Dick DeVos, Jr., whose family is Michigan’s version of the Koch brothers, is one of the richest people in our state. After getting beaten by Democrat Jennifer Granholm in 2006, he turned his attention to changing the face of Michigan by using his vast wealth behind the scenes to affect state policy. Whether it’s spending money against Democrats or threatening […]

Ed Buss, the corrections official hired to oversee the scandal-ridden for-profit prison food vendor Aramark has figured out what caused Aramark employees to engage in sex acts with inmates, smuggle heroin, cocaine, and other drugs to prisoners, allow maggots in food service areas in the prisons, and attempt to hire a prisoner to kill another prisoner. You might think it […]

The “College Republican National Committee” has a new web ad targeting voters in six different states, each aimed at supporting a Republican gubernatorial candidate, that Time magazine is calling “The Most Sexist Republican Ad of the Year”. The ad features young women shopping for a wedding dress and, well, I can’t really put this sort of unmitigated sexism into words. […]

I know what you’re thinking: “Eclectablog, how can I possibly keep up with all of the many scandals of the Snyder administration???” Whether it’s department heads living lavish, high-on-the-hog lifestyles on the taxpayer’s dime or “education reform” shysters ringing up huge travel expenses to promote their failed education experiment on Detroit school children, sometimes is just all seems like too […]

I’ve been enjoying reading RightMI.com lately because, if you think that Eclectablog is hard on Governor Snyder, you should see what RightMI.com (formerly RightMichigan.com), reputedly Michigan’s “best” conservative blog, says about him. Today, they have a piece titled “Here Comes the Snyder Gas/Diesel Tax and Fee Hikes” that might set the state record for the most links on a blog […]

It was the best reminder that one million Michigan Democrats didn’t vote in 2010. It was the worst reminder that one million Democrats didn’t vote in 2010. With nothing like a GOP wave approaching Michigan, the party’s two headline state-wide candidates — Rick Snyder and Terri Lynn Land — have retreated into campaign styles that illustrate why that millions of […]

Last night, Gov. Rick Snyder held what was billed as a “public town hall” but was, in actuality a campaign rally given that the host and emcee were unabashed Snyder supporters and seven out of the eight questions he answered were softballs pitched by supporters. The room was less than half full despite Snyder’s press flacks claiming they had turned […]

After facing withering criticism for failing to agree to debate Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer, Republican Governor Rick Snyder announced with great fanfare that he was going to do ten town hall meetings where voters could ask him questions. They said Schauer was welcome to tag along if he wanted, and then slammed him with a truly unprofessional insult, calling […]

After claiming he was going to run a strictly positive campaign, Gov. Rick Snyder has a new negative attack ad out that features a retired teacher named Linda Thaler. Turns out that she lives literally right next door to Snyder’s vacation home on Gun Lake in Middleville, Michigan. The reality is that, despite Ms. Thayer’s contention otherwise, her neighbor and […]

ACCESS TO GOVERNOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF SOLD AT RECENT REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE An exposé by the New York Times shows that access to officials in the administrations of a number of Republican governors can be had by corporate America as long as they were willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars: [A]n error by the Republican Governors Association recently resulted […]

This isn’t GETTING ridiculous, this IS ridiculous Seems not a week goes by that an employee for the for-profit prison food vendor Aramark isn’t busted for some illicit activity or another. In all, nearly 100 Aramark employees are now banned from Michigan prisons for having sex with inmates, delivering cigarettes and drugs like cocaine and heroin to inmates, and for […]