Yesterday’s Flint water crisis hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was an astonishing thing to watch. As the beleaguered city is still reeling from the poisoning of its drinking water and the death of at least nine people from Legionnaires’ Disease, one of the men chiefly responsible for the catastrophe declared said that he’s been “unjustly […]

As the water crisis has unfolded in Flint over the past few months, there has been an enormous amount of finger pointing and blame shifting going around. Just this week, Darnell Earley wrote an op-ed piece for The Detroit News absolving himself of any of that blame, despite the fact that he or one of his predecessors was in charge […]

What started out as bad has turned to worse in Flint’s primary election. First, three mayoral candidates (including incumbent mayor Dayne Walling) and two city council candidates all failed to make the ballot after they were all given the wrong date by the City Clerk to submit their nominating petitions. Then yesterday, the only remaining candidate to submit his petitions […]

“The laws right now are written to mete out punishment to local officials, but there need to be clear partnership requirements for the state to address fiscal stress.” Flint, Michigan is rare in that it has not had just one Emergency Manager. It has had four different managers and the current “emergency” is the second one for the former manufacturing […]

“We had hundreds of people involved. There was a real community appetite for this process…they wanted their voice to be heard and they were prepared to come out and be a part of it.” NOTE: Part 2 of this interview can be found HERE. When Dayne Walling was elected to be the mayor of the struggling city of Flint in […]

What the good judge giveth, the Appeals Court taketh away

On March 20th, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sent Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown packing as she overturned the work of the review team that put him in place. Once again it was for violations of Michigan’s Open Meeting Act.

I characterized that decision as “for now” and I was, not surprisingly, right. Yesterday, the Court of Appeals overturned her ruling and Brown is back in while the state appeals the decision.

Take your victories where you can get them Flint Mayor Dayne Walling As I mentioned earlier, a judge had put a restraining order on Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown due to potential violations of the Open Meetings Act. The hearing was this afternoon and, now that it’s over, Michael Brown is unemployed and Dayne Walling is mayor again. Not only […]

We all agree, this isn’t easy Last night, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan held a public panel discussion on Public Act 4 — Michigan’s Emergency Manager law. On the panel were Deputy State Treasurer for Local Government Services Roger Fraser, Chairman and CEO of Michigan Forward Brandon Jessup, Benton Harbor Emergency Manager […]

You don’t have to be a jerk about it Last spring when I published exclusive audio of Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris talking about crushing the unions, I was shocked at what he said and, more to the point, how he said it: So, I’ve laid off twenty-five people. I’ve laid off nine police officers. I’ve laid off four […]

We’re sorry, the number you have dialed… All photos by Anne C. Savage – used with permission On Monday, February 6, 2012, the Political Science department at the University of Michigan held a public forum/debate on Public Act 4 – the Emergency Manager law. The panelists were Representative Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor); Howard Ryan, Director of Legislative Affairs, MI Department […]

This is becoming an every day thing… John Conyers & Rev. Charles Williams confront Gov. Rick Snyder in Washington, D.C.While Governor Rick Snyder was in Washington, D.C. yesterday, giving testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education & the Workforce Committee, he was confronted by Congressman John Conyers and Rev. Charles Williams II about Public Act 4. U.S. Rep. John […]