
General Updates |
Comms Lindsay will be out most of this week for various meetings.Jarrett will be in California Monday through Wednesday. Graphics is working on a video for the Overton Window. Events Lunch Bunch on December 2 will be gourmet salads catered by Northwood. -Southwest Chicken Salad w / Cilantro Lime Dressing -Chicken Caesar -Smoked Turkey, Havarti and Bacon Salad -MI Salad with Grilled Chicken and Apple Cider Vinaigrette -Brownies Staff Holiday party will be on December 2 at 5:30 pm, The H Hotel in Midland. Don’t forget to remind your guest of the date.I & I with Grover Norquist on December 10at the Radisson in Lansing. Advancement Caleb has secured the Mackinac Center’s first charitable gift annuity, after months of careful stewardship with a married couple who are long-time donors. In this case, the donors will set up a $50,000 account with our partners, the Dechomai Foundation, and will receive a monthly income stream during their lifetimes. After their deaths, any money remaining in the account will come to the Mackinac Center. CGAs are a very popular giving vehicle but also come with complex documentation, and Caleb did a masterful job of being a liaison with our donors and with Dechomai. Executive There will be an off-site Executive Team Meeting on Friday afternoon, November 22nd.Joe has various travel for events and advancement visits this week. He is on vacation the week of Thanksgiving.Mike will travel to Lansing on Tuesday and to Detroit of Wednesday for a donor related event with Joe Milligan. Strategic Planning information went out to team leads this week – get your planning meeting on the calendar as soon as possible. Operations Ops team vacation days for week of November 18:Pat: 11/18 – 11/20 Staff potluck on Friday, 11/22/19 – email your dish choice to Christine.Lori Schumann’s last day is November 29. Wish Lori well as she returns closer to home as a branch manager at the local credit union. She’ll be sorely missed by the Ops team! |
Policy Updates |
Education Most of this week (Nov. 18-22) I will be in San Diego for the Excel in Ed Summit. We have a record number of Michigan legislators and legislative policy staffers coming to hear from and circulate among the best ideas for education reform. This should provide some great opportunities to share with them our education policy goals and vision in a little more depth. Oral arguments for the Espinoza case before SCOTUS have been set for January 22, mere days before National School Choice Week begins. We are planning to be on site and coordinate with partner groups, all with an eye on maximizing the impact from this case for Michigan families who need more education options.As she continues reaching out to school leaders and others, our new PACE director had her first official meeting with a Flint parent – from little connections great movements grow! Environment Jason is at an energy summit Monday – Wednesday this week. Fiscal LaFaive leaves for Tarapoto, Peru this Friday, November 22 and returns December 6. He will try to stay in contact but access to internet may be intermittent.Working on a smuggling op-ed and last minute corporate welfare-related work. Labor We have several more states interested in partnering on Janus. Americans for Prosperity/State Together are hosting a call for us to present on this week. Lindsay and Jarrett will be traveling to meet with our partner groups in November and December. Criminal Justice While in New Orleans, I had a chat with Jenna Moll from the Justice Action Network. She is on the review committee for the $100,000 CPS grant and I left the conversation very encouraged about our chances.The Senate passed to third reading SB 341 by Sen. Peter Lucido, which would prohibit warrantless searches of electronic data. We submitted a letter of support in committee and sent a bill alert before the second-reading floor vote.The task force on jails and pre-trial incarceration meets in Lansing tomorrow. I am meeting with Shelli Weisberg from ACLU afterwards. Research Only thing I’ve been working on is finishing the Admin-Overcrim study. It’s being reviewed, fact-checked and edited, and I expect to release it Nov 26. Gov. Affairs Last Monday and Tuesday, I hosted Emily Wismer from SPN for a site visit. She was very impressed with our government affairs program and it informed a lot of her thinking about how to mentor newer think tanks and government affairs staff. While she was here, we met with Sens. Jim Runestad and Stephanie Chang, Rep. Graham Filler, Craig Ryan, and Chris Fisher.I spent the rest of the week at the Americans for Tax Reform Coalition Leaders Summit in New Orleans. The sessions provided a couple of good ideas for our strategic planning process. Grover Norquist and I also discussed priorities for his trip to Lansing next month.We are postponing the introduction of the corporate welfare bill package until January to focus our year-end energy on allowing GJFM to expire, and to allow our coalition more time to come together. On the latter point, I am meeting tomorrow with the For Our Future people, and on Wednesday with Andy Leavitt from Khoury Johnson Leavitt and Gilda Jacobs of the Michigan League for Public Policy. I’m also meeting Thursday with Josiah Kissling in the Speaker’s office.I am working to schedule a year-end lunch with senior staff for legislative leadership to thank them for their work with us this year and to discuss 2020 policy possibilities.The Legislature has a tentative session day set for Wednesday in the unlikely event that an agreement is reached on the Governor’s Admin Board actions. Otherwise, they will only be in session the first two weeks of December. |