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.
Campaign spending in the statewide races this year is two and a half times the level of spending at this time in 2002 — the last time all three offices had open seats — but candidates have not raised as much as in 2006 when incumbents had a strong fundraising advantage. This information comes from a Michigan Campaign Finance Network analysis of the first round of finance reports from the candidates.
This year’s field of gubernatorial candidates has raised 42 percent more than their counterparts in 2002: $8,302,048 to $5,862,205. But spending by gubernatorial candidates is up by 162 percent compared to 2002: $4,261,109 to $1,623,542.
This year’s secretary of state candidates have taken in more than four times as much as the field in 2002: $599,067 to $117,145. At this point in 2002, neither eventual Democratic contender for the office even had an active campaign committee.This year’s field of attorney general candidates has raised $779,287 and spent $280,000. In 2002, Mike Cox had the only active AG committee at this point in the campaign and he had raised $29,825 and spent $904. His Democratic opponent in the 2002 general election, Gary Peters, didn’t file his statement of organization until March 4, 2002.
Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network said that the much higher amounts raised during the 2006 races is due to the “tremendous fundraising advantage” associated with being an incumbent.
In comparison to the two cycles with open seats, the two person gubernatorial field in 2006 had raised $9,944,902 at this point in the cycle and spent $4,447,598. Governor Granholm alone had raised 97 percent of the total of this year’s entire field. Incumbent Terri Lynn Land had raised more money, $627,576, than this year’s entire field of SoS candidates. Incumbent AG Cox had raised $1,029,313 by this point in the 2006 cycle, also more than the entire field in 2010.
Robinson said that candidate-focused television ads are likely to be a huge factor in this year’s election and that spending on these ads falls outside the campaign finance reporting system.
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