We regret the error

[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]

While the State of Michigan has stepped in to save the failing Pontiac schools from closing its doors due to lack of funding, they have NOT done this for Buena Vista schools. Rather, the federal government has, albeit in an absurdly lame fashion. The school is closed for the remainder of the school year but the feds are providing money for a voluntary “enhanced skills camp”.

Congressman Dan Kildee has been outspoken on this and released the following statement:

The students of Buena Vista have a constitutional right to an education and deserve the same educational opportunities as other Michigan children, and that means being in a classroom full-time to complete their school year. I do not believe that a voluntary camp amounts to a proper education for the children of Buena Vista.

It is dangerous precedent to allow school districts to close six weeks early as a cost-saving measure, only to replace a child’s education with a voluntary camp. Such a patchwork fix fails to live up to a commitment to provide a quality education for students. Children deserve better. Simply shutting down the schools early hurts the students of Buena Vista and ultimately punishes the children for a problem they didn’t create.

Congressman Kildee appeared on All In With Chris Hayes on this issue last night and spoke also about the number of kids in this impoverished area who receive meals at school but who will no longer do so for the remainder of this school year:

The Detroit Free Press is excoriating the Snyder administration for their lack of action:

The big difference [between Pontiac schools and Buena Vista schools] seems to be that Pontiac schools developed an acceptable deficit elimination plan; Buena Vista hasn’t.

But that shouldn’t matter. The state — not local school districts — carries the ultimate responsibility to provide a free and adequate public education for Michigan children. When local officials fail, the state should step in.

At least that’s what Gov. Rick Snyder’s team has said in the past. When they crafted Michigan’s tough new emergency manager law, the rationale was simple: the state must provide for the health and well-being of its residents, even if it means displacing elected officials, breaking union contracts, or rewriting a law rejected by Michigan voters. {…}

The same principle should apply when school districts can’t make payroll. Students have a constitutional right to be educated, and that shouldn’t be abrogated by local malfeasance or incompetence.

Fiscal responsibility and good management at the local level are important, but in an emergency situation, the priority should be assuring that children’s education can continue. {…}

[I]n the short-term, Snyder needs to just be sure that the state meets its constitutional obligation to provide public schooling for the kids who don’t have it.

Snyder’s belief in his constitutional responsibility to care for all Michigan residents is correct. When local governments are unable to provide the services constituents fund, the state must step in. Public education is not expendable.

This is an abject failure of the Snyder administration. It is a stain on their time in office and it’s scandalous that they are sitting on over a half billion dollars in the Rainy Day Fund (as well as discovering they have taken in more than a half billion dollars they weren’t planning on in addition to that) and refuse to act.

For shame, Governor Snyder. For shame.

MSNBC journalist Ned Resnikoff has more on this HERE. I spoke with him yesterday to help sort out some of the vagaries of Michigan politics and how our school districts are organized.

Progress Michigan staff are our state’s leading progressive warriors against Republican overreach

I haven’t written about Michigan Republican National Committee Chair Dave Agema’s offensive, lie-filled Facebook post a few weeks ago primarily because (a) I didn’t want to give him any more attention than he already has gotten and (b) others have done it well already. You’re probably aware of Agema’s latest foray into the land of anti-LGBT bigotry but, if not, he put up a post that he claims is by a “doctor” who says that, among other odious things, gays are for half the murders in large cities, 39-59% of homosexuals are infected with intestinal parasites like worms, flukes and amoebae and that part of the homosexual agenda is to turn people from Christianity. It was truly hideous. Agema has since doubled and tripled down on his outrageous post.

Remarkably, the Republican leadership has refused to condemn and repudiate Agema’s outrageous behavior. That’s where Progress Michigan comes in. Progress Michigan has been on the forefront of this issue posting audio of Agema’s continuing hate speech (“Dave Agema, Unscripted”), showing how Michigan Republican leadership is implicitly supporting Agema (“Michigan’s House Republicans Stand with Dave Agema”), and demonstrating how Agema actually DOES Represent the Republican Party in Michigan (“Dave Agema does represent the Republican party”).

You can help Progress Michigan two ways. First, SIGN THEIR PETITION demanding that Michigan Republican leaders denounce Dave Agema for the offensive bigot that he is and demand his resignation as the chair of the RNC in Michigan.

