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 New York Times has a post-mortem analysis of how Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) managed to wrest the chairmanship of one of the most powerful committees in the House away from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) after nearly three decades of leadership from the Michigan Democratic powerhouse:
Dingell, the 2nd-longest serving legislator in the history of the House of Representatives and one of the most powerful men in Congress, lost the chairmanship to Waxman by a vote of 137-122 in the House Democratic Caucus last week. The Times says much of the reason can be attributed to Waxman’s courting of newly elected legislators during their campaigns for office:
Mr. Doyle said many of the new members had received direct campaign contributions from Mr. Waxman, who had obviously been contemplating a challenge to Mr. Dingell for many months before he went public the day after the November elections.
“You bumped into a lot of freshmen who said Mr. Waxman was very good to them,” Mr. Doyle said. “The freshman and sophomore class didn’t know John or had never served with him. It’s a sad ending for someone who’s given so much of his life to the Democratic Party, the Congress and the country. He deserved better.”
The article notes that Waxman had spent several months planning his campaign for the assignment, while Dingell’s office was caught off guard when Waxman challenged for the seat and were forced to scramble to mount a defense in just a few days.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), the #2 Democrat in the House behind speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), tried to broker a deal between the two men. He urged a deal that would have allowed Dingell to hold the chair for two more years, then hand it to Waxman. Both men rejected the arrangement. Dingell is expected to retire in another two years, at which time he will be the longest serving Representative in American history.
Waxman is generally considered more liberal than Dingell, especially on environmental matters. He has been demanding far stronger legislation to respond to global warming, including higher mileage standards and lower emissions standards for automobiles, while Dingell has generally supported more moderate action on those items.
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