Michigan Senate Passes Law to Rig the Courts to Protect Snyder

Amy Kerr Hardin/Democracy Tree

The Michigan Senate has fast-tracked a bill introduced just days ago by Sen. Rick Jones (R-24) that could insulate the state government from culpability over misdeeds under Gov. Snyder.SB-652 passed in the Senate today under “immediate passage”and “immediate effect”. The bill moves on to the House for approval.

What this bill does is strip Ingham County Circuit Court of its position as court of authority in all claims above $1000 against the state of Michigan, including Gov. Snyder. The proposed law would instead have the Michigan Supreme Court appoint four judges from the Court of Appeals to hear these cases.

Ingham County leans Democratic, and so does its judiciary. Gongwer News Service explains the political ramifications thus:

The Court of Appeals has several judges from both the Democratic and Republican spheres, but the Supreme Court, which would make the appointments, has a 5-2 majority of justices nominated by the Republican Party. Maybe the Supreme Court would decide to appoint, say, two appeals judges named to the bench by a Democratic governor and two by a Republican governor, but that would be a surprise.

One must only wonder — what’s the rush? Is there something they’re not telling us?

Gov. Rick Snyder’s Record Betrays Dr. King’s Legacy

From Michigan Democratic Party

LANSING — While Gov. Rick Snyder spoke at Oakland University’s Keeper of the Dream Scholarship Awards Celebration today honoring the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., the governor’s record is nothing less than a betrayal of Dr. King’s legacy on democracy and workers’ rights.

In King’s “Give Us the Ballot” speech, he called for universal suffrage across the South:

“So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact — I can only submit to the edict of others.”

While Snyder’s actions have not taken away the vote for Michiganders, his emergency manager law takes away the power of the ballot box for Michigan citizens living in Detroit, Flint, Benton Harbor, Pontiac, among others. Even after Michigan’s voters rejected the emergency manager law, Snyder and Lansing Republicans simply re-enacted it, with a few cosmetic changes.

In addition, Snyder’s actions on right to work are clearly at odds with King’s legacy. Inopposing a right-to-work ballot question in Oklahoma in 1964, King wrote:

“In our glorious fight for Civil Rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right-to-work.’ This high-sounding label does not mean what it says. It is a dishonest twisting of words with the aim of making a vicious law sound like a good law. It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘work.’ It is a law to rob us of our Civil Rights and job rights.”

Michigan Republican Says That Electoral Vote-Rigging Was Only Nixed in 2012 Because It Might Have Hurt Romney

Over dinner Huel Perkins and Little Timmy told
me I wasn't corrupt.

By Dave Weigel/Slate

The attempts in various states to skew the Electoral College vote toward Republians is so brazen, so outside of accepted partisan norms, that the larger political media has been slow to cover it. There's a practical reason. These bills come up, in some form, in lots of legislatures. They go nowhere. A backlash stopped the GOP in Pennsylvania from passing an electoral vote-split plan in 2011. Maybe a backlash will stop it this time. Why cover it?

It's just the strangest question. Lots of political stories end with the proposal being blocked or altered. The media's coverage helps determine this. Media outlets spent millions of dollars in 2012 covering the campaign of Mitt Romney, who didn't end up being elected president, and who's quickly become a nonentity. Should they refund their expenses because the Romney presidency never happened?

This brings me to the belated, high-placed local media coverage of the Republican elector-rigging bills in Michigan and Virginia. The Detroit News gives it a long lead feature. The balance-seeking reporter grapples with the plan.

The switch would have given Mitt Romney a majority of Michigan's 16 electoral votes last year, even though Obama beat him by a nearly 450,000 popular vote marginhere, according to Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer.

Why is this "according to" a Democrat? It's a fact. The 2011 gerrymander designed five safe Democratic seats and nine lean-Republican or safe-Republican seats. We can crank up the WayBack Machine and imagine a 2012 election in which Barack Obama campaigned harder for the 7th and 8th districts, which he narrowly lost. But it's just true that this scheme would have helped Romney.

Here's the advantage with on-the-other-hand reporting. The News's Gary Heinlein talks to Rep. Pete Lund, who introduced this legislation before and wants to introduce it again. Lund explains why a larger GOP majority didn't move in 2012.

It got no traction last year. There were people convinced Romney was going to win and this might take (electoral) votes from him.

My emphasis. Lund just states this as a sad accident of history, unaware that it's hugely damaging to his cause. He's admitting that the point of the plan is to give electors to Republicans. That turns this from "a controversial idea that some say would hurt Democrats" to a bill explicitly designed to hurt one party, and its urban base.

