Court Sanctions Emergency Manager Theft of Detroit

(reposted  from Michigan Citizen)

THEY PULLED IT OFF!

By Curt Guyette
Special to The Michigan Citizen

The grins stretched from ear to ear, and the hugs and back-patting were plentiful.

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, Gov. Rick Snyder, Mayor Mike Duggan and U.S. Judge Gerald Rosen — all were in a celebratory mode last week as they appeared at a press conference following the announcement by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes that Detroit’s proposed “plan of adjustment” had been accepted, putting an end to the city’s journey through bankruptcy.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Mayor Mike Duggan celebrated Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes’ acceptance of their Plan of Adjustment that cuts workers’ and retirees’ pensions and healthcare, and takes back earlier annuity payments from the city over the last decade. CURT GUYETTE PHOTO

Newspaper headlines announced the city had been “reborn,” and the final words of the ruling read from the bench by Judge Rhodes echoed triumphantly: “It is now time to restore democracy to the people of the city of Detroit. I urge you to participate in it. And I hope that you will soon realize its full potential.”
The irony, of course, is that it was the hijacking of democracy that brought Detroit to this place.

It began in early 2012, when lawyers from the Jones Day law firm, in conjunction with the investment banking firm Miller Buckfire, began secretly meeting with Gov. Snyder’s office and other state officials to figure out how to thwart the will of Michigan voters.

The concern was that a grassroots-effort to repeal a new state law giving unprecedented powers to appointed emergency managers would succeed. And so they devised their response, and were ready to act when voters went to the polls in November 2012 and rejected the law by a significant margin.
Within a month, the state’s Republican-led Legislature crafted a new law containing many of the same provisions as the one Michigan’s citizens — engaging in the democratic process hailed by Judge Rhodes — had just voted to repeal. Only this time, an appropriation would be attached to the statute, making it “referendum proof.”

So much for a commitment to the democratic process.

As a result, instead of having elected officials deciding Detroit’s fate, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and his former partners at Jones Day began calling the shots, as the city was shoved into bankruptcy.
From the outset, the primary target of debt-cutting was clear: The city’s retirees would be the ones facing the most severe sacrifices.

Again, Jones Day, which had some of the city’s biggest creditors as its clients, would play a key role. The firm’s lawyers laid the legal groundwork for using bankruptcy to go after retiree benefits in bankruptcy — even in a state like Michigan, which has the protection of pensions written into its constitution.
Casual observers of this drama will have heard that, as a result of the much-hailed “grand bargain” — an $816 million cash infusion from the state, private foundations and the Detroit Institute of Arts — the cut to general retiree pensions would be just 4.5 percent, and that police and firefighter retirees won’t get nicked at all.

What tends to get lost in the reporting is the true extent of the hit being taken by retirees.




 
 
Kevyn Orr is all smiles at the press conference announcing Judge Rhodes’ acceptance of his Plan of Adjustment. CURT GUYETTE PHOTO



Both civilian and uniformed retirees will absorb massive losses thanks to deep cuts in future cost of living increases. For the general retirees, those yearly raises are being eliminated completely. Taken together, the two groups will give up a total of more than $1.3 billion in the coming years.

Cuts to healthcare benefits only compound the problem. Instead of being on a plan where the city covers 80 percent of healthcare costs, retirees are receiving a monthly stipend. For most, the amount is $125, leaving them to pick up the additional costs of insurance, which can be hundreds of dollars a month.

And then there’s the “clawback” of excessive interest rates the Jones Day attorneys argued was paid to people who participated in an annuity savings program between 2003 and 2013.

As one retiree observed, “I’m getting hit four different ways.”

Add it all up, and at least 75 percent of the estimated $7.3 billion in debt and obligations being shed in bankruptcy comes in the form of cuts to retirees.

Will that be enough to put the city on a sound financial footing?

