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Senate committee considers new penalties for energy theft
Michigan Messenger Blog - 1 hour 49 min ago
One week after three Detroit children died in a home with an illegal electricity connection, the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee has scheduled a hearing on legislation that would create new penalties for people who illegally hook up gas or electric service or tamper with meters.
The proposed law states:
A person who sells or transfers or attempts to sell of transfer the product of service of an electric provider or natural gas provider to any other person, knowing or having reason to know that the product or service was obtained illegally, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.
Last Tuesday Travion Young, 5, Fantasia Young, 4, and Salena Young, 3 died in a house fire that ignited shortly after DTE Energy disconnected illegal hookups for gas and electricity.
ClickonDetroit reports that a handyman cut the padlocks the utility company had placed on the electric meter, hooked up the power to help the family, and donated an old space heater.
Michigan’s two largest power companies — Consumers Power and DTE Energy — shut off utilities to more than 181,000 customers in the first nine months of last year.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Essay: The Failuer of Term Limits - 3.9.10
Jack Lessenberry's Blog - 8 hours 31 min ago
A new study on the effects of term finds that they’ve been a disaster for the state. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry explains…
There’s plenty of historical evidence that the vast majority of Americans have firmly believed two things since the Declaration of Independence was signed. First of all, we have the greatest country and the greatest people in the world.
If you challenge that statement in a bar in Flint some night, you are apt to have a serious fight on your hands. However, we also firmly believe that most of our politicians and elected officials are crooks, scoundrels, incompetent or simply wrongheaded.
More than a century ago, Mark Twain said, “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” Today, we might substitute “crook” for “idiot.”
As for state officials, surveys show the voters hold them in even lower regard. Well, eighteen years ago, after numerous scandals and frustrations with government, Michigan voters attempted to do something about this. They went to the polls, and enacted one of the most extreme term limit laws in the nation. Here’s how it works: Anyone elected to the state house of representatives can serve a maximum of three two-year terms. Anyone elected to the state senate can be there for no more than two four-year terms.
Statewide office holders - governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state - can serve two four-year terms, and then that‘s it. For life. The idea was to get a better legislature, more representative of the citizens.
The new citizen lawmakers would supposedly be freer from influence by lobbyists, and less indebted to special interests.
Term limits completely kicked in a dozen years ago, and it’s time to ask how they have done. Fortunately, a team of researchers at Wayne State University led by Dr. Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson have been studying their effects right from the start. They’ve just published a major article in Legislative Studies Quarterly, and their findings are perfectly clear: Term limits have been a terrible failure in every sense of the word. True, they’ve succeeded in getting new faces into the legislature, but otherwise have done us great damage.
The new article reveals that state lawmakers now spend far less time monitoring what state agencies do than they did before term limits, though everyone expected the opposite.
What’s more, the new legislators have turned out to be more dependent on lobbyists and special interests than in the “bad old days.” There’s a reason for this, Sarbaugh-Thompson concludes:
Today’s legislators don’t have enough time to learn their jobs. There are no veteran lawmakers to mentor them. As for monitoring state agencies, she said “research shows that many legislators elected after term limits don’t even realize this is part of their job.“
Sarbaugh-Thompson wrote a book a few years ago setting down her preliminary findings, but things have clearly gotten worse.
Anyone who covers the legislature knows that term limits are clearly responsible for the dysfunction that’s behind our perpetual state budget crisis today. Yet nobody seems to have the political courage to admit we made a mistake and need to get rid of them. The founding fathers, by the way, did give us the best system of term limits there is. If you don’t like what they do, vote ’em out.
That worked for two centuries. Let’s take a truly conservative approach, and get back to that, soon as we can.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Business and unions back Meijer in campaign finance violation case
Michigan Messenger Blog - 11 hours 43 min ago
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Education Association and the Michigan Teamsters have asked the Michigan Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court decision that allows local prosecutors to investigate criminal campaign finance act violations, The Traverse City Record Eagle reports.
In 2008 Meijer acknowledged that it had illegally funded front groups in an attempt to influence elections in Acme, a village outside Traverse City where the grocery giant planned to build a new store.
Meijer paid a $190,000 fine for its violation of campaign finance law, but Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider wants to investigate possible criminal actions by those that arranged the illegal campaign activities.
Last November the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling and found that Meijer can be criminally prosecuted for violations of campaign finance law.
Meijer has asked the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal of this decision and Schneider’s criminal investigation is on hold until the court decides whether to pursue the matter.
