Unacceptable Unethical Behavior

This is the text of my May 2, 2016 complaint to the Macomb County Ethics Commission.

I would appreciate your feed back.

My name is Greg Murray.  A registered voter, I live in Mt. Clemens.  I am filing a complaint with the Ethics Commission today, May 2, 2016 regarding the recent behavior of Macomb County Commissioner Fred Miller and Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh.

I filed this complaint because the recent coordinated and unfair actions of Macomb County Commissioner Fred Miller, Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh, and Former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer are exactly what has voters and the public fed up with establishment politics.  Their behaviors rise to the level of unethical and, as such, are clear violations of Macomb County’s Ethics Code (Enrolled Ordinance No. 2011-10).

Sabaugh filed for her seat. Miller filed for Sabaugh’s seat at the very last minute. Standing on its own, and in and of itself, these actions would normally seem very suspicious, as both have been Ed Bruley associates for nearly two decades.  Why would they file against each other, unless one or both had fallen from grace?  We now know that was not the case and that there seems to have been a very unfair prior agreement between the three of them.  The term “collusion” comes to mind.

I say the three of them because Fred Miller and Mark Brewer, cut from the same political cloth, apparently knew that Miller would not stand for re-election to his 9^th District county commissioner seat.  This is evidenced by virtue of the fact that it was Miller who delivered Brewer’s paperwork to run for Miller’s former seat.

Sometimes what may not be illegal can certainly be unfair and unethical.  This is an instance of such an incident, and it violates the Macomb County Ethics Code in several areas.

To be clear, in the final hour on the day of the filing deadline, April 19, 2016, County Commissioner Fred Miller unexpectedly dropped out of the race for the 9th District County Commission seat and filed for Sabaugh’s seat as clerk.  Around the same time on the same day, former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer’s paperwork to seek election to Miller’s former seat was delivered to the Election Division’s office by Fred Miller.  

Three days later, during the final hour of the day of the withdrawal deadline, April 22, 2016, Macomb County Clerk and Register of Deeds Carmella Sabaugh withdrew her candidacy. Within hours, Sabaugh had endorsed Mr. Miller in what clearly seemed to be a prepared statement.

While acting within the bounds of the Michigan statue, the Macomb County Ethics Ordinance requires a higher standard of conduct among those who hold public office. 

While this conduct is not new, this act was revealed as particularly egregious and pre-planned when Commissioner Miller actually uploaded a video to Facebook dated April 15, 2016, a full four days before the filing deadline and two weeks before the withdrawal deadline, where he thanked Carmella for her prior years of service!

Within the Ethics Ordinance in Sec.1.1. Purpose, the following sentence directly applies   this situation.  It reads “County Officials, employees, and appointees hold positions of public trust and their actions must remain above suspicion.”  Commissioner Miller and Clerk Sabaugh’s behavior completely obliterates that expectation.  Mr. Brewer is not yet a county official but has managed to already violate the ordinance.

The timing of these acts cannot be ignored.  The three involved are known political allies in the county. Apparently, Mr. Miller had advanced knowledge before everyone else that Ms. Sabaugh intended on withdrawing her candidacy.  It’s quite clear that Mr. Brewer, Commissioner Miller, and Clerk Sabaugh strategically planned these filings in an attempt to limit their potential opponents, dissuade others from filing, and to intimidate others from participating in the filing process.

Macomb County Ethics Ordinance 1.2(B) requires our public servants be independent, impartial, and fair in their judgment of actions, and Ordinance 1.2(C) requires that public servants put the public good above their own personal gain. Instead, all three have shown a reckless degree of disrespect for the electorate

Open seats attract more candidates to put forward their qualifications for voters. 

Countywide races that are without established incumbents come as rarely as once every few decades, always attracting a diverse group of candidates with different backgrounds and qualifications. Commissioner Miller and Clerk Sabaugh have not just put their own political fortunes above the right of the citizens to do decide whom to vote for; they’ve infringed on the right of the people to decide if they themselves wish to seek public office. Such an act is inherently undemocratic. For these reasons, Clerk Sabaugh and Commissioner Miller are in violation of Ordinance 1.2(B).