Despite the media’s focus on Detroit’s supposed rebirth, there is real cause for concern that the fundamental factors that led to the city’s dire straits remain unaddressed. In a recent opinion piece, economist Peter Hammer — who’s also a law professor and director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University — warned:

“The perverse logic of fiscal austerity is creating dozens of second-class ‘minimal cities.’ The move to transition Detroit away from serving as a city, to a slimmed-down version with little to no municipal services, is part of the bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment that the city is pursuing, on a par with what the World Bank and International Monetary Fund pursued with Structural Adjustment Programs in much of the developing world. What we know from these SAPs is that they sucked the life out of countries forced to receive them.

“The same will happen with Detroit, especially given how out-of-touch managers are with the city’s history and context. The 226-page Expert Report, for example, on the feasibility of the POA and the reasonableness of the city’s revenue forecasts never addresses issues of race, racism, regionalism, segregation or foreclosure (all words that appear nowhere in the report). And poverty is only mentioned once. … We need alternatives to the dictates of fiscal austerity and structural racism.”

As for Judge Rhodes, this is what he told the people of Detroit:

“A large number of you told me that you were angry that your city was taken away from you and put into bankruptcy. You told me in your court papers. You told me in your statements in court. You told me in your blogs, letters and protests. I heard you.

“I urge you now not to forget your anger. Your enduring and collective memory of what happened here, and your memory of your anger about it, will be exactly what will prevent this from ever happening again. It must never happen again.”

Then he urged Detroiters to channel that anger into positive action by engaging in the democratic process.

For the next 13 years, however, the people of Detroit will have elected leaders, but it won’t really be a true democracy. That’s because an appointed, nine-member financial advisory board (containing only two Detroit officials) will have the final say over approval of major contracts and the budget process.
“It is your City,” Judge Rhodes told Detroiters.

But it is others who, though unelected and mostly living elsewhere, will be the ones with the final authority over crucial decisions facing Detroit for the foreseeable future.

Curt Guyette is an investigative reporter for the ACLU of Michigan. His work, which focuses on Michigan’s emergency management law and open government, is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. You can find his reporting at aclumich.org/democracywatch. Contact him at 313.578.6834 or cguyette@aclumich.org.

Statement on Court Denial of Detroit Human Right to Water

MWRO's statement on today's decision by the federal bankruptcy court NOT to stop residential water shut-offs, restore water to residential customers without water, NOR implement a water affordability based on fixed incomes for low-income seniors, families with children and persons with disabilities:

Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes

Of course, we are not surprised that our capacity to seek relief from the Federal Courts no longer exists! The fact that low income customers were ushered into court and testified how miserable their lives were because water was cut-off without an option for them to make arrangements with the DWSD could not have impacted the Court because the Court concentrated on what the 1% needed to continue their reign of terror tied to the Emergency Manager and this bankruptcy ploy. 

This is the humanitarian crisis of our times here in America, where every step we take is being analyzed to see which fights we launch as the corporate class encroaches on our standard of living.

Denying specific populations access to clean drinking water was today deemed legal even though rich and wealthy water customers receive a different standard of treatment. Millions are owed by these corporate pirates while $150 and two months behind is the rule applied to our constituency -- a position clearly supported by the Federal Court.

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder

Poor people, their children, seniors, the disabled, veterans -- it doesn't matter -- if you can't pay for water, you can't have it. Go to the river with a bucket and get what you need still remains the sentiment by this draconian class and they have no shame in taking this position.  This sham court-case was just that...a plot to look like justice would prevail if we just had a chance to plead our case.  The answer was always going to be NO!!!

So what are we going to do...give up the fight for social justice?  We think not! 

In the movie, The Untouchables, the question was asked, "What are you prepared to do about this??" When brilliant lawyers went to court to file suit against slavery, and against lynching, at first the Court said "NO"...there is no enforceable right to not be lynched if that is the custom in that area of the country!  The Court's explained that with the laws on the books at that time, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, women, children, and other oppressed folks should be able to manage their lives and avoid pain and suffering, and if not, they had every right to return to Court! Madness and Madness today! 

Our case demonstrated great attorneys, courageous plaintiffs, determined advocates versus conservative, corporate courts who prefer the company of the rich & famous and will not rock the "status quo."  We march on...