Rich Robinson, executive director of the nonprofit Michigan Campaign Finance Network, told the Record Eagle that it doesn’t surprise him that labor and business would back Meijer in the campaign finance case because these groups are well served by the current system of treating campaign finance violations as a civil matter.
“This idea they could be found criminally liable anytime they violate the act makes it a lot more serious when they push the envelope,” he said.
A January U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down limits on corporate spending in elections is likely to hurt the criminal case against Meijer.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Cox endorses Schuette for Attorney General
Michigan Messenger Blog - 14 hours 6 min ago
Current Michigan Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Mike Cox on Monday endorsed Bill Schuette, a former state judge, for the position he currently holds. Schuette is running against Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Bouchard announces government spending reform proposals
Michigan Messenger Blog - 14 hours 19 min ago
Oakland County Sheriff and GOP candidate for governor Mike Bouchard announced his government spending reform proposals in Saginaw Monday.
According to a press release on his campaign website, Bouchard’s proposal includes:
Eliminating the Michigan Business Tax and replacing the business tax system with one that is low, easy to comply with and makes Michigan globally competitive.
· Moving all future public employees, including school district, local government, and public higher education employees, to a defined contribution plan from a defined benefit plan.
· Creating a cafeteria-style health-care plan option for all three branches of government. Employees would have two or three choices and can pay for enhanced options or choose reduced coverage. Universities, school districts and local units of government could opt in to lower their insurance rates.
· Requiring a two-thirds vote in the Legislature for tax increases and hikes in total state spending that outpace prior year private sector spending (Gross Domestic Product minus inflation.) This will protect taxpayers and businesses now and in the future. Bouchard proposed this twice while he was a leader in the Senate.
· Increasing government transparency by requiring state agencies to post every check written online for taxpayers to review, and by posting state employee salary and benefit information, including unfunded liability information.
· Systematically reviewing every state agency for efficiency and eliminating optional programs that duplicate federal ones.
· Having the Legislature become part-time with lawmakers getting part-time pay, and requiring that lawmakers have a budget in place by May 15 or have their pay docked for each day it’s delayed.
· Creating a two-year rolling budget process based on externally verified numbers that looks ahead three years so lawmakers and the governor can plan for the future and make budget adjustments as needed.
Not included in this “Principles of Lasting Prosperity” proposal was his plan to privatize public rest areas, and eliminating funding for the Michigan Commission for the Blind and other disabled Michigan residents.
Bouchard is battling Attorney General Mike Cox, Ann Arbor Businessman Rick Snyder, Holland Congressman Pete Hoekstra, and State Sen. Tom George for the GOP nomination for governor. Polls have put him fourth in the race, with Hoekstra up over Cox, followed by Snyder.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Cox says he can’t remember what phone service he had, declines to turn over phone records
Michigan Messenger Blog - 14 hours 29 min ago
Attorney General Mike Cox, who is in the midst of a bid for the GOP nomination for governor, says he can’t provide lawyers in a lawsuit with his phone records from 2003 because he can’t remember what service he used.
The records were subpoenaed by lawyers representing the family of slain adult entertainer Tamara Greene in a lawsuit against the city of Detroit, reports the Detroit News.
Greene was allegedly present at a party at the mayoral residence, Manoogian Mansion, in 2002. The party was supposedly hosted by Kwame Kilpatrick, who has since resigned amidst a sex scandal and text message scandal. He was also convicted of several counts in relation to the text messages.
But Cox investigated the alleged party and declared the story was “an urban legend.”
The Kilpatrick-Cox nexus has been played by some in Cox’s own party as a weakness for the AG’s bid to be governor. Cox denies this.
But since then, MSP police investigator Mark Krebs has testified that Cox prevented the investigation from proceeding properly. That allegation landed Cox in a deposition with the Green family attorney. And now a request for his phone records. His office says it has turned over cell phone records from the time, as well as office records.
But Cox says he can’t remember what phone service he was using at home in 2003, and thus can’t possibly find the phone records.
That’s the kind of organizational skill that speaks highly of a potential governor.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Stupak says abortion compromise possible
Michigan Messenger Blog - 14 hours 41 min ago
Rep. Bart Stupak told the Associated Press on Monday that he thinks a compromise can be reached on the issue of abortion funding in the health care reform bill the Democrats are trying to pass.