Mr. Miller was certainly welcome to pursue this position. So were the hundreds of thousands of others that call Macomb County home. To selfishly influence the process to gain an unfair advantage for Mr. Miller shows a clear desire to put self above the betterment of the county in violation of Ordinance 1.2(C).

Additionally, Miller stands to gain a substantial financial enhancement as a result of these unethical shenanigans   His compensations would more than triple, from his pay of $35,000 that he would have earned in 2017 as a commissioner to $108,000 as the county clerk during 2017.  These machinations also violates the ethics policy, which prohibits county officials from engaging in unethical behaviors that result in personal financial gain. As reference, Sec.3.7, (second sentence) ”A Public Servant shall not benefit financially from information acquired in the course of holding office…”

Ironically, in her statement of endorsement of Mr. Miller, Ms. Sabaugh touted Miller’s work on the Macomb County Ethics Ordinance. That would seem to imply that certainly Miller would comply with the ordinance. However, this episode disrupts the public trust in government and enforces an all-to-common notion of hypocrisy among our elected officials. 

Macomb County deserves better. Using one’s public office and political relationships to selfishly secure advantages over others is exactly what this Ordinance was designed to combat. This Board should send a clear message to our citizens that that open and fair elections are amongst our country’s most fundamental rights.

DETROIT POLICE CHIEF JAMES CRAIG SMACKDOWNS DAVE BING

 Former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and current Detroit Police Chief James Craig recently were at odds with each other as to whether, as Bing stated recently, “ “Detroit’s not far from Ferguson, Baltimore or Chicago.”  Chief Craig recently responded that Bing is “obviously out of touch.”  While they each have a point, it come down to two issues: whose ear is closer to the ground and which one of them is most trustworthy.  Bing loses on both fronts.

Dave Bing was never a people’s mayor.  He won his election (with a little help…no, a lot of help, from Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey), but he isolated himself from those he ruled.  Recruited from outside of Detroit, Bing was seen by many Detroiters as a carpetbagger candidate representing the interests of those who wanted to take control of an out-of-control Detroit.  Much like Mitt Romney is alleged to have done while with Bain Industries, Bing sized up Detroit assets, spun them off to third party operators, and left city employees, residents, and neighborhoods to fend for themselves.

Bing had a trust issue born of his propensity to take both sides of a single position dependent on who he was in front of.  A case in point:  Dave Bing sat in the basement of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building in November 2011 and told labor leaders he would take the fiercely-negotiated consensus concession labor agreement signed by them and him to Detroit’s City Council for approval.  How do I know, you say?  I was there, and my signature is the very first one on that document.  It never made it to the clerk’s office for inclusion as an agenda item for a vote, a process Bing controlled. 

Bing severely limited unscripted engagement with the public, preferring in many cases to let his administration’s loyal department directors and aides do his talking for him.  I am old enough to remember Coleman Young being able to walk any Detroit neighborhood.  Not so much with Dave Bing. Bing was recruited to come to Detroit to get it ready for an agenda most Detroiters would not benefit from.  Comparing how neighborhoods fared then and their existing conditions now, Bing served his primary purpose while letting the city’s neighborhoods twist in the wind.

   

So it is hard to believe that Bing can sense the pulse of Detroiters.  He could not do it then and he can’t do it now.  Statements like “If something crazy happens, I don’t know who we have from a leadership standpoint that we can call upon to control some of that activity,” sounds like an attempt to scare people into believing that Detroiter are on the verge of rioting because they are being left out of the new boomtown Detroit.  They definitely were left out during his term. 

That statement speaks more to his legacy and illustrates a stark contrast between his administration’s failures and that of current Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s genuine efforts to reach out to Detroit neighborhoods. Bing’s subtle attempt to put Duggan’s work on blast is nothing short of an epic fail.  

Chief Craig, however, is quite a different story.  Unlike Bing, Craig does not hide behind his desk.  He represented a fresh start, not a recycled approach to administrative collusion. He got out there in the streets to meet the people that he is supposed to serve. I do believe that he has re-focused the public safety conversation away from the false premise that police should only respond to crimes once they have been committed.

Craig has gone out of his way to show Detroiters that they have his ear.  His responses to the spate of gas station shootings led to an unprecedented collaboration between the gas stations and the police.  Thanks to that, and outreach to surrounding neighborhoods, those incidents are on the decline. 

