What do voter-approved taxes tell us about strength of Tea Party?

On this week's Talking Michigan Politics podcast, Grand Rapids Press editors Jeff Cranson and Ed Golder discuss: 1. Taxes. Voters said yes across West Michigan, with wide margins in the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood. In Grand Rapids, a proposal to hike the income tax from 1.3 to 1.5 percent for residents was adopted narrowly. Our friend, Peter Bratt, crunched the numbers (PDF). The question that keeps coming up is whether this signals that the anti-tax Tea Party is not as influential as believed or whether the movement is focused on nameless, faceless bureaucrats in D.C. and Lansing and is not a factor in voters' decisions on local issues. 2. Governor's race Republican candidate Peter Hoekstra continues to lead in polls, but was it a good move to seek the endorsement of Rick Santorum, a former Penn. U.S. Senator? Santorum had other stops in Michigan, including an endorsement for 2nd Congressional candidate Jay Riemersma. The social and fiscal conservative was ousted in the 2006 Democratic landslide by the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent U.S. senator since 1980. And will Attorney General Mike Cox, another GOP gubernatorial candidate, participate in a debate in Grand Rapids May 24? And what comes of a decision not to demand disclosure for campaign ad spending from Secretary of State Terri Land, running mate of GOP candidate for governor Mike Bouchard? 3. Food for thought The Center for Michigan is taking on the big issues and their Citizens' Agenda and scorecard should provoke deep thought and discussion. Conversation starter: • Ernie Harwell, whose voice was what summer sounds like to generations of baseball fans from Michigan, died Tuesday at 92. He was goodness and light and humbly understood his unique fortune in life to have mastered a profession that allowed him to give a magical gift to people of all ages -- he let us feel like kids again. A Press editorial pays appropriate homage to the voice of the Detroit Tigers for more than 40 years. Jeff reads from a portion of his 1981 speech upon being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.