Rep. Bart Stupak said he expects to resume talks with House leaders this week in a quest for wording that would impose no new limits on abortion rights but also would not allow use of federal money for the procedure.
“I’m more optimistic than I was a week ago,” Stupak said in an interview between meetings with constituents in his northern Michigan district. He was hosting a town hall meeting Monday night at a local high school.
“The president says he doesn’t want to expand or restrict current law (on abortion). Neither do I,” Stupak said. “That’s never been our position. So is there some language that we can agree on that hits both points – we don’t restrict, we don’t expand abortion rights? I think we can get there.”
Stupak, the chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, is the leading voice of a group of 11 or 12 Democrats who want a prohibition on funding for abortion as part of the bill. They have said they will vote against the bill without such language — and the Democrats will have a very difficult time passing the bill without their votes, which gives them a good deal of leverage.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Scott sticks to plan of targeting transgendered
Michigan Messenger Blog - 14 hours 51 min ago
At a recent forum for the Republican candidates for Secretary of State, a defiant Rep. Paul Scott refused to back down from his unusual strategy of targeting transgendered people and refusing to allow them to change the gender designation on their driver’s licenses.
As the Messenger previously reported, Rep. Scott entered the race for the Secretary of State job by declaring that he would “make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance.” Asked what problem this was intended to solve, he told the Messenger that it was all about “preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms.”
This left many people scratching their heads, wondering where there might be a public bathroom where they check your driver’s license before you enter. To add to the confusion, he told the Associated Press that the standard for determining one’s gender is that “you are who your DNA says you are.”
At a luncheon hosted by the Gerald Ford Women’s Club in Grand Rapids, Scott acknowledged in an interview that one’s gender designation on a driver’s license is not based on DNA testing. But when asked how he would deal with those whose DNA shows a mixed gender that does not fall easily into line with the simple male or female gender designation, he could only say that we should “take the subjectivity out of it.”
But objectively, there are many people who simply do not fall into those simple two categories. For example, one of every 1000 males are born with Klinefelter’s syndrome, which means rather than the normal XY chromosomal arrangement they have an extra X chromosome and are XXY instead. Such males often have shrunken penis and testicles and enhanced breast development, often leading to serious conflict within those people as to which category — if either — they belong to.
An agitated Scott had little to say about the reality of unclear gender for such people and others with similar kinds of transgender traits, declaring that “whatever you’re designated as when you’re born is what the government should recognize you as — no ambiguity there whatsoever.”
And never mind that reality is, in fact, often ambiguous.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Riddle has new attorney. Maybe.
Michigan Messenger Blog - 15 hours 2 min ago
Sam Riddle says he’s hired his own attorney to defend him on federal bribery and corruption charges after the first trial on those charges ended in a mistrial — assuming the judge allows that attorney to take the case. The new attorney, Riddle says, is Richard Convertino, a former federal prosecutor.
The problem, however, is that Convertino also represents Riddle’s (ex?) girlfriend, former state Rep. Mary Waters, on federal bribery charges. In a separate state case, Riddle is charged with assault for brandishing a loaded shotgun at Waters when she walked in on him with another woman in the home they shared.
Riddle told U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn that he has hired Richard Convertino, who did not appear in court. Cohn gave Riddle until 2 p.m. Tuesday to show up with his attorney but indicated that there may be a conflict because Convertino represents Waters in the same bribery case involving Riddle and former Southfield City Councilman William Lattimore.
Cohn said he’s puzzled how Convertino can represent both Waters and Riddle at the same time, but he did not give an indication of how he’ll rule.
Convertino is no stranger to controversy. He sued the Department of Justice claiming he was fired as a U.S. Attorney for being a whistleblower, and in that case he tried to force a reporter to reveal his sources. A federal judge ultimately ruled in favor of the reporter.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Essay: Bring Back the USSR - 3.8.10
Jack Lessenberry's Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 4:16pm
Last week, Michigan’s leaders were dismayed when the state failed to win any of the federal "Race to the Top" education money. Michigan Radio’s Jack Lessenberry looks at what happened.
For years, one of my teaching colleagues at Wayne State University was a man named Dick Wright, an easygoing, roly-poly auto writer who looked like everyone's favorite uncle.
Dick was, however, highly educated, had a law degree, and had written several well-received books on labor and automotive history. He was also fluent in Russian. He was anything but a Communist, but when the Soviet Union fell apart, he told me that this might be a bad thing for the United States.
"What do you mean?" I said.
