Michigan Messenger

Michigan plaintiffs file suit against hate crimes law

Ed Brayton — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:58:29 +0000

The Thomas More Law Center, founded by Tom Monaghan of Domino’s Pizza fame, has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of several Michigan religious leaders against the federal government over the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was passed into law last year.

The plaintiffs include Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association – Michigan; Levon Yuille, pastor of The Bible Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan; René B. Ouellette, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Michigan; and James Combs, pastor of four different churches in the state. The full complaint can be read here (PDF).

Like the TMLC’s suit against the government over AIG offering sharia-compliant insurance, most of the complaint is devoted to political boilerplate rather than serious legal argument. An example:

Section 249(a)(2) of the Hate Crimes Act has the purpose and effect of deterring, inhibiting, and chilling the exercise of fundamental rights by persons, including Plaintiffs, who publicly oppose homosexual activism, the homosexual lifestyle, and the homosexual agenda, which seeks to normalize intrinsically disordered sexual behavior that is contrary to the moral law and harmful to the common good of society. Supporters of the homosexual agenda seek to demonize, vilify, and criminalize deeply held religious beliefs that are in opposition to their agenda.

That’s the kind of political rhetoric — as opposed to legal argument — that can really make a judge angry when they read a complaint. I spoke to two different constitutional law professors about this complaint and both said the same thing, that it would be unlikely to survive a motion to dismiss and very, very unlikely to survive a motion for summary judgment.

The first problem is standing. The law has never been applied to any of the plaintiffs, nor have any of them ever been threatened with such an application. The complaint seems to base its standing argument solely on the fact that some people have argued that there should be legal limits on anti-gay rhetoric, not on whether the text of the law itself actually imposes such limits.

The hate crimes law contains a rather explicit exemption which says:

Nothing in this division shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and peaceful picketing or demonstration.

There is no question that the expression of anti-gay views, whether religiously based or not, is protected by the First Amendment (as it should be). And in reality, the provisions of the hate crimes law only applies to the investigation and prosecution of actual physical crimes against individuals, not against speech. Unless the plaintiffs intend to actually assault someone, their anti-gay beliefs are irrelevant; if they chose to assault someone, then those expressed views could be used to establish that they committed such a crime out of hatred or bigotry and that might then trigger the provisions of the hate crimes bill. But the mere expression of anti-gay views cannot be punished under the hate crimes law unless the person expressing those views actually commits a violent crime of some sort.

Family group says it wants homosexuality criminalized

Todd A. Heywood — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:26:01 +0000

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, has added his voice to a growing course of American leaders calling for the re-criminalization of homosexuality in the U.S.

In an e-mail to Michigan Messenger, here’s how Glenn responded when asked if he supported the criminalization move proposed by the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg’s comments last week on Hardball:

“The short answer to your question is yes, we believe that states should be free to regulate and prohibit behavior that’s a violation of community standards and a proven threat to public health and safety — including, as most of the United States did throughout its history, homosexual behavior.”

The issue has come up because Sprigg and other advocates oppose repealing the federal government’s prohibition of openly gay military personnel. The statement was made on Hardball with Chris Matthews. A transcript of the exchange with Sprigg and Matthews via Firedoglake:

MATTHEWS: Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior?

SPRIGG: Well, I think certainly-

MATTHEWS: I’m just asking you, should we outlaw gay behavior?

SPRIGG: I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the sodomy laws in this country, was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.

MATTHEWS: So we should outlaw gay behavior.

SPRIGG: Yes

Shortly after this statement by Sprigg, American Family Association broadcast host of Focal Point Bryan Fisher said he believed that homosexuality should be punished with criminal sanctions. Then, he wrote a blog backing it up.

If you believe all Scripture is inspired, then you are compelled to accept that legal sanctions may appropriately be applied to those who engage in homosexual behavior.

So there you have it. Glenn, who is suing the federal government over the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act claiming it will impinge on his ability to preach his Christian beliefs, wants to use the law to force their religious beliefs on others.

Campaign finance reports show Bouchard campaign has hired ‘hit man’ political firm

Todd A. Heywood — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:11:45 +0000

The man behind some of the most “reprehensible” — in the words of John McCain — GOP attack ads in recent memory is getting involved in Michigan’s gubernatorial race. According to campaign finance reports, Scott Howell and Company, whose partners were involved with infamous campaigns ads attacking Max Cleland and Harold Ford, has been hired as a media consultant by Oakland County Sheriff and GOP candidate for governor Mike Bouchard.

