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.
Two of the top-tier Michigan Democrats considering a bid for governor this year have something unusual in common.
They both — state House Speaker Andy Dillon of Redford Township and U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Menominee — are long-time opponents of a woman’s right to abortion.
Unique among the other Democratic candidates running or thinking about a bid to succeed two-term pro-choice Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Dillon and Stupak are already raising alarm bells from abortion rights supporters.
“In a Democratic primary, we hate to see a candidate who is anti-choice,” Sarah Scranton, executive director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan, told Michigan Messenger. “Not only are [Dillon and Stupak] anti-choice and against abortion rights, neither of them have been with us on the family planning issues.”
Scranton’s list of family planning issues includes birth control, comprehensive sex education, and emergency contraception for rape survivors, she said.
“For us, even if you’re against abortion, you should be with us on the prevention issues,” she added, “because we know those are the things that will prevent unintended pregnancy and therefore abortion.”
As the legislature convened for its 2010 session last week, Scranton and her allies among the state’s 28 Planned Parenthood affiliates are tracking no fewer than 11 House bills at the moment. The bills range from the issues Scranton first mentioned to enforcing a so-called “duty to dispense” at pharmacies to requiring health insurance plans to cover pap smears and even infertility treatment.
When gubernatorial candidate questionnaires are sent out to Democrats like Dillon and Stupak after the filing deadline in May, those bills will likely figure prominently in the group’s eventual endorsement.
Barbara Fuller, co-founder and director of MI List – a group dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office in Michigan – will also be tracking those issues. And she won’t be signing up to help either Dillon or Stupak any time soon.
“Neither of them is appealing to me,” she said. “At all.”
Fuller emphasizes that the Democratic nomination for governor is wide open right now, as a large group of candidates has already formally announced or said they’re considering a run.
“I don’t think this game is over yet,” she said. “We’ve got a long ways to go and I believe that candidates running for governor who poke their fingers in the eye of women’s rights will pay a price for it. That’s not a threat. That’s a fact.”
Arguably, both Dillon and Stupak have been poking away lately. Scranton calls Stupak’s efforts to add anti-abortion language to the federal health care reform legislation “incredibly extreme.” (Last month, Stupak fired back, issuing his latest statement on the controversy.) On Dillon, Scranton highlights his recent vote against providing emergency contraception for rape survivors, as well as his proposal last year that would have banned so-called partial-birth abortion. That bill was eventually vetoed by Granholm.
“He’s not really there on the choice issues,” Scranton said referring to Dillon, “but he hasn’t been there on any of the progressive issues.”
Meanwhile, Larry Galmish, director of Right to Life Michigan’s political action committee, said he’s encouraged both men may run, noting both have been endorsed by his organization in their past races at the state and federal levels.
“They both have pro-life records. There’s no question about it,” he said.
Like Scranton, Galmish cautions that the race is still in its early stages – seven months before the August primary, and four months before the filing deadline for candidates. “A lot of people will either fall out, or it could be some are still going to jump in,” he said. “You never know at this point.”
The Democratic primary for governor currently only has one declared candidate — pro-choice state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith of Salem Township. Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero, who also supports abortion rights, is expected to formally join the race soon. Meanwhile, businesswoman and University of Michigan regent Denise Ilitch is reportedly also considering a run.
Republican candidates for governor include Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Attorney General Mike Cox, Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland, state Sen. Tom George of Texas Township and Huron County Commissioner Tim Rujan.
Galmish told Michigan Messenger that each of the announced GOP candidates oppose abortion rights. The only question mark, he added, hung over Snyder’s head. Galmish said because he lacks a voting record, Snyder’s views on abortion are unclear.
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