"Well, as long as the so-called workers' state was there, I think it sent a message to corporations that they better be a little careful about how they treated labor," he said. "And there's another thing. We aren't going to feel the pressure to be as competitive in some fields."
We had that conversation back in the early 1990s. At the time, I thought he was wrong about us slacking off in terms of education, especially in the applied sciences and industry. The competitive economic pressure, then as now, was no longer coming from Russia, but from the exploding economies of China and Japan.
I thought we would be just as willing to make sure our kids got a good education. I knew I owed my education to the Cold War, at least in part. I was in kindergarten when Moscow launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. That prompted a worried government to plow money into education. Scholarships mushroomed, and efforts were made to attract people into teaching. We eventually won the space race, and the Cold War, because of superior training and technology.
Traditionally, Americans have wanted their children to be better educated than they are. But that ideal, and the willingness to sacrifice to achieve it, seems to have vanished with the USSR.
We saw that in last year's struggle to qualify for what the federal government called "Race to the Top" funding. Last week there was shock and dismay in Lansing when we learned that Michigan had been cut out of the first round of Race to the Top funds.
I wasn't happy, but wasn't greatly surprised. The legislature's just-in-time efforts to make the reforms needed to qualify were a chaotic, quarreling mess. The governor did manage to push a package of badly needed reforms through.
These included allowing the state to take over the worst-performing schools, making it easier for professionals to become certified to teach, and no longer letting kids drop out at age 18.
But the changes were opposed by the teachers' unions, and the legislature refused to finance an office to oversee the Race to the Top reforms. We looked like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. No wonder Washington wasn't eager to hand us money.
Here's the bottom line. The thing Michigan needs more than anything is jobs. But the key to them is a better-educated workforce -- and our young adults are less well educated than average.
We need to look at why we were rejected, and do what's needed to show that we are serious about education. Eventually, we may or may not get Race to the Top funds.
But regardless, unless we invest more in education, Michigan's future is going to be a one-way toboggan ride to the bottom.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Clarke to challenge Kilpatrick for Congressional seat
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 3:40pm
Embattled incumbent Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, mother of ousted and disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, will face a challenge in the August Democratic primary from State Sen. Hansen Clarke.
Kilpatrick, who was recently cleared of ethics charges by the House ethics committee over two trips she accepted to a Caribbean trade summit, has not yet filed for re-election, reports the Detroit News.
Clarke entered, then dropped out of, the Democratic primary for governor earlier this year. He got in when Lt. Gov. John Cherry dropped from the race. But he left a week later, saying he would run against Kilpatrick.
Clarke tells the News’ Deb Price that Kilpatrick’s nearly $350,000 war chest does not intimidate him.
Asked about the challenge of ousting an incumbent congresswoman, Clarke pointed to his defeat of the incumbent Murphy. He also dismissed campaign money advantages of incumbency.
He said he’s raised “thousands,” and expects to have no trouble raising enough money to defeat an incumbent
And if polling data is correct, Clarke could take home the party’s nomination in August, which would virtually him of the seat in one of Michigan’s most heavily Democratic districts. Back in August of 2009, Michigan Messenger reported that a recent poll had found Kilpatrick would lose to a hypothetical challenger.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Conservation group tracks Bishop’s environmental record with new website
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 2:55pm
The Michigan League of Conservation Voters is targeting Attorney General candidate Mike Bishop with a new website — MI Eye on Bishop — that will track his promises, actions and lack of action on environmental issues.
Mike Bishop (R- Rochester), leader of the Senate Republicans, has claimed that protecting the state’s natural resources is a priority. In 2007 he announced a Green Michigan Initiative that was supposed to focus on Great Lakes and water protection, expansion of recycling in Michigan, development of green energy alternatives, and reduction of waste in Michigan landfills.
On the website launched today the League warns that Bishop failed to deliver on these promises during his tenure in the Senate, and has earned only a 26 percent lifetime average for his legislative work on environmental issues. The group also notes that Bishop has failed to weigh in on what should be done about Asian Carp — an issue that that current Attorney General Mike Cox is pursuing through a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The economic landscape of Michigan has changed. We are at a crucial juncture where we can either move forward toward a 21st century clean energy economy or remain stagnant by clinging to the coal-powered, chemical-coated, rust-belt 20th century past,” Michigan LCV Executive Director Lisa Wozniak said in statement announcing the web campaign. “At this point in Michigan’s history, it is essential that we have leaders in Lansing who recognize the connection between our state’s economic and our environmental health. They need to know that their actions and votes speak louder than words.”