Political consultants say Bouchard’s hiring of the firm may indicate that Bouchard is preparing to get in the “gutter” in the GOP nomination battle. And the history of Scott Howell and Company’s partners certainly indicates a knock-down, drag-out campaign may be in the offing for this hotly contested race to succeed term limited Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Scott Howell is an acolyte of Lee Atwater — dubbed the “Dark Prince of negative campaigning” by Vanity Fair magazine — and Karl Rove, the Bush strategist who carefully used wedge issues like same-sex marriage to rally the faithful and send them to the polls in droves in 2004 to send Bush back to the White House for another four years. Atwater engineered the infamous Dukakis-shredding Willie Horton ads for George H.W. Bush, with the younger Bush, and Howell, carefully watching the “Dark Prince” wield his doomsday scalpel.

The Chambliss/Cleland race

Take for instance the 2002 Senate battle in Georgia between Saxby Chambliss and Max Cleland, then the incumbent. There, Howell and his team crafted a message that painted Vietnam war veteran Max Cleland — a triple amputee and recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for valor — as unconcerned about protecting America. One of the ads they used, which can be seen here, invoked images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to make Cleland appear to be soft on terrorism and unwilling to defend the nation.

That ad was immediately condemned even by Republicans, including Sen. John McCain, who called the ad “worse than disgraceful, it’s reprehensible,” and Sen. Chuck Hagel, who threatened to pay for TV ads criticizing his own party if they didn’t have the commercial pulled. Howell denies having any role in the making of that ad, but he was the media consultant for the campaign, the man who oversees the production of such commercials.

Chambliss bested Cleland.

The Corker/Ford campaign

Another controversial attack ad by Howell was created for the Republican National Committee for Tennessee Senate candidate Bob Corker’s battle with Harold Ford, Jr. in 2006. That ad was widely viewed as playing on old-fashioned fears about black men seeking out white women.

“I met Harold at the Playboy party,” a blond white woman with a squeaky voice and slinking body motions says. The ad closes with the same woman as she tilts her head at the camera, holds her hand to her head to indicate a telephone and whispers, “Harold, call me.”

That focus was labeled racist by many observers in the campaign. At the time the ad began airing, the NAACP of Washington told MSNBC the ad is “a powerful innuendo that plays to pre-existing prejudices about African-American men and white women.”

Liberals were not the only ones bothered by the ad.

Corker himself condemned the ad, which was paid for by the Republican National Committee, calling it “distasteful” and saying the ad “should come down.” Another Republican, former Maine Sen. Bill Cohen, said the ad was “a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment.”

Then-RNC Chair Ken Mehlman told Tim Russert that he did not find the ad inappropriate. Besides, he argued, while the ad was paid for by the RNC, the group had no control over whether to pull it or not because it was produced and placed by an independent group. That independent group was Scott Howell and Company.

Another ad produced by Howell in 2005, on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry W. Kilgore in Virginia, featured crime victims declaring that his opponent, Democrat Tim Kaine, would not impose the death penalty even on Adolf Hitler. The Roanoke Times called that ad “an insulting new low” in politics. The tactic, in fact, backfired on the campaign and is widely credited with having helped Kaine win the election.

The Bush/McCain campaign

Perhaps the most infamous dirty trick in recent history involved Heath Thompson, Howell’s partner in the company. Like Atwater, Thompson is a South Carolina legend. He helmed the 2000 South Carolina primary upset of then Gov. George W. Bush over Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

That South Carolina primary campaign featured a host of nasty attacks leveled at McCain, including allegations he had an interracial child and questioning his sexuality. That smear campaign was conducted by push polling and anonymous fliers intended to give the impression that McCain had fathered an interracial child out of wedlock.

The push poll involved calling voters in the state to ask them this question: “Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?” In fact, McCain and his wife Cindy have adopted a Banglideshi child named Bridget from one of Mother Teresa’s orphanages and there were photos of them with the little girl. The push poll was clearly designed to send the false message that McCain had fathered an interracial child out of wedlock — without actually making such a claim positively. That is how push polls operate, by asking leading questions about how someone would feel if they knew a negative thing about someone that isn’t actually asserted.

And while Thompson and other Bush campaign officials deny they had a role in that push poll, such tactics do not come out nowhere. Someone has to create them, approve them and pay for them — and they do so on behalf of a candidate. And Karl Rove, for whom both Howell and Thompson worked for and trained under, is considered the king of the push poll and was tied directly to this particular one, which is widely considered to be one of the dirtiest political tricks ever played.