While the continuing controversy over Dave Agema’s hateful Facebook repost could have been an opportunity for the GOP to make their tent a little bit bigger, they haven’t seized it.

In fact, this weekend the Republican National Committee the organization Dave Agema was elected to represent Michigan in unanimously voted for a resolution sponsored by Agema that doubles down on opposing marriage equality, saying without a shred of evidence that:

“… support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and as the optimum environment in which to raise healthy children for the future of America… The Republican National Committee implores the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the sanctity of marriage in its rulings on California’s Proposition 8 and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

This is unacceptable. Sign our petition demanding that Michigan’s Republican leaders do what they fear most: lead by example and call on Dave Agema to resign!

Second, and more importantly, support Progress Michigan by making a donation. It’s only with your financial support that they can continue to stay on the front lines against the Republicans in Michigan as they tread on the rights of women, union members, and the LGBT community, run roughshod over our environment, and work to defeat the corporate interests that are doing everything in their power to control policy and politics in Michigan.

Click HERE to donate to Progress Michigan and to arm these warriors for the battles ahead.

Thank you.

Maybe someone read them the U.S. Constitution?

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, a Republican, has ended any chance that a recent resolution that would pave the way to establishing an official state religion will see the light of day. Tillis said yesterday that he will not allow a vote on the resolution known as the “Defense of Religion Act”.

The bill was a response to an ACLU lawsuit regarding the reading of Christian prayers at official government functions. Sarah Preston, the policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, had this to say:

I would assume he (Tillis) didn’t like the attention it was getting, and it would distract from other issues that the House was working on. I hope that he decided that making a statement that North Carolina didn’t want to abide by the Constitution was the wrong thing for North Carolina to do.

Her colleague ACLU-NC Legal Director Chris Brook went further:

Despite the ACLU’s objections, and now a lawsuit, Commissioners have continued to pray in the name of Jesus.

“The bill sponsors fundamentally misunderstand constitutional law and the principles of the separation of powers that date back to the founding of this country,” ACLU-NC Legal Director Chris Brook told WBTV in response to the resolution.

That pesky U.S. Constitution. It gets in the way of overly evangelistic Christians ramming their religion down the throats of all Americans every time.

[Photo credit: Chris Savage | Eclectablog]

Hey! There are crazier Republicans than Michigan Republicans!

NOTE: this post has been updated HERE.

This is absolutely incredible. Republicans in North Carolina have introduced legislation that will allow them to set up their own state religion and ignore all federal laws.

If you think I’m joking, read on.

Here’s the salient part of the legislation:

The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional; therefore, by virtue of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the power to determine constitutionality and the proper interpretation and proper application of the Constitution is reserved to the states and to the people. Each state in the union is sovereign and may independently determine how that state may make laws respecting an establishment of religion.

See there? The Constitution doesn’t allow the federal courts to determine what is constitutional. This is going to come as an incredible shock to … everyone with a brain. The whole thing came about over a fight about whether Christian-specific prayers can be read at government meetings so this is very clearly about North Carolina establishing a state religion based on Christianity. But the implications go much further than that, of course. It means they are immune from any federal determinations regarding the constitutionality of … anything.

I guess these guys are as clueless about the Supremacy Clause as our Michigan Republicans. Good luck with that, gang.

[Photo credit: Chris Savage | Eclectablog]

To err is human, to forgive is divine, to trust a lying, cheating politician is idiotic

Yesterday, it occurred to me that the very first time I made it to the “Recommended List” at Daily Kos it was with an essay I wrote about Mark Sanford and his hideous betrayal of his wife, family and constituents. I went back and read it and it reminded me that his was not just a brief dalliance. His wife knew about it and he continued the intercontinental affair after she told him in no uncertain terms to cut that shit out.

I’m reprising the post here today but it’s crucial that we remember just what this asshole did to his wife Jenny and their kids. Recall that his “Appalachian Intercontinental Booty Call” happened on Father’s Day weekend.

Sanford says he’s a solid Christian and is calling on voters to show Christian forgiveness. Fine. We forgive your sorry ass. I’ll try to disregard it when I buy a used car or some life insurance from you or whatever your new career is now that you have proven that you’re not fit to be a leader or a lawmaker. It’s one thing to forgive. It’s another thing to trust and trust is one thing Mark Sanford has decidedly NOT earned.