The League promises to report on Bishop‘s actions on environmental issues over the next few months.
In the immediate future, we will keep an eye out for action or stalling on House Bill 4699, which bans a toxic flame retardant found in many everyday and children’s products. Senator Bishop assigned this bill to his Government Operations Committee, which unfortunately, is where good legislation often goes to die.
Bishop’s campaign website does not discuss protection of the state’s natural resources.
The top item on Bishop’s page on Protecting Michigan is:
SUPPORTING A CONSERVATIVE AGENDA
Mike Bishop stands for conservative values and supports our Republican platform.
*Co-sponsored legislation to ban partial-birth abortion
*Supported numerous bills to uphold the right to bear arms
*Co-sponsored legislation to commemorate the National Day of Prayer in Michigan
Other items mentioned include keeping children safe, putting a stop to identity theft and cutting government waste.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
A carp solution with economic benefits?
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 2:53pm
The debate about how to stop the spread of Asian carp has largely centered around economic fears. People in Michigan are worried that if Asian Carp establish in the Great Lakes the regional sport and commercial fishing industries will be destroyed. People around Chicago are worried that area shipping and tourism will suffer if the locks of the Chicago area waterways are closed as part of the effort to block carp migration.
A story in today’s New York Times looks at one carp solution that could benefit the shipping industry and the Chicago area — the construction of major shipping and terminal facilities that would separate the Lake Michigan and Mississippi watersheds without stopping maritime transportation.
In a 2005 report, Chicago Metropolis 2020 called for building major terminals where freight could be transferred easily among different modes of transportation, like rail cars, trucks and river barges. The terminals would allow shippers to load their goods onto the most efficient means of transport. Construction of five such terminals in key locations on the outskirts of Chicago, along with other efficiencies and infrastructure improvements, could save $5 billion a year in trucking costs alone, the report said.
A permanent ecological barrier between Lake Michigan and Illinois waterways would require the development of a massive water treatment facility that would block the movement of aquatic organisms, the Times reports.
The water treatment plant would be part of a larger transportation complex that would enable shipments to move efficiently and quickly up and down the Illinois River and other waterways. The complex might include cranes capable of hoisting boats from the water, railroad sidings and truck bays — and possibly massive conveyor belts to move cargo or even boats.
The federal government has committed more than $78 million to blocking Asian carp migration, and some of these funds could help modernize the shipping industry.
While the federal government would most likely cover at least part of the construction cost, private industry has already demonstrated a capacity to build such facilities without massive government aid. The railroad company Union Pacific is building a $370 million intermodal facility on 3,900 acres outside Peoria that is set to open this year.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Officials want to eliminate binding arbitration for public safety employee unions
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 12:38pm
State law currently forces local governments in tough negotiations with public safety employee unions to submit to binding arbitration in the event the two forces cannot agree on contract specifications. But lawmakers have introduced legislation that will eliminate that law and officials in Shelby Township have unanimously passed a resolution supporting the legislation, reports the Macomb Daily.
The law was put in place because public safety employees — such as police and firefighters — cannot strike. The goal was to make sure those employees are treated fairly when negotiations over contracts reach an impasse.
But townships officials tell the Daily that those arbitration hearings are not in the best interest of the municipalities.
“An Act 312 arbitrator is unaccountable to the municipality for the short- and long-term financial consequences of an … award after its issuance,” the resolution reads.
Shelby Township Clerk Terri Kowal said bargaining sessions with police and fire unions have wound up in arbitration multiple times in the past few years. The township and the police command officers union have been in arbitration for “months and months,” the clerk said.
“We go in with an offer (and) the union goes in with an offer,” Kowal said. “Act 312 does not allow a split … We say, ‘No raise.’ They (unions) say, ‘5 percent.’ (The arbitrator) cannot award 2.5 percent. It must be 5 percent orzero percent. It is nuts.”
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Cascade Township). Amash is preparing a run for Congress to replace Congressman Vern Ehlers (R-Grand Rapids) and has been touted as the less government TEA Party choice.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Lesbian custody battle comes to Michigan
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 11:51am
In a very interesting case that mirrors many aspects of similar situations around the country, the non-biological mother in a lesbian relationship that included children has filed for custody and visitation rights to the children delivered by her former partner. The Detroit Free Press reports:
For 19 years, Renee Harmon says, she and Tammy Davis lived as if they were married.