Maureen D. Taylor

State Chairperson - MI Welfare Rights Org

Photo credits: http://michigancitizen.com/mc/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/6-RHODES.jpg
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2013/07/24/stop-attack-say-detroit-workers-citys-bankruptcy-reviewed

A Call for Progressive Action

Calling Progressives: Geoffrey Fieger, Monica Lewis-Patrick, Jeff Edison, Rev. Ed Rowe, Ed Deeb, Nasser Beydoun, Rev. Bullock, Magic Johnson, Cornelius Pitts, JoAnn Watson, and all of the visionaries of Michigan...where the hell is our fight and our capacity to dump Snyder?

Photo from http://inthesetimes.com/images/articles/RIGHT_TO_WORK.jpg

A grassroots initiative is being mounted to lead and to galvanize our resources and talents in an effort to stem the tidal wave of attacks against our quality of life and we need all-on-deck to pull together the required dollars. 

The governor speaks about a "surplus," but doesn't mention where these funds came from. In Auschwitz and Buchenwald, there were surpluses as well...extra eye glasses, extra teeth, extra pairs of pants, dresses, socks, shoes, etc. 

Thousands of welfare mothers and their children were stripped of the meager cash assistance they were living on during a time of extreme unemployment across MI. Mental Health sites had their funding slashed or zeroed-out, entire public education systems closed, state funding owed to Detroit and other urban cities was not paid, pensions were taxed, and the greatest insult of all was the coronation of an EM who gets paid $1000/per hour -  $8,000 a day. 

A welfare mom with one child is entitled to $420/mo - $5040/per year! $8,000 per day versus $5,040 per yr?

Millions of our tax dollars are being paid out to scoundrels -- friends of the ones who helped put us in our current dilemma -- while we are being told day after day that we are a poor and backward city.  No more of this torture!

We need to amass $1 million dollars so we can run ads about "right to work," about how banks are destroying our neighborhoods, about EM's being put over bankrupt cities who are paid 3 and 4 times what elected officials earn, and how the plan is to sell-off our city assets to their families and friends at our expense.

-- What happened to democracy?
-- What happened to union workers who seem to have lost their voices and their courage?
-- What happened to our right to vote? 
-- What happened to our once progressive, militant churches who too often today stand in silence?
-- What happened to our standard of living and our right to look forward to better lives for our children?

Let's pull together, raise the money we need to mount state-wide campaigns, and let's inflict political casualties on their side instead of working people who are always suffering. We may not have Koch brothers money, but we for damned sure have millions of "boots on the ground" from which we can mount a non-violent offensive in Michigan from top to bottom, and from left to right! 

"I went down to the rich-man's house...to take back what he stole from me..."  Stay tuned for plans of action...

"At some point, silence suggests complicity."

Maureen D. Taylor, 
State Chairperson, MWRO 

Fighting for "Housing Is a Human Right"

It's Winter again and every year we know temperatures are going to go below the freezing point. If you're homeless or living in poverty, there's no way to escape the cold and protect yourself from the pain of freezing wind on your skin without shelter.

Yet, across the country, thousands of cities and municipalities are tearing down thousands of low-income affordable housing units (aka public housing) in favor of mixed income housing. The problem is if you have no income or chance of a living wage job (like thousands of people in Detroit),  and you've been drastically time-limited off of public assistance (like Gov. Snyder has done to thousands of families across Michigan), what are your housing options?

These are questions MWRO and the Housing is a Human Rights Coalition discuss on a daily basis. You ask, but aren't there places where low income people (under 62 years old) can get housing assistance and take shelter?

Detroit Shelter. Photo courtesy: VoiceOfDetroit.net

• Forget the homeless shelters, they're full and oftentimes not safe spaces for children.
• Forget Section 8, the wait list (if you can get on one) is 2-4 years long.
• Forget HUD public housing projects, thousands of units are torn down annually and those that get saved are converted to senior housing apartments.
• Forget privately managed apartment buildings, they require credit checks, large deposits, first and last month rents, steady income, silent children and babies -- oh, yeah...and a pint of blood.

