![[Photo of Kathy Hoekstra]](/media/images/people/Hoekstra-k.jpg)
Kathy Hoekstra was a communications specialist with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy from 2008 to 2011. She assisted in the Center's media outreach and did reporting for the Center's Michigan Transparency Project and for Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Prior to joining the Mackinac Center staff, Kathy spent nearly 15 years in broadcast journalism. She was an award-winning news anchor and reporter for radio stations in Port Huron and Saginaw and worked for more than a decade in local television news in the state. In addition to her reporting and anchoring duties, Kathy also produced and hosted a weekly public affairs program that involved in-depth coverage of local and statewide issues.
Kathy graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in both communications and English. She is also a graduate and Hall of Fame member of the Specs Howard School of Broadcasting, and she has done graduate work at Saginaw Valley State University.
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By Kathy Hoekstra
Rose Beats Tarkenton to the Post
NFL and NBA pros battle teaching cons. … more
Shedding Light on Michigan's Administrative State
Tracking interlocal agreements. … more
Time to Hang(ar) It Up
The Hangar42 film studio scandal in Grand Rapids continues to grow. If not for the questions initially raised by the Mackinac Center, this scheme could have very well cost Michigan taxpayers, and worse, done so without their knowledge. … more
Is Silence Golden?
Outgoing Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is wrapping up her eight years in office with a series of ‘final interviews’ with media outlets around the state. And in the waning days of her reign, the governor is finally talking about the forced unionization of Michigan Mackinac Center
GlobalWatt Sells Someone Else’s Solar Panels – on eBay
Just in time to brighten the holidays, GlobalWatt, a Saginaw-based solar panel manufacturer, is selling five solar panels on the popular auction website, eBay. But GlobalWatt did not make the panels. A company in India did. … more
Unity Studios: Whose Unhappy Ending?
It appears likely the starry-eyed promise of Hollywood has left the taxpayers of Allen Park with quite the handful of overpriced real estate. … more
Michigan Court of Appeals Judges – Not on the Same Page?
For more than a year, the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation (MCLF) has been battling the forced unionization of Michigan's home-based day care owners and providers in the state Court of Appeals. Four times, the appeals court rejected the Foundation's case with the legal equivalent of a wave of the hand. … more
'The Star-Spangled Banner': A Key to My Past
A direct descendant of Francis Scott Key on "The Star Spangled Banner." … more
Mandatory Fire Sprinklers – Reigniting or Fizzling Out?
What could have been a ‘burning’ issue for the incoming director of the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth (DELEG) may be all but washed out. That’s after a hearing Tuesday in Lansing before the director of Michigan’s Bureau of Construction Codes, Irvin J. Poke. He heard comments from about three dozen people, most of whom were opposed to making fire sprinkler installation mandatory for new home construction in Michigan. … more
Lawmakers Fail to Answer Questions About Film Subsidy Transparency
A rather blistering May 16 Livingston Daily editorial asked a few simple questions of three state lawmakers about the Michigan Film Incentive and how well it's working. Two of the legislators responded in a guest column Sunday, arguably dodging the real questions raised in the original editorial and putting up a weak defense of the two-year-old subsidy program. … more
More Information Trickles Out Regarding Hangar42
Grand Rapids Press reporter Chris Knape continues to dig into the questions raised by the Mackinac Center about a potential $10 million subsidy for a film studio infrastructure project called Hangar42. … more
New Facts Exposed in Hangar42 Investigation
In following up on questions raised by an ongoing Mackinac Center investigation, Grand Rapids Press reporter Chris Knape added two facts to the pattern of information so far known about the proposed Hangar42 film subsidy deal. … more
Cap-and-Trade: A Thorning Subject
Last week, Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced the American Power Act, (Full text, section-by-section summary) the latest version of federal cap-and-trade legislation. Watch this Mackinac Center video to hear what impact this legislation would have on Michigan's economy. … more
'No Comment' from Day Care Union Lawyer on E-Mails, Senate Hearing
On Monday, a Michigan Capitol Confidential story brought to light a series of e-mails between Nick Ciaramitaro, director of legislation and public policy for AFSCME Council 25, and representatives from the Michigan Department of Human Services and the Michigan Home-Based Child Care Council (MHBCCC). … more
Cherry Picking: More Day Care Union Connections?
Coincidence? Perhaps. But these ever-emerging connections deserve attention when representatives from the Michigan Home-Based Child Care Council, the DHS, the union and the administration remain tight-lipped about the origin and purpose of this entire operation. … more
Fourth Time's a Charm
Tuesday's committee hearing gave senators a chance to quiz the MHBCCC about its purpose, its creation through an interlocal agreement between the Department of Human Services and Mott Community College, and the big question: the council's relationship with the Child Care Providers-Together Michigan or CCPTM, the so-called "day care union."
The testimony disclosed at least one unexpected revelation. … more
The testimony disclosed at least one unexpected revelation. … more
Connecting the Day Care Union Dots
A revelation during a Michigan Senate committee hearing last week is drawing some new connections to the mechanism that enabled some 40,000 home-based day care owners to be categorized as public employees and unionized. There are indications that some of the so-called dots that need connecting may include the Granholm administration and Lt. Gov. John Cherry. … more
FOIA: One Word Makes a $7 Million Difference
As it turns out, one little word in Michigan's FOIA law is the difference between $0.00 and $6.8 million. … more
Stimulus Helps 4-Year-Old Buy New Home
Had Joe Biden's stimulus-boosting, damage-control visit to mid-Michigan this week been made open to the public rather than just a few hand-picked visitors, maybe someone could have asked him why a four-year-old "taxpayer" received a "first-time homebuyer" tax credit of $8,000. … more
Mapping Out an Underhanded Scheme
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation continues its quest for answers in the day care scheme being perpetrated by the Michigan Department of Human Services and a so-called home child care union by filing a motion with the Court of Appeals to reconsider its curt dismissal of Dec. 30, 2009.
