Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley is using his powers as a state-appointed overseer of the city to appoint two outgoing City Council members rather than permitting a special election as the City’s rules require: Emergency manager Darnell Earley says he will use his power under state law to appoint replacements for two departing City Council members, rather than allowing their […]

According to Dictionary.com, hatred is defined in this way: verb (used without object), hated, hating. To feel intense dislike, or extreme aversion or hostility. It is my firm belief that as a society we use the word hate too casually. I offer this preamble to my last shot at motivating you to vote, act, and make sure others vote tomorrow, […]

Progress Michigan has been doing yeomans work holding the Snyder administration accountable for corrupt actitivies, shining the sanitizing sunshine needed to ensure that transparency isn’t just a catch phrase used by our Governor. In response to an August request for documents from the Michigan Department of Community Health, Progress Michigan was told in September that no such documents existed. Then, […]

Last weekend, Democrat Mark Totten’s campaign for Attorney General called on television stations to stop airing an ad attacking him for claiming he is a federal prosecutor. The ad, they said, is a trumped up lie. The Bridge Magazine Truth Squad agrees and has called a rare “flagrant foul” on the ad: Both sides agree on certain facts about Totten’s […]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Republican Brandt Iden who is running for office in Michigan’s 61st House district and who lied on a candidate questionnaire about having been convicted of a crime. Today another GOP liar has been busted. This time it’s Republican state Rep. Kevin Cotter who is running for reelection in Michigan’s 99th state House […]

Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog The Michigan Advocacy Trust, a 527 group that it does not disclose its donors, has a new television ad out deceptively claiming that Democratic candidate for Attorney General Mark Totten “was never a real prosecutor” and had never handled a federal criminal case. The group is run by Richard McLellan, secretary of […]

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 […]

Republican Brandt Iden who is running for office in Michigan’s 61st House district was sent a questionnaire by MLive for their 2014 Voters Guide. In the questionnaire were these two questions: Have you ever been arrested? (Please detail date, location) Ever been convicted of or pleaded no contest to a crime? Iden answered “no” to both questions. Problem is he […]

When Fred Upton learned that MaydayPAC was planning to spend $1.5 million to unseat him, he went into freak-out mode. He quickly put out a defensive and poorly-done video on Facebook where he describes MaydayPAC as a “shadowy Massachusetts ‘SuperPAC’” and MaydayPAC founder, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, as a “Harvard billionaire”. Of course, MaydayPAC is far from “shadowy”. They […]

My reporting on the Michigan Republican Party’s odious mailer encouraging people to call the phone of the ailing mother of Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 61st House district John Fisher has gotten LOTS of attention. It’s had thousands and thousands of views and the cross-posted version at Daily Kos has given it national exposure. It’s been picked up by other sites, […]

Yesterday I wrote about Gov. Snyder’s new campaign ad called “Numbers” in which he crows about being an accountant and whines about not getting credit for “laying the groundwork” for Michigan’s mythical recovery. In that video, Snyder appears in a t-shirt in front of a hilly, tree-lined road in perfect condition talking about “the Road to Recovery”, a sharp contrast […]