Michigan GOP Considering Republican Plan To Rig The Presidential Election

By Ian Millhiser/Think Progess

This week, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus endorsed a Republican Party plan to rig future presidential electionsby changing the way electoral votes are assigned. Under the Republican plan, GOP lawmakers in several states that supported the Democratic candidate for president in recent elections would stop awarding all of their electoral votes to the winner of the state as a whole, and instead award most of them one-by-one to the winners of individual congressional districts. In part because of widespread Republican gerrymandering, if Republicans had implemented this election rigging plan in six key states where they currently control the state government — Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin — Mitt Romney would have won the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote by nearly four points.

Efforts are already underway in several of these six key states to enact this election rigging plan and all but ensure that the next President of the United States is a Republican — regardless of how the American people cast their votes in 2016. Seven Pennsylvania state house members introduced a bill implementing the GOP election rigging plan this week, and the plan already enjoys the support of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R). A bill backed by Virginia State Senator Charles “Bill” Carrico Sr. (R) wouldimplement the election rigging plan in Virginia. And Wisconsin Republican state Rep. Dan LeMahieu is behind an election rigging bill in his state. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R)expressed support for the Republican election rigging plan, but he later backed off that supportfollowing significant criticism.

Now, the election-rigging plan is being considered in another one of the six key states, Michigan:

[Republican] Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he “could go either way” on the change and doesn’t plan to push it. But he said it’s a reasonable issue to debate and that he prefers that leaders discuss it well before the next presidential election.

“It could be done in a thoughtful (way) over the next couple years and people can have a thoughtful discussion,” Snyder said.

Republican leaders in the Michigan Statehouse have yet to decide whether to embrace the change there. But state Rep. Peter Lund, a Republican who introduced a bill to change the allocation system two years ago, said some Republicans might be more receptive to his bill this year following the election.

Michigan is a blue state. It supported the Democratic candidate for president in every single election for the last two decades. President Obama won the state by nearly 10 points last November. And yet, if the Republican election-rigging plan had been in effect last year, Romney would have likely won a majority of the state’s electoral votes.

What You Need To Know About The Michigan GOP’s ‘Right-To-Work’ Assault On Workers

It doesn't matter if I lie the media here will cover for me.

By Travis Waldron/Think Progress

On Thursday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R)backtracked on his commitment to avoid so-called “right-to-work” legislation and by the end of the day, both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan state Senate had introduced and passed separate bills aimed at the state’s union workforce.

Michigan Republicans claim the state needs the measure to stay competitive with Indiana, where lawmakers passed “right-to-work” last year. In reality, though, such laws have negative effects on workers and little effect on economic growth. Here is what you need to know about the state GOP’s campaign:

THE LEGISLATION: Both the state House and state Senate passed legislation on Thursday that prohibits private sector unions from requiring members to pay dues. The Senate followed suit and passed a different but similar measure that extends the same prohibition for public sector unions, though firefighters and police officers are exempt. The state House included a budget appropriations provision that is intended to prevent the state’s voters from being able to legally challenge the law through a ballot referendum. Due to state law, both houses are prevented from voting on legislation passed by the other for five days, so neither will be able to fully pass the legislation until Tuesday at the earliest.

THE PROCESS: Union leaders and Democrats claim that Republicans are pushing the legislation through in the lame-duck session to hide the intent of the measures from citizens, and because the legislation would face more trouble after the new House convenes in January. Michigan Republicans hold a 63-47 advantage in the state House, but Democrats narrowed the GOP majority to just eight seats in November. Six Republicans opposed the House measure; five of them won re-election in 2012 (the sixth retired). And Michigan Republicans have good reason to pursue the laws without public debate. Though the state’s voters are evenly split on whether it should become a right-to-work state, 78 percent of voters said the legislature “should focus on issues like creating jobs and improving education, and not changing state laws or rules that would impact unions or make further changes in collective bargaining.”

THE CONSEQUENCES: While Snyder and Republicans pitched “right-to-work” as a pro-worker move aimed at improving the economy, studies show such legislation can cost workers money. The Economic Policy Institute found that right-to-work laws cost all workers, union and otherwise, $1,500 a year in wages and that they make it harder for workers to obtain pensions and health coverage. “If benefits coverage in non-right-to-work states were lowered to the levels of states with these laws, 2 million fewer workers would receive health insurance and 3.8 million fewer workers would receive pensions nationwide,” David Madland and Karla Walter from the Center for American Progress wrote earlier this year. The decreases in union membership that result from right-to-work laws have a significant impact on the middle class and research “shows that there is no relationship between right-to-work laws and state unemployment rates, state per capita income, or state job growth,” EPI wrote in a recent report about Michigan. “Right-to-work” laws also decrease worker safety and can hurt small businesses.

