On Monday of this week, Donald Trump revoked the media credentials of journalists working for the Washington Post covering his events. This follows on the heels of his blacklisting of multiple other national media outlets including Gawker, BuzzFeed, Foreign Policy, Politico, Fusion, Univision, Mother Jones, the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Des Moines Register, the Daily Beast, and Huffington Post. […]

Late in the Granholm administration as Michigan’s economy was at its worst thanks to the Bush recession, the state legislature passed a law requiring teachers to give up 3% of their paycheck to fund their retirement account, something they had never had to do in the past. The America Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Michigan Education Association (MEA) sued […]

At 4:23 p.m. on April 25th of this year, Eastern Michigan University’s Director of Purchasing issued a request for proposals (RFP) for food campus food services. The RFP included a requirement to RSVP to a “mandatory” meeting by 5 p.m. the same day as the RFP came out. That mandatory meeting was scheduled for the following day. 37 minutes. Applicants […]

The following guest post was written by Jen Eyer, Vice President of Vanguard Public Affairs. Jen has spent many years in the world of journalism and most recently managed the newsroom for The Ann Arbor News, part of the MLive Media Group. You can read her full bio HERE. Enjoy. As Michiganders, we should all be concerned about the way […]

Yesterday, women from Eaton County held a press conference to highlight efforts by Republican Rep. Tom Barrett (MI-71) to deny women reproductive justice in their lives. In conjunction with the press conference, they released an issue guide (HERE) that details bills sponsored and supported by Barrett and two of his colleagues, John Bizon and Holly Hughes, that serve to impede […]

If you’re a politician commenting on the tragedy in Orlando, Florida where the lives of 49 people were extinguished by a madman with a semi-automatic weapon, do us all a favor and do NOT include the phrase “thoughts and prayers” or any iteration of it in your reaction. Thoughts and prayers are like a tissue paper vest when it comes […]

This afternoon, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, with no apparent sense of irony or sarcasm, sent out an email titled “An historic night for Michigan”. He was referring to the previous evening when Republicans passed “bailout” legislation for Detroit Public Schools that has inadequate funding for DPS, harms children by putting unqualified, uncertified teachers in their classrooms (illegal in every other […]

SILENCED! Back in 2012 when Republican Jase Bolger was still the Michigan House Speaker, his colleagues began passing bill after bill with “immediate effect”. Immediate effect allows a bill to became law as soon as the governor signs it rather than having to wait the statuatory 90 days. However, in order to pass a bill with immediate effect, there must […]

On May 21st of this year, I was elected to be the male delegate pledged to Hillary Clinton for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. To say I’m proud to be supporting the first woman to receive the Democratic Party’s nomination for president is a bit of an understatement. I’m proud of her and I’m proud of my Party for shattering historic […]

Back in the early 90s, Michigan Gov. John Engler – the first of Michigan’s corporatist governors – oversaw the creation of the for-profit charter school industry in our state. Pitching it as “forcing schools to compete”, he signed legislation that opened the floodgates for charter schools to siphon away tax dollars intended to educate children into the coffers of private […]

The following guest post was written by my friend Jen Eyer, Vice President of Vanguard Public Affairs. Jen has spent many years in the world of journalism and most recently managed the newsroom for The Ann Arbor News, part of the MLive Media Group. You can read her full bio HERE. This piece was first published at the Vanguard Public […]