The two women had joint bank accounts, owned houses and decided to raise children together. Harmon said she even cut the umbilical cords when their daughter and twin boys were born, in 1999 and 2002, after Davis was artificially inseminated.
They broke up in 2008, so the children were roughly 9 and 6 years old at the time. For their entire lives, they had known Harmon as a parent and undoubtedly bonded with them. But now Davis has apparently cut off all contact between Harmon and the children she has parented since their birth, and Harmon wants a court to grant her the same kind of custody and visitation rights a biological parent would automatically have.
The first hearing in that case is March 22 in Wayne County Circuit Court.
And while it’s true that Michigan does not recognize same sex marriages or civil unions, that may not be entirely relevant to the custody or visitation issues in this case. A non-biological parent may still be granted visitation by a court because they’ve had a longstanding relationship with a child. The court is generally tasked with determining what is in the best interests of the child, and it’s unlikely that ripping a child away from a parent they have known their entire life is going to be emotionally healthy for the child.
But Michigan courts have not traditionally been friendly to such arguments and the ban on same-sex marriage may well play heavily regardless of the best interests of the child. This will be a very interesting case to watch.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Detroit and Flint looking to shrink — in different ways
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 7:29am
The Flint Journal has an interesting article about how Detroit and Flint (and Saginaw, to a lesser degree) are looking at how to shrink their cities in the wake of plummeting population, but are taking different routes to that end. But Detroit is looking to force the issue with reluctant residents, while Flint is not:
Flint Mayor Dayne Walling has said repeatedly that the city will not save some Flint neighborhoods at the expense of others or encourage people to leave their homes.
In Detroit, it’s a different story.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has said he “absolutely” intends to relocate residents from mostly vacant neighborhoods and is bracing for legal challenges to his downsizing plan, media reports indicate.
So even though the cities’ past and present have run along parallel lines — separated by 68 miles along Interstate 75 — Flint and Detroit each could become a model of a different kind of right-sizing.
Either way, it certainly makes no sense to keep neighborhoods alive when 80 or 90 percent of the homes are abandoned and decomposing.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Waterford church has First Amendment suit dismissed
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 7:11am
A federal judge ended a lawsuit filed by the Faith Baptist Church against Waterford Township over a dispute involving the volume of the church’s band and local noise statutes.
A neighbor of the church complained several times to the police about the church band playing too loudly and the police came out to investigate the complaints on two or three occasions but did not issue any citations or file any charges. The church filed suit against the township, claiming that even the investigation of the matter violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights. The court dismissed those claims based on a lack of standing:
With respect to their First Amendment claims, Plaintiffs have not articulated any concrete or particularized injury. FBC continues to hold services with the music of its choosing. There is no allegation that the nature of FBC’s religious services changed in any way in response to the investigation of the noise complaints. There is no specific allegation that any right to free association has been impinged or that any church members were deterred from worshiping. There is no allegation that FBC was ordered to stop their music or that anyone was ticketed, charged, or fined. In fact, Waterford’s disturbing the peace ordinance, which they challenge as vague and overbroad, was not enforced against them. Further, the evidence suggests that Waterford does not have a present intention to enforce the ordinance against them.
The plaintiffs had also argued that the mere fact that the police had entered the church during services and band rehearsals was a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches. The court likewise dismissed that allegation:
The only remaining issue is whether Waterford police violated the Fourth Amendment by entering the church lobby and auditorium to investigate the noise complaint. It is clear that a church and its members do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy during worship services open to the public. Plaintiffs contend that the police did not appear during services, but during band rehearsals. “A useful test of whether a person has a privacy interest in a certain place is whether there are any ‘objective manifestations of any claimed privacy expectation.’ The objective manifestations of a privacy expectation must be in some place and an expectation to be free from a certain kind of intrusion.” There is no evidence that the church had a different, objective, expectation of privacy during band rehearsals as opposed to worship services. The doors of the church are unlocked all day and are not monitored. When the police entered, they were greeted and not told to leave. There is no indication that the church was attempting to keep anyone out during daytime hours. Accordingly, the court finds that Plaintiffs had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the church lobby or auditorium, that a search did not occur, and that the Fourth Amendment was not violated.