Craig has also been refreshingly frank.  Last December, Craig created a national buzz when he asserted that an armed population could help deter and respond to attacks by terrorists and street thugs. He went on to say, “If you’re a terrorist, or a carjacker, you want unarmed citizens.”

Craig has proven himself to be an open, accessible, and honest public servant.  His genuineness is a breath of fresh air in a city that was mired in stale, trickle down politics that screamed classism at every juncture.  Dave Bing’s time has come and gone. One wonders whether he is seeking relevancy.  Craig, however, has shown himself to be a very competent and classy ac

One too many n-words costs black boss big bucks

There is a false discussion out there surrounding the n-word.

There are those who believe that only whites should be blasted for using it. Then, there are those apologists who claim that only black people can use the term, and going further, that it actually is a term of endearment. Recent events, however, have proved that black people who use the n-word are not off the hook when it comes to paying for using the word one too many times.

Imagine a black person suing another black person for calling them the n-word and then winning the lawsuit. That is what happened when Brandi Johnson, a black employee of STRIVE, a nonprofit employment service located in East Harlem, sued her boss, a black man named Rob Carmona, for repeatedly hurling the n-word at her at work.

After repeatedly hearing Carmona call her and others the n-word in meetings conducted in 2012, Johnson secretly taped Carmona pulling a “Michael Richards” on her and other black employees (Michael Richards played Kramer on “Seinfeld” and essentially ruined his career when he lobbed several n-words at some black hecklers during a stand-up comedy routine in 2006).

Johnson took her complaint up her organization’s leadership ladder and was met with what she later termed condescending responses from STRIVE’S chief executive officer, who fired her in June 2012. Johnson sued Carmona personally and the organization as well for what she claimed was their allowing a hostile and racially charged work environment.

Carmona claimed he meant no harm by using the word, falling back on a “back in the day” defense that blacks from his era used the word without purposely meaning to offend anyone. Late this summer, a federal jury soundly rejected Carmona’s lame excuses and awarded Johnson $25,000 in punitive damages from Carmona and another $5,000 from STRIVE.

What is mind-blowing, though, is that the jury also awarded Johnson $250,000 in compensatory damages. The enormity of the jury’s determination to attach a punitive award to the use of the n-word warrants a worldwide shout-out. This is arguably the first time a black person has been sued for using the n-word where a jury understood the offensiveness of the word, regardless of who was hurling it and who it was being hurled at.

Just this past July, my brother-in-law (who is black), was called the n-word by one of his white co-workers. Understandably, he was offended to no end by being called that, and he complained, as Johnson did, to upper management. The response was similar to that received by Johnson — played off. His employer not only did not address the use of the word with the employee who spit it out; my brother-in-law was threatened with termination for responding “too emotionally” to having been called the word. My brother-in-law now goes out of his way to avoid the other employee and the managers who thought nothing of the incident. He has decided not to sue.

That brings to focus the question of just what is the appropriate response to the use of the word, not only in the workplace, but among those in other social settings. When I hear the word out of the mouths of blacks, I ask that it not be repeated and then diplomatically remove myself from their presence. I have never been directly or knowingly been called the word by anyone white, so I expect that my reaction would be to do the same, as well as to follow my brother-in-law’s example.

My hope is that others in Johnson’s situation follow suit. The word has no endearing or useful connotations. As I have stated in the past, to me there is no difference between Paula Deen using the word 30 years ago and Shaquille O’Neal today producing comedy DVDs that include prolific use of the word. Dean was treated savagely for having said it and lost her cooking empire, while Dave Chappelle, D.L. Hughley, Katt Williams, and other black comedians are making money off it.

I recently appeared on local television’s “Let It Rip” to discuss the disproportionate response to Dean’s use of the word. One of the other guests, an award-winning journalist, argued that Dean could not use the word because, in his own words, “she’s not black!” He also plainly stated that blacks could use the word. Off-screen and sitting outside the taping area were his two children, both of whom appeared to be under 10 years of age. I feel for them.

Florida Police Officer Attempts To Use Gun Targets with Trayvon Martin's Facec: Gets Fired

What was he thinking?

Not only was it tasteless. it was an example of just how deeply held prejudice and racism exists in the hearts of people you would expect to be immune to these sins of the soul.