Bouchard dismisses Howell history

The Bouchard campaign seems unconcerned about this troubling past. Ted Prill, Bouchard’s campaign manager, told Michigan Messenger in an email, “Scott Howell and associates is nationally known as a premier communications firm whose client list includes such conservative leaders as Sen. Jim DeMint and Sen. John Thune.”

When asked repeatedly to comment on their history of highly controversial, often race-tinged ads, Prill preferred to talk about their track record of winning elections, calling Howell and Company “one of the most successful media firms in the country.”

Democratic political consultant Joe DiSano says Bouchard’s contract with Howell and Company can mean only one thing: the sheriff intends to “hit Mr. (Mike) Cox where it hurts.” Cox has consistently polled at the head of the GOP pack for the nomination for the 2010 race for governor.

“With Bouchard safely ensconced in third place, he has to take out the front runner,” DiSano said.

“You don’t hire a firm like Scott Howell and Company unless you are going to go right to the gutter.”

Detroit Police board wants answers on Abdullah killing

Ed Brayton — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:07:06 +0000

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners have joined Rep. John Conyers and the family of slain Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah in demanding a thorough inquiry to reveal the truth about the circumstances that led to the Muslim leader being gunned down in an October raid on a warehouse in Dearborn. The Detroit Free Press reports:

The Detroit Board of Police Commissioners has passed a resolution calling “to have the truth be revealed” in the investigation of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, the Muslim cleric killed in a shootout with FBI agents seeking to arrest him.

After a meeting Thursday evening, the board declared in the resolution it “will continue to strive for the objective scrutiny and resolution to the fatal shooting of Cleric Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, not presuming guilt or innocence.”

There are two key findings from the autopsy that are raising questions: The fact that he was shot 21 times (which some have argued indicates excessive use of force) and the fact that he was taken from the scene in handcuffs after being declared dead.

Feds release new Asian carp plan

Ed Brayton — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:46:55 +0000

While Gov. Jennifer Granholm and other Great Lakes leaders were meeting at the White House with the leadership of the key executive agencies involved, the Obama administration released the details of a 25-point plan to prevent the destructive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes — but stopped short of agreeing to close the locks connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River via the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal. The Detroit News reports:

Federal officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and other key agencies unveiled a $78.5 million, 25-step plan today to stop the migration of the Asian carp into the Great Lakes…

Larger numbers of field crews will be used for sonar observation, electro-shocking and netting operations within the waterway, the White House said. DNA sampling will be doubled to 120 samples per week.

Next month, a $13.2 million contract will given to build barriers between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and Des Plaines River, the White House said, to prevent carp from getting past the electric barrier if there were a flood.

Another $10.5 million will be used to build and operate a third electric barrier.

The plan, called the Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework , also includes longer term strategies, such as $5 million for chemical treatments if the barriers fail and $1.5 million for research into Asian carp controls such as Asian carp-specific poisons and methods to disrupt spawning and egg viability.

Part of the plan also apparently is to open the locks less often, but not to close them off entirely as Granholm and the leaders of all the Great Lakes states other than Illinois have demanded. Closing the locks would mean no shipping through the channel, requiring millions of tons of freight currently shipped on barges to move by truck or train instead.

Granholm on Asian Carp meeting at White House: ‘We have a disagreement’

Todd A. Heywood — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:58:44 +0000

Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she is pleased with the action being taken by the administration of President Barack Obama, but feels the feds can still do more.

Granholm and other Great Lakes governors met with Obama officials at the White House Monday afternoon. During that meeting, Granholm said the administration said it is taking many actions to address the threat posed by Asian Carp to the Great Lakes.

She said officials would be using fish-killing chemicals and fish netting to monitor the fish populations. To date, tests have determined there is DNA evidence of the fish in Lake Michigan, but a fish kill and netting event last week turned up about 100 carp, none of which were Asian Carp species, Granholm said.

In addition to the monitoring efforts, the feds said they were going to expedite the development of a third electric barrier, as well as review ways to shut down additional waterway connections to the Great Lakes from the Chicago area.

Most controversial however, is a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to have a plan in place to limits Asian Carp access to the lakes by restricting use of the locks. Attorney General Mike Cox asked the Supreme Court to shut down the locks, but they declined.

