Some truth-telling from the judicial branch

Back in December, Pontiac Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel unilaterally decided to change the composition of the city’s pension board from 11 to 5 members. He thought they were wasting time and money and felt his role as the EM gave him the ability to simply do what he wished.

Yesterday, Oakland County Judge Rae Lee Chabot upheld a preliminary injunction filed by the pension board and reversed Schimmel’s action. In her smack-down of Schimmel’s move, she said “That’s what it looks like — it looks like a dictatorship where the (emergency financial manager) said, ‘look, I’m going to turn over the board so there is no opposition.'”

More after the jump.

That’s quite a working class neighborhood you have there, Senator

During his rebuttal to the State of the Union address the other night, in addition to responding to a different SOTU address than the rest of us watched and having the Most Awkward Drink of Water Ever Ever, Marco Rubio talked about living “in the same working class neighborhood” he grew up in.

Our friends at Estately.com who are, apparently, Eclectablog & LOLGOP fans, sent along a link to Senator Rubio’s real estate posting on their site for the house he lives in. His house is for sale and the sales price is a whopping $675,000. It’s a nice house with a swimming pool and everything. But, at a sales price of over two-thirds of a million dollars, it’s clear that Rubio’s neighborhood is hardly “working class”, at least not any longer.

Details and photos after the jump.

Let’s see if we can keep this trend going, shall we?

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is beginning to pay the true price for his attacks on Michigan families and workers. In an EPIC-MRA poll released this week, the percentage of Michiganders giving him a positive job approval rating has dropped from 51% to a mere 36% and, more importantly, the number giving him a negative job approval rating has jumped 16 points from 32% to 48%.

Details after the jump.

This isn’t over, not by a long shot

On the heels of a lawsuit filed recently in the Ingham County District Court challenging the constitutionality of Michigan’s new Right to Work law, a coalition of unions has filed a similar lawsuit in federal court. The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit and assigned to Judge Stephen Murphy, claims that the law violates the rights of private sector union members who are covered under federal law rather than the laws of the state of Michigan.

Details after the jump.

We don’t have a revenue problem; we have a Republican problem Let’s remind ourselves what happened on January 1, 2013. The Bush tax breaks expired and taxes went up on every American who pays income tax. That was the only reason Republicans were willing to “compromise” and vote to end some of the tax breaks for the richest 1 percent. […]

Boehner’s mama would be so proud…

At last night’s State of the Union address, one of the unquestionable stars of the evening was Desiline Victor, a 102-year old Haitian-born American who waited for hours to vote in November 2012 thanks to the voter-suppression efforts of Florida Republicans. As the President told her story, Ms. Victor tried briefly to stand but it just wasn’t happening. Everyone else, however, did stand and gave her a thunderous standing ovation.

Everyone else except one person, that is: Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

Details after the jump.

“The politics, strategy and tactics of addition”

Lon Johnson‘s name was probably not familiar to most Michigan Democrats until he announced his candidacy for the Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) last week. All of that changed with, in a letter from Senator Debbie Stabenow, the entire Democratic Congressional and Senatorial delegation came out in support of Johnson. Along with them, the Teamsters union and the UAW threw their support behind Johnson, as well.

Anne and I sat down with Johnson and his wife last weekend to discuss his candidacy, his qualifications, and his vision for the future of the MDP. Our interview is after the jump.

Garment-rending about a Cat Food Commission just ran headlong into the Obama Reality

Despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the lefty concern trolls who are convinced that President Obama is going to feed your grandma a steady diet of cat food once she retires, the Obama administration today unequivocally ruled out raising the eligibility age for receiving Medicare.

I realize that this won’t quell the yammering from the left about how this President, a man with absolutely no history whatsoever of doing things to harm our country’s most vulnerable populations, is going to sell seniors down the river to cut the deficit. But I thought it would be worth, you know, getting the actual facts out there.

Details after the jump.

Good for the goose but not for the gander

Last year, Michigan Republican Senator Joe Hune sponsored a bill, which was signed into law during the inflamed duck session, that prevents any school board member from voting on school district contracts if they or any family member are an employee covered by that contract. While this may seem reasonable to avoid conflicts of interest, it’s causing controversy in some school districts where school board members may have relatives who are teachers or district employees.

However, the bill represents an enormous level of hypocrisy from Hune. He sits on a Senate Health Policy Committee and is the chair of the Insurance Committee, making crucial decisions on legislation that affects these industries, industries that make financial contributions to Hune’s campaign.

Details after the jump.

18 years of leadership of one of the most active state parties in the country

For the past 18 years, except for a brief period when Jennifer Granholm installed Butch Hollowell at the helm, Mark Brewer has led the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) as its Chair. During Hollowell’s tenure, Brewer was given the newly created position of Executive Director and, since Hollowell’s departure a year and half later to work on the Kerry campaign, Brewer has held both positions.

Although Mark Brewer has been challenged in the past for his position as Chair, the most recently in 2011, the challenge he faces this year seems more robust than previous attempts. Brewer is supported by the Michigan Education Association, Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters, and the Greater Lansing Labor Council among other organizations along with at least 60 local party leaders across the state. On the other hand, both Senators Stabenow and Levin along with the entire Democratic Congressional delegation, the UAW, and the Teamsters have shifted their support to Brewer’s opponent, former candidate for state House, Lon Johnson.

I spoke to Chair Brewer about this race, his accomplishments as MDP Chair and his vision for the future of the MDP. The interview is after the jump.

The Michigan Democratic Party’s center of gravity is in Washtenaw County

Yesterday, the Ann Arbor Dems held their monthly meeting and it featured a powerhouse line-up. In addition to Dr. John Callewaert, a University of Michigan professor who spoke for nearly 30 minutes on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in Michigan, the meeting attendees heard from Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives Congressman John Dingell, President of the Michigan State Board of Education John Austin, and local State House Representatives Jeff Irwin and Adam Zemke.

The highlight of the day, however, was appearances by both Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) Chair Mark Brewer and his opponent in the upcoming election for MDP Chair, Lon Johnson. The event was extremely well-run by Ann Arbor Dems chair Mike Henry and in the overflow crowd of around 250 people was nearly every elected official from the Ann Arbor area. It was, without question, the biggest political event in Washtenaw County since the election last November.

Details and lots of photos after the jump.