Hanaa Rifaey, president of the American Independent News Network, which publishes the Michigan Messenger, was interviewed on Free Speech TV on Tuesday about the Occupy Wall Street protests and AINN’s continuing coverage of corporate influence on elections. Video below the fold.

The Michigan Messenger’s Todd Heywood was on Off the Record with Tim Skubick this week talking about Gov. Snyder’s record, the presidential campaign in this state and much more. Video below the fold.

Watch the full episode. See more Off the Record.

Michigan Messenger intern Sam Inglot was on the Cheryl Fritze show on WILS 1320-AM in Lansing, talking about the current redistricting process. You can listen to the entire segment by clicking here.

Rachel Maddow cited the Michigan Messenger’s work on the Emergency Manager law during a segment on her Monday show while discussing attempts to repeal legislation or recall politicians. Video below the fold.

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In commentary last night Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert points out that the U.S. as a whole is in worse financial shape than Benton Harbor — why not appoint a national Emergency Manager?

Rachel Maddow had a segment last night about various Republican policies proposed around the country that would have a negative impact on children, including the bill in Michigan that would have required foster children to buy clothing only at second-hand stores.

She specifically showed our reporting on that bill at the Michigan Messenger. Here’s the video:

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On her show last night Rachel Maddow said that the takeover of Benton Harbor and the privatization of Jean Klock park is a perfect illustration of what current Republican philosophy has to offer American communities.

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I’ve been contacted by folks associated with the Jean Klock park fight who are worried that Maddow may be misrepresenting the situation by implying that Snyder and the EM bill are responsible for conversion of the park. After all, local politicians and former Gov. Jennifer Graholm, a Democrat, signed off on the privatization years ago and the Harbor Shores golf course operation now covers a major chunk of the park despite an ongoing federal appeal.

It’s true that the Jean Klock Park situation cannot be attributed to the Emergency Manager law, but it is still relevant to the discussion because that law makes similar situations easier and more likely. Though the same thing can be done through local elected bodies, by allowing city Emergency Manager Joe Harris to dismiss local officials, the EM law makes a permanent and total corporate takeover of the park more likely and it raises the odds that other towns will face a much more fast-paced stripping of resources.

Just as crucially, when such things are done by elected boards, local voters have recourse; they can vote those officials out of office. Not only do they have no control of or recourse against an Emergency Manager’s actions, that person can — as this situation demonstrates — remove their ability to have a say in their local government at all.

Rachel Maddow had a segment on her show last evening looking at the controversy over the Emergency Manager in Benton Harbor nullifying election results and forbidding elected bodies in that city from taking any actions whatsoever. She specifically cited the Michigan Messenger.

Maddow specifically mentioned the Jean Klock Park situation, a story that the Messenger has been following closely for years — and most of the media in the state have been ignoring. A large chunk of that park, deeded to the city on the condition that it remain a public park forever, was leased to private developers to be made into a golf course.

The land was swapped for land owned by Whirlpool, property that turned out to be highly contaminated; taxpayers are now paying for the cleanup of that land through a Brownfield redevelopment credit worth millions of dollars.

Though that situation took place before the new Emergency Manager law went into effect, this is exactly the sort of thing that an Emergency Manager would have the power to do. Faced with a deficit, the EM might decide to sell off public property to developers — and there’s nothing that local residents or their elected officials could do to stop it because, as this situation shows, the EFM can simply order the local elected boards not to do anything.

Local groups fighting privatization of the park here and here.

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Rachel Maddow had a segment on her show last night about the Emergency Financial Manager bill that is likely to pass the Michigan legislature this morning, and she cited the Michigan Messenger’s reporting on the bill directly. Video below the fold.

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