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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Emergency Manager Poll Finds White, Republican Men Favor Law
The Huffington Post Simone Landon First Posted: 01/29/2012 9:49 am Updated: 02/ 2/2012 7:19 pm
A recent Detroit Free Press/WXYZ poll claims Michigan voters are evenly split when it comes to support for Public Act 4, the state's emergency manager law. But a closer look shows support for the law comes largely from those whom it least affects.
The poll results, published Sunday, asked 600 likely voters whether they would vote to repeal Public Act 4 if the question were placed on the November ballot.
Opponents to the law have been gathering signatures in just such an effort to force a statewide referendum.
If successful, the petition drive would also freeze the law until the vote, placing the state's six current emergency managers in uncertain positions. Gov. Rick Snyder and Treasurer Andy Dillon have said they favor stopgap legislation that would allow the emergency managers in Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint, Pontiac, Detroit Public Schools and -- as of Friday -- Highland Park Schools, to continue their work.
The Free Press/WXYZ poll found 42 percent of respondents would vote to keep Public Act 4, and 45 percent would vote to reject it. Statewide, men were more likely to favor the emergency manager law than women (51 percent to 35 percent), and Republicans favored it much more heavily than Democrats (60 percent to 26 percent).
The poll sampled all Michigan voters, not those residents of the municipalities and school districts currently affected by the emergency manager law. Each of those communities are majority African-American, and the poll did show black people would vote to reject the law 65 percent to 23 percent.
The survey also asked respondents what they thought should be done to solve Detroit's fiscal crisis. Detroit is currently undergoing a state review of its finances, moving the city one step closer to the appointment of an emergency manager.
Less than one-third of respondents favored an emergency manager for the city, but half said the state should work with Mayor Dave Bing and Detroit City Council "to address the financial situation in Detroit," perhaps in the form of a consent agreement that would grant the mayor more control over some operations.
Detroit residents strongly oppose an emergency manager for their city. An earlier survey conducted Jan. 13-17 by Denno Research of Wayne County Democrats showed 75 percent of Detroiters disagreed with a state takeover, and 61 percent strongly disagreed. In Wayne County as a whole, 60 percent of Democrats opposed an emergency manager for Detroit. Three of Michigan's six municipal bodies under emergency management are in Wayne County: the city of Ecorse, Detroit Public Schools and Highland Park Schools.
Yet polls may be less likely to indicate voters' approval or disapproval of Public Act 4 than the results of the petition drive aimed at repealing it.
Both the Detroit and Flint City Councils in September unanimously passed resolutions in favor of putting the law up for a vote.
Members of Michigan Forward and Stand Up For Democracy, the group sponsoring the effort, say they have collected nearly 200,000 signatures in favor of a referendum on the law. They need just shy of 162,000 signatures certified by the state to allow Public Act 4 to come to a decisive, popular vote in November.
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:18 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Stop the Power Grab | StandUp4Democracy.comThe Emergency Manager law allows the governor to declare a local government or school district in financial distress and appoint an emergency manager to ...http://standup4democracy.com/ - 7k
The Facts
Public Act 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act (PA 4 of 2011), fundamentally threatens democracy and our local rights because it is a power grab by politicians. It must be struck down or repealed for the sake of Michigan Democracy.
The Emergency Manager law allows the governor to declare a local government or school district in financial distress and appoint an emergency manager to take control. Emergency managers are nelected bureaucrats are unaccountable to local taxpayers and have unchecked, unprecedented power. Under this law, they can:
1.seize and sell assets owned by the city, such as buildings or parks, without the approval of voters or local elected officials
2.add to local debt, by putting property tax hikes on the ballot with confusing wording that hides the real cost of the tax hike
3.outsource to private and out of state companies
4.lay off thousands of public employees including teachers, police and firefighters
5.change or terminate the contract of city or school district employees
6.suspend contracts and collective bargaining agreements
7.eliminate collective bargaining rights for up to 5 years
8.fire elected officials, and
9.dissolve or merge whole cities, counties and school districts
The unelected bureaucrats would be empowered to write the local government's budget and all its contracts for two years AFTER they are gone. No input from local residents, no collective bargaining.
This is just a power grab by politicians in Lansing. Political opponents of local officials don't have to beat them in elections. They can just get Governor Snyder and politicians in Lansing to take away power and put their people in place, people who support their political agenda – not the needs of people in the community. We need our leaders to come together to find solutions, not take away voting rights and strip decision-making power from local communities.
Michigan already had a law in place, a law used by both Republican and Democratic governors, that allowed the appointment of officials to help bring communities and school districts in financial trouble back to solid ground. It was working, but now the power-hungry Governor and other politicians rammed a new law through that gave politically appointed managers unprecedented powers to cancel collective bargaining, privatize services, and strip power from local elected officials. This law isn't about fiscal responsibility, it's about grabbing power.