Turns out that Ms. Sanford knew about the affair for several months and, according to her, “He was told in no uncertain terms not to see her.”

“I was hoping he was on the Appalachian Trail. But I was not worried about his safety. I was hoping he was doing some real soul searching somewhere and devastated to find out it was Argentina. It’s tragic.“

The Associated Press interviewed her this week and there are some interesting new details in his interview.

To wit:

South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford sat in her oceanfront living room Friday, recalling how her husband repeatedly asked permission to visit his lover in the months after she discovered his affair.

“I said absolutely not. It’s one thing to forgive adultery; it’s another thing to condone it,” Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press

I’m trying to imagine this and, well, it’s pretty easy. My ex-wife did pretty much the same thing to me. I discovered her in an affair with a good friend and she repeatedly asked to go see him. I thought it was an aberration, that she was unique in being so clearly unbalanced enough to ask such a thing of me. Well, either she’s not unique or Governor Sanford is equally unbalanced.

In the interview, she goes on to say:

The Sanfords had separated about two weeks ago. She said her husband told the family that he wanted some time away to work on writing a book and clear his head. The first lady said, “I had every hope he was not going to see her.“

“You would think that a father who didn’t have contact with his children, if he wanted those children, he would toe the line a little bit,” she said.

Yes, you would think that, wouldn’t you? You would think a man so vocally judgmental of others’ moral position would have enough self-control to try to work through his screw-up and keep his family together. This is, after all, the family he mentioned all the time when he was slamming others for their indiscretions and when he ran for office. But no. On Father’s Day weekend he makes the ultimate Booty Call, half a continent away.

Turns out his paramour isn’t exactly Ms. Morality, either. She was dating another man at the same time she was carrying on with Mark Sanford and “the other man” was, according to the New York Times, apparently the one who leaked Sanford’s steamy emails to the The State newspaper:

Last December, the executive said, Ms. Chapur was dating a young Argentine a few months after her affair with Mr. Sanford began. The man happened to see the e-mail messages being exchanged between the governor and Ms. Chapur, said the executive — who said he had direct knowledge of the situation — and hacked into her e-mail account to see the rest.

Infuriated, the man sent the messages to The State, the newspaper in South Carolina’s capital, Columbia.

I feel sorry for Jenny Sanford. Like my situation, she found out about the affair when she came across some emails:

Sanford said she discovered her husband’s affair early this year after coming across a copy of a letter to the mistress in one of his files in the official governor’s mansion. He had asked her to find some financial information, she said, not an unusual request considering her heavy involvement in his career.

That’s a tough moment. What’s tougher is hearing the promises to quit having the affair only to see them broken. In Ms. Sanford’s case, she has the much more excruciating pain of having the entire sordid affair played out in the national spotlight.

Here’s my message to Ms. Sanford: You may feel like a bit of a fool right now but you are handling this the right way. You threw his ass out when he wouldn’t give up trying to see his mistress. You didn’t stand next to him during his ridiculous confessional press conference. And you are behaving with dignity and respect now. It’s tough. There will be days when you feel like the biggest chump around. But know this: you will be glad later that you held you head up high and didn’t embarrass your four sons.

Meanwhile, Governor Sanford, resign. Leave the office and don’t come back. You clearly don’t have the judgment or temperament to be a leader. For the same reasons you judged others so vociferously, you yourself must now exit stage left, never to return. And take your hypocrisy with you. Maybe, just maybe, if you do the decent, moral thing now, your sons will glean some semblance of a positive lesson from all of this.

That is the least you can do.

[CC photo credit: Dincher | Wikimedia Commons]

Now we’re getting somewhere

An administrative law judge has ordered Ferris State University to explain why they rejected a union contract that had already been agreed upon in an attempt to see if Michigan Republican meddling interfered with the collective bargaining process. It’s the first time a judge has looked into whether or not this interference has violated the law or, perhaps more accurately, coerced university board members into violating the law.

The union contract contained a provision that extended the right of the union to continue to collect dues from its members, staving off the impacts of the Right to Work law that has not yet gone into effect. After it was rejected, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against the university.

The university has until noon Tuesday to file its response to a series of questions from Administrative Law Judge Doyle O’Connor of the Michigan Administrative Hearing System.

It is the University’s position that we do not comment on pending legal matters,” said Ferris spokesman Sandy Gholston.