In fact, more people are being displaced from Detroit affordable housing as we post this:  Developers, HUD, Non-Profits Collude To Move Detroit Seniors, Disabled Out Of Downtown Griswold Apts.

In Detroit and across the state of Michigan millions of dollars in federal housing assistance aid come through (like the Step Forward Program) to help families prevent foreclosure and to keep homeless shelters running. These are surely needed funds.

But what we also need are programs and policies to rebuild good housing stock in Detroit -- not tear it down -- specifically for LOW INCOME families. At this time there are no public officials, private developers, non-profit organizations or housing authorities addressing this critical need.

MWRO and HHRC are working with local residents and officials to educate the community on this dire situation and build solutions. We invite you to learn more about this on the HHRC website.

To sign up for our next set of housing workshops, call MWRO at (313) 964-0618.

Obama Administration and Detroit Housing Needs

Obama Administration officials are coming to Detroit next week to discuss how to leverage existing federal funds to help the boost the city. This, like all previous meetings, is by invite only. We're told that community leaders, non-profit leaders and business leaders will meet with Gov. Snyder, Mayor Bing and dictator Orr.

Nowhere in these meetings has there been an invitation to the real leaders of Detroit -- its residents! Detroiters who live day-in and day-out with the consequences of emergency manager dictatorship, corruption, broken city services and meager resources for primary and secondary education have never been invited to provide their input on the changes that should be made here or where federal dollars should be (re)directed.

If they want to know what low-income residents of Detroit want, here's a partial list:

• Sell City-owned houses to low-income Detroiters for $50 without delay toward a goal of reducing homelessness. These houses are ready and available now and there is nowhere near enough public housing units or subsidies available for the vast need of low-income residents.

• Assist these new homeowners with acquiring Community Development Block Grant funds (from HUD) to repair these homes for families and neighborhoods.

• Provide training funds from non-profit foundations and businesses to low-income Detroiters for construction, plumbing, electrical, roofing and HVAC skills to repair these homes, thereby, creating new job opportunities.

• Increase SNAP and child care benefits to low-income people in Detroit so that parents can focus on home repair and skills-training work.

• Purchase plots of land for community organizations and block clubs to establish more community gardens for organic produce and food sustainability education.

• Distribute much needed funding to the Detroit Department of Transportation so that buses across the City -- of which low-income Detroiters desperately rely upon -- can increase service and get people to these home rebuilding projects, school and work.

Over 60% of the children in Detroit live in poverty. There's no better way to raise them out of that than by helping their parents acquire the stability they need in housing. It's unfathomable and unsustainable for a family to pay over 50% of its limited income toward rent. Yet, everyday thousands of low-income families across Detroit move from apartment to shelter to couch to car to street with no public official blinking an eye about this.

If federal, state and local officials want to be part of the solution for Detroit's economic crisis, get out of the way and stop being part of the problem!

Photo by MWRO.

BROKE-BACK DEMOCRATS!

'Cipients Speak!
by Maureen D. Taylor
State Chair, MWRO

Workers entered a new world yesterday, one that will have ramifications for their futures forever. The legislation called “RIGHT TO WORK” means that workers will forever have the right to work for lower wages, for missing benefits, for non- existent safety regulations, and for no job protections against workplace offenses.

Michigan joins the rest of America and the 23 other states who have already passed similar legislation. The Governor of Michigan, Republican Rick Snyder, was quite candid as he analyzed what the “true” meaning was of this significant vote that has shaken the entire world. Gleefully, he explained that this was not an attack on organized labor but was, in fact, a measure that supports a worker’s right to choose! He went on to say that this legislation allows unions to demonstrate why they are important. If they are unable to convince workers that they are still relevant, workers should be able to stop paying dues. Contracts negotiated by those who decide to stay will still cover non-union employees.

Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, Pontiac – these are all cities that are synonymous with the birth of organized labor. The powerful unions from that era marked forever the strength and the influence of blue-collar workers for years. There was a time when the General Motors worker was the highest paid worker in the world. All contractual agreements negotiated by municipalities, schools, and organizations from city to state were modeled after those written by organized labor. Why? Because these words took into consideration both the health and safety of those covered by those contracts. Wages that separated workers from poverty were negotiated. Health benefits that addressed the medical needs of workers and their families were settled. Time off, continuous training, all kinds of community services programs, blood drives, holiday fund-raisers, events for children and seniors alike – this is the legacy that organized labor has given millions of middle income families.

Yesterday, that world was changed forever. The race to the bottom has been fueled, the back of the Democratic Party - which depends on unions at election time - has been broken. Republicans, who depend on corporate dollars, have secured electoral victories for decades to come. Is this the battle we want to fight? Time to analyze what just happened, and why.

MWRO Opposition to Right To Work

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization stands against the awful, regressive “RIGHT TO WORK” laws being forced on workers in this State. We are not fooled by these slick t.v. commercials. All attempts to “trick” residents into believing that this law has anything to do with freedom of choice is a blatant lie and must be exposed.

The truth is that the corporate community has decided that the best way for them to continue to make maximum profits while not hiring us for work is to lower our wages, take away our benefits, develop robots and technology that replace us permanently; and to convince us that this is the American future for us all. This is NOT our future!

“RIGHT TO WORK” is an attack against organized labor and more. What is the UNION?? Unions are those workers that set livable wages for all. Unions are those workers that set safety regulations that suggest all ten finger and both lungs are sacred. Unions are those workers who set policies that protect women when management supervisors want a quick touch. Unions are those workers who won’t allow companies to force children to work in mines.

We have failed over the years to define what a UNION is and why they are important, a mistake that has now come to hurt us. The UNION movement was born at night, but not LAST NIGHT, so we are now forced into this fight for our lives and for the future of the next generation of workers. The percentage of organized labor unions is today at its lowest but we are not fooled into believing that those worker protections we owe to UNIONS are no longer critical.

Children, grandchildren, all the children will one day ask, “What did we do to stop this attack on our collective standard of living when the corporate beast came after our futures?” All workers, from those who are low income to those who are middle income to those who are upper income, should be alarmed at this attempt to turn the clock back. Tuesday, many of us will travel to Lansing to make our voices clear about this “RIGHT TO WORK” lie. It is but one step toward the long march to re-capture the future of the next generation.

Another World Is Possible, Another America Is Necessary. The “needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few.” You get what you organize to take.

Maureen D. Taylor
State Chair, MWRO

Emergency Managers Attack Our Democracy

As we prepare to take a bus load of low income people to the Michigan Supreme Court tomorrow, here's another reminder of why this Emergency Manager issue is so significant. Governor Snyder and corporations are trying their hardest to take away our democracy. We've got to stop them from taking away from our families and communities any more of the little we've got left!

Read more about this: Dictators Over Communities of Color: Coming to a Town Near You at Michigan Forward.

The Scandal of Michigan's Emergency Managers

Joe Harris, state appointed emergency manager in Benton Harbor, Mich., unlocks the door of the city manager's office.

 REPOSTED FROM BANCO.ORG

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.”

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 demonstrate 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.

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.

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.

* * * * * * *

Everyone agrees that something must be done to “fix” Michigan’s struggling urban centers and school districts, although news of a $457 million surplus in early February prompted the state budget director to declare, “Things have turned.” But at what cost? In 2011 Governor Snyder stripped roughly $1 billion from statewide K-12 school funding and drastically reduced revenue sharing to municipalities. Combined with poor and sometimes corrupt leadership and frequently dysfunctional governments, these elements have brought Michigan cities to the brink of bankruptcy. Residents of the hardest-hit places have fled if they are able.

* * *

The state’s first emergency managers—previously known as emergency financial managers—were appointed between 2000 and 2002 by Republican Governor John Engler in the cities of Hamtramck, Flint and Highland Park to prevent them from declaring bankruptcy. Although all eventually left when their job was done—the last in 2009—all three cities are back in the red. In January the Highland Park School District was assigned an EM. (That city—population 11,776—is 93.5 percent African-American.) Others followed, in Ecorse, Benton Harbor and Pontiac, as well as Detroit public schools.

