Politician $kip Maccarone: Phony As A Three Dollar Bill!

Governing a large township like Shelby, with over 70,000 residents, is serious business. To do it effectively requires a commitment to living up to your word and working for the people. It also boils down to PRIORITIES.

(1) Does a politician put the people's interests first, or his own?
(2) Does a politician understand the responsibilities of political leadership, or is he so blinded by political ambition that he can't see what is going on around him in the lives of ordinary people?
(3) Does a politician work with other duly-elected officials, or is he a lone crusader fulfilling his own agenda?
(4) Does a politician listen to people's opinions and consider alternative viewpoints, or does he tell people what their opinion and viewpoint should be?

A few weeks ago, the “Truth Guys", as one e-mailer called us, were shocked to hear $kip complain about his salary. He was quoted in the July 29, 2007 Source newspaper, our township's local newspaper, "Frankly, when you talk about the three elected officials in the township, we are paid well below what other municipalities make." Strange, we haven't heard the Clerk and Treasurer complaining?!?!

$kip went on to explain how he is just looking out for us poor souls who pay taxes, because without higher salaries we just won't get good people to serve in public office. "My opinion is that it discourages qualified, effective candidates from running if they feel they will not be fairly compensated."

That's $kip's opinion...but what is the truth! If you go back and look at past elections, for Shelby Township and everywhere else, you will see many candidates running for all offices - in both political parties. Frankly, we don't remember any, including $kip himself, who complained as candidates about the salary of their positions...until now.

Okay, so $kip's complaint about compensation was a just a one-time thing, right? Wrong! In fact, this topic came up before the last election and, once again, $kip showed his desire for higher pay. "Essentially, we're grossly under-compensated when compared with (the other) communities," Maccarone said to the Macomb Daily on November 23, 2003.

GROSSLY UNDER-COMPENSATED!!!!!! Excuse us...but that phrase is GROSSLY ARROGANT.

Nobody told $kip that as Supervisor he would rake in the cash. Fair compensation is one thing, and we all agree with that. Everyone who works hard (both in government jobs and, more importantly, in the real world) deserves fair pay. But to complain to taxpayers about being grossly-undercompensated is OUTRAGEOUS.

Then, after lodging his salary complaint, $kip talks about RAISING his pay. Our ears hurt after hearing such garbage!

As you will see below, considering what $kip gets from Shelby taxpayers, he is far from undercompensated.

Did you know:
... $kip gets a taxpayer-funded salary of around $85,000/year. Multiply that by eight years, and by the end of this term $kip will have been paid more than $600,000.
... $kip gets approximately $10,000 of taxpayer money (give or take) put directly into his retirement account every year. That means by the end of this term, $kip will have soaked up another $80,000; and
... $kip gets free health care coverage and life insurance, paid for by taxpayers. We wonder what the value of those benefits are in the real world? Whatever that figure is, add it to Skip's total compensation; and
... Under township rules, if $kip has the right combination of years of service + his age he gets to keep his taxpayer-funded benefits for LIFE. In other words, we will all be paying to take care of $kip long after he leaves office. The value of these benefits is UNLIMITED!

Taken as a whole, the money and benefits that $kip receives as Township Supervisor are VERY FAIR ... far from his "grossly undercompensated" complaint.

At the Tuesday, October 2nd Board of Trustees meeting, the issue of political compensation came up once again. Treasurer Paul Viar brought a motion to rescind the previous motion to raise the salary of the next Board. In other words, the salary of the elected officials on the next Township Board (without $kip in the center chair) will be the same pay as the current Board. What's wrong with that? Look around at the real world (the world outside government) and you will see that this is happening everywhere. In fact, a pay freeze is still better than a pay cut!

$kip tried his best to defend the constant increases he has received. He claimed he was standing up for maintaining the "status quo." In other words, since the compensation of township politicians was raised before, the Board should just keep doing it over and over and over. He tried to distract from the motion with a ridiculous rant about changing the formula for health care benefits. Much to his credit, Trustee Jim Carabelli intervened to stop $kip's bickering distraction. Carabelli then successfully refocused the Board on the real issue at hand -- elected official compensation -- and asked for a roll-call vote on the Treasurer's motion to rescind the pay raises. Good job Trustee Carabelli.

As a result of this motion, $kip was backed into a political corner. He had little choice but to vote to support Treasurer Viar's motion to freeze the pay of the next Board at the current level, after spending several minutes trying to discredit the motion. His face was as red as a beet, but $kip had no choice. The final vote was unanimous to freeze the pay of the next Board.

So while $kip Maccarone spends him time whining about his compensation, and why he should be paid more, our township faces serious challenges. Challenges which require common-sense leadership. Challenges which require a true commitment to the people. Challenges which require creative thinking. Challenges which mandate that the supervisor work with the other elected Trustees. Challenges which $kip Maccarone seems ill-prepared to take seriously.

Shelby Township is a terrific community! Residents want, and deserve, a strong township. We want fully-trained and fully-equipped police and fire departments to protect us. We want good roads. We want a modern township library - be it new construction or a renovated building. We want quality development which maintains our property values. We want to protect the beauty of our trees and parks. We want, and deserve, the best.

$kip Maccarone wants us to think he is the only one who can give us what we need. $kip wants us to think that without him at the helm, our township would hit an iceberg and sink. Sorry, but the only thing titanic around here is $kip's ego! When you compare his words with his actions — politician $kip Maccarone is as phony as a $3 bill.

Okay, so $kip thinks he is "grossly undercompensated." Given that, maybe its time for $kip to go back to practicing law. We understand that most attorneys these days earn a pretty decent living.

Join us in our campaign to Stop $kip Maccarone! Use your power of free speech. You can contact us at stopskip08@aol.com.