The university board, earlier this month, turned down an agreed-upon contract, citing threats from state Legislators to punish those universities who signed a long-term contract to avoid right-to-work legislation.

“The contract negotiations were undertaken with the full awareness by all parties of the impending implementation of Michigan’s new statute prohibiting agency shop clauses in collective bargaining agreements entered into after the effective date of the statute, March 28, 2013,” O’Connor wrote in an order filed Tuesday.

“While a threatened loss of any funding is no small matter for any public employer in Michigan, such a threat would not appear to provide a lawful basis for the employer’s actions. The statutory duty to bargain is not effective only in the absence of threats, controversy, or inconvenience. Contract formation remains subject to the same black letter law: offer and acceptance yield an enforceable contract, no matter the potential adverse collateral consequences.”

Through their petulant actions, Michigan Republicans have put universities into an untenable position. In this case, they may well have strong-armed Ferris State University into violating the law. It will be very interesting to see how this shakes out. As usual, Republicans will probably emerge unscathed as others pay the price for their malfeasance.

[CC image credit by the incomparable Donkey Hotey | Flickr]

When you’re giving Michele Bachmann a run for her money, you’re definitely going off of the rails on the Crazy Train

This past week, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attempted to solidify her position as the “Craziest Person in Congress” with not one, not two, but THREE different comments. First, she was chased down a hallway by a CNN reporter trying to get her to explain her comment that the Obama’s live a lavish lifestyle that includes someone paid with taxpayer money to walk the First Dog Bo. It is, of course, not true.

Then she made the statement that Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, juvenile diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease would all be cured by now if the federal government (of which she is a powerful member) hadn’t “created a cadre of overzealous regulators, excessive taxation and greedy litigators” that has prevented it.

And then she said that Obamacare must be stopped before it “literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens”. Yikes.

But now we have a new contender for the title of “Craziest Member of Congress”: Texas Republican Steve Stockman. Via MSNBC:

Woodruff was following Stockman the day last month the Violence Against Women Act [VAWA] finally passed the House. Stockman, who comes from a redder than red area of east Texas hates the bill. Hates it. Why?
“This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. Unbelievable. What really bothers – it’s called a women’s act, but then they have men dressed up as women, they count that. Change-gender, or whatever. How is that – how is that a woman?”

Here’s what my good friend Katherine Haenschen at the Burnt Orange report had to say:

The reauthorized VAWA — signed into law by President Obama earlier this month — was expanded to include Native Americans, immigrants, and LGBT Americans who are victims of domestic violence. Previously there was no dedicated funds for these communities.

That’s why Republicans fought the reauthorization of VAWA: because it included three communities that the GOP evidently doesn’t think worthy of protection against domestic violence.

Stockman is freaking out because he’s too ignorant to understand concepts such as gender expression or identity. His core constituents, the folks who turn out for a mid-summer Republican run-off, will only reward him for such intolerant, bigoted views. Have any other Texas Republicans condemned Stockman’s homophobic views? I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

You heard it from Republican Steve Stockman, folks: passing tougher laws to prosecute perpetrators of violence against women is somehow “helping the liberals.” Personally I’d rather live in a world where stopping violence againts women is a human issue rather than a partisan one, but as long as sub-human life forms like Stockman get elected by Republican run-off voters, I guess that day is still a long way away.

The shift in public opinion on rights for our friends, neighbors and loved ones in the LGBT community is an unstoppable freight train. Young people today, those who will lead our nation in the not-so-distant future, by and large don’t give a damn who you love or what gender you identify with. They recognize that people come in many different flavors but we’re all humans worthy of dignity, being treated with respect, and, most importantly, being accorded the protections and rights that all Americans enjoy. It’s an unstoppable freight train that is about to derail the Crazy Train that people like Michele Bachmann and her new partner in ignorance and insanity, Texan Steve Stockman are driving.

It can’t happen fast enough for me.

[Public domain Crazy Words record image credit: Wikimedia Commons/Freimut Bahlo]

Will Michigan Republicans go after and punish counties now???

Last night, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners ratified union contracts with union groups providing services to the County that stave off the effects of the recently-passed Right to Work law for ten more years.

In an unprecedented chain of events, the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners approved 10-year-long contracts with five of its unions Wednesday night one week before Michigan’s new right-to-work law takes effect.

