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.
The Traverse City Record Eagle is criticizing outgoing Republican State Sen. Michelle McManus of Lake Leelanau for directing her office staff to send out a press release and photo in which she used “breathless prose” to boast about her success in bagging an 8-point white-tailed deer on the opening day of Michigan’s fire arm season.
According to the Record Eagle McManus’ office did not return a phone call about her use of state-funded communications resources and McManus “hurried away” when asked about it in person.
The longtime northern Michigan legislator (and failed Secretary of State candidate) has not used her position as chair of the Senate Campaign and Ethics Committee to deliver on promises for campaign finance reform, the Record Eagle points out, and she did not manage to save the Pure Michigan tourism ad campaign. Instead, she uses her last days in office to hunt and brag.
Michigan is in a state of crisis. We’re hemorrhaging jobs, money and morale, and there’s no end in sight, not even a mirage of hope. Taxpayers in this state badly need their politicians to lead, to craft ideas to transform our economy, to spur innovation and serve ethically and honestly.
Instead, we get Michelle McManus ordering state employees to write press releases about her vanquished venison.
It’s little wonder the state we’re in.
The public time and effort wasted on McManus’ ego trip equates to a drop in the bucket in the big picture of a state with big problems. But her breathless pose over the deer and rush to trumpet her success may be a fitting metaphor for the us-versus-them mindset in Lansing today.
McManus, who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for the Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment, has updated her press advisory to include a public policy angle. She now directs hunters to use the DNRE’s website for deer harvest information.
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