They collect taxes. They borrow money. They pay interest on their loans. They spend money on public improvements to entice businesses to locate in specific areas. And they may have the most bureaucratic of names ever coined: tax increment financing authorities. In Michigan’s capital city, a TIFA allowed the city to bulldoze porn shops, build […]
Taxpayers on hook for 'captures' gone wrong
Posted inMichigan Government
Truth Squad calls foul on campaign doc opposing Snyder-backed bridge
MICHIGAN TRUTH SQUAD ANALYSIS: People Should Decide mailer Who: The People Should Decide What: Mailer Truth Squad Call: Foul Questionable statement: “Snyder’s bridge. Not free. Not even close.” The flier is the latest salvo in a fierce political fight over a proposal to build a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor. The campaign document is […]
Posted inMichigan Government
More details emerge on Schmidt-Bolger election scheme
Call it the story that won’t go away. The Michigan political world was surprised this May when a long-time Democrat, state Rep. Roy Schmidt of Grand Rapids, changed his party affiliation in the last minutes of the filing period for re-election to his House seat. The circumstances of that change brought to the public’s attention […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Leave consolidation decisions to locals
By Larry Merrill/Michigan Townships Association The August primary ballot question in Onekama Village and Onekama Township to dissolve the village drew statewide attention from media and policy pundits who portrayed the election as a harbinger of voter willingness to consolidate Michigan local governments. In the aftermath of its defeat, proponents contend that failure resulted from […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Fools act on imagination without knowledge, pedants act on knowledge without imagination” — Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician. * A great deal of energy has been expended in Michigan, and elsewhere, on voting rules, particularly on the question of voter identification. Such laws are meant, of course, to prevent impersonation at the polling place and prevent voter […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Listening series on schools makes stops in Detroit, Flint
Michiganians in Detroit and Flint have opportunities next week to discuss K-12 education and reform as part of the Center for Michigan’s ongoing townhall series on the topic: WHEN: Aug. 21, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, 1211 Trumbull St., Detroit RSVP: Armando Ojeda – (248) 792-2763 WHEN: Aug. 22, 6 […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Analysis: Northern Michigan rules the House for 2013
Northern Michigan has miles of pristine Great Lakes shoreline, wineries of growing renown, the Porcupine Mountains, M-119, M-22 and the world famous Mystery Spot. What it doesn’t have much of these days are Democrats filling the region’s seats in the state House of Representatives. In November 2008, Democrats collected 190,000 votes in securing seven districts […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Senate poised to tweak teacher retirement plan; major shift deferred in face of cost estimates
When the Legislature reconvenes tomorrow, the question of what to do about the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System – or MPSERS – may get a clear answer from the Senate. After failing to approve a House of Representatives reform plan on repeated occasions, or coalesce around their own change, the Senate appears ready to […]
Posted inMichigan Government
2012 primary draws typically low voter response
The 2012 August primary continued a long trend in Michigan — of voters abandoning the ballot box. The unofficial statewide turnout of 1,498,100 voters — or just 20.4 percent of those registered. Since 1978, the turnout in summer primaries has ranged from a low of 15.1 percent in 1990 (a gubernatorial election year) to a […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Center for Michigan, Bridge win battle for transparency on welfare records
Bridge Magazine and the Center for Michigan prevailed in a Freedom of Information Act appeal, gaining access to records related to Michigan residents removed from cash assistance as a result of the state’s massive welfare reform. In May, Bridge requested data from the Michigan Department of Human Services documenting how many of the more than […]