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.
CQ Politics has a major report on more than 100 members of the House of Representatives from both parties who helped secure earmarks for clients of The PMA Group, a lobbying firm with close ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.). The lobbying firm is currently under investigation for illegal campaign contributions. The report looks at a major defense appropriation bill from 2008 that was managed by Murtha, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee:
In the spending bill managed by Murtha, the fiscal 2008 Defense appropriation, 104 House members got earmarks for projects sought by PMA clients, according to Congressional Quarterly’s analysis of a database constructed by Ashdown’s group (Taxpayers for Common Sense).
Those House members, plus a handful of senators, combined to route nearly $300 million in public money to clients of PMA through that one law (PL 110-116).
And when the lawmakers were in need — as they all are to finance their campaigns — PMA came through for them.
According to CQ MoneyLine, the same House members who took responsibility for PMA’s earmarks in that spending bill have, since 2001, accepted a cumulative $1,815,138 in campaign contributions from PMA’s political action committee and employees of the firm.
Only two Michigan legislators were on the list, both Republicans: Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Rep. Joe Knollenberg, who lost his bid for reelection in November. Neither took a significant amount of money from PMA; Hoekstra received $2,500 from the firm and Knollenberg received $6,000. The full list of legislators implicated, with the amount each received from PMA and the amount of the earmarks they secured for PMA clients, can be found here.
Hoekstra is accused of securing, along with another unnamed legislator, a $3.7 million earmark for a PMA client. Knollenberg is accused of securing, also along with another unnamed legislator, a $2.8 million earmark for a PMA client. There were no details in the article on what the specific client or specific earmark was on the part of either legislator, nor was there any indication that either legislator had violated any House rule or law.
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