The Emergency Manager law, Public Act 4, is alread being challenged on two fronts. First with a petition drive by Michigan Forward to put it on the 2012 ballot as a referendum. They are nearing their signature goal and, once they have enough signatures certified, the law is immediately put on hold. Second, the Sugar Law Center and its partners […]

Here’s the video from my appearance on Fox News Detroit’s “Let it Rip” show last night. I shared the riser with Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero who ran against Rick Snyder in the gubernatorial race last year and Nolan Finley, the very conservative Editorial Page Editor from the Detroit News. The topic was the announcement that Governor Rick Snyder will be […]

A couple of things happened this week in the Governor’s office that I think were good moves and I commend Governor Snyder for them. First, earlier in the week, he signed legislation that moves all school board elections across the state to November of even-numbered years. This is a smart move that will save money and will encourage far higher […]

With Detroit facing an imminent takeover by an Emergency Manager, I thought now might be a good time to remind everyone about a subtle but incredibly important change that occurred when Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager Law — was passed. This was first published in June. Please share widely if you care about this issue. When Michigan Republicans […]

Here’s an interesting thing to ponder: based on 2010 census figures, when Detroit gets an Emergency Manager, over 49% of Michigan African Americans will have lost their representative government and will be under the rule of an Emergency Manager. (Note: I’ve been reminded that Ecorse has an Emergency Manager as well so I have updated the chart below.) City Population […]

In case you’ve ever wanted to see what I look like or sound like, you’ll have your chance tonight if you’re in the southeastern Michigan area. I’ll be on Fox Detroit News’ Let it Rip program at 10:30 p.m. I’ll be among several guests on to discuss the Snyder administration’s decision to move forward with an Emergency Manager for Detroit. […]

THIS is not unexpected but, in my mind, chilling. Gov. Rick Snyder is expected as early as Friday to begin the process to appoint an emergency manager for the city of Detroit, the Free Press has learned. Snyder is expected to call for a financial review, the first step in state intervention. Both Mayor Dave Bing and Detroit City Council […]

There has been a LOT of complaining about the poor messaging coming out of the White House. It’s hard to find anyone on the anti-Obama left that doesn’t have some negative thing to say about it, in fact. What most people don’t realize is that the White House has pretty fantastic messaging when it comes to the main media sources. […]

I have a new piece up at A2Politico that discusses a recent decision by the Washtenaw County Commission to unilaterally cut the payment for its contract with the Huron Valley Humane Society (HVHS) in half. At first, this might seem unimportant given the fiscal crises faced by most municipalities these days. But when you dig deeper, you realize what a […]

Last month I wrote about the Republican trainwreck that is state Rep. Kurt Damrow from the thumb area of Michigan. At that time, he had been unceremoniously tossed out of his County party and was facing potential prosecution for making unfounded allegations to the Michigan State Police (MSP) against several folks in Huron County. According to media sources, Damrow gave […]

The Republican chosen to replace recalled Rep. Paul Scott as the chair of the state House Education Committee, Tom McMillin, is, apparently, a first class jerk. Check out this exchange during a recent Committee hearing on lifting the cap on charter schools from GONGWER: Several in the packed crowd bristled at Mr. McMillin’s way of questioning those testifying, and he […]