When you read the fine print in this law, it says emergency managers have the power to end contracts. That is a backdoor way of taking away the right to collective bargaining. They know they can't pass a law to completely end collective bargaining in Michigan, so they will use this loophole to end it community by community. The rights of public servants like cops, firefighters, nurses and teachers who negotiated contracts in good faith will be stripped away.
One of the most important parts of our democracy is the ability for voters to have local control. They can elect people from their community, people they know, to serve on their city councils or school boards. With the emergency manager law, voters can be completely stripped of that power, and outsiders appointed by the Governor will have more power in communities they don't even live in, without the approval of voters who live there.
The emergency manager legislation has zero oversight and zero accountability. Under this law, it is entirely up to the governor to have his political appointees go into communities and do what they want to change rules for their schools and governments, local tax rates, cancel contracts and sell off community assets. These financial managers don't need one bit of approval from the legislature, local leaders, or even voters to make these drastic changes.
Lansing politicians are unfairly exploiting the economic crisis to attack Michigan families, take away our rights, and put our communities at risk. Rather than kick communities when they are down, we should be working to prevent local units of government from getting in financial trouble. Instead, the State proposes to cut school aid and revenue sharing and then blame local elected officials and public sector workers for their inability to properly manage the State's budget.
Worse, while being unable to run the State properly, the State then pretends it can do a better job running your local communities than those you elected to do the job.
If you want to get more involved contact 1-866-306-5168 or email standup4democracy@gmail.com.
Read the full text of PA 4
Call 1-866-306-5168
standup4democracy@gmail.com
Download a flier |
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:22 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Rep. John Conyers talks emergency manager law with Gov. Rick Snyder, questions constitutionality
Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 12:35 PM
By Jonathan Oosting | joosting@mlive.com
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, an outspoken critic of Michigan's emergency manager law, shared his concerns with Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday in Lansing.
Conyers, joined by Reverend Charles E. Williams II of the Detroit National Action Network, discussed the constitutional validity and "inherently undemocratic nature" of Public Act 4, according to his office.
The newly-strengthened law provides emergency managers with broad powers resolve a fiscal crisis, but critics say it goes too far by allowing appointed officials to break union contracts and dissolve elected bodies.
Conyers (D-Detroit) previously asked attorney General Eric Holder to review the law, citing constitutional concerns and fears that it is being applied only in cities with a high concentration of black residents.
A ten-member review team appointed by Snyder currently is reviewing the City of Detroit's finances ahead of possible intervention. While Snyder repeatedly has stated he does not want to appoint an emergency manager in Detroit, the review team could end up making that recommendation.
Wednesday's discussion with Conyers comes a week after Snyder met with several state and national lawmakers from Detroit, and spokeswoman Sara Wurfel told MLive.com he welcomes the continuing dialogue.
Snyder believes Public Act 4 is constitutional, Wurfel said, and changes to the old law were desperately needed "to provide better early warning indicators and additional tools to avoid emergency managers in the first place and to help Michigan communities regain solid financial footing and preserve core services for their citizens."
Beyond that, Wurfel pointed out that "the state has a Constitutional obligation to protect the safety, health and welfare of its citizens." |
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:27 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Editorial: Time to fine-tune state's emergency manager law
DETROIT FREE PRESS
January 14, 2012 |
The recent flap over how Pontiac receives and administers federal HUD funds suggests an opportunity to tweak the state's emergency manager law for the better -- something Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature should have on their 2012 agenda.
The dispute arose when Pontiac's emergency manager decided to turn management of the city's HUD funds over to Oakland County officials. His reasoning was sound: Pontiac has a record of wasting the funds so badly that the federal government was threatening to withhold them; Oakland County has a stellar record of managing these funds, and was willing to take control.
The problem was that shifting control entirely to the county would mean a reduction in funds designated for Pontiac; HUD funding is determined largely by poverty rates, and the county's overall rate is far lower than Pontiac's.
So a management improvement would have diluted the program's benefit to Pontiac's citizens in the city.
That's a failing of the emergency manager law. Because the managers are brought in (typically from outside the troubled community) and given the charge simply of restoring fiscal health, they can sometimes be insensitive to, or even dismissive of, the long-term interests of the cities they are trying to shepherd to solvency.
In Pontiac, the situation was abated when members of the Oakland County Commission and U.S. Rep Gary Peters insisted that another way be found. In the end, manager Lou Schimmel agreed that having Oakland County manage the funds but not take full authority over the program was worth a try because it would preserve funding levels. Federal HUD officials have also agreed.
But this was an ad hoc intervention by the elected officials. Could the law be tweaked to require more input from elected officials?
Clearly, you wouldn't want to force a manager to deal with officials who had helped create the fiscal emergency, but could other officeholders -- from county-level positions or Congress -- be involved?
It is well worth the governor and Legislature's time to consider that. Opposition to the emergency manager law has become organized and fierce. And while the aim of overturning the law outright may be misguided, some of the criticisms leveled against it are valid.
