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Michigan Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 09, 2016 13 Comments
Is it finally "over over" in Jill Stein's impossible dream to recount votes in Michigan? Here's hoping so. After the Michigan mid-level appellate court ruled against her, and a federal judge dissolved an injunction that had kept the recount alive, Stein's only hope was that the state Supreme Court would rule in her favor. But first, the state Supreme Court had to agree to hear the case. And it just declined to do so. The Detroit News reports:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 07, 2016 26 Comments
UPDATE (by WAJ): At about 7:45 p.m. tonight the District Court dissolved the TRO that kept the recount going, effectively ending the Michigan Recount since the state court ordered a halt. Full Order at bottom of post:
.... Because there is no basis for this Court to ignore the Michigan court’s ruling and make an independent judgment regarding what the Michigan Legislature intended by the term “aggrieved,” Plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to a recount under Michigan’s statutory scheme....

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 06, 2016 52 Comments
Failed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein sued for a recount in Michigan. That suit has created tension between Michigan's state government and the federal government. Tuesday evening, Michigan's Court of Appeals ordered a halt to the recount, saying Stein was not an aggrieved candidate who would benefit from a recount. At the same time, the 6th Circuit ruled the must proceed.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 30, 2016 11 Comments
Wednesday, failed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, filed for a recount in Michigan. The recount is set to begin Friday or Saturday. Stein maintains she's out to bust the two-party stranglehold and to ensure the veracity of America's election system. She also claims she's not working in conjunction with any other campaign. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the's only filing or suing for recounts in rust-belt states where Hillary was expected to win, but did not. But back to Michigan:
“After a presidential election tarnished by the use of outdated and unreliable machines and accusations of irregularities, people of all political persuasions are asking if our election results are reliable,” Stein said Wednesday. “We must recount the votes so we can build trust in our election system. We need to verify the vote in this and every election so that Americans can be sure we have a fair, secure and accurate voting system.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on September 09, 2016 12 Comments
The Supreme Court refused to consider Michigan's emergency appeal that would eliminate its 125 year-old straight-ticket voting option. The justices gave no reason:
“The application for stay presented to Justice (Elena) Kagan and by her referred to the Court is denied. Justice (Clarence) Thomas and Justice (Samuel) Alito would grant the application.”
In 2015, the state leadership decided to remove the straight ticket option so, "that a voter would not overlook nonpartisan issues on the ballot and also make a 'more informed vote by examining the credentials and values of each candidate.'"

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 20, 2016 11 Comments
Truly, the 21st century is not turning out as I envisioned. We have been closely following the #FlintWatercrisis. After relying on science, technology, and public policy for decades to guarantee safe drinking water, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy just wrote a letter to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver explaining why the region's water woes are going to continue into the foreseeable future.
...Among the problem areas identified by McCarthy:
  • Flint's water system is oversized for its current and projected water demand, leading to water not moving through the system as designed. This standing water in pipes can erode the residual chlorine that protects against pathogens.
  • "The water treatment plant is not adequately staffed, operated or administered to reliably deliver safe drinking water for years into the future," McCarthy stated. Additional "experienced and expert operators" and improved standard operating procedures and preventive and corrective maintenance programs are needed.
  • The EPA administrator also was critical of city leadership. "Flint needs a city administration that can provide stable, reliable and quick administrative support essential to a well-functioning drinking water system," she stated in her letter....
So while the EPA is struggling to deal with the lead in Flint's water system, another government agency has issued a troubling report on an aquatic contaminant that has become ubiquitous in the public water system: Synthetic estrogen from contraceptives.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on May 19, 2016 7 Comments
The last time we looked at Flint, the courts arraigned three bureaucrats over their roles in allowing lead-infused water to contaminate the municipal drinking water supply. Now, in an apparent bid to regain some relevancy, one national group is filing a lawsuit over the water-crisis.
Another big name has surfaced in the tsunami of Flint water lawsuits: the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People], which is suing several state officials and two engineering firms, alleging they poisoned a city with toxic drinking water by failing to detect that something was wrong, pretending a problem didn't exist and ignoring numerous red flags. "Just the color of Flint's water should have led any reasonable engineer to the conclusion that Flint's pipes were dangerously corroded," the 103-page lawsuit states. The NAACP announced the lawsuit today, though it was filed on March 31 in U.S. District Court, where at least two dozen other Flint-related lawsuits are pending. This one blames Gov. Rick Snyder, several state officials and two engineering firms for the crisis, claiming they engaged in "gross negligence" and "outrageous conduct" that harmed many. Not only did officials fail to detect a water problem, the lawsuits says, but they made the problem worse by not properly treating the water. And even when they knew the water was tainted, the suit says, public officials repeatedly maintained that it was safe to drink, despite a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak linked to the water. "All the while — despite public assurances of safety — government officials in Flint quietly switched to bottled water while the citizens and businesses of Flint continued to drink dangerously contaminated water,” the lawsuit states.
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