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Washington, D.C. lawyer Kevyn Orr named to be Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit, Michigan

By on March 14, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Rick Snyder

And so it is done


[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog, not for reuse.]

This afternoon, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed Washington, D.C. lawyer Kevyn Orr to be the Emergency Financial Manager of Detroit.

The Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board has to make the formal appointment of an emergency financial manager and they meet later today.

With that, nearly half of all Michigan African Americans will live without local democratically-elected representation.

Lucky for him he’s a lawyer. I suspect that’s going to come in very handy in the coming months.


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Gov Snyder gives up on a crisis decades in the making after only 10 months, will announce Detroit Emergency Manager tomorrow

By on March 13, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Rick Snyder

Impatience is not a virtue

Anyone paying attention to Detroit’s plight knows that their current financial crisis goes back for decades. Housing policies that favored white flight to the suburbs, the decline of the oh-so-important-to-Detroit auto manufacturing industry and the Great Recession have all taken their toll on this aging manufacturing city. Years of neglect and a blind eye toward investment in our state’s largest city have created a perfect storm that has resulted in it a huge chunk of its population. Many of those that remain do so only because they are too desperately poor to escape.

Despite this, Governor Rick Snyder and his administration are giving up on a consent agreement signed with the city last year after only 10 months. The agreement, signed in April of 2012, simply didn’t solve problems that have been in the making since the middle of the last century quickly enough for these Republicans so tomorrow Governor Snyder is expected to appoint Washington, D.C. lawyer Kevyn Orr to be the new overseer of the city.

Click through for more.


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VIDEO: My appearance on Aljazeera English TV with Darrell Dawsey of Deadline Detroit

By on March 13, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers

The world is watching

Here is the video from my appearance yesterday on the Inside Story Americas discussion program on Aljazeera English TV. I must say I was VERY impressed with the quality of the show. The production values and the staff, including the most-excellent host and moderator Shihab Rattansi, were all top-notch and give other cable news shows a run for their money.

The other two guests were Darrell Dawsey of Deadline Detroit and Bettie Buss of the Michigan Citizens Research Council. Dawsey provided some really great commentary, particularly with regard to the history of Detroit and the events & circumstances that have lead to today’s crisis.…


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Programming note: Eclectablog on Aljazeera English TV tonight 8:30p ET on Detroit’s financial emergency

By on March 12, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers

The world IS watching

Tonight I will appear with two other guests on Aljazeera English TV‘s flagship discussion program Inside Story Americas. I and two other guests will be discussing Detroit’s financial emergency and the possible imposition of an Emergency Financial Manager to run the city.

It appears that the decision to overrule local democracy by the state government in our state has attracted attention not just nationally but internationally as well.

You can watch it live at 8:30 p.m. Eastern this evening if you get Aljazeera English TV on your cable network. Alternatively, you can stream it live from their website.…


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Michigan can’t seem to shake the Romneys. Romney for Senate? Romney for Emergency Manager?

By on March 11, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Mitt Romney

The Curse of the Living Romneys

Michigan, a state which had a Romney for governor and then endured over a year’s worth of a man who hasn’t lived here in sixty years telling us he is a Michigander, doesn’t seem to be able wash the Romney kids out of its hair.

First, Slate’s Davie Weigel suggested Mitt Romney as a the perfect candidate to be Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager. And now Mitt’s older brother Scott Romney is considering a run for Carl Levin’s Senate seat.

Why won’t they leave us alone?

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Republicans dangle money in front of Detroit to encourage acceptance of an Emergency Financial Manager

By on March 8, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers

If it walks like a bribe and quacks like a bribe

Michigan Republicans are hoping that the lure of state cash will entice Detroit city officials into accepting an Emergency Financial Manager without a fuss. After stripping $152.2 million in annual revenue sharing from the city, Republicans are pushing a familiar theme: take away funding or increase taxes then give a bit back to make themselves look benevolent.

Details after the jump.


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Detroit City Council votes to fight imposition of Emergency Financial Manager, Mayor Bing won’t join them

By on March 7, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law

The dysfunction continues…

In a series of events that only serves to highlight the dysfunctional relationship between Detroit’s elected officials, the Detroit City Council voted Wednesday to fight the imposition of an Emergency Financial Manager and, a short time later, Mayor Dave Bing went before the media to say it was a stupid idea that he would not be supporting.

All the gory details after the jump.


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Townhall in Detroit to protest the imposition of an Emergency Manager TODAY + prayer vigil THURSDAY

By on March 6, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Events

Democracy is not disposable

Today at 4 p.m., there will be a townhall meeting in Detroit, Michigan to protest the imposition of an anti-democratic Emergency Financial Manager on Michigan’s largest city. Details are below. You can RSVP and get more information at their Facebook event page HERE.

Click through for details on this event and a prayer vigil to be held this Thursday.


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UPDATED: Rachel Maddow shows how Emergency Managers in Michigan don’t exactly have the best track record

By on March 2, 2013 in Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers

“Alright, let’s cue the Michigan tape…”

The Rachel Maddow Show takes on Michigan’s Emergency Financial Manager situation again: “THE most radical Republican experiment in the 21st Century. Why this is not a bigger national story still blows my mind.”

Video after the jump.


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It’s official: half of Michigan African Americans will go without democratically-elected local government

By on March 1, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Rick Snyder

How do you build a city up armed only with implements of destruction?

This afternoon, Governor Rick Snyder announced that he will appoint an Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit calling it a “sad day” that he wished “had never happened in the history of Detroit”. As I have already detailed in a post that has been cited by MSNBC and Huffington Post among others, this will result in 49% of the African Americans in Michigan being without a democratically-elected government.

Click through for more.


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