Here's the link:

http://www.freep.com/article/20130414/NEWS07/304140221/Officer-with-Trayvon-Martin-targets-fired

Do you think he should have been fired?

Alabama legislature votes to pardon Scottsboro Boys more than 80 years

It has been a long time coming...you know the rest.



Wait...some of you have no clue who these kids are.  Click on the link:

Ala. Legislature votes to pardon Scottsboro Boys | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:

Now tell me what you think.

Black Democrat Bribes Republicans So He Can Run As A Republican For Mayor of New York!

This case involves attempts to bribe Republican Party officials to maneuver a black Democrat to run as a Republican mayoral candidate in New York, a largely Democratic Party-held city.  It is a bizarre plot that some believes threatens the Republican Party's diversity drive.  Two Republican county chairpersons and vice-chairs and others have been arrested.  Will this make the GOP less aggressive and more hesitant regarding recruiting and supporting black Republicans?


          U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara lays out federal corruption charges 
                  against New York State Sen. Malcolm Smith and others

Check this out and come back after the jump.


Opinion: Corruption case a blow to GOP diversity - CNN.com:

Abortion clinic worker says she cut at least 10 babies | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

This story should make you mad as hell.  I know I am:



This is the face of evil, greed, and callousness beyond belief.

Abortion clinic worker says she cut at least 10 babies | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:

The Truth about the $220 Million In Revenue Sharing Owed To Detroit; Dennis Archer Silent

Everyone should read this story, which breaks down how the state came to owe Detroit $220 million and cost the city hundreds of millions more by not allowing Detroit to revert back to its 3 percent resident and 1.5 out-resident city tax.

Also note that Dennis Archer will not go on record about the deal he made with John Engler...even the Detroit City council was afraid to subpoena him.

Please click on the link below:

Inside the handshake deal with the state that haunts Detroit (analysis by Bridge Magazine) | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:

Four White Accused Killers Had 3-Way Sex On Two Black Male Corpses

If you thought you heard it all...please click on this link:

Joshua Miner Joliet Illinois Eric Glover Terrence Rankin: Accused Killers Had 3-Way Sex On Black Corpses? | Breaking News for Black America:





This is so demonic...what do you think?

Using Racial Slur Gets NASCAR Driver Jeremy Clements Suspended

What did NASCAR driver Jeremy Clements say that got him suspended indefinitely from NASCAR competitions?   No one is saying and apparently it was extremely offensive to merit such a strong suspension.


Check out the link below from the Bleacher Report:

NASCAR Nationwide Series Driver Jeremy Clements Suspended for Using Racial Slur | Bleacher Report:


It seems to be everywhere, doesn't it?
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Workers over 50 are the new 'unemployables'

This may be the new reality for persons unemployed over 50 years of age.  Caught in the middle of the restructuring of wages in the United States, people in my age group are hard pressed to get back into the labor market.

Check out this dilemma at:

Workers over 50 are the new 'unemployables' - Feb. 26, 2013:

Fans wear KKK hoods at North Dakota high school hockey game

What could have been going through the minds of the three fans in the stand that wore KKK outfits at a hockey game in North Dakota?

                                                 AP Photo/ Shane Schuster


Did they think they could get away with it?  I mean, really, in today's world of instant media, they had to know that someone would catch them.  Also, if the story is right, other fans in the stand voiced their disapproval, thus compelling the three hooded fans to take off the hood part of the apparel.

Check out this link and come back to share your  view:

Fans wear KKK hoods at high school hockey game - Oklahoma City Bullying | Examiner.com:

Detroit Not Quite Dead Yet!

A central theme of Chad Selweski's column in the Macomb Daily is that the neighborhoods can be razed for new development.

Here's the link:
  
http://www.macombdaily.com/article/20130223/OPINION03/130229719/selweski-detroit-two-tales-of-one-city#full_story

Chad makes many valid points in his column, but each one raises new questions.  Just who will enjoy all these new amenities?  The neighborhood residents will be gone, so who benefits from this re-engineering?  Tourists?   Tri-county residents who are afraid to be in Detroit neighborhoods after dark? Corporations and developers who will then build housing along the outskirts of Detroit?  I think not.