It's worth noting that Michigan is not unique in having had day care providers unionized. In Michigan the dues are siphoned directly from subsidy payments.
We compiled a handy, interactive map which displays the states that currently have unionized home day care providers. Simply click on the icon for each state to open an information box about each state's home child care union set-up. … more
It's worth noting that Michigan is not unique in having had day care providers unionized. In Michigan the dues are siphoned directly from subsidy payments.
We compiled a handy, interactive map which displays the states that currently have unionized home day care providers. Simply click on the icon for each state to open an information box about each state's home child care union set-up. … more
Time to ZIP It?
In November, I wrote about the "Luckiest ZIP code in Michigan", which, according to the official Web site that tracks federal stimulus dollars, was a ZIP code in Lansing. Further review of all 674 ZIP codes on the Michigan list, cross-checked with United States Postal Service ZIP Code lookup finds $573,161 in federal stimulus money went to five ZIP codes in Michigan that do not exist. $1,254,110 went to ZIP codes in other states, including $1,143,025 that went to ZIP Code 55411 (Minneapolis, Minn.) and created zero jobs. … more
Film Subsidies — Smokin'!
Does Michigan's film subsidy program encourage children to smoke? Will Michigan's workplace smoking ban put an end to smoking in movies made here? After all, isn't a film set a "workplace?" … more
FOIA Fail
I have to hand it to the Michigan Department of State Police and its Freedom of Information Act division. Not only did they want nearly $7 million ($6,876,303.90, to be exact) to process my FOIA request, but they now seem to be dragging their feet in explaining how they arrived at what is recorded on Sunshine Review as the nation's highest FOIA fee. … more
The Michigan Climate Coincidence: Channeling Goldfinger
Michigan is not officially part of the two-week United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which the New York Post says aims to "save the Earth from certain doom." While the Great Lakes state will miss out on hobnobbing with notable personalities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Daryl Hannah, Helena Christensen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Prince Charles, Michigan seems poised to do its part by legislatively chipping away at 54 policy recommendations to "reduce greenhouse gases" as spelled out by the Michigan Climate Action Council in the 125-page Michigan Climate Action Plan and its 471-page appendix.
As I read these recommendations and the proposed environment-related legislation, I'm reminded of a quote from the character Auric Goldfinger in Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger:" "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action." … more
As I read these recommendations and the proposed environment-related legislation, I'm reminded of a quote from the character Auric Goldfinger in Ian Fleming's "Goldfinger:" "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action." … more
Stimulating! Ten New Congressional Districts in Michigan!
My colleagues at Watchdog.org and its state-level affiliates were the first in the nation to break the story that the $787 billion federal stimulus package "has doubled the size of the House of Representatives, according to Recovery.gov, which says that funds were distributed to 440 congressional districts that do not exist." … more
What Price Information? Try $7 million
$6,876,303.90, to be exact. That's what the Michigan Department of State Police is charging for more than two million pages of documentation I requested via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding the state's handling of federal homeland security grant money from 2002 to present. This is definitely a record for Mackinac Center FOIA requests. In fact, this may be a record for any FOIA request. … more
“Dis-Unity” Studios?
A news report from Detroit TV station WDIV seems to indicate that a $146 million film production studio has instead become a boondoggle for the city of Allen Park. … more
Shanghai Surprise: The Unionization of Home Day Care Providers
Michelle Malkin said it best when she said, "The Culture of Corruption has never hit so close to home." The prominent author, blogger and commentator was referring in a recent blog post to a shady scheme to shanghai Michigan's home day care providers into a newly-formed, dues-paying labor union. Last month, the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation exposed this scheme in its first lawsuit, Loar v. DHS. … more
Summer of Discontent: Stimulus Money Leads to Payday Mayhem
Hundreds and maybe even thousands of young people in Detroit apparently had to stand in lines and in the rain for up to four hours to receive paychecks for their summer jobs. Others did not know where to find their checks. Still others didn't get their paychecks at all. And on several occasions, police were called in for crowd control. The payday mayhem is just one of the many findings of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). … more
Moviemakers Risk Biting the Hand That Feeds Them
While some in the Michigan Film Office, film industry and state government are quick to boast about the ever-increasing number of movie productions that have come to Michigan as a result of film tax subsidies, there have been some unforeseen and hard-learned lessons for some Michigan businesses, schools and organizations. … more
Michael Moore’s Union Dilemma
ABC News is reporting today that a couple of labor unions are a little miffed that Michael Moore used non-union labor during work on his newest release, "Capitalism: A Love Story", which opens in theaters nationwide tomorrow. … more
Michael Moore and the Michigan Film Incentive: Is There a Happy Ending?
It’s apparently not a love story between filmmaker Michael Moore and Michigan’s generous refundable tax subsidy for the movie industry. In his quote about the program in a Sept. 29, 2009, blog post on the Michigan Messenger Web site, Moore is clearly not even enamored with it: “If it’s not good for Michigan,” he said, “Michigan shouldn’t do it.” … more
Are We Being Too Tough on Hollywood?
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has been critical of the Michigan Film Incentive since its inception in 2008. At first, the criticisms were focused on the pure principle of the thing: state government has no business trying to pick corporate winners from losers in the marketplace. This time, the perceived “winner” would be moviemakers who could get cash refunds of up to 42 percent of money spent in Michigan. This also became the most generous film incentive in the country. … more
