Borrowing from Peter Barclays to pay Paul UBS and Bank of America As the trial to determine Detroit’s eligibility for Chapter 9 bankruptcy begins today, Emergency Manager and bankruptcy specialist Kevyn Orr has found a way to ensure that banks are paid off before the tens of thousands of retired city employees with modest pensions earned through their years of […]

Not so fast, governor [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] It’s common knowledge that one of Michigan governor Rick Snyder’s top advisors, Richard Baird, is being paid from a secretive slush fund called the NERD Fund. Because Snyder continues to refuse to disclose the donors to the NERD Fund, there’s no way to know what […]

A hearty welcome to all of you joining us from GOP.com! I want to clear up a little misinformation you received from your Republican friends regarding rate increases in Michigan. Despite what they told you, the actual average increase in rates being asked for by health insurance companies is a scant 2.2%. Yes, some were higher but there were also […]

Gee, why would ANYONE be offended by THAT? After several years of rampant vandalism and arson on Devil’s Night (the night before Halloween) in Detroit, Mayor Dennis Archer created “Angels’ Night” in 1995 which enlisted the help of Detroit citizens in the evenings around Halloween to help law enforcement stem the tide. As part of Angels’ Night, city officials have […]

TMI Former Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon, appointed by Governor Rick Snyder as the state Treasurer, has resigned from his office to deal with messy divorce that was becoming more and more public as time went on. Dillon, who has also had problems with substance abuse, was recently accused by his ex-wife Carol Owens-Dillon of assault after he tried to […]

Hallelujah All photos by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog As I wrote back January (has it been that long?), the Detroit City Council set itself up to be the punchline of a bad joke when it rejected an offer by the State of Michigan to make the fabulous Belle Isle our state’s newest state park. However, in his best […]

Treating people with this level of disdain will lead to no good end [Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog] Last week on Wednesday, September 11th, during a 90+ degree heat wave and just two days after an escaped prisoner terrorized the city, Detroit Chief Compliance Officer Gary Brown intentionally and without notice cut power to major buildings in […]

Pay no attention to the hypocrite behind the curtain [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] Last Friday the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union issued subpoenas for Governor Rick Snyder, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, Michigan treasurer Andy Dillon, and “transformation manager” Richard Baird, compelling their testimony regarding the Snyder administration’s […]

Is it now too expensive to teach disabled children? [CC image credit: ~kawaii-bubble-wrap | deviantART] In April of this year, former Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts announced that Oakman Elementary/Orthopedic, a school specializing in serving disabled Detroit students, was slated to be closed. After doing a cost-benefit analysis, the school was found to be too expensive to keep […]

This court decision “could restore small-d democracy across Michigan” Last night, Rachel Maddow reported on something that regular readers of this blog already know: a recent federal appeals court decision has major implications for the potential striking down of Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law. While this news is, in my mind, HUGE, it barely got noticed anywhere including in Michigan […]

Rising to the level of his incompetence, maybe? Michigan state Treasurer Andy Dillon, the man in charge of assigning and overseeing not only Michigan’s finances but all of the state’s many Emergency Managers, is attempting to close his 2010 gubernatorial campaign committee. However, there is over $100,000 not accounted for so the elections division will not allow him to close […]