Also, Chad mistakenly labels Dave Bing as an "honorable" man.  An honorable man does not negotiate with 38 unions for four months, have his top people sign a tentative agreement resulting in nearly $180 million in concessions, and then walk way by not presenting that concession agreement to Detroit City Council....how do I know....I was there, for every negotiation session and my signature is the second on the actual concession agreement.

As a native Detroiter, I volunteer, and challenge Chad ( and a few of his editors), to a daytime and night-time tour of Detroit.  This notion, affecting nearly 40 percent of Detroit's landmass) of "Consolidating the shrinking population into successfully functioning clusters of neighborhoods and turning much of the city’s ruins into ponds, pathways, parks, gardens, orchards and urban farms" is romantic but not going to happen after this year's district elections.

Bribing people to move into Downtown Detroit by offering offsets to mortgages and lease payments is working well for those who want to live along the rail route being set up by Penske, Gilbert, Illitch, and a few others, but creating a safe zone within Detroit will eventually backfire.  I commend those men for investing in downtown Detroit, and they are surely looking for the best bang for their buck, but their plans do not include or benefit the majority of Detroit residents, who will not leave Detroit for southern Macomb County enclaves like East Pointe, Warren, Centerline and Roseville.  There are some who will say that a rising tide raises all boats, but carving out exclusive, safe, resourced enclaves in Detroit does nothing for the residents in neighborhoods where services are being cut.

At any rate,  I will wait for Chad's response to my offer for a personal tour of Detroit.  You can see a lot better by visiting the city or Detroit than you can from the comfort of your North Avenue desk.  Give me a call.

Pregnant Teen Wins Fight To Have Baby

This pregnant teenage girl fought her parents, who wanted her to abort her child.  She won her court battle, and will be allowed to continue her pregnancy.

Here's the link:

Pregnant Teen Wins Abortion Battle - Yahoo! News:

Your Thoughts?

White Father Rejects Black Neonatal Nurses

Just when you think you have heard it all, along comes some foolishness right out of the 50's.

The white father of a white baby tells a hospital that he does not want a black neonatal nurse to attend to his baby...and the hospital cooperates!  This was not in the south somewhere...it was here in Michigan...in Flint.

This went on for a full month...even after the hospital's lawyer had a note removed from the chart that stated that no black nurses were to work on the baby.

There are some people out there that have no problem with the father's request.

They maintain that he is entitled to pick and choose the color of the person who would help his baby get stabilized.

What do you think?

Check out the full story below and then come back here to comment.

Lawsuit: Race-based request sidelined Michigan nurse - CNN.com:

NEW YORK'S CUOMO PULLS A SNYDER!

Critics assail Cuomo's gun deal as secret, rushed

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation January 15, 2013 that many are now saying is now some of the toughest gun legislation in the United States.  Others, such as the National Rifle Association, are calling it one of the most brazen examples of trampling on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners.

The legislation limits the number of bullets allowed in gun magazines while at the same time strengthening New York's existing ban on assault weapons.  It also changes the way mental health care services will be provided and extends those service for an additional six months.

Many will be tempted to compare the swiftness of this legislation to the example set by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder when he rammed through the so-called "Right-to- Work" laws in Michigan. Is Cuomo's masterful manipulation equal to  Snyder's swiftness?  Is this a new governance trend about to begin?

A major difference is that Cuomo's legislation passed by a majority of New York's Senate, which is led by Republicans.  That can't make the NRA very happy.  The state's House of Representatives has a Democratic majority, which passed it by a wide margin as well.

Look for other states to follow New York's lead.  The NRA will be formidable, but quite a few poles show the American public is re-thinking its stand on gun control.

The next wave of legislative responses to the massacre at Sandy Hook will come when President Obama releases his plan to combat what many see as a defining issue for his presidency: mass killings of citizens with assault-type weapons.

What do you think of all of this?  Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Court voids rape conviction because the woman who was raped was not married at the time!

Court voids rape conviction because woman not married - U.S. News:

Is this not the most ridiculous ruling? A man sneaks into a woman's bed, has sex with her without her consent while knowing she is drunk, and the courts rule she was not raped because she wasn't married!

Please follow the link, read the whole story, and get back to us!

