You’ve got to hand it to Rick Snyder. He’s not content to just short-circuit democracy with an Emergency Manager law that gives unaccountable, appointed local government and school district managers big salaries, brand new SUVs and virtually unlimited power to break contracts, saddle taxpayers with debt and privatize parks, water systems and other public services. …
For a guy who brags about being a founding member of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress, it was fascinating to see Pete Hoekstra thumping his chest over adding $2.3 million to the federal debt. But there he is, in an MLive video from February Progress Michigan unearthed. In the video, Hoekstra is caught preening…
Pete Hoekstra, who supported giving billions in bailouts to Wall Street, not only went to work for the law firm that defended convicted felon Bernie Madoff but yesterday announced his campaign to defeat U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow from the firm’s law offices. The press is calling this bad “optics” on the part of Hoekstra, but…
This blog post was written by Jessica Kelton of Lansing and is published with her permission. Controversy has enthralled Julea Ward, an expelled former graduate student at Eastern Michigan University. Ms. Ward was studying counseling at EMU, whereupon being assigned to counsel a gay student on his romantic relationship she refused, citing religious beliefs and…
Will Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette do the right thing and call for an independent investigation of possible illegal mortgage foreclosure operations by a Republican campaign contributor? Linda Orlans and her daughter reportedly gave $7,200 to Johnson’s 2010 campaign for Secretary of State and the Troy-based Orlans and Associates is…
If Michigan voters had an opportunity for a do-over of last November’s election for Governor, Rick Snyder would likely be One Gone Nerd. We can’t redo November, 2010, of course, but lots of good folks are gunning for what would seem like the next best thing—recalling Snyder. To those good citizens I say: think again. …
Ambassador Bridge billionaire mogul Matty Maroun’s mouthpiece, crazyman consultant Dick Morris, was bounced as a Republican keynote speaker, allegedly at the behest of Governor Rick Snyder. Now Morris, a Fox News bloviator, has found a new speaking life as the Michigan Tea Party’s keynoter at a June 9 fundraiser in Milford where Morris will share…
This post written by Clean Water Action’s Fran Brennan (Cross-posted at Michigan Liberal) “I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore. . . . I hear it in the deep heart’s core.”–William Butler Yeats For many of us who have grown up and live in Michigan, Memorial Day weekend kicks off the eagerly…
Citizens groups today filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for ignoring state regulations when it approved an air pollution permit for a coal plant in Holland. “The State of Michigan should not be in the business of bending the rules and that’s what this lawsuit is about,” said Jan O’Connell of…
Looking for a Emergency Manager destination to find out if your community is in danger? Click here. In Benton Harbor, one of Michigan’s first new local emergency managers under Public Act 4 described himself as an “angel of common sense” just days after he suspended democracy there by ordering the City Council to quit doing…