The original deadline for the petition drive to put the recall of Michigan governor Rick Snyder expired. However, recall organizers have elected to continue their effort. From my latest piece at A2Politico: Perhaps the biggest challenge for the recall organizers has been the extremely short period of time Michigan laws allow for the collection of petition signatures. The petition language […]

The Obama administration gets accused of “gutting” Medicare and Medicaid by stupidos who think they can’t achieve large savings by eliminating “waste and fraud”. There is, apparently, plenty of fraud to be “gutted” out of the system. In Michigan this week, two dozen scumbags were indicted for a $60 million prescription fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors have charged more than two […]

Stuff like this is why it’s so goddam important to turn over that ballot on election day and vote for the Supreme Court justices. With Republicans in charge in Michigan, this is the kind of ruling you get: The state’s highest court says a Fowlerville woman who was sexually assaulted by a deputy inside the Wayne County Jail cannot move […]

My latest piece at A2Politico gives an illuminating look at the number two administrator in the Snyder administration in charge of our state’s Emergency Managers. His name is Roger Fraser and, until earlier he was the City Administrator for Ann Arbor, Michigan’s sixth largest city, a position he held for nine years. He currently has the position of Deputy State […]

Unionized school employees in Detroit were dealt another blow today as Emergency Manager Roy Roberts wiped away their union contract and cut the wages by 10% across the board. This comes after Detroit Public School (DPS) employees accepted a major wage concession just a year and a half ago. Wielding power under a new state law to modify union contracts, […]

This is rich: Lawmakers in Washington should look to Michigan “as a good role model for success” as they try to resolve a battle over raising the national debt ceiling that is approaching a crisis, Gov. Rick Snyder said today. “I mean that,” Snyder said during a tour of the Delray area of southwest Detroit where he met with residents […]

After he lost his bid for the Republican nomination for Governor in Michigan in 2010, we didn’t hear a great deal from Pete Hoekstra until, in April of this year, he sent out a press release saying he was NOT going to run for Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat. After serious consideration and many discussions with friends and supporters, Diane and […]

Yesterday, Borders Books announced that it was going out of business and liquidating its assets. This will put another roughly 11,000 people out of work including many right here in Michigan. It’s a huge loss both in terms of jobs and in terms of having a good bookseller around. But P.D. Lesko at A2Politico points out, there is at least […]

This scenario was entirely predictable. The latest call for an emergency manager in Metro Detroit is coming from an unlikely place — the affluent Northville Public Schools. Stalled contract negotiations between administrators and employees have school board members discussing the possibility of seeking an emergency manager, which under state law must be appointed by the governor. Emergency managers have the […]

THIS is unbelievable. When Jason and Julie Bass had to rip up their front lawn to replace a pipe, they decided to rebuild it this spring with raised beds and filled them with vegetable plants. Their front yard garden of cucumbers, tomatoes and peas has since landed the Oak Park couple a ticket, a court date and support from around […]

When Michigan Republicans passed the legislation that became Michigan Public Act 4 of 2011 or P.A. 4 or the “Emergency Manager Act” or “local government and school district fiscal accountability act” or, as I call it, the Financial Martial Law Act, they took a subtle step that few noticed. They changed the name of “Emergency Financial Manager” to simply “Emergency […]