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.
When John Edwards picked former Michigan Congressman David Bonior to be his campaign manager in his race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the theme was to fight for the working class. This strategy required the validation and resources of unions, and Bonior seemed uniquely positioned to get those.
But to avoid splitting endorsements and diluting their power, several strong unions like the Service Employees International and the UAW have decided not to endorse any candidates in the presidential primaries. To date, Edwards has only received the endorsements of the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers.
Bonior is best known as a 13-term congressman from Macomb County. He was minority and majority whip with a reputation for advancing worker’s rights. He is currently on leave from his position as chair of American Rights at Work, a labor advocacy group.
Continued -In 2004, Bonior stumped for former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt for the Democratic nomination. Bonior switched to Edwards that year when Gephardt dropped out after a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa.
Roland Zullo, assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations Labor Studies Center, told the Michigan Messenger, “In 2004, union endorsements were split, with industrial unions going for Gephardt, service unions going for Howard Dean and firefighters going for (John) Kerry.”
This year, Gephardt is supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton. But she hasn’t gotten all the union endorsements that Gephardt had. So clearly labor is not throwing its support to any one candidate.
The problem for Edwards is that while his populist message is philosophically more in line with unions than Barack Obama’s or Clinton’s message is, electability appears to be the main driving force for unions in this election.
Zullo said unions endorse candidates using two main strategies: picking the one whose ideology is most aligned with union members, and trying to pick the winner early. Zullo continued, “Endorsements will mean much more in the general election because by that time unions in Michigan will be up to full capacity in mobilizing their members.”
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