By now, you probably know about Autumn Summer and her effort to get the recall of Michigan House Speaker Bolger on the February 2012 ballot. I have written about how he is using every legal tactic in the book to thwart her efforts and to make it too expensive for her to fight back against his cowardly efforts. I first […]

As I reported two days ago, Autumn Smith, the organizer for the recall effort against Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger, is being systematically thwarted at every step by Bolger’s friends and lawyers. I shined a light on her situation with my blog (and by crossposting at Daily Kos, Blogging for Michigan and My.Firedoglake.) I also got in touch with some […]

I want to draw your attention to sureujest‘s fine Daily Kos diary covering yesterday’s Pontiac press conference held by Sugar Law Center and plaintiffs in the lawsuit to declare Michigan’s Financial Martial Law Act unconstitutional. In it she has photos, video and interviews from participants. Here is an excerpt: At the late afternoon press conference in Pontiac, MI today I […]

NOTE: This story has been updated HERE. How do you know when you have a Republican on the run? When they are so frightened of being recalled that they use every legal harassment technique in the book. And, right now, Representative Jase Bolger, the Speaker of the House from Michigan’s 63rd District, is running very scared. So scared, in fact, […]

Okay, can I just say how much I love THIS??? In Traverse City volunteers collected about 1200 signatures within a few hours Saturday afternoon. “People saw the signs at our table and on our many petitioner’s clipboards and eagerly offered their support,“ said Amy Hardin of Reject Emergency Managers. “We blasted through our first box of petitions in no time […]

I have a piece up at A2Politico.com that reveals the breaking news that 28 Michigan residents along with the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice and the Center for Constitutional Rights have filed a lawsuit in Michigan challenging the constitutionality of Public Act 4, the so-call “Financial Martial Law Act” recently passed by Republicans. The defendents in the […]

This Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. is an informational townhall meeting on the effort to repeal the Financial Martial Law Act recently passed by the Republicans in Michigan’s legislature. I will be a featured speaker in the Michigan Forward-sponsored event, talking about the history of the law and what it does. Here are the details from their press […]

The Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, a non-profit law firm based in Detroit, just released this news: CITIZENS TO ANNOUNCE MAJOR STATEWIDE ACTION AGAINST MICHIGAN’S CONTROVERSIAL EMERGENCY MANAGER LAW Over two dozen citizens from across Michigan will announce, on Wednesday, June 22, a major action directed against Michigan’s controversial “emergency manager” law. The new law has serious […]

I’m en route to Netroots Nation but had to pull off to blog THIS: A whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former top aide to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing this morning alleges that the mayor had plans to be named emergency manager for the city and Detroit Public Schools, dissolving the city council and the school board. ~SNIP~ Collins said in […]

As you know, if you read my blog, this past spring, Michigan Republicans passed legislation that Governor Rick Snyder signed into law as Public Act 4 of 2011, otherwise known as “The Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) Law”. Although Michigan governors already had the ability to put EFMs in place in struggling cities and schools, this new law gives EFMs wide-sweeping […]

I have a new piece up today at A2Politico that shows just how far Michigan’s CPA-style Emergency Financial Managers (EFMs) will go to cut costs. Michael Stampfler is Pontiac, Michigan’s EFM. He has the dubious distinction of being the first Michigan EFM to use new powers granted by Michigan Republicans to cancel a union contract. What went nearly unnoticed was […]