“Tuesday night, in the last debate before the August primary, voters got a better look at the distinctions among the candidates than they had before. But it’s also clear that some of the candidates still cling to unrealistic schemes for navigating Michigan’s way to long-term solvency.”

The editorial goes on to say only state Sen. Tom George of Texas Township seems to understand the tax cuts being proposed by opponents Mike Cox and Mike Bouchard will lead to a bankrupt state.

The debate featured four of the five GOP candidates for governor: Mike Cox, Mike Bouchard, Tom George and Pete Hoekstra. Rick Snyder skipped the event to participate in a town hall discussion in Grand Rapids.

Bishop is seeking the GOP nomination for Attorney General, while Dillon is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

Here’s how the Free Press sums up its opinion of the two and their performances:

Dillon and Bishop like to say they have a good working relationship, but so far all they have to show for it is a bipartisan nothing-burger.

Each man has made notable efforts to jump-start the budget negotiation process. But neither has been able to rally his caucus behind what virtually everyone outside the Legislature agrees will be needed to fix Michigan’s structural budget imbalance: a combination of spending cuts and the elimination of loopholes that currently exempt much of Michigan’s economic activity from taxation.

Every day the standoff lingers is a day Michigan goes deeper into the hole. Taxpayers deserve a new legislative leadership team that is focused fully on the budgetary crisis at hand.

The partisan battles between the two legislative leaders have led to two government shut-downs and a current budget stand-off in the state legislature.

Both leaders have until Friday to withdraw from their respective races, if they choose to do so.

Charles Pugh

On Sunday, the Detroit Free Press rounded out its election endorsements with something predictable, but a couple surprises too.

The Motor City’s major daily newspaper’s endorsement of incumbent Mayor Dave Bing’s bid for a full, four-year term was strongly argued even if it was expected.

While suggesting that suburbanite Bing’s commitment to the city as a businessman makes Bing the perfect regional bridge, the endorsement mostly lauds Bing for his “forthright approach” and (the endorsement’s best line) the “typhoon of fresh air in the stale wind of city politics” he represents.

The endorsement even offered mayoral challenger Tom Barrow a bone or two – lauding his sensitivity to the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The major surprise from the Free Press, however, came in the form of its un-endorsement of city council candidate and ex-local TV journalist, Charles Pugh.

The un-endorsement focuses on the candidate’s “financial troubles” – i.e. in the worst timing imaginable, Pugh last week acknowledged that his downtown home is being foreclosed upon – as well as his “lack of candor” to the newspaper’s editorial board back in July when he apparently misrepresented his financial stability. From the un-endorsement:

Pugh remains a bright and engaging Detroiter, someone whose reporting experience has provided him with real insight into Detroit’s problems. But Detroit will be better off if he finds a way to contribute outside of elected office, at least until his own financial life has been stabilized. He does not deserve election to City Council on Nov. 3.

Surprise number two from the Free Press came in the form of editorial writer Jeff Gerritt’s sidebar, personal endorsement of council candidate Raphael Johnson – the 34-year-old convicted murderer turned author/businessman/community leader. From Gerritt’s persuasively written editorial:

I have seen Johnson inspire hundreds of young men and women with his message of self-help, self-respect and redemption. Detroit needs his singular voice on City Council.

“It didn’t show that, that’s the irony of it,” replied Conyers when asked about the poll showing him as vulnerable.

Asked to explain his statement, Conyers said, “I don’t want to comment on it because I don’t have a [news]paper with me.”

Conyers then walked away.

Both Conyers and Kilpatrick are suffering in the polls because of their connections to high-profile political scandals. Kilpatrick is the mother of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who resigned his post due to criminal charges stemming from his attempts to cover up an affair with an aide. Conyers’ wife, Monica, plead guilty to bribery charges in federal court earlier this year and resigned her post on the Detroit City Council.

In a story by Michigan Messenger last week on the poll, Ed Brayton wrote:

Conyers has served in Congress for 44 years and has never faced a serious challenge for re-election. In 2008, he won with more than 80 percent of the vote. While such a powerful legislator rarely faces primary opposition, this poll showed that 44 percent of voters would vote for someone else while only 40 percent said they would vote for Conyers. Fifteen percent were undecided.

The poll results lead Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, to opine that the Congressman is vulnerable to a primary challenge.

Late Thursday morning, Free Press Editor Paul Anger sent a memo to staff about job cuts at the state’s largest newspaper. The memo was leaked to Gannett Blog, and has been confirmed as authentic by sources at the Free Press.

