MY TESTIMONY AT THE STATE BOARD OF CANVASSERS MEETING

My testimony at the State Board of Canvassers committee hearing yesterday.  The Board voted to throw the petitions out based on a nonexistent font error.  It was supposed to be 14 point bold, in capital letters, and it was.



In the past year, volunteers from across the state gathered nearly a quarter of a million signatures to call for a referendum on Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager Law.

These were not paid petition-gatherers.  Hundreds of volunteer citizens did the hard work of a democracy.  They sat in hot parking lots, went to farmer's markets, attended meetings and worked for months to circulate petitions and gather signatures.

Citizen volunteers then unloaded boxes and boxes of petitions to take to the Secretary of State's Office for validation.  202,238 signatures have now been validated.

A few hours before the deadline to submit a complaint, a small group of Lansing insiders drummed up nonsensical allegations to try to silence the voices of these hundreds of thousands of citizens.

Everyone in this room knows the claim of using the wrong font has absolutely no merit.  There is not one speck of doubt in anyone's mind; this is a completely bogus complaint.

Clearly, it is the constitutional right of those citizens for this referendum to go on the ballot in November and let the citizens decide if they like PA4.

This issue has now made national news.  The eyes of the entire nation are on you.  Those people here in this room -- and all the people who are watching and listening to this issue from their homes, what will they learn about our state?  Will we be a state that honors the constitution?  Or are we a state that throws out the constitution when it is inconvenient?

Whether you are for PA4 or against it is irrelevant.  This issue at hand is this.  Will the citizens' constitutional right to a referendum be honored?

If a few powerful Lansing insiders can overturn the voices of thousands of citizens, our constitution is at serious risk.  It is your responsibility to protect our constitution.

It is time to stop the erosion of our constitutional rights.

Please.  Protect the constitutional rights of the citizens of this state.  Allow those thousands of voices to be heard.  Put this referendum on the ballot.

Thank you.

DEPOSE, FIRE, NULLIFY AND ELIMINATE

MY TURN

What is it called when a “government” consists of one man who can do virtually anything he wants and the governed have no voice or vote? That’s a dictatorship, and it’s what the LDN inexplicably endorsed in a recent editorial on the so-called “emergency manager law”. 


Under this law, the governor can unilaterally appoint a crony to rule absolutely over any municipality or school district. This person can sell off, depose, fire, nullify, eliminate, or dissolve anything he pleases with the excuse that it’s financially expedient—and pay himself from whatever is left. Thus far this law has been applied primarily to poor minorities (surprise!), but there is nothing to prevent much wider application as the state takes away resources and then blames communities for lacking them. 


“But something has to be done,” says the well-heeled outsider whose community is not yet hit. Something has been done. First corporations have abandoned the communities that nurtured and supported them in favor of outsourcing in pursuit of record-breaking profits. Second, the state has gutted appropriations, especially to school districts, which are no longer allowed to raise their own operating revenue. The resulting flattened income cannot be “managed” by the wisest guru; the only alternatives are to restore/replace the revenues or to slash and burn. Of course, the powers that be like option two. In the process, the most fundamental right of Americans, the right to vote, is simply eliminated! 


“But this will get them on a ‘sound’ financial footing,” says the all-knowing outsider. “Sound” here, means destroying those communities or school districts by guaranteeing that no one with the ability to get out will stay in them as they precipitously deteriorate. People prefer to be somewhere where they can actually vote as the Constitution guarantees. This accelerates a race to the bottom while destroying democracy as we have known it. 

“But there’s corruption in these localities!” says the superior outsider. Quite possibly so—government and business are both prone to it. Case in point: Petitions have been filed to place the overturn of this law on the ballot, and there is no chance of eliminating enough signatures to void them. So a Lansing law firm with right-wing ties has filed a lawsuit claiming they should be voided because of the font size at the top! By the way, one of the partners in the law firm sits on the four-person board that will hear the suit. That sounds like corruption on the state level to me—not to mention the height of the ridiculous. But it’s a power grab that may work.


“But the governor doesn’t want to run towns and school districts”, says the mind reader. Probably true—he has his cronies for that. Quid pro quo is illegal (just ask Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor doing fourteen years’ hard time), and our governor is too clever to engage in it. He just expects his managers’ eternal gratitude—and whatever else might flow naturally and legally from that. 