Under PA 4, EMs have proven to be a divisive solution. Outsourcing services to private companies and abolishing collective bargaining takes a page right out of the right-wing playbook: a 2011 report titled “101 Recommendations to Revitalize Michigan,” published by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, calls for ending “mandatory collective bargaining for government employees who already enjoy civil service protections.” Many are worried that EMs will hasten the gentrification of places like Benton Harbor, pushing out poor residents to make way for developers. In one of his first acts under PA 4, Joe Harris replaced nine people on the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and all nine members of the planning commission.

Despite their relatively short history, EMs have a record of abusing their powers. This past summer Arthur Blackwell II, Highland Park’s former emergency financial manager, was ordered to repay more than $250,000 he paid himself. In Pontiac EFM Michael Stampfler outsourced the city’s wastewater treatment to United Water just months after the Justice Department announced a twenty-six-count indictment against the company for violating the Clean Water Act.

Multiple efforts are under way to rid Michigan of PA 4. The first is a lawsuit brought in June 2011 by the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice and the Center for Constitutional Rights challenging the law under the state Constitution. Despite efforts by the Snyder administration to bypass the legal process and force the Republican-controlled state supreme court to hear the case immediately, the lawsuit is pending. Representative John Conyers is pursuing the issue through the Justice Department, arguing that the law’s impact on minority populations may violate the Voting Rights Act.

But Michigan Republicans seem to be most concerned about a petition drive, organized by Michigan Forward, seeking a citizen referendum to overturn the law. As of mid-February the petition had more than 200,000 signatures, well over the number necessary to put the law on hold. The group plans to turn in the petitions on February 29. Since PA 4 replaced the law that created emergency financial managers, this could eliminate the positions in Michigan until the referendum is voted on in November.

GOP lawmakers are discussing replacement legislation, with Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger warning about “the chaos that could ensue if the emergency manager law is suspended.” Since Michigan law prevents referendums on appropriations bills, PA 4 opponents fear that any such law will contain an appropriation to make it “referendum proof,” a tactic already used by the state GOP this year.

The outcome of the citizen referendum and the constitutional challenges may well determine if laws like PA 4 remain unique to Michigan or become the national standard for dealing with impoverished urban areas. With the Indiana Senate having just passed an emergency manager bill of its own, we may be heading down that path. by Chris Savage

http://www.thenation.com/article/166297/scandal-michigans-emergency-managers#

Democracy Under Attack Through Appeals Court

Dear Colleagues:

You can't make this stuff up. Here we are waiting for these almost four weeks for the appeals judges to render a decision on the public petition signatures against Public Act 4, and this is what they come up with.

First page of Court of Appeals decision

The font size, THEY CLAIM, is wrong but even still, the standard is substantially compliant, which MANDATES that they allow this issue to go on the ballot -- a great victory for our side -- and an issue that seems strange since the call is for democracy to take place by letting the electorate vote on this critical issue. Why all of these legal ranglings?

WE have to get the language for the ballot initiative set up, printed out and approved by August 8, 2012 in time for the November election. Shouldn't we all be in support of that American tenet -- "let the voters decide"?

Their suggestion is that these three appeals court judges call a meeting of all 28 state appeals court judges, and from that group, select a smaller group of seven who will review the "substantially compliant" decision rendered years ago, overturn it, and follow thru with overturning every other similar supportive decision rendered from that date forward until they arrive at THIS issue as a basis to overturn our efforts. WOW!!!

This damned democracy is too freaking dangerous and must be done away with. Gov. Snyder has now become the law of the land, and we must knuckle-under when he wants to overthrow elections then hand-pick managers who do his bidding. No more back talk! No further grievances will be filed.  Abandon any further uppity expectations that the old rule of law is to be followed. Things have changed, so you should all get with the program and quickly!

