The new policy, obtained by the Free Press, took effect April 15 through a directive signed by Kilpatrick.
“This policy does not include telephones, text messaging devices and pagers, which are given to employees for their personal and business use,” the policy says. “State and federal laws protect communications made over telephone lines and through the use of messaging devices.”
I have seen the future and it is this ... this new policy, coming as it did in mid-April, is used to challenge the validity of the text messages as evidence that he committed perjury. This lands the issue in court, and carries with it the potential to set case law in Michigan as to whether the state's FOIA law covers text messages.
Worst case scenario ... a judge rules the text messages are private and were obtained illegally. Kilpatrick skates from under the charges, and we have a narrower definition of FOIA and a Detroit mayor everyone knows escaped punishment largely through a technicality. To the nation, Detroit continues to be the major city with the perjuring playboy at its helm. Businesses say, "Why take a flyer on a crook?" and avoid the place like the Black Death.
Best case scenario ... Attorney General Mike Cox issues an AG's opinion that legislators intended the original, strong FOIA law to define as public documents as wide array of documents as possible. The state Legislature backs that up by tightening the law so that it leaves no doubt that technological advancements don't leave the law behind. Kwame Kilpatrick defends himself on the merits of the evidence and not loopholes.
I leave to you the job of figuring out which is most likely.
(Repeat after me: I love SoapBlox. I love SoapBlox. I love SoapBlox.)
Whooo doggie! Yesterday was a big day in Michigan politics. Today we get to clean up the confetti and get back to business as usual...
LSJ:Airport's new name ushers in new era. Little-known fact: I'm a closet airport/airplane junkie. I spend hours hanging out in the viewing area at GRR. The idea of LAN expanding and turning into a regional economic hub gives me goosebumps.
Michigan Messenger:Shareholding nuns tell Dow to clean up dioxin at annual shareholder's meeting. Heaven hath no fury like a passel of nuns scorned. Dow better watch out.
AP via MLive:Attorneys to sue USDA, MDA over livestock-tracking plan. On its face, the National Animal Identification System seems like a good idea. But as usual, there's more to this story than meets the eye.
Muskegon Chronicle:'Gay ruling' proves voters sold pig in a poke. There are just so many ways that this editorial pisses me off, but I'll leave it up to y'all to tear it apart.
The most understated, subdued headline ever: "Gender-Neutral Marriage Decision Announced". Translation: today the California Supreme Court struck down language restricting marriage to "a man and a woman." Gay marriage is officially legal in California.
A. w00t. Maybe we'll keep that confetti around for just one more day.
B. To the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Legislature, and the millions of folks who voted to set back civil rights 50 years in our great state: kindly pull your heads out of your asses and fix this. Thanks!
That's all I got. Talk amongst yourselves in the comments.
The Lansing State Journal is the first place I've seen to call the race for the 7th as leaning for the challenger, and the 9th as a toss-up.
Recent races out of state seem to suggest that there will be yet another Democratic wave this November - bad news for two GOP incumbents. And primary challengers are making the race more interesting for two Detroit Dems.
Ask any Michigan Legislator what their top priority is this year, and you're likely to hear a similar response from most of them-jobs. While we may differ on the best way to transform our economy and create an environment for job growth, it's rare that the Legislature actually gets an opportunity to directly influence the job market.
That's exactly what we have on our hands this year with the Capital Outlay budget-an opportunity for construction workers to get started on major building projects at community colleges, universities and local airports across the state.
Each of the proposed projects for our state's public universities were identified as the #1 building priority for that school. Unfortunately, all those "number one" priorities for growth and expansion could get delayed another year because of the Legislature's second-guessing. These projects have already been postponed for far too long, and with the Capital Outlay budget responsible for up to 75% of the construction costs in some instances, they will never get off the ground without our support.
Is this petty? Hells yes, it is. Yet, also irresistable.
Yes, I know. I spell shit wrong all the time. I also use poor grammar and occasionally break into unrestrained cursing. At the end of the day, however, if you're going to give yourself an 'A,' even if it's an 'A' for trying to defeat the reconquistas by throwing up language barriers, you should perhaps maybe make sure you don't spell words like constituents wrong.
Good morning. Here in Mid-Michigan it’s supposed to be sunnier today than it was yesterday. This morning's links are mostly about Obama today. But there is one important call to action courtesy of the ACLU. Enjoy.
