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.
Over $3 million has been spent on television ads about Michigan Supreme Court candidates Clifford Taylor and Diane Marie Hathaway, but a loophole in state campaign finance disclosure laws means we may never know who is footing the massive bill.
The Chamber of Commerce has spent $1.3 million on pro-Taylor TV ads while the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee has spent $467,000 on ads promoting Hathaway.
But Michigan law, unlike federal campaign law, does not require these groups to report where they got the money for the ads, according to the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network, which released a report today on spending and disclosure in the Supreme Court race.
“The peril in this is that an individual or interest group could secretly spend a million dollars to market a candidate — a very important contribution — and then have that justice vote to select its case and rule on its case,” Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network said in a statement. “That has considerable potential for conflict of interests, and it certainly creates a troubling appearance.”
Today’s report includes answers by Hathaway and Taylor to survey questions about campaign finance issues.
They were asked, “Do you believe the sources that pay for ‘issue’ advertisements related to the qualifications of a judicial candidate should be disclosed in the public record in a timely way, so voters can evaluate those messages in light of their sponsors?”
Hathaway said yes, and Taylor said he could not answer the question.
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