There are eight Republicans running to replace Cindy Gamrat in Michigan’s 80th State House District, including Gamrat herself. A new poll by Grassroots Midwest, Inside Michigan Politics, and Target Insyght shows that Gamrat is in second place with 14 points, trailing Mary Whiteford by 17 points. The most notable result of the poll, in my opinion, is that if Gamrat […]

Bombshell news coming via Progress Michigan this morning detailing how Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is using fees for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to interfere with government transparency. Earlier this year, Progress Michigan asked the state government for copies of all communications between Paul Pastorek, one of Snyder’s education advisers, and employees of the Michigan Department of Education, […]

Lapeer County has a sordid, albeit recent, history of shady campaign activities, particularly when Todd Courser is involved. During the 2014 campaign, a mysterious campaign flyer was distributed asking the question, “Do you think Todd Courser is a child molester?” While Courser was never proven to have been responsible for the outrageous flyers, many believed he was and, given his […]

In mid-September, just prior to the U.S. visit of Pope Francis, a group of 11 U.S. members of Congress introduced a House Resolution that has become known as “The Gibson Resolution“, named after Rep. Chris Gibson of New York who was the driving force behind it. The resolution, H.R. 424, calls upon Congress to begin taking action on global climate […]

MIRS News Service is reporting this week that the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) and Health and Human Services (DHHS) issued a joint statement clearing Planned Parenthood affiliates in Michigan of any illegal activities related to donations of fetal tissue. The two agencies have been investigating Planned Parenthood after Republican Senator Phil Pavlov called for the investigation in the wake […]

Michigan Republicans have taken no steps to advance legislation introduced in March. Michigan House Republicans are wasting no time pushing through anti-choice abortion coercion legislation they claim is in the best interests of women, even though it doesn’t protect women from more common types of reproductive coercion, a form of domestic abuse. Yet the Republican-led Legislature has been sitting on a package […]

Much as most of us wish that the Courser/Gamrat saga would just end, there is no sign of that happening. Late last week, former Courser & Gamrat staffers Ben Graham and Keith Allard filed a lawsuit against the two claiming they were fired in violation of the Michigan Whisleblowers’ Protection Act: Ex-staffers have sued former state Reps. Todd Courser and […]

With just a month remaining before the primary election to choose the Republican and Democratic candidates in the 82nd Michigan House district, Todd Courser is in a three-way tie to replace himself with himself according to new polling results released this morning by Grassroots Midwest, Inside Michigan Politics, and Target Insyght. The poll of 300 likely Republican primary voters in […]

During the travesty that was the Congressional hearing on Planned Parenthood this week, there was plenty of disgusting hypocrisy coming from the Republican side of the aisle. But the winner of the Most Disgusting Hypocrisy Award has to go to my own Congressman, Tim Walberg (MI-07). As he began his remarks and interrogation of Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, he […]

To the extent that tea partiers in Allegan County dominate the electorate, things are looking very good for Cindy Gamrat to regain her seat in the state House. I’m not kidding: In her first candidate forum since announcing her candidacy for her former 80th District House seat, expelled Rep. Cindy Gamrat won in a straw poll against her eight GOP […]

This past week my pal Amy Kerr-Hardin posted a now-viral piece at Democracy Tree titled “Michigan Lawmakers Propose Bill to Prevent Practicing Condom Use on Bananas“. She was writing about new legislation introduced by Republican Tom Hooker, H.B. 4883, that would, in part, prevent sex education teachers from allowing students to practice using condoms in class. The pertinent section she […]