“But they’re ‘not like us’ in those towns”, says the bigot. Jesus answered that one in Matthew 25: “Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me”. The big shots in Lansing would say we’re “not like them” too—we’re not rich enough, powerful enough, or well enough connected. 


It boils down to three simple questions: Do we live in a democracy or not? Will we stand by while the right to vote is taken away from others on the assumption that it couldn’t happen to us? If that
assumption were true, would that make it OK?


So what can we, the powerless, do about it? 

* PAY ATTENTION-- What if the governor should decide that Pentwater Schools are too small to be financially viable? Or that Amber, Summit, Hamlin, Pere Marquette, and Ludington should be combined to cut costs? Under this law, it can happen. We can’t vote it down because under this law we have no vote, but we can make a lot of noise. We can also support loudly those it’s already being done to.
* SPEAK UP—whenever and wherever you see voter suppression taking place, even by
shortening voting hours, providing fewer machines, etc.
* BEWARE THE GOVERNOR—He shares goals with the about-to-be-recalled governor across the lake in Wisconsin; he’s just slicker.

Hard times are no excuse: DEMOCRACY MUST PREVAIL OR THIS ISN’T AMERICA. 
Carol Rodwell
PM Township

MADDOW AGAIN

Rachel Maddow covered more nonsense from Michigan this evening; it gets worse by the day. 

Remember all the hours we spent gathering signatures last summer to put the repeal of the Emergency Manager/Dictator law (PA4) on the ballot?

It has turned out that a group called Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility is trying to disqualify all those signatures, throw out all of our hard work – over – get this – the size of the font on a heading of the petition.  It will go to the board of canvassers and guess what?  One of those who put in the complaint about the font size is on that board. 

That’s right.  This guy, who is from a Republican consulting firm, puts in a complaint, then sits on the board to determine if the complaint has merit.  There are four people on the board, two Republicans and two Dems. According to Tim Skubick, the complaint will put an end to the petition if there is not a majority vote on the board of canvassers.  With two Dems and two Republicans on that board, does anyone think there will be a majority to overturn the complaint? 

But it can go to the courts so we can have justice, right? Ultimately it will end up at the Supreme Court;  historically, this supreme court has thrown justice out the window and instead rules the way the Republican Party tells them to.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is now in the hands of powerful Republicans who will ultimately throw it out, whether that is right or wrong, whether the petition was legal or not. The truth is that there is nothing wrong with the petition. There is nothing wrong with the font size.  But it won’t matter.  I hope I’m wrong, but from where I am sitting, no matter what happens, no matter how wrong they are and how right we are, this will end up at the Supreme Court and it will go with the Republicans.   That is how bad the situation in this state has become.

Many people were upset about Michigan’s Immediate Effect problem, partially because of the footage of Democrats unable to get the attention of Republican leadership.  The potential repeal of PA4 situation does not have that compelling footage.  But believe me, it is far worse.  A few people in power are in a position to literally rip our democracy right out of our hands.

What do we do?  Should we stand back and watch?  Or do we move into action? 

The least we can do is let people know what is happening on the Supreme Court.  We voted the ineffective board in.  We can vote in a more effective Supreme Court in November.

The Supreme Court candidates I am supporting are Bridget Mary McCormack, Sheila Johnson, and Connie Marie Kelly.  Remember those names; tell your friends and neighbors to vote for them in November.  We simply must get a Supreme Court that believes in justice for the people.

So I ask again.  What do we do?  People stood with the family of Trayvon Martin; the populace erupted and his killer has now been charged with second degree murder.  Glen Beck lost his job and Rush Limbaugh was significantly weakened because we stood together.  Is it time for us in Michigan to act in regard to the Repeal of PA4?

HOMELESS VETS?

I watched the State of the State address on TV this year.  Following it, when the legislators were interviewed by the news media, I heard the same story from all Republican legislators.

“We finally solved Michigan’s problems,” they said over and over again. “Our budget problems have been resolved.”

It didn’t ring true to me.  I knew the situation too well to think they just waved a magic wand and funding magically appeared.

The real truth about what they did is slowly emerging.

We have known for a while now that our schools are in a desperate situation, but now it’s the Veteran’s Home in Grand Rapids, too.

