Maggots!!! Progress Michigan announced this week that they would be running a television ad called “Maggots” highlighting the Snyder administration Aramark scandal. Their press release indicated that their press conference featured “small tanks filled with live maggots.” Aramark isn’t very happy about this and sent them a “cease and desist” letter the same day of the press conference: October 9, […]

Progress Michigan announced today that they are running a new ad highlighting the Aramark scandal that has rocked the Snyder administration. The myriad failings of the for-profit prison food vendor bring the issue of privatization/profitization of government services into sharp relief and this ad is a powerful reminder of that. The ad will run for a week in Grand Rapids, […]

The uber-wealthy Koch brothers are no fans of organized labor. Nothing stands in the way of their massive accumulation of wealth quite like workers who want a fair wage, good benefits, and a safe work environment. By funding myriad different groups, they work diligently to stamp out workers’ rights wherever and however they can. One of the groups they fund […]

On September 2nd, Derek Flemming, a 43-year old married father of two young children was driving with his wife in Livingston County to pick up their kids when a pick-up truck nearly t-boned them as they drove down Grand River Avenue. Instead, the truck swerved and cut them off. The truck driver then slammed on his brakes and was clearly […]

Dick DeVos, Jr., whose family is Michigan’s version of the Koch brothers, is one of the richest people in our state. After getting beaten by Democrat Jennifer Granholm in 2006, he turned his attention to changing the face of Michigan by using his vast wealth behind the scenes to affect state policy. Whether it’s spending money against Democrats or threatening […]

Ed Buss, the corrections official hired to oversee the scandal-ridden for-profit prison food vendor Aramark has figured out what caused Aramark employees to engage in sex acts with inmates, smuggle heroin, cocaine, and other drugs to prisoners, allow maggots in food service areas in the prisons, and attempt to hire a prisoner to kill another prisoner. You might think it […]

ACCESS TO GOVERNOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF SOLD AT RECENT REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE An exposé by the New York Times shows that access to officials in the administrations of a number of Republican governors can be had by corporate America as long as they were willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars: [A]n error by the Republican Governors Association recently resulted […]

Gary Peters’ efforts to schedule a debate with Terri Lynn Land in the race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan continue to be a dead end. This morning we got more proof that her claim that she’s “interested” in a debate with Peters is nothing more than a lie designed to distract the media from her real aim […]

This isn’t GETTING ridiculous, this IS ridiculous Seems not a week goes by that an employee for the for-profit prison food vendor Aramark isn’t busted for some illicit activity or another. In all, nearly 100 Aramark employees are now banned from Michigan prisons for having sex with inmates, delivering cigarettes and drugs like cocaine and heroin to inmates, and for […]

In another blow to the corporate front group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), another internet powerhouse is leaving the pro-Big Business “bill mill”. From Common Cause: Yahoo issued the following statement to Common Cause Wednesday night: “We’ve decided to discontinue our membership in ALEC. We periodically review our membership in organizations and, at this time, we will no longer participate […]

This guest post was written by Donald Cohen, the Executive Director of In The Public Interest, a “comprehensive resource center on privatization and responsible contracting”. They are committed to equipping citizens, public officials, advocacy groups, and researchers with the information, ideas, and other resources they need to ensure that public contracts with private entities are transparent, fair, well-managed, and effectively […]