The Michigan legislature has had a lot of bad ideas about our environment. Here’s who voted for them This hasn’t been a great couple of years for environmental protection in Michigan. To help us all keep track, and hold the legislature accountable, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters released its legislative scorecard last week, rating the Michigan House and Senate […]

Republicans even suck at being assholes First is was a Republican operative posing as a CNN reporter. Then it was a Snyder intern attempting to infiltrate a Schauer campaign GOTV office. Now we have failed infiltration attempt #3 of Democrat Mark Schauer’s gubernatorial campaign by the reelection campaign of Gov. Rick Snyder. For the third time this year, Democratic gubernatorial […]

In 2011 Terri Lynn Land bought an apartment complex from “Land & Co.” for a bit under a million bucks. This was a small investment to allow her to claim to be a small business owner and not part of Land & Co. itself, the “family business” she repeatedly touts in her campaign speeches and ads to prove her business […]

  The Republican Party’s first convention took place “under the oaks” in Jackson, Michigan on July 6th, 1854. A crowd of three thousand felt-hatted Free Soilers, top-hatted ex-Whigs and hatless abolitionists* gathered in the summer’s wet heat for a day to organize in protest of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had shattered the fantasy that America could survive a half-slave and […]

Public Policy Polling’s latest Michigan poll has very good news for Democrats. Let’s start out with the very best news: after trailing in all previous polling, Mark Schauer is now in a 40-40 dead heat with incumbent Republican Governor Rick Snyder. What’s more, Snyder’s numbers are down four points from December and he has a negative job approval of 54% […]

Transference much, Tim? Tim Walberg, Congressman for Michigan’s 7th District, doesn’t think much of Americans. I mean he REALLY doesn’t think much of Americans. In fact, according to Walberg, we’re all just a bunch of slaves. Here’s what he said at a Family Research Council conservative pastor’s conference called “Watchmen at the Wall” in May: And so in [the Biblical […]

In a blatant display of bias, opponents of choice keep trying to stack the deck against women’s legal access to abortion. I’m not sure which of these pieces of news makes me angrier, so I’ll start with the most recent. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down Massachusetts’ buffer zone law, siding with anti-abortion extremists who think they […]

It’s been a tough week for Michigan governor Rick Snyder. During the negotiations over road funding at the end of the last legislative session, our illustrious governor was MIA, choosing instead to head to New York City to consult with bond ratings agencies. His lack of leadership on the home front resulted in his Republican colleagues – who have a […]

Back in 2010, Rick Snyder was a relative unknown in Michigan at this point in the midterm election cycle. In fact, he didn’t crack 50% on name recognition until the after the primary election in August. In contrast, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer is known by over 60% of the electorate according to recent polling by Mitchell Research (pdf). Not […]

Michigan GOP’s new motto: “(Over)react first, get the facts later” Last March, Michigan Republicans announced that they were going to essentially fine Michigan State University a half million dollars for having the audacity to provide courses that were, in their words, “encouraging labor disputes”. As it turns out, that wasn’t the case at all. The courses were not open to […]

After working until 1 in the morning the previous evening, the Michigan Senate was looking at another marathon session as they tried to tackle road funding and a last minute push to expand the Education Achievement Authority. Although EAA expansion had been considered dead earlier in the afternoon, a group of EAA lobbyists, representatives from their two law firms, their […]