Colleagues, I urge you to all stop these foolish road blocks and attempts to circumvent the will of our new masters who believe themselves to know more than we do. The "spirit of democracy" that we grew up with is an old adage, stale, decayed, unproductive, and not what the country needs anymore. WE need to stand behind the "new world order," allow our rights as ordinary citizens to be trampled and prove our collective love of country by bearing these assaults in silence and with total compliance.

Last page of Court of Appeals decision

The hour of decision is close at hand, and so each of us have to decide what do we want the nation to look like: If we want peace, if we want silent-suffering, if we want give the appearance of all getting along, we will bear these moments as good little boys and girls, quietly praying for a good outcome. Or, we will chose what is behind door #2...resistance! 

This damned democracy was not everyone's rule.  We were taught this concept when we came to this country. Some arrived on the top or in the bottom of the boat, and others greeted and welcomed these travelers when they arrived on shores already populated by natives. We listened to it, sounded like it could work, and we bought into the "hype" that we are all equal in the eyes of democracy.  This ruling says something else.

Events of late have demonstrated a new paradigm that all have heard of, "money talks, and B-S walks." Every life is at stake. Every hope is in peril. Every wish is in danger. Every democratic right is in the line of fire and there are fingers on triggers at the ready. The future of mankind is in the balance.

Each of us has to now decide in the face of such a shocking ruling by the Appeals Court judges what direction does the country now need to go if we are to protect the State and the Nation. If the "ballot box" is no longer the pathway to social justice, and the court system is no longer the bus we can ride to take us there, then what mechanism do we use to secure the lives and freedoms of our children?  You either stand down in silence, or you RESIST, ORGANIZE, and WIN. You get what you organize to take.

Maureen D. Taylor

State Chairperson - MWRO

Stand Up for Democracy vs MI Secretary of State

Local news stations have shared the correspondence that Michigan Governor Snyder has offered an opinion to the Appeals Judges who are about to render a decision whether or not to certify the signature process aimed at placing Public Act #4 on the November ballot. He asks in his memo that these Judges NOT impede his forward momentum by certifying this effort.

We have a position as well. We would ask that these Judges NOT impede the people's right to democracy. 

So bizarre are these events relative to the petition activity that even the attention of national newscasters (like Rachel Maddow) has been captured each noting that nowhere else in the nation has so little been written about so huge an event. Over turning elections has a history.

Public Act 4, the emergency manager act, is the crux of what we are alarmed about. It allows the Governor, so he thinks, to void state and local elections in places where the finances of that municipality are stressed, and a person of his choosing is seated who answers only to the Governor.  This "dictator law" has no successful outcome anywhere in the State and, in every example, has led to even deeper financial debt as the assets of the people are sold to the highest bidder at pennies on the dollar.

Benton Harbor had a deficit and after the emergency manager was seated, the deficit is three times greater. Pontiac had a deficit and has a greater one today. The Detroit School District had a deficit and it has grown to a much larger number under the forced emergency manager. So one would ask, what the real agenda is with this outrageous act?

Attacking democracy is no small matter. It starts small -- a little less democracy here, a little less there, and before you know it people are convinced that to appoint officials must be the right thing to do because it keeps happening! 

That pesky "democracy" is getting in the way of what corporations want, so efforts to sideline it are underway across the State.  How egregious is it that the once mighty Pontiac Silverdome, that was the "mecca" of sports and other major events costed out at $55 million when it was first built, was sold for $500,000 just months ago? This businessman has now named the same emergency manager in charge of that sale to his team as he prepares to retrofit the Silverdome for the newest casino owned by him!

We are heading into deep, dark waters and should prepare ourselves for street to street battle.

On Thursday, all segments of the State will learn a valuable lesson about what is taught in civics and  government class in local schools: Do the people have a right to redress? Maybe not anymore. Can the size of the print on a petition be enough to disqualify the will of just under 240,000 people?  Apparently yes. Can a representative of the Tea Party, the Republican party or any party be allowed to tamper with this American process in such a way that democracy is sacrificed?  Don't know yet. No lover of freedom and open government can stand by and let such an action take place.

