I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
What this means for Michigan progressives
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, is in the toughest race since she began in Congress 12 years ago, a race with implications for Michigan progressives — and it’s all because her son is the embattled mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick.
She’s running in Tuesday’s primary against two competitors — State Rep. Mary Waters, and State Sen. Martha Scott, D-Highland Park, — who have put up a fight for the chance to represent Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, which spans parts of Detroit, Grosse Pointe, Harper Woods and Wyandotte. Actually they did get into a fight at a debate, held at a church this week, in which the competitors started making personal attacks and the pastor had to step in to restore order.
But what does this race mean for Michigan progressives’ voice in the House of Representatives?
All three competitors are women, they are progressives, and they will carry liberal votes to the House. The three agree on major issues such as the war, abortion and civil rights. The main difference is Kilpatrick has built some powerful positions in her decade-long tenure that enable her to pressure Congress with more weight than the others would have in their first terms. Kilpatrick sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and is head of the Congressional Black Caucus, two positions pivotal in making her progressive voice heard on the Hill. For example, she was one of the main proponents of the House’s recently passed resolution to apologize for slavery.
Political analysts agree that the only reasons the race is so highly contested are Kilpatrick’s family ties to Kwame Kilpatrick and her history of defending her son in the wake of the text-messaging scandal that has cost the city more than $8 million and resulted in eight criminal counts against the mayor, including obstruction of justice and perjury. He also faces recent accusations of assault.
“It’s really one of the few issues they can hold against her,” said Michael Traugott, a political research specialist and communication studies research professor at the University of Michigan’s Center for Political Studies.
The political atmosphere in Detroit is intense just days before voters decide who will be the Democratic candidate. Whoever wins the primary is expected to go on to win overwhelmingly in November because Detroit is historically a blue district. Or will the mayoral scandal hurt Democrats badly enough to finally turn Detroit red for Edward Gubics of Wyandotte, who is unopposed in the GOP primary?
Traugott doesn’t think so. “I wouldn’t worry about a Republican winning [the 13th] district,” he said. “It’s a very safe Democratic district [
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