Freep: Edwards stands by ex-rival Obama's side at Grand Rapids rally. “Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave a surprise endorsement of Barack Obama before a raucous crowd of 12,000 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on Wednesday night.”
DailyKos: I Was There as Edwards endorsed Obama. Our own ScottyUrb has his take on the Obama rally in Grand Rapids.
NARAL: NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Sen. Barack Obama. “Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, released the following statement today, announcing that her organization's political action committee proudly endorses Sen. Barack Obama for president.”
Michigan Messenger: EXCLUSIVE: Pride PAC endorses Barack Obama for president. Pride PAC, a statewide political action committee, endorsed Obama.
ACLU: Emergency Contraception in the Emergency Room. “The State House Judiciary Committee will review two bills on Thursday that would go a long way toward helping women prevent a pregnancy resulting from sexual assault.”
As always, if I missed anything, please feel free to add it to the comments.
“There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America, not two. And that man is Barack Obama.” - John Edwards, May 14, 2008, Grand Rapids, MI
This big news, former Sen. John Edwards’ endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for President of the United States, signals what philgoblue of WestMichiganRising said to me right after the rally: “I think the general election started in Grand Rapids today.” He’s right.
In both speeches at tonight's rally in Grand Rapids, Edwards and Obama spent significant amounts of time complimenting Hillary Clinton. They spent the rest of the time complimenting each other, with Obama vowing to make Edwards’ anti-poverty crusade a main focus of his administration. Both speeches were fiery, uplifting, and overwhelmingly positive.
As
one who's been an early
backer of yours,
it truly gives me great pleasure to finally be able to offer you a
hearty: "Welcome to
Michigan!" Sure was nice of you to
bring that John Edwards fellow along too!
Unfortunately, family obligations prevented me from
attending either of your events today. However, I know you'll be back -
A LOT - between now and November, and I'm sure we can catch up sometime
down the trail. In the meantime, I figured I'd pass along a few tips on
how you might best hand John Sidney McCain III his second straight
Michigan defeat in 2008:
Make up for lost time
Because
of the primary snafu, we need to make up for lost time...pronto. Good
call on starting off the general election campaign here. But Michigan
needs to see you some more...and not just in October. We need you to be
so familar around here that the papers will finally get bored
mentioning how we were overlooked in the primary process, etc.
If
you're going to move forward in Michigan, that storyline needs to be
put to bed now (the Edwards endorsement certainly did help with
this).
West Michigan is fertile ground
Also nice call on your choices of venue today...particularly Grand
Rapids. You're
not going to win Kent County, but there are a whole lot of
good folks
over there in West Michigan who are too often ignored and who might be
amenable to your message. People take their faith extra
serious in West Michigan, and you have demonstrated a strong ability to
talk sincerely and openly about the role of faith in your life (unlike
John Sidney McCain). So talk about Jesus. Talk about him a lot.
BTW, did you know that over in Holland (the reddest part of
the state), they actually have an institution called Hope
College? How's that for campaign synchronicity? Just for kicks, it might be worth a quick visit
sometime.
More Oakland; less Macomb
As
it has for the past 30 years, the national press will continue to
repeat over and
over and over about how critical it is that you win back
the "Reagan
Democrats" in Macomb County. This is massively overblown. Don't get me
wrong, Macomb is important and you do need to hold onto as much support
there as you can (fortunately, you have a classy guy in David Bonior to
help with that). But Oakland County, with it's more affluent and
educated base will be much friendlier to you. It's
been trending more Democratic every year. Case in
point: in
2002, Jennifer Granholm became governor by winning Oakland -
and while losing Macomb. Another factoid: in 2006 the ballot
proposal banning affirmative action passed in
Oakland with 57% of the vote - slightly less than the state tally of
58%. In Macomb, the total was 68%.
Spending more time in Oakland County will also enable you to help Gary Peters,
who is one of our best prospects for taking a U.S. House seat this
year.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Democrat John Edwards endorsed former rival Barack Obama on Wednesday, a move designed to help solidify support for the party's likely presidential nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her long-shot candidacy.
The surprise endorsement came a day after Clinton defeated Obama by more than 2-to-1 in the West Virginia primary, and it helped the Obama campaign steer much of the evening news coverage away from a painful subject. The West Virginia outcome highlighted Obama's challenge in winning over "Hillary Democrats" _ white, working-class voters who also supported Edwards in significant numbers before he exited the race in late January.
