by P.D. Lesko It’s no surprise Republican Rob Steele couldn’t unseat Representative John Dingell in 2010. However, Steele’s run, which campaign emails intimated would be financed with the doctor’s own “fortune,” rattled Team Dingell. Former President Bill Clinton came to Michigan and stumped for the Dean of the House prior to the November election. It’s [...]
by Joseph DiSano It’s the time of year when every wannabe pundit and political Nostradamus unveils their prognostications on this year elections. Guess what? No one knows for sure, and those that claim to are lying. A common prediction you will hear from every player in the Pundit Olympics is which party will claim control [...]
by Amy Kerr Hardin A big show is going on in the Michigan Legislature — with all the pomp and circumstance of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show — our elected leaders are being trotted about on the leash in a celebration of their utter stupidity. Mind you, just like their canine counterparts, there are various breeds of stupid politicians, each with unique characteristics and [...]
Representative Jeff Irwin, a Democrat, served for a decade as a Washtenaw County Commissioner. In January 2011, he began his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives. In his regular column, House Calls, A2Politico will pose a single question to Representative Irwin and he will answer it. The questions will focus on his work in [...]
by Rob Smith It’s not unfair to say that the Michigan GOP has been muscling aside the Democrats in Lansing on their way to pass some pretty pernicious legislation. Cut 11,000 families off of state assistance? Check. Expand Public Act 4 (Emergency Manager law) to the point of thwarting democracy—imposed primarily on black folks? Check. [...]
by P.D. Lesko Saline’s mayor, Gretchen Driskell, formed an “exploratory committee” in February 2012 to see if she could have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning back the 52nd District State House seat from Repblican Mark Ouimet. The Michigan GOP targeted the seat, held by Democrat Pam Byrnes, in 2010 when Byrnes stepped down [...]
A2P Notes: Maybe you missed the piece in Time in October 2011 where writer Adam Cohen wrote the most frightening case study you might ever read. It begins: The Occupy Wall Street movement is shining a spotlight on how much influence big-money interests have with the White House and Congress. But people are not talking [...]
by Rob Smith It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Governor Rick Snyder in the Michigan courts. First a Wayne County judge declared closed-door meetings of the finance team which had been evaluating whether Detroit should be forced to accept an Emergency Manager a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act. Then, a judge in Flint [...]
A2P Notes: In Fall 2010, A123 Systems opened what the company touted as the “world’s largest lithium ion automotive battery manufacturing plant in North America” in Livonia, Michigan. According to a September 13, 2010 piece in the New York Times, the company was able to open the plant thanks to the fact that the move [...]
by Rob Smith In the March 13th issue of the New York Times there is an article about the severe economic problems that face Italy. That country, like Michigan, has been in one of the deepest recessions on record. Unemployment in Italy last measured at 9.2 percent in March 2012—just about the same as Michigan’s [...]
