This article is cross-posted from the website of Political Research Associates and appears in PRA’s upcoming Fall, 2014 issue of The Public Eye magazine, a special edition on neoliberalism and the Right. It was written by Jane Slaughter, an American journalist based in Detroit who writes frequently on labor affairs. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, The Progressive, Monthly […]

When I first posted about the humongous truck used by Terri Lynn Land’s campaign to tote around a campaign sign in a post titled “Terri Lynn Land’s campaign is a visible demonstration of waste & excess with a $100K truck that gets 8 mpg”, most people didn’t realize that she has not one, but TWO of these trucks. As I […]

Something great is happening in America — which is why the GOP would rather talk about almost anything else Nearly every day there seems to be more news that the Affordable Care Act is succeeding in ways that seems inconceivable as Healthcare.gov floundered last year: We know that at least 10 million Americans have gained health care coverage since January […]

Richard Baird is the kind of guy you only hear about when he makes a mistake. That’s because he likes to operate behind the scenes, pulling strings, manipulating people, and using his power to get his way. Whether it’s secret meetings to bring back school vouchers with Gov. Snyder’s “Skunk Works” project, potentially illegal lobbying while working in the state […]

A planned September 8th U.S. Senate debate to be hosted by WOOD-TV has been cancelled after Terri Lynn Land and her campaign staff failed to cooperate in setting it up. From the Peters campaign: WOOD-TV is canceling its proposed September 8th U.S. Senate debate because the Land campaign refused to coordinate with organizers. In response, Peters for Michigan Debate Negotiator, […]

Governor Snyder’s reelection campaign released a new ad today that is about as puzzling as his previous ads. He has abandoned his frogman suit and creepy leering at the camera, instead appearing in a t-shirt. He starts the ad by telling us that he’s an accountant as if that should give us comfort when it comes to his political and […]

Interim Education Achievement Authority Chancellor Veronica Conforme is off to a banging start. Just two and a half months after taking over from disgraced John Covington, Conforme oversaw the EAA’s sending out of deceptive letters recruiting students into the state’s district for poor-performing schools. The letters, masquerading as official student assignment notices, went to parents (and some non-parents!) in at […]

NOTE: This story has been updated HERE. On Saturday, I wrote about an apparent effort by former CNN anchor Campbell Brown to take over a lawsuit filed by the New York City Parents Union challenging some aspects of how teachers are either fired or laid off. Parents of the NYCPU told me that Brown appeared to be more interested in […]

As part of the passage of a new law that did an end-run around citizen efforts to raise Michigan’s minimum wage to $10.10/hour over time, today Michigan’s minimum wage rises to $8.15/hour for non-tipped workers. The minimum wage for tipped workers will be 38% of that starting today, as well. Still, a new report by the United Way shows that […]

After John Covington quit (or was forced out) as Chancellor of Gov. Snyder’s failed experiment with Detroit students — the Education Achievement Authority (EAA) — he was replaced by Veronica Conforme, the former chief operating officer of the New York City Department of Education. However, the ethically questionable behavior of the EAA is continuing under her watch. This past week, […]

A Republican new poll finds that women see Republicans as “intolerant,” “out of touch” and “the kind of guys who need a poll to tell them that women find them intolerant and out of touch.” Women are justifiably scared of a political party that seems to be less attuned to women’s issues now than it was in the 1960s. But […]