There is a common convention that sunshine is the best disinfectant. While that does not apply to the COVID-19 pandemic (wearing a mask, washing your hands, using hand sanitizer, and getting vaccinated when you are eligible are the answers there, not sunshine), it does apply to another scourge that has plagued Michigan for decades; one that will hopefully be rectified […]

In the course of reviewing emails obtained from Michigan Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette in response to a Freedom of Information Act request last year, staff at Progress Michigan, Michigan’s primary progressive watchdog group, found nearly two dozen emails originating from the private email accounts of Schuette and some of his top staff. Based on this proof that they were […]

The Snyder administration had long been thought to be using fees to process FOIA requests as a way to avoid transparency and to scare off inquisitive journalists and private citizens from poking around in their (public) affairs. Then, last October, the fine folks at Progress Michigan got definitive proof that FOIA fees were being wielded as a weapon against transparency. […]

“Wharrgarbl” – Gov. Rick Snyder At a recent visit to a Flint food kitchen, Gov. Snyder was asked by a reporter about revelations that have come from FOIA requests by various media and watchdog groups like Progress Michigan. “Getting back to those FOIAs, what has disturbed YOU most about what has come out of those?” she asked. What transpired after […]

A bill to shield oil and gas companies from having information about details of their pipelines and other infrastructure from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests was introduced as House Bill 4540 last May. It sat in the House Committee on Oversight and Ethics without action until last December. At that point, it was clear that supporters on the the […]

Bombshell news coming via Progress Michigan this morning detailing how Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is using fees for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to interfere with government transparency. Earlier this year, Progress Michigan asked the state government for copies of all communications between Paul Pastorek, one of Snyder’s education advisers, and employees of the Michigan Department of Education, […]

Progress Michigan has been doing yeomans work holding the Snyder administration accountable for corrupt actitivies, shining the sanitizing sunshine needed to ensure that transparency isn’t just a catch phrase used by our Governor. In response to an August request for documents from the Michigan Department of Community Health, Progress Michigan was told in September that no such documents existed. Then, […]

Same-day service! Governor’s office wastes no time saying “no” to request from ProgressNow and Progress Michigan. Regular readers of Eclectablog know that Chris Savage has been regularly calling out Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on his lack of transparency. You can read some of that coverage HERE, HERE and HERE. And Chris is not the only one. Gov. Snyder promised transparency […]