Union leaders are, of course, aghast at Snyder and the GOP’s right-to-work push. “In a state that gave birth to the modern U.S. labor movement, it is unconscionable that Michigan legislators would seek to drive down living standards for Michigan workers and families with a law that will do nothing to improve either the state’s economic climate or the quality of life for Michigan residents,” RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of National Nurses United, said in a statement.

Workers fight back in Michigan

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Michigan GOP: The Party of Waste, Fraud and Disunity

From Michigan Democratic Party

Gov. Snyder, Lt. Gov. Calley and Speaker Bolger Highlight Fractured Party on Day After Primary

LANSING – The day after bruising GOP primary fights concluded in the U.S. Senate and 11th Congressional District races, the Michigan Republican Party’s attempt to demonstrate “unity” instead highlighted how fractured the party has become, how their candidates have neglected Michigan’s middle class and how their leaders in Lansing have perpetrated and ignored election fraud.

“The state of the Michigan GOP is complete disarray,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said. “The only thing the Michigan Republicans are united on is harming middle-class families. In the 11th Congressional District, a Tea Party extremist defeated a former state senator backed by the local GOP establishment who has said she won’t endorse her opponent.

“Not to mention, in a few weeks the old 11th District will have to hold a wasteful special primary election that will cost taxpayers about $650,000 to elect a representative that will be in Washington for less than two months. Michigan taxpayers will foot the bill for this waste because Congressman Thad McCotter decided to quit on his constituents in the middle of his term.

“Speaking of McCotter, we’re still waiting to hear from Attorney General Bill Schuette on the status of his investigation into the fraud found in McCotter’s nominating petitions. He’s had nearly three months to look into this, and he’s failed to report, even though the fraud was so obvious a child could see it.

“In other GOP fraud news, Speaker Jase Bolger continues to cling to power, despite the fact that he and his staffers have a campaign finance investigation hanging over their heads. Unlike Nancy Cassis, Winnie Brinks succeeded in her write-in effort and is well-positioned to take back that seat in November. She’ll be running against Bolger’s partner in fraud, Roy Schmidt, whom Republican voters backed even after he attempted to rig the election in House District 76.

“The Senate GOP primary came to an ignominious end last night, as former Congressman and lobbyist Pete Hoekstra limped over the finish line in his race against Clark Durant. Hoekstra has an out-of-touch agenda that would increase taxes on the middle class, cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires and privatize Medicare and Social Security while protecting loopholes for big oil and corporations that ship Michigan jobs overseas.

“Finally, the Michigan GOP has a presidential candidate that would have let Detroit go bankrupt and is touting a proposal that would raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans, with the average middle-class family with kids paying about $2,000 more to give a break to millionaires and billionaires. This is the state of the Michigan GOP: the party of waste, fraud, disunity and disdain for the middle class.”

A Government Paralyzed By Corruption

From Michigan Senate Democratic

Legislators returned to Lansing today with a full agenda on their plate and a number of bills the Republican majority and Governor Snyder said were urgent to get passed.

Their aggressive agenda quickly fell apart, however, and what we saw instead is a Government paralyzed by corruption and fraud.  The actions of Speaker of the House Jase Bolger to undermine the Democratic process and take the right of legitimate elected representation away from the people of Michigan have brought state government to a standstill by breaking the very trust the public has in the democratic process.

The report released yesterday by the Kent County Prosecutor makes it alarmingly clear that Speaker Bolger knowingly tried to defraud the public, lied about it and continues to deny responsibility for the damage it has caused.  It has become all too apparent that the agenda he has pursued as Speaker of the House over the past 18 months has been focused squarely on a partisan election strategy without regard for the impact it has on the people of Michigan.

As a result of Speaker Bolger’s lack of honesty or integrity, the true intent of the bills before the legislature today could no longer be trusted.  Whether right or wrong, his conduct has made it impossible for anyone to believe the motivation behind them was anything other than political gamesmanship.

To put it simply, a leadership change is needed to restore the faith the people of Michigan must have in their Government and it’s up to the Republicans to make that happen from within.  They can stand up to their own failed leadership and send a message that fraud and election rigging have no place in Michigan’s capitol.  They have the ability to affirm to the public that there is simply too much at stake for our state, our families and our future for Speaker Bolger’s selfish actions to stand in the way of what truly needs to be done to get our state back on track.

Should Michigan speak up, and Speaker Bolger step down or be removed as the Speaker of the House, then, and only then, can the people of Michigan begin to trust that their legislature is truly working in their best interests once again.

You can add your name to the growing list of voices calling on Speaker Bolger to resign his leadership position by signing the petition here: http://goo.gl/MYa2d