Despotism Has Taken Root in America, Especially in Michigan

DATA DRIVEN VIEW POINT: Here is yet another example of how despotism is taking root in America.   

FRI JUN 08, 2012 AT 12:28 PM PDT

Republicans trying to force Detroit to go Bankrupt in a week

byAndy1116Follow

I'm not the guy who can go too much in detail about this but I just want give you the gist of the story. Detroit has been a keypoint of Obama's economic recovery used for the stump. But now it's on the verge of being appointed a financial manager from Rick Snyder.

Detroit Free Republic

Jack Martin, the city’s new chief financial officer, said the city will be broke by June 15 but should be able to make payroll for its employees. He said the city will be operating in a deficit situation if the state withholds payments on a portion of the $80 million in bond money needed to help keep the city afloat.

The battle ultimately could lead to an emergency manager if state officials deem the city to be in violation of the consent agreement that gives the state significant control over Detroit’s finances.

But it looks like Michigan is not giving them the revenue they were promised.

Crittendon filed a lawsuit last week saying that the consent agreement was “void and unenforceable” because Michigan owes the city $224 million in revenue sharing plus more than $1 million in unpaid water bills, parking tickets and other debts. Under the city charter, Detroit can’t enter into contracts with entities in default to the city, so Crittendon challenged the consent agreement under her authority to investigate violations of the charter.

The Scandal of Michigan's Emergency Managers

Chris Savage
February 15, 2012 | This article appeared in the March 5-12, 2012 edition of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/article/166297/scandal-michigans-emergency-managers#

On January 20 the progressive think tank Michigan Forward and the Detroit branch of the NAACP sent a joint letter to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder expressing concern over Public Act 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act. Signed into law in March 2011, it granted unprecedented new powers to the state’s emergency managers (EMs), including breaking union contracts, taking over pension systems, setting school curriculums and even dissolving or disincorporating municipalities. Under PA 4, EMs, who are appointed by the governor, can “exercise any power or authority of any officer, employee, department, board, commission or other similar entity of the local government whether elected or appointed.”

Results were swift. In April the Benton Harbor EM, Joe Harris, decreed: “Absent prior express written authorization and approval by the Emergency Manager”—himself—“no City Board, Commission or Authority shall take any action for or on behalf of the City whatsoever other than: i) Call a meeting to order, ii) Approve of meeting minutes, iii) Adjourn a meeting.” The move in effect abolished Benton Harbor’s elected City Commission and replaced it with an unelected bureaucrat, perhaps the first time this has happened in US history.What are the qualifications for such a powerful office and the six-figure salary that accompanies it? Not much: PA 4 requires “a minimum of 5 years’ experience and demonstrable expertise in business, financial, or local or state budgetary matters.” Last year the state held a pair of two-day training sessions for EMs, both run primarily by companies that provide outsourcing services to municipalities and school districts. Yet PA 4 made the emergency manager the single most powerful person in the city.

The implications went beyond Benton Harbor. “Since the beginning of your administration, communities facing or under emergency management have doubled,” Michigan Forward and the NAACP wrote to the governor, citing a “failure of transparency and accountability” in the process of determining which jurisdictions need an emergency manager. The financial review team assigned to Detroit, for instance, had recently met in Lansing, nearly 100 miles away—“a clear example of exclusion and voter disenfranchisement,” according to the authors. On February 6 an Ingham County circuit judge ruled that the Detroit team’s meetings must be held in public.

Of Detroit’s 713,777 residents, 89 percent are African-American. The city of Inkster (population 25,369), which recently got an EM, has a black population of 73 percent. Having EMs in both cities would mean that more than half the state’s black population would fall into the hands of unelected officials. [Snip] Goto URL Above for more from The Nation.Appeals court: Emergency manager repeal goes on ballot unless 2002 case is overruled

Published: Friday, June 08, 2012, 6:52 PM     Updated: Friday, June 08, 2012, 6:52 PM

By David Eggert | deggert1@mlive.com http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/court_of_appeals_emergency_man.html

LANSING, MI - A conflicted state appeals court on Friday ordered that a referendum of Michigan's emergency financial manager law go on the ballot, but then halted the ruling, saying it really should be disqualified because organizers' petitions had the wrong font size.

In a 3-0 decision, a panel called for the full Court of Appeals to be polledto consider asking a special panel of judges to possibly overrule an earlier case they are bound by - but disagree with.

If not "for the fact that we are required to follow" a 2002 decision involving an annexation issue in suburban Detroit, the judges wrote, "we would rule that plaintiff's petition is invalid because the petition heading is noncompliant with the 14-point type mandated" by the secretary of state and Michigan law.

