They didn’t just fail to vote. They failed the people they were elected to represent. I’m sick, absolutely sick to my stomach that Republicans in the Michigan Senate refused to hold an up or down vote on Medicaid expansion before adjourning for a two-month recess. Good thing I’m not one of the hundreds of thousands of residents who were counting […]

Are Senate Republicans just running out the clock before summer recess? Or are they seriously considering Medicaid expansion’s merits? After a day reportedly spent largely discussing Medicaid expansion, the Michigan Senate adjourned without voting on the issue. There’s no guarantee they’ll vote on it Wednesday or Thursday, when they adjourn for summer recess. I really have nothing to go on […]

Aye aye aye…

As I wrote last Friday, Republicans in the state House threw a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to help failing school districts back in the faces of Democrats who were trying to make improvements and ended up passing a bill that, once again, harms students and throws teachers to the curb.

Recall that, during the debate, Republicans acted like complete jackasses, absurdly blaming the teachers for the financial crises in places like Inkster and Buena Vista, calling them “hogs” and saying that “they should never try to get another job in education”. It was offensive to its core.

Well, there’s a bit more to this story and, unfortunately, Democrats played a major role in botching this up royally. Click through for details.

Really, it’s starting ALREADY??? Now that Mike Rogers has declined to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Carl Levin in 2014, the top contender is former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (though she has yet to file her paperwork.) Although she’s member of the Republican National Committee, she is not the first pick of most […]

We’re so close to making it happen. Keep up the pressure on your Republican legislators. Medicaid expansion passed the Michigan House last week by a wide margin (76-31), which is incredibly encouraging. Now it goes to the Senate for a vote, which is very likely to happen this week before summer recess begins. But pretty much everyone agrees that convincing […]

Here we go again… Since Democratic House Rep Jim Ananich was elected to the state senate in a special election, his House seat in the 49th district has been a hot commodity. There are several Democratic candidates who will face off in the August 6th primary but one of them sticks out like a bit of a sore thumb. Karyn […]

I do believe the Democrats were told to go Cheney themselves In the dead of night last night, Michigan House Republicans passed a bill that would allow the state government to dissolve small school districts facing financial crises. The bills, House Bills 4813 (and a companion bill 4815), was originally introduced in a bipartisan fashion by Democrat David Rutledge of […]

I’ve never been more optimistic. Keep up the activism. UPDATED with links to a new action tool and a petition to be delivered directly to the Senate. See below. I was hopeful, then I was nervous and now I’m genuinely surprised — in the best possible way. I’m thrilled by the number of Michigan Representatives who voted in favor of […]

Forward momentum and signs of compromise are promising. Supporters of Medicaid expansion — which is pretty much everyone except the Tea Party and staunch conservatives, by most accounts — will be happy to hear some positive news. The House Michigan Competitiveness committee voted 9-5 to approve a Medicaid expansion bill, according to an article in the Detroit Free Press. Opponents […]

Draped in a flag, carrying a cross The funny thing about so-called “small government” Republicans is their hypocritical desire to pass more and more laws, many of them with no purpose (like the Senate resolution that was passed last week “to express support for the state of Michigan officially recognizing September 19, 2013, as International Talk Like a Pirate Day”.) […]

ForProfitSchoolsFirst Last month, I wrote about yet another Republican attack on teachers in the form of House Bill 4625. This bill, as I said then, would make teachers’ pay primarily based on student progress. Current law says that teacher pay should be using job performance and job accomplishments as a significant factor. House Bill 4625, introduced by Republican Pete Lund, […]