LANSING — In the study of ethical strictures that govern actions by public officials, there is a principle called “councilmanic interference,” a term that describes the extra weight that’s given to statements, inquiries and comments from elected and appointed officials by city employees. And in the capital city, officials are sorting out whether a request for a May 22 undercover sex-sting by the Lansing Police Department by an appointed member of the city’s Board of Police Commissioners stepped over the line and into the territory of councilmanic interference.
DETROIT — In partnership with the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus, Detroit Public Television has launched a project to inform voters about the hundreds of candidates seeking public office in the city. Between the candidates for the Charter Revision Commission, Detroit City Council and mayor, 220 people are looking to stand out from the crowd [...]
By Minehaha Forman 7/2/09
DETROIT — When City Councilwoman Monica Conyers pleaded guilty to bribery charges Friday morning, her political career may have met its end. But that hasn’t stopped her from endorsing city council candidates.
By David Weigel 7/1/09
WASHINGTON — Shortly after leaving their offices on June 24, dozens of Hill staffers, foreign policy experts, and old Washington hands made their way to the lower floor of the Capitol Visitor Center, a sprawling complex below the halls of Congress. The occasion was the low-key launch of the new House Sovereignty Caucus, the project of three Republican members — U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Scott Garrett of New Jersey, and Michigan’s own Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia — who had become more and more worried about Americans ceding their rights to foreign institutions.
By Ed Brayton 7/1/09
In an ongoing wrongful termination lawsuit in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, Catholic philanthropist Tom Monaghan and the Ave Maria School of Law that he founded are claiming that the school is a purely religious organization and therefore exempt from court scrutiny of its hiring and firing decisions.
By Todd A. Heywood 6/30/09
LANSING — Documents released by city officials Tuesday evening show that Lt. Larry Klaus, who oversees the police department’s special operations unit, coordinated a controversial May 22 sex sting in Fenner Nature Center for responding a Board of Police Commissioners member’s requests that have been criticized as inappropriate and out of step with proper police protocol.
By Daphne Eviatar 6/30/09
WASHINGTON — Monday’s ruling in the reverse discrimination case of Ricci v. DeStefano was not particularly surprising for the decision itself, which was widely anticipated. As many court-watchers expected, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court held that, by not relying on a promotional exam on which a group of white firefighters had scored well, the city of New Haven had discriminated against the white men in favor of black and Latino firefighters who had not scored as well on the exams.
By Todd A. Heywood 6/30/09
LANSING — A variety of city officials, from council members to the mayor’s office to the city attorney, are trying to figure out what to do about the case of Jan Kolp, a Board of Police Commissioners member who said on Friday that she placed a call to the police’s special operations unit which triggered a controversial May sex-sting operation in a city nature center. But some are saying that it may be inappropriate for board officials to make such call, which could be leaning in the direction of special treatment.
By Todd A. Heywood 6/30/09
State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith formally announced Monday she is seeking the nod of the Democratic Party to become Michigan’s next governor. The lawmaker from Washtenaw County’s Salem Township made an unsuccessful run for the governorship in 2001, making her the first African-American to run for the highest elected office in Michigan.
By Eartha Jane Melzer 6/29/09
TRAVERSE CITY — Around 50 people, many of them men openly carrying loaded handguns, gathered in a local park over the weekend for a cookout billed as educational outreach on gun owners’ rights. Participants in the “Open Carry Picnic” ate hot dogs and chips while wearing holstered hand guns at Sunset Park off the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay. As children played on the merry-go-round and tourists cruised the lakefront, the gathering was quiet but showed some signs of tension.
By Minehaha Forman 6/27/09
DETROIT — Michigan’s largest city is short on a lot of things, but candidates for public office isn’t one of them. With 167 Detroit City Council hopefuls and 49 gunning for seats on the new City Charter Revision Commission, the Aug. 4 primary ballot could pass as a short novel.
By Todd A. Heywood 6/26/09
LANSING — A May 22 sex-sting operation in the city’s Fenner Nature Center has raised questions about command and control of police operations, especially after police officials have given conflicting information about the operation in recent weeks. A fight over a Freedom of Information Act request is headed to the city council on Monday.
By Minehaha Forman 7/2/09 11:16 PM
The Detroit City Council voted Tuesday have a lawyer file an injunction against trash incineration.
However, the issue remains complex as the legalities of the contract between incinerator operators and the city are blurred according to a an article on Crain’s Detroit website . more »
By Ed Brayton 7/2/09 3:41 PM
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law a bill authorizing the creation of a regional authority to run Cobo Hall and oversee a $300 million renovation of the aging facility. The bill is designed to keep the arena alive and keep the North American International Auto Show in the city of Detroit every year.
By Ed Brayton 7/2/09 3:31 PM
The primary phase of the GM bankruptcy proceeding has ended. Attorneys for the automaker and a myriad of creditors and affected parties wrapped up their closing arguments today with the creditors telling the judge to slow down the process and resolve all the potential problems first and the automaker arguing that the sale must be approved immediately: more »
By Ed Brayton 7/2/09 12:50 AM
A member of Obama’s auto taskforce testified in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday and had a couple of very interesting things to say. The first was that if the sale of GM’s valuable assets to a new GM is completed, the new company could go public with a stock offer as early as next year: more »
By Ed Brayton 7/2/09 12:50 AM
By Ed Brayton 7/2/09 12:50 AM
Forbes Magazine has ranked the Pure Michigan campaign, an ad campaign designed to boost the Michigan economy by encouraging tourists to vacation in the state, as one of the ten best tourism campaigns of all time. The ad campaign, launched in 2006, has been featured in TV and radio commercials during a huge ad blitz over the last few months. more »
By Todd A. Heywood 7/1/09 4:27 PM
LANSING — In a tense two-hour meeting earlier on Wednesday, members of the Lansing City Council’s Public Safety Committee grilled Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley and Lansing City Attorney Brigham Smith about a host of issues raised by a controversial May 22 sex-sting operation.
Grumbling over the matter has grown in volume since Tuesday when Smith reversed a decision on a Freedom of Information Act request by Michigan Messenger, City Pulse newspaper, the Lansing Association for Human Rights and the Detroit-based Triangle Foundation seeking documents related to the sting operation. Smith and the city had contended the documents could not be released because the city attorney’s office was attempting to decide whether prosecution of the two men arrested was warranted. Tuesday afternoon, Smith learned the Ingham County Prosecutor’s office had already successfully prosecuted the two men.
