I don’t have complete details at this time but it appears that there is an organized effort afoot to start a recall effort against Michigan State Congressman Al Pscholka.
Who is Al Pscholka? In addition to being the state Representative from the area that includes Benton Harbor, Pscholka is a former aide to Congressman Fred Upton, a man who has deep ties into shoreline development efforts all along Lake Michigan including in Benton Harbor. I wrote about this complicated web yesterday.
Pscholka himself was the president of the Board of Directors of the Cornerstone Alliance in 2008, the group that developed the Harbor Shores golf course and luxury residential development that snagged some of Benton Harbor’s public park for its own use. This is a fact he conveniently left off his campaign site’s About page when he ran for Congressman.
Pscholka is also the author of the Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) legislation signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder and that has allowed the Benton Harbor government to be taken over the “The Czar of Benton Harbor”, Joseph Harris. The first use of the new EFM law to take over a city’s government was right in Benton Harbor, the area that Rep. Pscholka represents and where he has deep financial interests. And the first thing Harris did after dismissing the City Council was to rejigger the Planning Commission and Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the two groups who make crucial decisions regarding shoreline development in Benton Harbor. Harris replaced some of their members with new members selected by him.
Rep. Al Pscholka with Gov. Rick Snyder
at the signing of the Emergency Financial
Manager law
It’s no surprise that there are residents in the Benton Harbor area that are interested in recalling Pscholka. All evidence points to the fact that he is part of a larger group of developers and legislators that are using, and in some cases changing, the laws of Michigan to benefit their own financial self-interest while paying lip-service to doing it “for the citizens”. In the case of Harbor Shores, the citizens of Benton Harbor benefit very little while the developers themselves cash in.
I’ll have more on the recall effort when I get more details.
I’m just sayin’…
