Back in 2012, Indiana became the second state after Michigan to pass an emergency manager law that allows the state to take control from locally, democratically elected leaders and put it into the hands of an appointed bureaucrat. The law covers any “distressed political subdivision” which, like in Michigan, includes municipalities or school districts. Furthermore, Indiana’s Emergency Managers have the […]

When Robert Bobb was appointed to be the Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit Public Schools in 2009, the district was $219 million in debt. When he left two years later, the debt had ballooned by 50% to $327 million. This is one of the legacies of Emergency Management in Michigan. Another of the legacies is that people who failed colossally […]

Flint’s water, Detroit’s schools and the assault on democracy Elected officials can: a) call a meeting to order; b) approve the minutes; c) and adjourn the meeting. That’s democracy under Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law. Watch out. It could be coming to your state. At this year’s Netroots Nation, Eclectablog’s Chris Savage hosted a panel on “Flint and Detroit Public Schools: […]

Back in January of last year, Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stripped Atlantic City residents of their democracy and took over control of the city with an Emergency Manager. The move came after the implosion of the casino industry plunged the city into insolvency. The road to the loss of democracy in Atlantic City began, in part, when Donald […]

The term “Emergency Manager” was not invented by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his corporatist Republican colleagues. In fact, Emergency Managers existed before that crew got around to passing what is perhaps the most anti-democratic legislation ever seen in the United States. According to the U.S. Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), Emergency Managers are professionals whose […]

In comments here at Eclectablog and in many other media spaces around the globe, people are clamoring for the resignation of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. For Michigan residents, that call has been ringing in the halls of this great state almost from the moment he was sworn into office for his first term. If we get into the “Way Back […]

In 1999, the Detroit Public School system had a positive fund balance of $246,300,000 according to a ten-year summary in their 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (pages 91-92). That was the same year that the DPS was taken over by the State of Michigan under Republican John Engler. The school district was placed under the control of an Emergency Financial […]

Back in 2012, I first wrote about the exporting of Michigan’s Emergency Financial Manager system to Indiana, the first instance of this happening and something I had been warning the country about in my own small way for two years. It was eventually signed into law later that year. This week we learn that the first use of the Emergency […]

Time to update my chart… Back in December, I took a look at how many cities and schools were in financial crisis under Governor Rick Snyder compared with his predecessors. The results were pretty shocking: When you look at the situation under Governor Snyder compared with his predecessors, the data is striking. Including all cities and schools that have either […]

Governor Snyder: it’s not working Three new municipalities are now under consideration for an Emergency Manager: Lincoln Park, Royal Oak Township, and Highland Park. If Highland Park goes, it will be its second time around and it will be the third city to come out of financial crisis under an Emergency Manager only to go back under an Emergency Manager […]

“The laws right now are written to mete out punishment to local officials, but there need to be clear partnership requirements for the state to address fiscal stress.” Flint, Michigan is rare in that it has not had just one Emergency Manager. It has had four different managers and the current “emergency” is the second one for the former manufacturing […]