During one of the busy points of a debate over welfare benefits in Michigan, someone asked me, “What do I get out of my taxes going to this? What’s the ROI (return on investment) for welfare?” I replied, “You don’t have to install bars over the windows of your house.” That’s far too flippant to […]
Michigan Government
Citizens cannot do their job of running their government if they don’t know what their public servants are doing.
Posted inMichigan Government
How to get a government's attention
A blog that focuses on doings in the city of Troy has published what appears, to my eye, to be a bombshell of a note from a major Troy employer to city officials. Keeptroystrong presents the memo as coming from Frank Ervin III, the government affairs manager for Magna International. The memo apparently is in […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Voting reform boosts access, security
By Ruth Johnson/Michigan secretary of state Critics and pundits (“Right to vote is under attack,” Dec. 15) would have you think that any move to review and make common sense adjustments to our current elections system is a veiled attempt at destroying our democratic process. The fact is that ensuring integrity in our elections system […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Merger bills won't change names on fire trucks — yet
For years, officials charged with managing local government services and finances have pointed to a variety of provisions in state law they say make the sharing of services with neighbors financially unappealing. With Gov. Rick Snyder’s signature last week on a set of bills, the state believes it has removed a large hurdle to increased […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Keep your views to yourself
From this round-up at slate.com about various redistricting reform efforts around the nation: “As for the various state contests that invite average citizens to submit their own plans, they’ve proven to be mostly for show. No state has yet adopted an outsider’s plan, even though many have been objectively superior to the real maps on […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Right to vote is under attack
By Melanie McElroy/Common Cause Michigan As Americans, we believe it is fundamental that each citizen must have a say in how he or she is governed. It is a right for which many have fought — and for which many continue to fight to preserve. But, as we head into a presidential election year, we […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Tracking the consequences of Michigan's welfare experiment
More than 11,000 Michigan families were kicked off cash assistance last month in what amounted to a huge experiment in social welfare policy. No other state has removed so many families from welfare in such a short amount of time with so little notice. Bridge Magazine is collaborating with Michigan Radio in a year-long project […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Snyder charts right course on roads
By James A. Jacob/Ajax Paving Cars swerving to miss potholes, bumper-to-bumper congestion, concrete falling from dangerous bridges and a lack of enhanced safety features such as broad shoulders along roadways create hazards for Michigan drivers. Michigan roads are notoriously known as some of the worst in the nation. A recent trucker survey ranked Michigan second-worst […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Snyder gets his changes; consequences unclear
Michigan won’t be reinvented in a day. Or a dog year. But as Gov. Rick Snyder concludes his first (human) year in office, the general course he defined as a candidate is coming into view as legislative markers are set. Eight years of partisan division and economic decline prompted public interest groups such as The […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Analysis: Michigan makes huge strides in 2011
By Phil Power/Center for Michigan and Doug Rothwell/Business Leaders for Michigan Michigan has much to be thankful for as this year comes to a close: Better managed state and local government, a brighter economic outlook and more efficient delivery of public services. Our state’s turnaround has begun, but in many ways the hardest work still lies […]