The church was represented in the case by the Thomas More Law Center, a Christian legal organization founded by Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Levin objecting to new Blackwater contracts
Michigan Messenger Blog - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 7:10am
Sen. Carl Levin is asking the Pentagon to consider prohibiting any new contracts for service in Afghanistan to Blackwater (now known as Xe) because of a long track record of scandal over the last few years in that country and in Iraq. Levin, who just held hearings on some of those scandals as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the company should not be given a new contract they are applying for, part of a $1 billion contract to train the Afghan army.
In one recent incident in Afghanistan, two contractors tied to Blackwater allegedly killed two Afghan civilians and injured a third. U.S. officials say the May 2009 shooting damaged relations with the local population
“The inadequacies in Blackwater’s performance appear to have contributed to a shooting incident that has undermined our mission in Afghanistan,” Levin, D-Mich., wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Levin’s committee recently heard testimony that Blackwater had illegally obtained military weapons in Afghanistan, signing the name of a South Park character on the forms to acquire them.
The company has also had many incidents where innocent people have been killed, including one Blackwater employee who got drunk and shot the bodyguard of the Iraqi Vice President. Several Blackwater guards were charged for killing 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians at a checkpoint in Baghdad in 2007, but the cases were dismissed because the guards had previously been granted immunity.
Blackwater/Xe is owned by Michigan native and prominent conservative Erik Prince.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Progressive Democrat Issue 249
Daily Kos Michigan Feed - Sat, 03/06/2010 - 6:36pm
Pretty big week this week. I focus a great deal on global warming this issue, but also on right wing support for domestic terrorism and some local stuff going on. The surge in support to defeat Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas, School Board elections in Texas, the downfall of Governor David Paterson in NY State and the EPA declaring the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn are among the topics I cover. More below the fold.
Categories: Local and Michigan Blogs
Essay: Where's the Beef? - 3.5.10
Jack Lessenberry's Blog - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 1:36pm
With Congressman Sander Levin’s surprise elevation to the House Ways and Means Committee chairmanship… our state suddenly has vast clout in Congress. Michigan Radio’s Political Analyst Jack Lessenberry takes a look at what this means…
One night last week I stopped at the family-owned grocery store in my neighborhood to buy a loaf of bread. There was an older gentleman in front of me on the same mission, but who was taken aback; they’d moved the fancy breads to a different rack.I showed him where they were, and we joked about the dangers of unsupervised men in the supermarket.
I knew who he was. A few months ago, I had run into his brother in the same store on a Sunday afternoon, when we were both checking out the rotisserie chickens. This brother was wearing old faded dungarees and a sport shirt missing a button.
When he left, I asked the girl at the cash register. “Did you know that he is one of the most powerful men in Washington?“
“No way,” she said. “He’s in here all the time. I heard he worked for politics.“ Well, something like that. He is U.S. Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Yesterday, his older brother Sandy, whom I ran into buying bread, became chairman of the even more powerful House Ways and Means Committee. To the best of my knowledge, this gives Michigan more congressional clout than it’s ever had.
Besides the Levins, we have Congressman John Conyers, head of the House Judiciary Committee. John Dingell is chairman emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the longest-serving congressman in history.
Upper Peninsula Congressman Bart Stupak is chair of Commerce’s powerful Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, a gavel Dingell long wielded with devastating effect.
They’ve got that much clout because they’ve all been there a long time. Two of the Republicans with the most seniority, Vern Ehlers and Pete Hoekstra, are leaving after this term.
But if Republicans should take control of the House next year, a long shot but not an impossible one, Dave Camp from Midland would likely replace Sandy Levin as chair of Ways and Means.
That committee, by the way, is immensely powerful; it oversees a vast array of federal spending programs. In the past, important committee chairs have been like feudal lords, and have showered their states and districts with federal largess.
For example, in West Virginia, every other building seems to be named after Senator Robert Byrd. While rampant pork-barrel politics is in disfavor now, it might be reasonable to ask … will our new found clout translate into anything good for Michigan?
Right now, we need all the help we can get.
Whether or not you like their politics, the Levins and Dingell and Stupak are all men of personal integrity who put their country first. However, it would be nice if they could find a way to give their battered home turf a little extra help here and there.
Here’s something else to think about. These men are giants on our political scene.
But they are all almost certain to be gone within a decade. Dingell will be 84 this year; Conyers, 81.
Sandy Levin will be 79; Carl, 76. Stupak, the baby in the bunch, is a mere 58. We may be nearing the end of an era, but most of our senior congressman are at the peak of their power. It will be fascinating to see whether they can make the most of it.
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