In exchange for the extended time frame, the unions agreed to changes in employee contributions to retirement and health care benefits for workers hired in 2014.

The resulting reduction in employee legacy costs were touted by commissioners Wednesday night as a major investment in the long-term fiscal stability of the county…

“We are able to eliminate substantive legacy costs for the organization,” said Commissioner Conan Smith, D-Ann Arbor. “It comes at the cost of introducing risk into the benefit system for our employees.”

Given the retribution that Michigan Republicans have exacted on universities and the hreats to do the same to K-12 school districts, one wonders if they will now attempt to go after counties themselves. Their recent temper tantrums at having been out-maneuvered before their union-busting law goes into effect have them acting like a spoiled child that doesn’t get his or her way, lashing out in impotent, petulant rage.

Look out, Washtenaw County. They may be coming for YOU next.

You have to give them credit for taking government back — to a time when it didn’t care about the poor

Tea party groups in Michigan appear to have succeeded in preventing an expansion of Medicaid that would have given health insurance to nearly a half million working poor Michiganders and preventing the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. The actions will cost the state millions and millions of dollars, ensure that fewer people have health coverage than would have under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act and, ironically, help take the country a step closer to a single-payer health care system in the long run.

On Wednesday, the House Appropriations subcommittee passed their annual budget bill without the inclusion of the expansion of Medicaid that Governor Snyder, doctors, and hospitals across the state supported emphatically. Even tea party governors like Florida’s Rick Scott support this element of “Obamacare” since it would mean coverage of millions of their residents while relieving the burden on their hospital systems. They also kicked poor people in the teeth in a couple of other ways, as well:

The Appropriations subcommittee handling the Department of Community Health budget passed the funding document without the Medicaid expansion, as well as other Snyder proposals, including: dental services for low income children, health and wellness initiatives, mental health and substance abuse services for veterans and an infant mortality program.

The federally-funded Medicaid expansion would pay 100% of the costs through 2017. The federal support would ratchet down to 90% by 2020.

The governor’s proposed budget included $181.7 million coming in from the federal government for the expansion. That revenue stream was removed from the DCH budget with the committee’s 6-2 vote to approve the budget.

It’s difficult to understate how short-sighted a move this is. The long term effects on our state budget will be to increase medical costs for the state as fewer people get the necessary medical and dental attention they need and tax our health care system even more. As an added bonus, babies, children, and military veterans will suffer.

All things considered, it’s a Republican health care dream come true.

The state Senate has tomorrow and Friday left to vote on setting up the state-run health insurance exchange before they go on spring break. Governor Snyder has warned that it must happen this week but this, too, is looking increasing unlikely to happen. Deluded Republicans believe they have more time, apparently thinking they know more than the governor who has been in communication with the Obama administration on the issue. Tea party pressure has been cited as the cause of GOP reticence.

Meanwhile, Governor Snyder is quoted in today’s Detroit Free Press as saying that his approach is one that should be a model for Republicans at the federal level on immigration and other issues. The following quote appears to have been uttered by Governor Snyder with a straight face:

I’ve always believed in reaching out to different coalitions and groups and getting them in engaged in a positive discussion and learning what their issues are. It’s about bringing people together, not being divisive…It’s about staying focused on solving problems and doing the right thing.

When it comes to doing the right thing, Michigan Republicans have completely missed the mark with regard to Medicaid expansion. Given that an efficiently-run national health insurance exchange is a very big step toward a national single-payer health care system in the long run, I have to say they are doing the right thing by allowing the federal government to handle it for us.

So, yes, they’re doing the right thing with regard to the exchange, but they’re doing it for all the wrong reasons.

[Photos by Chris Savage | Eclectablog]

What’s good for the goose is, apparently, NOT good for the gander

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on Republicans’ outrage that universities in Michigan were renegotiating contracts with their union employees and including provisions that postponed the impact of their recently-passed Right to Work legislation by allowing for the collection of union dues for several more years.

Today, the Republicans acted on that outrage and chose to punish the schools that did this, namely the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, by eliminating 15% of their appropriation for the next year.

