This 7-minute documentary, Dictators Over Communities of Color: Coming to a Town Near You , was put together by the New Media Adovocacy Project in cooperation with Michigan Forward and the Advancement Project. It’s well worth a watch and I would love for you to share it widely. This isn’t just something Michiganders should be paying attention to. Big shout […]

Flint appears to be the next city in line for an Emergency Manager in Michigan. With only a $2 million deficit, it is still undergoing the initial review process. This is odd because, as Brandon Jessup of Michigan Forward notes, other cities with much larger problems have had their requests for an EM denied. Interesting, though is how Flint, facing […]

My breaking of the news about the anti-petition signing robocalls has received widespread coverage. In addition to the Rachel Maddow Show, several other news outlets have covered it, including the Herald Palladium, Michigan Messenger and WNDU. Michigan Forward, the group who is working to put the repeal of the odious Financial Manager law on the ballot, has now issued a […]

Just ten short summer weeks after its start, Michigan Forward is reporting some good news. According to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Forward is already half-way to having the required signatures to put the repeal of PA 4, the Emergency Financial Manager Law, on the ballot in Michigan. Organizers of a drive to repeal Michigan’s emergency manager law said Tuesday […]

The original deadline for the petition drive to put the recall of Michigan governor Rick Snyder expired. However, recall organizers have elected to continue their effort. From my latest piece at A2Politico: Perhaps the biggest challenge for the recall organizers has been the extremely short period of time Michigan laws allow for the collection of petition signatures. The petition language […]

Last night I participated in a Repeal Public Act 4 townhall in Ypsilanti. Over 40 people attended to learn about the repeal effort and to ask questions. Participants received information from Representative David Rutledge from the 54th District, Michigan Forward CEO Brandon Jessup, Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo, me and a number of others. In addition, attendees got instructions on […]

This is from our good friends working hard to repeal the anti-democratic Emergency Manager law, P.A. 4 (aka, “the Financial Martial Law Act”.) Calling All Recall and Repeal Heroes, 500,000 folks will visit Art Fair next week. The Recall Snyder and Repeal PA4 (emergency managers) campaigns are linking arms to make the Ann Arbor Art Fair the biggest petition-signing event […]

The effort to repeal Public Act 4, the Financial Martial Law Act, in Michigan got a great jump start yesterday when nearly 100 local activists, concerned citizens and organizers got together for an informational townhall meeting. The event was put on by the Washtenaw Community Action Team, a group that describes itself as “a coalition of local unionists, activists, students, […]

I’m getting ready for a townhall meeting in Ann Arbor tomorrow where I will be presenting an overview of Michigan’s “Financial Martial Law Act”. The townhall meeting is from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Community Center. The Facebook page is HERE. If you are in the area, I encourage you to join us. I realized the […]

Okay, can I just say how much I love THIS??? In Traverse City volunteers collected about 1200 signatures within a few hours Saturday afternoon. “People saw the signs at our table and on our many petitioner’s clipboards and eagerly offered their support,“ said Amy Hardin of Reject Emergency Managers. “We blasted through our first box of petitions in no time […]

I have a piece up at A2Politico.com that reveals the breaking news that 28 Michigan residents along with the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice and the Center for Constitutional Rights have filed a lawsuit in Michigan challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 4, the so-call “Financial Martial Law Act” recently passed by Republicans. The defendents in the […]