Pontiac – we build excitement?

There’s a pretty well-written, well-researched and fair piece about Michigan’s Emergency Manager crisis at Governing.com. It focuses heavily on Pontiac and their history with EMs including their current one, Louis Schimmler.

There wasn’t a lot in the article that I didn’t already know but there were two things that caught my attention…

Speaking truth

My good friend Brit Satchwell, educator and president of the Ann Arbor Education Association, is always on the forefront of fighting for workers and for those in Michigan who are most acutely impacted by the Republicans that currently have control of our state government. Whether it’s circulating petitions for the repeal of Public Act 4 — Michigan’s vile Emergency Manager law — or to recall Governor Rick Snyder or to enshrine collective bargaining rights in our state constitution, Brit is there, defending our democracy.

When the Board of State Canvassers met last week and two Republican men betrayed and silenced the voice of nearly a quarter million Michigan citizens with a vote based on a concocted lie, Brit was there and on his feet shouting “Traitor!” at those men. Detroit News photographer captured the moment exquisitely (you can see it HERE.)

Brit took pen to paper recently and composed a heartfelt and perfectly-worded response to this egregious act which he then sent to the Board. I am reprinting here from the blog of Michigan Forward with permission…

If you think elections just don’t matter, this should wake you up

Yesterday, two Republican men denied a quarter million Michiganders their political voice, a voice guaranteed by the constitution of the state and firmly-rooted in the basic tenets of our democracy.

Two men.

It’s astonishing that our system is set up to give two men this much power.

The excuse that both men gave was that, because the the heading on the petition was too small, the petitions were invalid.

But this was not and never should have been about the fonts.

Democracy not upheld

After hearing testimony from both sides, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers voted by a vote of 2 to 2 NOT to validate the petitions to repeal Public Act 4 — Michigan’s Emergency Manager law. By doing so they threw out the signatures of nearly a quarter million Michigan citizens.

The vote was followed by chants of “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!”

[More after the jump.]

Hallelujah!

I’m going to let the Stand Up for Democracy press release speak for itself:

Citizens in the Stand Up for Democracy Coalition are announcing they have received notice from the Secretary of the Board of State Canvassers reporting the group has collected 203,238 valid voter signatures needed to place the repeal of Public Act 4 (aka the Emergency Manager Law) on the November 2012 general election ballot. According to the report, the group exceeded the 161,305 valid signatures needed by more than 40,000.

[More after the jump.]

I find your quaint city constitutions mildly amusing… At a speech criticizing Michigan’s Emergency Manager law yesterday, former Pontiac Emergency Manager Michael Stampfler was talked about the importance of investing in capital infrastructure and something he called civic capital — engagement of the local citizens in the process of governing. Then he suggested that city charters were just “interesting reading”. […]

What the font is going on?

If you’ve been following this blog recently, you’ll know that the repeal of Public Act 4 — Michigan’s Emergency Manager law — is being challenged on a teeny tiny technicality. The challengers say that the font on one of the headings is just a millimeter or two too small.

No, I’m not kidding.

I’ve debunked this ridiculous assertion (HERE & HERE) but the Board of State Canvassers will meet on Thursday to make their decision.

That’s where YOU come in.

Oh. NOW you tell us. Former Emergency Manager of Pontiac Michael Stampfler is giving a presentation to the Rotary Club of Wyandotte about why Public Act 4 – Michigan’s Emergency Manager law — isn’t working and cannot work. Stampfler says, “I do not believe EMs can be successful — they abrogate the civic structure of the community for a period […]

Hello? Anybody out there? I really have to ask the question, “Where is the mainstream media on the challenge to Public Act 4 repeal petitions?” This is not just a wonky, technical discussion. This is an attempt to silence the voices of nearly a quarter million Michiganders on a concocted technicality. (If you’ve missed my previous posts on this, you […]

You fontin’ me, bro?

Yesterday, I took a look at the font size on the petitions to put the repeal of Public Act 4 — Michigan’s Emergency Manager law — on the November ballot. Recall that the group Citizens for Financial Responsibility is challenging the more than quarter million citizen signatures on a minor font-based technicality. As I said yesterday, it’s a desperate move and one that’s not even based on anything legitimate.

The rules (which you can read HERE [pdf]) don’t actually tell you what type of font is required. If you wanted to, you could use Comic Sans or anything else that is readable. However, the font choice makes a BIG difference in the height and width of font.

[More analysis with example fonts after the jump.]

Clear as mud

I was cleaning up my office today and came across a couple Public Act 4 repeal petitions. I thought it would be interesting to see how wrong the fonts are. Recall that Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility wants to toss out nearly a quarter million petition signatures because they say the heading font is smaller than the required 14-point boldface font (state regulation HERE (pdf).) They aren’t saying that the petition language itself is too small, just the heading.

Follow me over the jump for photos and comparisons and all sorts of fonty goodness.