The way they did this was using House Bill 4221, the higher education appropriations bill. If you look at the chart on the last page of the summary (pdf), you see two columns. One is titled “15% Across-the-Board Reduction”. The one immediately adjacent is titled “Employee Contracting Funding”. There is a note accompanying that second column which reads:

Requirements to receive employee contracting funding amounts:
1. Comply with section 265b provisions related to “fiduciary responsibility in employee contracting”

Section 265b (on page 3 of the summary) reads thusly:

Sec. 265b. Employee Contracting – NEW
Provides that funds appropriated for fiduciary responsibility in employee contracting be paid to a university only if it does not extend, renew, or enter into a labor contract under certain circumstances between December 10, 2012 and March 28, 2013 without achieving 10% or greater savings and does not enter into a contract between the same dates that contains only terms that constitute a union security agreement that requires any of several specified employee actions as a condition of employment. House adds new section.

Here’s what I wrote on March 1st:

If it weren’t so insulting and offensive, it would be amusing to watch hypocrites from the Republican Party and anti-teacher groups acting so outraged at what they portray as skirting the law to get what they want. Republicans passed the Right to Work legislation while doors to the Capitol were illegally locked to keep out protesters and with absolutely zero hearings or ability for public input… The hypocrisy on this is breathtaking. Republicans exploit every loophole they can find to pass their overreaching anti-labor, anti-teacher agenda but are now freaking out when the victims of their overreach do the same in order to keep some minor protections in place.

Another day, another parcel of shameless hypocrisy from Michigan Republicans and their conservative partners.

It’s not only hypocritical, it’s actually childish. Though they themselves exploit loopholes endless in their march to enact their ideologically-driven agenda, when universities engage in actual good-faith negotiations with their employees which benefit the union members Republicans show such disdain for, they act like a petulant child who doesn’t get what he wants, lashing out to punish the subject of their impotent rage. Only, unlike a petulant child whose temper tantrum affects only himself and his family, the Republicans’ public temper tantrum, driven by their drunk-with-power ideology, is harming Michigan students and workers.

David Hecker, President of AFT Michigan, released this statement:

Our universities are the gateway to good jobs and a stronger economy. Since Michigan is not currently a Right to Work state, it’s wrong for Lansing Republicans to bully university boards and employees who negotiated collective bargaining agreements legally and in good faith. By punishing Wayne State and the University of Michigan for making decisions that are completely legal, Lansing Republicans are jeopardizing the futures of Michigan students. Republican leaders should stop these unfounded attacks so our universities can get back to what they do best – providing our students with a world-class education.

I’m sure that these hypocrites will now find a way to suitably punish K-12 schools who have negotiated new contracts with their unionized teachers and other employees, as well. After all, why stop at college students when you can use your power to hurt children, as well?

UPDATE: I’m not the only one who thinks this is pure hypocrisy. Now comes the Detroit Free Press editorial board with a scathing editorial titled “GOP lawmakers show insulting hypocrisy over Wayne State contract” that uses much of the same language I have:

We’re tempted to laugh pretty hard at GOP lawmakers in Lansing, haughty as they are in their disgust for an eight-year collective bargaining agreement between Wayne State University and its professors.

It stinks when political opponents use legal technicalities to skirt democratic intentions, doesn’t it, guys? {…}

It’s sort of like how legislators could plop an appropriation in the right-to-work bill, where it had no relevant policy purpose, as a way to prevent voters from trying to repeal it through a referendum. Or how GOP lawmakers, with Gov. Rick Snyder’s help, rammed right-to-work through the Legislature during its lame duck session, inserting the law into shell bills that got no real debate and weren’t really open to amendment.

The right-to-work sham last year was one of the least democratic exercises witnessed in Lansing’s long, sorry history, and the GOP has itself to blame for that. {…}

GOP lawmakers should spare everyone the duplicitous outrage.

Even worse, though, is the idea that the GOP would react by slashing at higher education budgets in response. Really? Exacerbate the gross inequity that has Michigan spending more on prisons than on higher education? Force universities (which can surely do more to economize but which also need billions more to stay competitive with peer institutions around the nation) to lean even more on skyrocketing student tuition and fees to make up for government’s emaciated support?

That’s beyond bad policy and well into the territory of stone foolish lawmaking.

Right-to-work will be law soon enough — the GOP made sure of that by precluding the regular democratic process from playing out.

GOP lawmakers would make themselves even more garishly petulant by punishing universities on top of it.

UPDATE 2: The toll on these two universities alone (and all of their students, of course) is $74.8 million.