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue Pardons "Wilmington 10" Forty Years After Trial

Nine Black Men, One White Woman Pardon By North Carolina Governor

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/31/justice/north-carolina-wilmington-10/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

The infamous "Wilmington 10",  a group of 1972-era civil rights activists who were wrongly convicted of fire-bombing a grocery store, were recently pardoned by North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue.  Perdue stated "Justice demands that this stain finally be removed."

Perdue was referring to new evidence that the group had been the target of a prosecutor who was clearly racially-biased.  The prosecutor knew his star witness was lying on the stand, and even went so far as to identify jurors as Klu Klux Klan members whom he could place on the jury.

That prosecutor, Jay Stroud, searched out black jurors who fit the definition of "Uncle Toms"  so that he could place them on the jury to further manipulate the outcome of the trial.

Recently discovered notes written by Stroud revealed that one juror was excused because she "associated with Negroes."  It is important to note that at the time of the trial, North Carolina had the largest contingent of Klu Klux Klan membership in the United States.

The next question to be answered is whether North Carolina should provide reparations to the members of the "Wilmington 10."

What do you think?

Sperm Donor Made to Pay Child Support

BEING NICE, DONATING SPERM CAN ULTIMATELY BE COSTLY

A sperm donor living in Kansas has been ordered to pay child support for a child he provided sperm for to a lesbian couple.

Now, that may seem a little far fetched, but the lesbian couple broke up and tried to get on state aid.  The state demanded to know who the sperm donor was so that he could be made to pay child support due to the fact that the lesbian couple could not be made to pay child support because Kansas does not recognize same sex marriage marriages.  The state threatened to end the child's health care services if the couple did not give up the sperm donor's name.

The guy was being nice.  The couple thought highly of him, but his undoing seems to be centered around the fact that the insemination of the sperm into the host body was not done by a licensed physician, so the state contended that the contract the donor and the lesbian couple signed relieving him of responsibility of child support was null and void.

Check out this link:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/30/16254404-kansas-demands-that-sperm-donor-pay-child-support?lite&lite=obinsite

Do you think he should have to pay child support?  Leave a comment....

Right-To-Work Gives Brewer New Job Security

JUST HOW MANY LIVES DOES BREWER HAVE?

There’s a great deal to complain about regarding the recently enacted right-to-work laws, particularly the swiftness with which they were passed.  There are a few other legitimate issues with the narrowness of the laws.  But you've got to ask yourself, why didn't the unions and the Democratic Party see this coming?

After all, the man repeatedly asked them to not force his hand.  Governor Rick Snyder did not beg the unions and the Democrats to refrain from pushing ballot initiatives which would enshrine the collective bargaining process into Michigan’s constitution, but he did a good job of making it clear that if they didn't, he wouldn't.

Maybe the unions and the Democratic Party did not believe Snyder when he first said that right-to-work legislation was not on his agenda and that he thought RTW and messing around with the constitution were both bad divisive ideas.  Maybe they thought that if they went ahead and tried it anyway, Snyder would “nerd-up”, take the slap in the face, and turn the other cheek.  Well, guess who got pimp-slapped…

The one-day lightening rod speed with which those three bills zoomed through the house was ugly but impressive, if nothing else.  No debate, not committee deliberation, no negotiations with the House minority party…  all of which seemingly signaled a “take that!” response to Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer’s most recent failure to get it done. 

Seems like every time Brewer fails on a statewide level, he gets more job security.   He failed with the affirmative action initiative, he failed with the Benero gubernatorial campaign, he failed with the 2010 Michigan House and Senate elections, he failed with the “three Supremes”, and now he will again keep his job based on yet another promise, two full years from now, to reverse the RTW legislation and the GOP grip on the state legislature.  Talk about nine lives.  This man secures relevancy with each instance of abject failure.

As a former union official and independent Democrat, I vehemently oppose the RTW legislation as written. As a pragmatist, I understand why Snyder had no choice but to reverse course.  The word on the street is that he would have lost a great deal of support during his next gubernatorial or first senatorial campaign. It turns out he is not only nerdy, but smart about it. 

After the failure of all the initiatives that would have changed Michigan’s constitution, anyone could have, and someone should have, told Brewer that judgment day was surely coming.  Whoever is giving Brewer advice should give him a refund.  Someone should also tell Brewer that if all you do is talk to yourself, you will certainly always agree with yourself and excuse yourself, outcomes be damned. The party deserves better leadership.