This should be a non-partisan issue

As I wrote about last week, the Justice Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party held a discussion panel at the statewide convention on Saturday titled “Citizens United v. FEC – The Invisible ‘Person’ in Michigan Elections”. Organized by former Washtenaw County Democratic Party Chair and well-known Michigan attorney and activist Stu Dowty, the panel discussion was wide-ranging and covered everything from undisclosed donors in our judicial elections to the repeal of the odious Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

My write-up after the jump.

There’s more than just a battle for the Chair on Saturday

This Saturday, February 23 at the Michigan Democratic Party statewide convention at Cobo Hall, the Justice Caucus is presenting a terrific panel titled “Citizens United v. FEC – The Invisible ‘Person’ in Michigan Elections”.

The program will include a short film “THE Story of Citizens United v. FEC” followed by an all-star panel that you won’t want to miss. Click through for details.

Here’s to a little sunshine shining in

Starting today, supposedly nonpartisan groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS are going to have to change their ways or reveal who their donors are. And revealing who their donors are is something that they simply will not do.

Last March, I wrote about a lawsuit filed against the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) by Rep. Chris Van Hollen. The resulting case, Van Hollen v. FEC. I wrote about it because U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had thrown out a 2007 FEC ruling that allowed some funders of political ads to remain anonymous.

Today, new rules go into effect and they are a BFD.

Stay tuned… Earlier this month, I wrote about an effort being spearheaded by Jocelyn Benson to put a constitutional amendment up for vote in November called the Corporate Accountability Amendment. The amendment would bring a level of transparency to our state’s elections that is sorely needed: Michigan has some of the weakest lobbying and ethics laws in the country, with […]

Corporations are NOT people One of my favorite Michigan political movers and shakers, Jocelyn Benson, has launched a petition drive to strip away corporate influence on our elections in Michigan. The petition drive, if successful, would lead to the formation of “The Corporate Accountability Amendment”. Benson and others held a press conference yesterday on the steps of the state Capitol […]

Why should you donate? Let me count the ways reasons. It’s a big day today. My wife and I are up early, getting ready to head over to cover President Obama’s speech in Ann Arbor. We’ll be trying out some new technology today that will allow us to have Anne’s high-quality photos online within minutes of her capturing the image. […]

On Tuesday, October 12th at 12:30 p.m. at the Federal Building in Ann Arbor, MoveOn.org is holding an important press conference. At this conference, they will release a new report that details the amount of money being pumped into our elections by anonymous corporations. From their website: Rally with us to stop the corporate takeover of our democracy! This election […]