Part of the memo follows:

Reductions will involve about 10% of both bargaining unit and non-bargaining unit staff. Here are bargaining unit job classifications that will have reductions, and the number of positions we plan to reduce in each:

Editorial Writers – 1

Part-time Reporters – 4

Artists – 2

Picture Editors – 1

Librarian – 1

News Archivist – 1

Designers – 1

Sports Agate Editors – 2

Editorial Research Assistants – 1

Part-time Editorial Research Assistant – 1

Copy Editors – 1

Part-Time Copy Editors – 2

Part-Time Web Editors – 2

One source at the Free Press tells Michigan Messenger that Free Press staffers have known the cuts were coming because of an overall decline in revenues from advertising, something that is happening at most newspapers across the country.

Earlier this year, the two newspapers announced they were reducing home delivery to three days a week — Thursday, Friday and Sunday — and moving toward a Web-focused news operation. Earlier on Thursday, the Associated Press reported the two newspapers, who are under a joint-operating agreement, announced they kept more subscriptions than expected during the home delivery transition and saw an increase in single-copy purchases. The companies said they also saw an increase in Web traffic.

The Free Press source said the companies kept subscriptions 10 percent above what had been originally projected.

Today the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News stopped home delivery to millions of subscribers in a bid to revamp its business model in a marketplace where newspapers are either severely distressed, heading into bankruptcy or shutting down all together.

Hard copies of the paper will still be delivered to homes that want them on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, the busiest days for advertising. Newsstand delivery will continue daily.

The papers are distributing a half-million free copies of the paper today as it and the Free Press move to distributing its content mostly on the Web. The Free Press will produce a two-hour news program on WWJ-TV, the area’s CBS affiliate, beginning in May.

So as the country looks to Detroit to see the future of the auto industry, it will also be looking to the area for the future of the newspaper industry.

The Detroit Free Press endorsed Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans, indicating that his long career in fighting crime makes him an “experienced leader” ready to take on the city’s biggest problem: public safety. The editorial notes that Evans is not a “single issue candidate.”

Businessman David Bing missed the endorsement because he “has not shown how he could avoid becoming a frustrated outsider presiding over a dysfunctional institution.”

Former Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix missed out on the pick because he “carries baggage” from his service under the Archer administration and he didn’t make good use of the economic prosperity Archer enjoyed in the 1990’s.

The Detroit News published a glowing endorsement of Bing, hailing his “unflinching character and an untarnished reputation.” The editorial claims that Bing would bring no “political baggage” to City Hall and that he owes no favors which may cultivate “pay to play” schemes.

The piece also commended Evan’s integrity, Cockrel’s stabilization of Detroit in wake of scandal, and Hendrix experience.

The Metro Times endorsed interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr., calling him an “earnest, hardworking public servant.”

The editorial criticized Bing’s candidacy calling him “unimpressive” and “frustratingly vague.”

They also noted that Cockrel once worked as a columnist for the Metro Times.

Notice any particular name missing in that lineup?

In an editorial of flattering profiles of each of the three candidates, they explain why current interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. didn’t make the cut:

[Cockrel] has made awful use of his opportunity to make a positive difference for Detroit. He doesn’t convey a sense of urgency about the city’s problems.

The Free Press will endorse a single candidate out of their top three next week.

Ashenfelter has refused to do so, claiming that to do so would undermine the ability of reporters to do their constitutionally protected duty of acting as a watchdog on the government, but the judge in the case has rejected that assertion. Now Ashenfelter’s attorney has offered a new privilege claim based on the 5th amendment, arguing that what he reveals could result in prosecution for the reporter and that he has a guaranteed right not to incriminate himself.

This is really a classic case of the clash of two important rights. Convertino has a right to know who may have leaked information about him, particularly if that information was false and malicious. But if that leak was criminal, Ashenfelter may indeed face possible prosecution for conspiracy or for aiding and abetting and that triggers a near-absolute 5th amendment right against self-incrimination.

The courts have refused to endorse a full-fledged reporter’s privilege to prevent them from being forced to reveal their sources. Instead they apply a balancing test that allows a reporter to be forced to reveal their sources if that information is crucial to a litigant’s case and cannot be obtained from any other source.

The 5th amendment right against self-incrimination, on the other hand, is far more broadly applied and far more difficult to overcome. Ashenfelter need not prove that the risk of prosecution is likely. Unless the court finds that the claimed risk of prosecution is entirely frivolous, there’s a good chance it will succeed. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Feb. 11.