We continue to believe that a strong emergency manager law is necessary to give the state the tools it needs to deal with financial emergencies brought about by elected officials' incompetence or mismanagement. But excising elected voices entirely from decisions whose impact will outlive an emergency manager's tenure is neither democratic nor in the public interest. The law could be made better by acknowledging that. |
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:31 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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February 12, 2012
Judge Rules Emergency Manager Process, Financial Review Teams Subject To Open Meetings Act
The Huffington Post David Sands First Posted: 02/ 2/2012 10:29 am Updated: 02/ 6/2012 2:24 pm
UPDATE: Feb. 6 -- The Detroit News reported Ingham County Circuit Judge denied issuing an opinion on Feb. 2 ordering Detroit's Emergency Manager Review Board to hold open meetings.
According to the Detroit News, a meeting between two attorneys and the judge was accidentally reported as a ruling.
Ingham County Circuit Court Chief Judge William Collete ruled Thursday that Michigan's emergency manager financial review boards must open their meetings to the public.
The ruling is a response to a legal challenge filed by Highland Park School board member and AFSCME Council 25 representative Robert Davis against Treasurer Andy Dillon and Gov. Rick Snyder over the closed-door process of the state-appointed financial review team that is currently examining Detroit's finances.
The suit claims the review board has violated Michigan's Open Meetings Act of 1976, which requires public bodies to conduct nearly all business at open meetings.
Davis also filed suit this week against the appointment of Highland Park Schools Emergency Manager Jack Martin, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Dillon has argued the closed meetings are legal.
"Under Public Act 4 the meetings that we hold are confidential and we're not subject to the Open Meetings Act," he said Jan. 10, during the public introduction Detroit's review board.
Those who oppose the emergency manager legislation have been vocal critics of the closed-door meetings.
Brandon Jessup, chairman and CEO of Michigan Forward, a group sponsoring a petition to freeze the emergency manager law, criticized the lack of transparency allowed under Public Act 4 in a recent press statement.
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The exclusion of community members severely discredits the 'early warning' theory often used by Michigan's Chief Executive [Snyder]," Jessup said. "Public Act 4 provides a blank check to special interests focused on selling public assets, eliminating public contracts and dissolving Democracy."
Judge Collete will make a final decision on the case early next week, Channel 7 reports.
FOLLOW HUFFPOST DETROIT |
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:38 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| DOES THIS MEAN THAT BROWN SHOULD DISCLOSE WHO THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE IN HIS SUBCOMMITTEES AND FOLLOW ERIC MAYS SUGGESTION THAT THESE SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS BE MADE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. |
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:39 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
DEMOCRATS
Materials Related to Michigan Emergency Manager Law
•12/1/11 – Letter to Attorney General Holder Regarding Emergency Manager Law
•12/15/11 – Letter to Governor Snyder Regarding Emergency Manager Law
Overview of Court Cases
General Retirement System of the City of Detroit, et al., v. Snyder (Case No. 11-11686): On April 18, 2011, the Detroit workers’ pension boards filed a complaint asking the federal court in Detroit to declare the Emergency Manager law unconstitutional and block it from taking effect. The law, which lets managers terminate employee contracts and suspend collective bargaining, was signed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in March 2011. On September 29, 2011, Judge Sean Cox dismissed the case, ruling that the issues were not “ripe” for consideration. “The action is not ripe for review because not only have the…multistep processes that could potentially lead to the use of the powers of Section 19(1)(m) not been completed, they have not even begun,” Cox said in his 20-page ruling.
Brown, et al. v. Snyder, et al. (Case No. 11-685-CZ): On June 22, 2011, the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, Goodman & Hurwitz, The Sanders Law Firm, and Miller Cohen PLC filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Ingham County on behalf of 28 Michigan residents challenging the Emergency Manager law as unconstitutional under numerous articles of the Michigan State Constitution. The State submitted an answer denying the allegations and formally requested via an Executive Message from Gov. Snyder that the Michigan Supreme Court hear the case without letting the trial court rule, stating that “early and final determination by the Michigan Supreme Court” must be made to resolve the matter. On September 14, 2011, Plaintiffs filed their opposition to the State’s request to have the case heard by the Michigan Supreme Court, surpassing a trial court ruling. Plaintiffs argued that the parties should be able to conduct discovery and develop the factual record in the case before the State Supreme Court rules and that the trial court is in the best position to supervise such discovery process. Plaintiff’s amended complaint challenged both the facial language and now the application of the EM law. A ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court on whether to hear the case right away is still pending. |
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Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:43 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Granted, the EM law has changed under Snyder. But, with most protesters being Democrats, how much of the protest is political? I don't recall any protests when Granholm appointed emergency managers.
Politics today has become so polarized that each party automatically demonizes whatever the other proposes, or does. |
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I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:33 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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Emergency Manager Poll Finds White, Republican Men Favor Law
Oh you mean the folks who work pay taxes and dont skim off the public dole?? |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:09 pm |
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