This is the first in a series of conversations I had with four women who are running for the Michigan State House of Representatives. Not only is it important to me that we elect more women to government at ALL levels, it’s also important that you know them better as well. This is the first in that series. There are […]

The Koch brothers are in the news a lot these days. Yeah, they are written about IN news stories, of course. But that’s not what I’m talking about. The Koch brothers are in the news by actually creating the news in a way that promotes their own corporatist ideology that anything that is good for private corporations is good. Period. […]

With just 10 days until the election, most candidates are run down, tired, exhausted and fatigued. Yes, I realize they all have the same meaning, but as a former candidate, I can attest to the myriad of physical and emotional strains a candidate morphs into day after day, especially this close to the election and the end of this journey […]

I had a conversation with Ann Arbor-area state Representative Jeff Irwin recently and he brought up a point few people are discussing related to higher education. There’s been a lot of focus on how much money is in Gov. Snyder’s budget for education and Gov. Snyder wants everyone to believe that he has put MORE money into his education budget […]

We’re very proud to announce a new project of Eclectablog called “Big Picture”. Big Picture is a subsite of Eclectablog that gives you a visual reframing of the issues and stories you care about. It’s a political story, told in words and pictures that gives you a broad view of important topics, presented in a compelling fashion. While several of […]

Tomorrow, October 23rd at 1:00, the Education Achievement Authority, Gov. Rick Snyder’s failed experiment with Detroit school children, will hold a board meeting at the downtown campus of Wayne County Community College. Following that, at 4:00 p.m., on the campus of the University of Michigan, a public forum will be held called “The Future of Education in Detroit – The […]

Last month I posted a piece about a Rick Snyder finally finding a teacher who would support him in public. It turned out to be his neighbor at his million-dollar lake house and that post that has enjoyed over 27,000 views. Well, Gov. Snyder has found a second teacher willing to do a commercial for him. This time it’s another […]

This past weekend, Democratic State House Rep. Jeff Irwin from Ann Arbor debated Governor Snyder’s $1 billion in cuts to education funding with Republican Pete Lund on Fox News’ Let It Rip program. Lund used the argument that shoring up the teachers pension fund is “education funding”. Irwin pointed to the diversion of money from classrooms and teaching and higher […]

Five days ago, writing about the lack of professionalism and transparency with the Education Achievement Authority’s Board of Directors, I wrote this: [I]t looks very much like Veronica Conforme has already been chosen to remain in the Chancellor position and [the EAA Board is] simply drawing out the process until Superintendent Jenkins withdraws his name. He does, after all, have […]

With the departure of the disgraced former Chancellor of the Education Achievement Authority John Covington, the EAA Board has been searching for a replacement. In the meantime, they hired Veronica Conforme to take the reins (along with the $325,000/year salary) as the interim Chancellor. Conforme, who had been consulting with the EAA since January, was the chief operating officer, chief […]

After claiming he was going to run a strictly positive campaign, Gov. Rick Snyder has a new negative attack ad out that features a retired teacher named Linda Thaler. Turns out that she lives literally right next door to Snyder’s vacation home on Gun Lake in Middleville, Michigan. The reality is that, despite Ms. Thayer’s contention otherwise, her neighbor and […]