Under the plan Granholm said the Corps was floating, the locks would be closed for two or three weeks, and open for one week. Before the locks opened for traffic, the Corps would use fish killing poisons to kill fish in the area and prevent Asian Carp migration. That plan could be recommended by March 1, and in place by April 1, Granholm said.

“All that being said, we strongly encouraged them to close the locks,” Granholm said. “This has to be a permanent solution.”

Granholm said the Obama administration said it had an “open mind” when it came to the threat of Asian carp and if further evidence surfaces showing the fish are in the Great Lakes, they are not opposed to ordering the locks shut down.

“They said there was not enough evidence yet to shut down the locks,” said Granholm. She says she thinks the positive DNA results should have been enough. “You know I support 99 percent of the what the Obama administration is doing, on this one issue, though, we have a disagreement.”

Michigan says closing the locks could hurt Chicago by about $70 million a year, while Chicago says it would cost them $190 million a year. But Granholm says those costs are trivial in comparison the $7 billion annual sport fishing economy that the Asian carp would decimate.

The feds also announced a plan to spend up to $78.9 million to attack the problem. But Granholm said the funding stream for that announcement was “unclear,” and said she opposed funds for this coming out of the Great Lakes Restoration programs.

Mich. guv hopeful Rick Snyder embraces ‘the nerd discussion’

David Alire Garcia — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:55:53 +0000

The 'nerd' governor?

In one of the more interesting political ads in recent memory — especially for a Republican — Ann Arbor venture capitalist and first-time candidate Rick Snyder branded himself “one tough nerd” in the 60-second spot that ran during the Super Bowl coverage yesterday.

Typically, Republican candidates don’t embrace their intellectual sides, instead often preferring to brand “elitist” Democrats with the egg-head epithet. But not Snyder. He’s apparently decided to goes full steam ahead on the embrace-your-inner-wonk front, albeit with a humorous touch.

A Snyder aide said earlier today that the expensive ad was a play for independent voters — an interesting target given the fact that Snyder first has to secure the GOP nomination in the June 8 primary.

According to campaign strategist John Weaver, the candidate’s message focuses on the importance of job creation and that “it will take a very smart guy, a very tough guy to change” business as usual in Lansing. In a Detroit News story posted on the newspaper’s website a little while ago, Weaver elaborated:

“We won’t have the nerd discussion in every one of our ads, but this will be central theme to our approach.” He said Super Bowl ads “must cut through the clutter,” adding other candidates will have “cookie-cutter ads and cookie-cutter plans” for fixing the state.

In the ad, Snyder declares, “It’s time for a nerd.” A narrator fleshes out Snyder’s credentials: “Growing up in Battle Creek, Rick Snyder started reading Fortune Magazine…when he was eight. By 23, he’d completed college at the University of Michigan, and his MBA, and his law degree.”

Earlier in the spot, Snyder highlighted his non-politician status by lambasting the more conventional politicians running for governor with a montage of photos that includes ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and even current Gov. Jennifer Granholm, both Democrats. Later on in the spot, Snyder gets around to touting his tenure as president of Gateway Computers.

On his campaign website, Snyder’s choice of framing is vigorously defended: “Rick proudly refers to himself as a nerd because solving the state’s problems is more important to him than the trappings of political office. Tough nerds are known for getting results and that’s exactly what Rick intends to do as Governor.”

In a post on Politico about the ad, Snyder’s $80,000 spot — Super Bowl ads don’t come cheap! — was described as an effort by a GOP candidate “lagging” in the polls. According to recent surveys, the relatively unknown Snyder does in fact trail fellow gubernatorial hopefuls state Attorney General Mike Cox, U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.

The spot, of course, is just one of many campaign messages in the state’s Republican primary for governor, as chronicled earlier today by Michigan Messenger’s Todd Heywood.

Sam Riddle’s public corruption trial nears end in Detroit

David Alire Garcia — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:01:44 +0000

Detroit’s latest public corruption production is, mercifully, almost over. In fact, closing arguments over political consultant Sam Riddle’s alleged scheme to extort thousands in bribes were entered into the record just a couple hours ago.

Summing up the prosecution’s take on the self-described “political pirate” (courtesy of extensive wire tapped phone calls), Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gardey asked jurors to make a statement with their verdict on Riddle, ex-chief of staff to former Detroit City Councilor Monica Conyers:

In Sam Riddle’s Detroit, the city is for sale. This cannot stand. It must not stand.

