Showtime! Click for a larger version This morning at 11:30 there will be a rally in Lansing, Michigan for those who support the repeal of Public Act 4, Michigan’s undemocratic Emergency Manager law. Then, at 1 p.m., close to 250,000 petition signatures will be delivered to the appropriate officials. 160,304 valid signatures are needed to put the citizens’ referendum on […]

The never-ending story… Muskegon Heights EM review team still hasn’t met – 3 weeks laterMLive reports that the financial review team for Muskegon Heights schools still hasn’t met three weeks after it was formed. The review team assigned to determine whether Muskegon Heights Public Schools needs an emergency manager has yet to meet three weeks after it was appointed. “We’re […]

Excuse me, but I beg to differ Last week, AnnArbor.com Business news director Nathan Bomey penned an op-ed titled “Why bankruptcy is worse for Michigan cities than emergency managers”. As you might imagine, I have an entirely different take on this which you can read at AnnArbor.com in a counterpoint op-ed today titled “The case against emergency managers: How bankruptcy […]

Michigan’s Emergency Managers in the national spotlight In the current issue The Nation magazine, I have a piece titled “The Scandal of Michigan’s Emergency Managers” which is a general overview of Public Act 4, Michigan’s Emergency Manager law. For regular Eclectablog readers, there isn’t much new there but for those who haven’t been following, it’s likely to be a bit […]

All the news that’s fit to make you cringe Lots of news to get to today. Lots more after the jump, too, so make sure you click through. UPDATE: My article for The Nation magazine on Michigan’s Emergency Manager law will be in the issue that goes to print today and will hit the stands later this week. It may […]

Hear ye, hear ye I want to commend your attention to the Public Service Announcement banner at the top of the site today. It will run through Saturday evening. It’s an announcement for a public forum on Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law, happening this Saturday, February 18, 2012, in East Lansing. A public forum on P.A. 4, the […]

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 […]

At a Detroit rally yesterday to protest the imposition of an Emergency Manager on the city, Brandon Jessup of Michigan Forward announced that Michigan Forward has gathered over 170,000 petition signatures for their effort to put the repeal of Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law, on the November 2012 ballot. Only 161,305 are needed. Michigan Forward started the petition […]

This could signal an important foreshadowing of the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law and its disparate impact on African Americans. The U.S. Department of Justice will block the voter ID provisions of an election law passed in South Carolina earlier this year because the state’s own statistics demonstrated that the photo identification requirement would have a […]

The effort by Michigan Forward to repeal the odious Emergency Manager Law in Michigan (Public Act 4) is nearing the final stages. However, they are still short of the necessary signatures to put this on the ballot in February. Many of the folks who were working the hardest on signature gathering over the summer were teachers who have now gone […]

Back in August, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder sought to bypass the normal court process and asked the Michigan Supreme Court to make a decision on the lawsuit challenging Public Act 4, the so-called Emergency Manager Law. (Details on the lawsuit filed by the Sugar Law Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights can be found HERE.) Sugar Law Center proceeded […]