I read this stuff so you don’t have to

A mere 37 days after voters repealed Public Act 4, Michigan’s notorious and anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law, Republican legislators passed a new version to replace it. It was signed into law as Public Act 436 thirteen days later. This defiant thumb-in-the-eye to the will of the voters was even more egregious since it contains two appropriations, one to pay Emergency Managers and another to hire consultants, lawyers, “work-out experts”, and others to implement the law. These appropriations ensure voters won’t have a chance to interfere with the business of our Very Serious GOP legislators on this matter again.

So, what, exactly, is in this new law? Well, for starters, let’s have a look at the title:

“THE LOCAL FINANCIAL STABILITY AND CHOICE ACT”

I’m not kidding. That’s what they call it. It’s surprising they didn’t figure out a way to include the words “FREEDOM” and “INDEPENDENCE” while they were at it. You can read the law HERE (pdf).

All the gory details of this new law after the jump.

Look out, Detroit! It’s coming right for ya!

The Detroit Free Press is reporting this afternoon that an Emergency Financial Manager is being called “inevitable” for Detroit. If that happens, over half of the African Americans in Michigan will be under the rule of an Emergency Financial Manager, with little to no say in the operation of their local government.

Details and commentary after the jump.

This is why we need to be thinking about the 2014 midterm election

Back in August, I wrote about how the repeal of Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law — would, by law, leave Michigan without any law creating Emergency Managers or Emergency Financial Managers. I showed pretty clearly how the law prevents PA 72, the predecessor to PA 4, from coming back.

This week, the Michigan Court of Appeals chose to completely disregard the Michigan constitution and, in essence, allow the resurrection of Zombie Law PA 72 anyway.

This one is easy

Third in a series on the ballot proposals on Michigan’s November 6, 2012 ballot. Read them all HERE.

Regular readers of this website know very well that I abhor Public Act 4 — Michigan’s so-called Emergency Manager Law. It is the most outrageous government overreach in my lifetime, put in place by hypocritical Republicans who claim that they are for “smaller government”. The fact is, there is no larger government intrusion into the lives of Michiganders than PA 4. Period.
Click through to read why you should VOTE NO ON PROPOSAL 1.

Emergency Managers: they’re not just for black folks anymore

Since it became clear that Michigan’s Emergency Manager law — Public Act 4 — was disproportionately impacting majority African American communities, I have been warning that this was something that wasn’t likely to stay confined to those towns. In fact, I have written, it was likely going to take a majority white city staring down the barrel of state-appointed dictator — a viceroy, if you will — before non-African American Michiganders would start to take notice.

Attention, white Michiganders: it’s time to take notice.

Details after the jump.

Zombie fighters are on the case

In early August, after an intentionally absurd legal battle, Public Act 4 — Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law — was repealed. Attorney General Bill Schuette immediately declared that the former version of the law, Public Act 72 — the Emergency FINANCIAL Manager law — was back in force. The lengths to which Schuette went to justify this decision were nothing short of epic.

Now a group of civil rights attorneys has stepped up to slay the zombie beast. Click through for details.

Fer cryin’ out loud, was THAT so hard???

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers met today in Lansing and followed the order given to them by the state Supreme Court to put the repeal of Public Act 4 – our state’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law – on the November ballot.

While you would think that this is the final piece in the Republican Stall Machine, it’s not. Although PA 4 is now officially suspended until the election to determine if it’s repealed or upheld, there is now certain to be a court battle over what happens in the interim.

More after the jump.

“He’s dead, Jim…”

Earlier today, I wrote about how Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is trying to resurrect the Zombie Emergency Financial Manager Law, PA72. I showed how he’s using circuitous logic to arrive at that conclusion. But, it’s pretzel logic at it finest.

He says first that MCL 8.4, which prevents the resurrection of a dead law, doesn’t apply because PA4 is only suspended, not repealed. Therefore, it’s still on the books and MCL 8.4 doesn’t prevent them from resurrecting PA72.

Then he says that, because PA4 is gone, its repeal of PA72 doesn’t exist so it is able to rise from the dead to walk the earth among the living.

I put together this easy-to-follow flowchart to help out AG Schuette who seems to lack the ability to grasp simple, common sense concepts. It’s so basic that even Mr. Schuette should be able to wrap his simple mind around it.

(Psst! It’s after the jump.)

BRAAA-AAAINS!!!

With the approval of the PA 4 repeal ballot initiative imminent, the predictable (and predicted) fight over what happens next is fully underway.

Using a truly astonishing act of mental gymnastics and pretzel logic, Republicans, aided and abetted by Attorney General Bill Schuette, are convinced that we will simply revert to the original statute, Public Act 72. Though this law gave Emergency Financial Managers much less abusive authority than the Emergency Managers under Public Act 4, those municipalities and school districts currently under the thumb of a local dictator beg to differ with this view of things.

Join me on the Zombie Law Roller Coaster after the jump.

NOW we’re getting somewhere

This morning the Michigan Supreme Court issued an order directing the Board of State Canvassers to certify the nearly quarter million petition signatures to put repeal of the anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law on the November ballot.

More after the jump.

“Fiscal Responsibility” – I don’t think that means what you think it means

The absurdly named group Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility is taking their disenfranchising and deceitful case regarding the Public Act 4 repeal petition font size to the state supreme court.

Keep in mind that they already lost at the Court of Appeals level, including a rejection by the entire 28-judge appeals court panel. The Court of Appeals made it very clear the long-established precedent regarding “substantial compliance” of petitions is governs this case. {more…}