have basically opened the flood gates on their fortune to buy the Michigan Legislature. I will not bore you with a laundry list of the hundreds of thousands of influence dollars they have spent. Go ahead and look up "DeVos political contributions" or something and you will get an eyeful. I will just give you one example below. Anyway, I quickly did a Press Release about realizing my true opponent and posted it on my Facebook page. I cited what I thought were some big dollar figures.  T...