Riddle, of course, is accused of working hand-in-glove with Conyers to encourage a range of individuals with business before the city to cough up cash in exchange for Conyers’ vote on the city council or the pension board she also used to sit on. That is, before Conyers pleaded guilty to bribery and resigned from council last summer. The wife of long-time U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

And it’s that marriage that has increasingly become the subject of speculation over John Conyers’ obligation to address the sordid scandal and his possible involvement — or not.

According to a Sunday column by Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley, legitimate questions for Congressman Conyers demand more than a reflexive “no comment” as evidence of his possible involvement has emerged:

Rep. Conyers got splashed with his wife’s taint this week during the federal bribery trial of her former sidekick, political consultant Sam Riddle. Greektown developer Jim Papas, frequently on the fringes of City Hall muck, testified that he gave Riddle $10,000 to share with Monica Conyers. Papas was looking for help in securing a letter from the congressman in support of his Romulus waste disposal well.

Monica Conyers called her husband’s office, and Papas got the letter.

Finley wants to know if the 22-term member of Congress knew about the $10,000 pay-out and why exactly he signed the letter. Finley, not exactly known as a Democratic cheerleader, asks: “Could this be considered influence peddling by proxy?”

Maybe the conservative Finely is too quick to jump to conclusions framed as questions, but at least one liberal commentator is asking some similar questions.

As for Riddle’s defense, his lawyer in court today didn’t even try to claim that his client is squeaky clean. Arguing that Riddle was just doing his job as a political consultant and part-timer on Monica Conyers’ staff, the money he received was merely payment for legitimate services rendered. And then there was this from Riddle defense lawyer Edward Wishnow:

The verdict form does not say guilty or innocent, it says guilty or not guilty. Not proven is not guilty.

For good measure, Wishnow also asked jurors to ignore Riddle’s connections to Monica Conyers in their deliberations.

Panel recommends emergency financial manager for Benton Harbor

Eartha Jane Melzer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:58:49 +0000

A seven member financial review team appointed by the governor to investigate Benton Harbor’s financial situation has found that a local government financial emergency exists in Benton Harbor and is recommending that the governor appoint an emergency financial manager.

The panel said that state intervention is necessary in Benton Harbor, “because no satisfactory plan exists to resolve a serious financial problem.”

According to the panel’s report, during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008, the City violated state law by incurring significant general fund operating deficits in several areas. The city also failed to have a deficit elimination plan certified by the State Treasury Dept. as required by law.

Here are some of the review team’s other findings.

The City did not meet its minimum contribution requirement to either its General Employees’ Retirement System or to the Police and Fire Pension System for the last several years.

Over the last several years, the City engaged in several street projects funded with grants from the Michigan Department of Transportation. However, these grants required matching contributions from the City which the City failed to remit.

The City withheld federal income taxes from City employee wages, but did not timely remit those withholding taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

In a move that the review team said illustrated the city’s practice of using money for other than intended purposes, last year the city used $200,000 in loan proceeds from the Michigan Department of Transportation to cover payments to the Internal Revenue Service for collected but unpaid payroll taxes.

The report also noted that the City has had 15 different city managers in the last 28 years.

Michigan Treasury Dept. spokesman Terry Stanton said that according to state law the governor has 30 days from receipt of the report to decide whether the matter warrants further action from the state.

Dillon: Announcement on Gov’s race ‘within weeks’

Todd A. Heywood — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:55:37 +0000

While the media is focused on Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero’s announcement that he will be seeking the Democratic nomination for governor this year, Peter Luke over at MLive.com has an interesting tidbit about Rep. Andy Dillon.

Luke reports Dillon will announce his formal candidacy “very soon, in a matter of weeks.” Dillon, who is the current speaker of the state house, also said in an interview on the Detroit Public Television show “Am I Right or Am I Right?” that he will surpass one of his key goals before announcing his candidacy:

“One of my goals was to see if we could raise a million dollars in 30 days and we’ll exceed that.”

That can’t be good news for pro-choice advocates. Dillon is anti-choice. And it sure can’t be good news for a majority of Democratic stalwart groups, whom Dillon has managed to tick off over the last couple of years.

It’s also a stunning amount of money for him to raise, considering the former presumptive leader of the race, Lt. Gov. John Cherry, spent a year knocking on doors and holding out the collection plate, and managed to only raise $1.4 million, of which he spent $1.2 million before withdrawing from the race on Jan. 5, due to lackluster fundraising.