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Snyder aide denied use of executive privilege, judge laughs at use of Nixon precedent, Schauer calls for release of NERD donors

By on June 12, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, GOPocrisy, Mark Schauer, Rick Snyder

Wow, they are getting seriously desperate

As I have written about before, Governor Rick Snyder has a pal of his working in the office next to his. Rich Baird is not paid by the taxpayers of Michigan. He’s paid out of Governor Snyder’s New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify Fund (NERD). This slush fund is financed by undisclosed corporate donors, likely the DeVos family and other wealthy corporatists.

Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette is overseeing a lawsuit filed by Robert Davis accusing the governor of violations of the Open Meetings Act during the hiring of Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr.…


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Gov. Snyder: A one-man financial review team for Detroit, hired Emergency Manager before emergency was declared

By on June 5, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Rick Snyder

Financial Review Team??? We don’t need no stinkin’ financial review team

The Detroit Free Press has obtained copies of the emails between Governor Snyder’s staff and Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr that prove that he was basically offered the position before the financial emergency had even been declared in Detroit. Under Emergency Financial Manager law that was in effect at the time, Public Act 72, a state review team had to make the determination that Detroit was actually in a financial emergency before an Emergency Financial Manager was hired. This detail … sorry – LAW – did not appear to get in the way of Governor Snyder making the assessment himself and hiring Orr before the process had been completed.

All the gory (and illegal) details await you after the jump.


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Hamtramck gets an Emergency Manager, Mackinac Center thinks Detroit’s Emergency Manager is doing just fine

By on June 4, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Managers

Another one bites the dust

Yesterday, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a financial emergency in Hamtramck, Michigan. As I’ve written about before, this will be Round Two for the culturally-diverse city. They had an Emergency Financial Manager, Lou Schimmel, back in 2000 when John Engler was governor.

Hamtramck (spelled correctly, pronounced “Ham-TRAM-ick”), is rare in that the city actually asked the state to initiate the financial review process that would lead to an EM. It’s a small city with just over 22,000 residents yet it has an over $3 million budget deficit.

At least one Hamtramck city council member has blamed union for at least part of Hamtramck’s problem, what I wrote back in April is still true:

These are not problems caused by unionized workers.…

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UPDATED: More outrageous deception & secrecy in the Snyder administration featuring: Gov. Rick Snyder!

By on May 31, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Managers, Rick Snyder

You don’t know what you don’t know. That’s the problem.

NOTE: This post has an important update that I urge you to read (after the jump.)

It’s no secret that much of what happens in the Snyder administration regarding Emergency Managers and school funding/operations is secret. WDIV’s Kevin Dietz is reporting on more evidence that has been uncovered and this one is a real doozy. Based on emails procured through a lawsuit filed by Detroit activist Robert Davis, Dietz reports that the governor and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing were discussing who Detroit’s Emergency Manager would be long before any of it was public. They arranged for an office staffer to serve as a go-between in their correspondence, passing messages back and forth through a private email account so that the emails wouldn’t reside on state government servers.

Details with video after the jump.


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Now that rich people are feeling the pinch, Republicans rush to rescue the DIA from Emergency Management

By on May 31, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Michigan Republicans

We didn’t know you cared…

Yesterday, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville announced he would introduce legislation that would save the Detroit Institute of Arts art collection from being sold off to help solve Detroit’s budget crisis. While it’s a welcomed move, it would be nice if similar moves would be taken to protect poor folks, union families and retirees in cities with Emergency Managers.

Details and analysis await you after the jump.


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Michigan’s Emergency Manager law faces legal challenge from Flint & Pontiac retirees for favoring banks over people

By on May 31, 2013 in Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Flint, Pontiac, Rick Snyder

This isn’t going away, governor

Retired government employees from both Flint and Pontiac have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Detroit to have Public Act 436 and its predecessor Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager laws — declared illegal under the Bankruptcy Clause and Contracts Clause of the US Constitution, as well as Chapter 9 of Title 11 of the United States Code. The complaint (pdf) rests largely on the argument that these laws favored one set of creditors over others. Namely, they claim retirees and unions have seen their contracts negatively impacted while businesses and banks have gotten away without taking a hit.

Details are after the jump.


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Rick Snyder, king of the fake concession, is at it again with the Detroit Institute of Arts art collection

By on May 30, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Managers, Rick Snyder

Here it comes again

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is the king of the “fake concession” where he proposes (or actually makes) massive cuts of one kind or another and then later dials it back just a bit and takes credit for making a concession. I’ve written about it HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE in the past.

He’s about to do the same thing with the art collection held in trust by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Click through for more.


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Selling off of Detroit Institute of Art’s priceless collection “on the table” to address Detroit’s crushing debt

By on May 24, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Managers

If everything good about Detroit is destroyed, is it still Detroit?

This past Wednesday, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr was in Chicago talking to a group of philanthropists, some of whom are likely holding some of Detroit’s debt, and he told them, “We can’t liquidate or sell off Detroit like many of us do when we go into our representations…This isn’t a traditional reorganization for a profit-making enterprise, this is the saving of a great American city.”

This comment is in stark contrast to the news that came out yesterday that Orr has asked for an appraisal of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ priceless collection of art.

Click through for more.


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Apparently you can’t cut your way to prosperity after all. Flint Emergency Manager wants a tax increase.

By on May 20, 2013 in Emergency Managers, Flint, Taxes

Uh, someone didn’t get the memo that the answer to everything is to cut corporate taxes

Flint Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz is leading a push to increase city income taxes by 0.5% for residents and 0.25% for non-residents. That’s a 50% increase. Why? Turns out Flint is out of money and needs revenue. It’s almost as if Flint’s problems weren’t caused by waste, fraud, and mismanagement after all.

More after the jump.


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Kevyn Orr gets down to business in Detroit

By on May 14, 2013 in Detroit, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers

Detroit Rock Bottom

Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog

Yesterday, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr gave a frank State of the City report that showed that the city is “clearly insolvent”. Not a big surprise to anyone except a handful of folks who seem to think it’s all a big mistake and the city is just fine financially. For as much as I despise the concept of an unelected Emergency Manager taking over the running of a city, I do believe that Detroit will never move forward if those in charge aren’t living in the real world where even profit sharing they’ve been denied by the state isn’t enough to patch the holes in their budget.…


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