Edwards made the carefully timed announcement at an Obama rally here, as the Illinois senator campaigned in a critical general election battleground state.
I'm honored to be your substitute host for Four at Four this afternoon! It's Wednesday, May 14, 2008.
Grand Rapids Press: Barack Obama starts Michigan visit at home of Reagan Democrats. A quick overview of this morning's events in Macomb County.
West Michigan Rising: What Should Obama Say and Do This Evening? If you were one of his advisors, what advice would you give to Barack before he makes his speech?
Oscoda Press: It's official: 747 hangar open. Meaning a couple hundred new jobs.
AP: Michigan jobless rate declined in April to 6.9 percent. This decline, however, was "not because the state had more jobs."
Both chambers of the state Legislature passed the Great Lakes Compact this afternoon, with unanimous support in the state House. The Compact is the multi-state agreement on water usage that requires Congressional approval for it to be considered law.
That puts Michigan with a majority of other states in the region in having expressed support for it (once the governor signs it), with Ohio and Wisconsin the only significant remaining holdouts. In Ohio, the thing is being held up by one lone property rights nut; and in Wisconsin by communities straddling the Basin boundaries who want it weakened so they can grow using Great Lakes water.
What neither chamber voted on this afternoon was accompanying legislation that would strengthen Michigan's groundwater usage laws. There are a number of competing ideas of how those should play out, and some environmental groups had advocated not letting the Compact pass without accompanying groundwater legislation for fear that what comes out of the Legislature would be weak.
There were occasional peeps of discontent over the Compact as a tool to turn management of the Great Lakes over to the federal government, which makes no sense since the U.S. Constitution provides that kind of authority already, since they are -- you know -- an international boundary.
Reports out of Mount Pleasant indicate the school's Human Resources Department has finalized a policy that would require professors to pick between Congress and campus.
Under the new policy, which comes some three weeks after classes ended, Peters will be required to resign by June 5 -- 60 days before the Democratic primary on August 5 -- if he wants to challenge Congressman Joe Knollenberg.
Dennis Lennox defeated Gary Peters; now lets see if Joe Knollenberg is up for the challenge
Is it true? Sadly, No. From Gongwer:
Despite assertions by his opponents, U.S. House candidate Gary Peters, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Bloomfield Hills) in a race that will be the most-watched this fall, is not being forced to resign his teaching post or take a leave of absence during the campaign, Central Michigan University officials said.
Students Against Gary Peters, a group that has pushed to have Mr. Peters fired from his CMU post since he announced his candidacy last fall, argued that a new policy would require Mr. Peters to leave his post 60 days before the election.
But CMU spokesperson Steve Smith said the university is still operating under a 1955 policy on conflicts between campaigning and working on campus.
That policy is under review to make some changes, including making it more gender neutral. Neither the current policy nor the proposed amendments would require Mr. Peters to step down unless he is elected to a post that would not allow him to fulfill his job duties, Mr. Smith said. The current policy leaves the decision of a leave of absence or resignation to the employee and his or her supervisor.
Tobacco money. Also money from the energy-related Koch Foundation, the founder of which helped to also fund the Cato Institute, which itself takes money from Altria (Ex-Phillip Morris, which gave money to Tim Walberg, who himself received $2,100 from uber rightwing money dude Richard Mellon Scaife in 2006), big oil, tobacco and Wal-Mart . Also, Cato Institute funder the JM Foundation, which also gives money to the American Enterprise Institute (which itself relies heavily on oil company money, and also shares Scaife money with the Heartland Institute).
There is something else that has the Heartland Institute and John Locke Foundation tangled up besides rightwing think tank money ... Climate Studies Watch, the director for which published an Op-Ed piece in this morning's Detroit News.
There are going to be stories about yesterday's filing deadline all over the place today, and there's no point in rehashing stuff we mostly already know. That is to say, the only surprise I've seen is that Kimon Kotos isn't running for the 2nd Congressional District primary against Fred Johnson. Then again, I don't live there, so there is that.
Ask any Michigan Legislator what their top priority is this year, and you're likely to hear a similar response from most of them-jobs. While we may differ on the best way to transform our economy and create an environment for job growth, it's rare that the Legislature actually gets an opportunity to directly influence the job market.
Reports out of Mount Pleasant indicate the school's Human Resources Department has finalized a policy that would require professors to pick between Congress and campus.