The appeals court has 28 days to conduct the poll, which will not happen if the Michigan Supreme Court takes the case first. The high court ultimately will decide if the proposed referendum goes before voters in November.

Last month, a state elections board deadlocked on whether to certify the referendum, effectively keeping it off the statewide ballot. If the referendum is certified, the law will be automatically suspended - clouding the status of four cities and two school districts now run by emergency managers.

The 2011 law signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder gives emergency managers expanded powers over financially strapped municipalities and school districts.

Stand Up for Democracy - a coalition of labor unions and others - collected enough signatures asking voters to repeal the law. But Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility - a group started by current and retired business leaders - challenged the petitions on several grounds including the type size of their heading.

In a 2002 annexation case involving Bloomfield Township and the city of Pontiac, the appeals court ruled that while petition wording was in the wrong type size, it still was in "substantial compliance" with the law and should be placed on the ballot.

Michigan court rules require three-judge panels of the appeals court to follow decisions issued on or after Nov. 1, 1990, if they have not been reversed or modified by the Supreme Court or a special panel of the appeals court.

"In our judgment, Bloomfield was wrongly decided because it failed to apply the clear and unambiguous statutory language that the petition warning language 'shall be printed in 12-point type immediately above the place for signatures' as required by § 482(5)," Judges Kurtis Wilder, Kirsten Frank Kelly and Michael Riordan wrote.

Snyder's office released a statement saying it was gratified with the ruling.

"We are pleased that this panel followed the letter of the Michigan Election Law and stayed the effects of its ruling so that PA 4 remains in effect. We are hopeful that if a special panel is convened that it is done promptly and that a majority of its judges agree with the unanimous interpretation of this panel."

Flint budget cuts: Emergency manager intends to outsource garbage pickup, senior centers, other services

Published: Friday, June 08, 2012, 5:30 PM

By Kristin Longley | klongley1@mlive.com 

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/06/flint_emergency_manager_wants_1.html

FLINT, MI -- More jobs that have been held for decades by city workers could soon be headed to the private sector.

On the heels of confirming that the city lockup will be reopened and run by a private firm, Flint emergency manager Michael Brown said he intends to outsource waste collection, the senior centers and janitorial services.

The city is soliciting proposals from companies for all three of those areas, but no awards have been decided, he said.

"We're coming up with alternative ways of delivering services," Brown said Thursday in an interview in a conference room in the mayor's department at Flint City Hall. 

The move to more outsourcing is the latest in a series of budget cutting moves Brown has made since Gov. Rick Snyder appointed him to take over Flint in December.

The city's four public golf courses were outsourced in March -- three to a private contractor and one to a nonprofit.

Other emergency managers around the state also have privatized services, such as busing in Detroit public schools, water and sewer operations in Pontiac and ambulance services in Ecorse.

More outsourcing in Flint could lead to more job cuts in the ranks of city workers.

The city has already sent out 98 layoff notices across numerous city departments this month in preparation for the 2013 budget cuts that are set to take effect when the new fiscal year begins July 1.

"It's all part of the balanced budget (which is posted online)," Finance Director Jerry Ambrose said in a written statement. "Tough times call for tough choices to be made."

Those layoffs are expected to save the city between $9 million and $10 million.

There are no estimates yet on how much the latest outsourcing moves would save the city or how many more positions would be affected. 

Already, 54 positions are being cut in the city's "infrastructure" areas of service, which include water and sewer operations; waste collection; street maintenance and engineering; parks; community and economic development; facilities maintenance; and fleet.

The emergency manager said city unions would also be able to submit bids for the services when applicable.


"We're hoping it would involve better services for citizens," Brown said. "Where our people can bid on these things to provide the service, they can."


Don Lewis, president of the city supervisors union, AFSCME Local 1799, said he hopes his members will have the opportunity to review the bids first, and then submit comparable proposals. 


He said it would save the city time and money to allow workers who already have the experience in those departments to provide the service when possible.


In the past, union members were allowed to review the bids and could submit proposals within 5 percent of the lowest bid and still be considered for the job, he said.


"I don't know (if we can do) that yet," he said. "Let's keep people in house who already know those areas. It's a smoother transition and seems like it would be less cost to the city and less hassle to the people trying to train them."


A request for proposals for waste collection has been posted on the city's website, and calls for a three-year contract. It also encourages vendors to hire city workers when possible.


"These private contractors shall provide, in a good workmanlike manner, the services called for and described herein which shall consist of all supervision, equipment, labor, and all other items necessary to provide the city with complete refuse collection, removal and disposal," it says.