Stuff’s about to get real… Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog A federal judge will determine on Wednesday morning if Detroit’s bankruptcy filing is a violation of the state constitution which protects public employee pensions. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes has declared that his court has the authority to rule on a dispute between the city’s pension funds […]

Surprise, surprise [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] Yesterday afternoon, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, with the blessing of Governor Rick Snyder, filed bankruptcy paperwork for the city at 4:06 p.m. An emergency hearing by attorneys representing city pensioners was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in the court room of Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. The […]

It was inevitable The Detroit Free Press is reporting this afternoon that Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr may file Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy paperwork as early as tomorrow morning in an effort to stave off multiple lawsuits from various pension groups. The City of Detroit is in final preparations to file for federal bankruptcy as early as Friday morning, several […]

Let them eat Bumpy Cake This past week, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr announced that he was sponsoring a bus tour for Detroit’s creditors who are in town to have discussions regarding the state of the city’s crushing debt. The idea is that they would spend a few hours traveling around the most impoverished parts of Detroit so that they […]

Taking the show on the road The Livingston County Democratic Party has graciously asked me to be the headline speaker at their June meeting this Thursday, June 27th at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at party headquarters at 10321 Grand River Road, Suite 600, in Brighton. Here’s their announcement: A Michigan blogger whose writing brought nationwide exposure to […]

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, […]

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.

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.

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.

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. […]

Yet somehow they’ll blame the teachers…

The Michigan township of Buena Vista, in the news recently for its racist Township Clerk, is back in the news today with the announcement that the school district has closed its doors over a month before the end of the school year. Why? Turns out the school district had taken $580,000 in state funding for a program for incarcerated youths that it no longer runs. With an outstanding bill of $400,000, the state cut off its funding and it now has no money.

The district’s 27 teachers had agreed to work without pay for a week while the district sorted out its mess but, this morning, the schools were closed.

Details after the jump.