To save money  our legislature privatized its staff.  Out with the highly-qualified, well-trained union workers and in with barely-trained $10-an-hour staff.  These Vets, the ones that risked their lives for us, are fragile; they need excellent care.  With the advent of the privatized workers, a few of our Vets were handled incorrectly, including one  who ended up with a broken neck.

This is what they mean by solving the budget problem?  Get rid of good solid care for our Vets and replace it with cheap care.  Shameful.  The case ended up in court, which put the highly-qualified union workers back on the job, while the case works its way through the legal system.

And because our legislature only appropriated enough for the cheap workers, there is not enough money to keep all four floors of the Vet’s home open.  The fourth floor is now closed.   Vets have now been cleared out of their safe home, having to find new places to be housed.

Thank you Governor Snyder and the Republican legislature.  What else did you do to save money at the expense of those you represent?

SURPRISING WOMEN'S HISTORY

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Mary Valentine

A TRUE STORY EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW!
This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago.
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Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
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The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.
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And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
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(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
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(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

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Mrs. Pauline Adams in the prison garb she wore while serving a 60 day sentence.
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
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Miss Edith Ainge, of Jamestown , New York
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
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(Berthe Arnold, CSU graduate)
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco/Bingo night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
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Conferring over ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution at National Woman's Party headquarters, Jackson Place , Washington , D.C.
Left to right: Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right))

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
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Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk , Conn. Serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.'
So, refresh MY memory. Some women won't vote this year because - Why, exactly?

We have carpool duties?

We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter?
It's raining?
I'm so busy...I've got so much on my plate!
Read again what these women went through for you!

We can't let all their suffering be for nothing.

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Politics for a Better America: BE POLITE,PLEASE

Politics for a Better America: BE POLITE,PLEASE

BE POLITE,PLEASE

Make 250 calls a day.  That was my mission last week.  There were two special elections, and we wanted to contact as many people as possible to let them know  why our candidates were best for Michigan.

For the most part, people were polite.  They asked about the candidate, became informed about how this process would work with a closed primary occurring on the same day.  I felt good about doing the work of a democracy:  educating voters.

But, oh, there were some grouchy people.

 

“Would you people stop calling me?”

“What’s wrong with you people?”

“You politicians are all crooks anyway, why should I vote for any of you?”

Now, I know it is frustrating for people to receive so many phone calls.  Elections can become tiring and there are times we just want them to go away.

But let’s look at this from a different angle today.  

First, we all want good, honest, truth-speaking people to represent us in the halls of government.  And let’s face it.  Seeing who that person really is can be a tough job. For that reason, good politicians meet as many people as they can.  That way the voter is better equipped to make a good decision on Election Day.    When a politician knocks on your door or talks personally to you on the phone, or at an event, it is your opportunity to gauge whether you want that person to represent you.  

But let’s face it; it is not possible for any one candidate to talk to every person in any electoral district.  So clearly, that person needs surrogates to go out and talk to voters for him or her.  Those surrogates, in order to make personal contact with voters, have a limited number of options.  They can make phone calls or knock on peoples’ doors to talk with them.  Each of these options is somewhat intrusive.

But voters, here is my rant for the day.  Instead of looking at phone calls and visits from politicians or their surrogates as an intrusion, let’s look at those moments as opportunities to get to know the people we choose to represent us in Lansing or in Washington.

I am only asking you to have patience for the political process for a few weeks before an election.  It is the price we pay for living in a democracy.  There are people who have done so much more to keep our democracy strong.  They have gone to war, become wounded, or even given their lives so we have this precious right to self-govern.

So the next time you receive a call, even if it is annoying or intrusive, please have patience with the phone caller.  Take the opportunity to find out more about the candidate, or Election Day, or where to vote, or what the important issues are.  Instead of being grouchy, thank the person calling for his or her service.  It is a teeny-tiny price we pay to live in our representative democracy. Enjoy it.

Better yet, after you have looked deeply into the issues, take the time to make some calls yourself, knock on a few doors or come on down and see how you can help out at the candidates’ headquarters.  On Election Day, get others out to vote.  The election process is more important than anything else you are doing.

Maybe you’ll even join me in making 250 phone calls a day.  And maybe – just maybe – we can have legislators who will represent us in Lansing, instead of the gas, oil and big drug companies.