If you are able, come to the State Bldg at Cadillac Place, 3020 W. Grand Blvd, Suite 14-300 (at Second St) in Detroit on Thursday, May 17th, no later than 9am. Stand and watch as we look to see if democracy still stands. "...oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, over the land of the free and the home of the brave?" Democracy has been stolen.  The outcome of this Appeals Court hearing will reveal a great message and will help clarify what stage of this battle we are entering. 
 
MD Taylor
MWRO State Chairperson

Get on the Bus to Lansing to Deliver Our Petitions

Join us for

the victory lap!!!

We have the signatures needed to stop the Emergency Manager, Public Act #4 law passed by Governor Snyder that takes away our right to vote.

We are escorting those signatures to
the Capitol in Lansing on
Wednesday, Feb. 29^th, 2012.

Bus leaves Detroit at 10:30am.

 
The “leap-year” bus will leave from Central United Methodist Church,

23 E. Adams and Woodward (near Comerica Park)

 We rally in Lansing at noon and will re-board buses between 2-3pm back to Detroit.

Each seat is: $8.00/round-trip,

Fees due by Friday, Feb. 24^th, 2012.

Reserve your seat today:

(313) 964-0618 – MI Welfare Rights Org.

Creative Commons image from momphard.net

A People's Victory - Short Term!

OO-HA! Federal Judge Paul Borman moments ago issued a statement that stops Gov. Snyder's attempt to stop cash assistance to 40,000 welfare families!! He cites technical reasons for this decision, but we are so happy that these families will continue to receive cash assistance for now. Send letters and thank you messages to the Judge for his compassion.

More information coming soon...

Federal Judge Paul Borman

US Federal Court House

231 W. Lafayette Street,

Detroit, MI 48226

Phone #: (313) 234-5120

Benefits Shut Off for 41,000 Michigan Welfare Recipients

(repost from Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Sep 30, 2011)

On Saturday, Oct. 1, 41,000 Michigan welfare recipients will lose cash benefits in the amount of approximately $515 each. Gov. Rick Snyder capped maximum welfare payments at 48 months. Several Michigan recipients filed a class action lawsuit to overturn the four-year cap. 

Five years was the original cap on cash assistance for welfare. In some cases, extensions were available for those in need. The lawsuit says that the welfare cap violates the due process clause of the 14th amendment. They claim that the cutoff notices were vague and generic. The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order against the cap. 

Exemptions are available for those with disabilities that make them unable to work. Those over 65, caring for a disabled spouse or child, who don't qualify for social security or who receive low benefit payments may also get an extension. 

There is some concern among taxpayers about what qualifies a person as unable to work. Chronic alcoholism, drug addicts and obesity are three problematic disabilities. These don't qualify specifically as handicaps, but some of the resulting health conditions do qualify them. There is also concern about how welfare payments, especially food stamps, are spent. 

Welfare cash assistance cuts aren't the only economic issue plaguing Michigan. Cuts are happening everywhere. In August, 11.2 percent of Michiganders were unemployed. Let's look at Michigan's deteriorating economy, by the numbers.

• 2.5 million: People in Michigan who receive one or more form of welfare benefits.

• 220,000 thousand: People in Michigan who receive cash benefits. The four-year cap would reduce it to 180,000 people.

• 21,000-25,000: The number of welfare recipients in Detroit alone (Michigan's largest city) who had their cash benefits cut.

• 30,000: The number of children in Michigan who will lose welfare benefits. 

Read the rest of this article at Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben | Yahoo! Contributor Network. 

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people, places, events and issues in "Pure Michigan."

Screen shot from Michigan League for Human Services.

Resurrection Marches in Detroit Against Welfare Cuts

For seven weeks, we have marched in "Resurrection Marches" to call attention to the 40,000 welfare families that will be cut-off cash assistance Oct. 1, 2011. We have been in front of the Capital Plaza Bldg in Detroit at Governor Snyder's office. 

 9/29/11 Resurrection March speakers included: MWRO State Chair Maureen Taylor, NWRU Co-President Marian Kramer, U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Ed Rowe & State Representative Alberta Tinsli-Talabi.

We recognize how unconscionable it is for a State government to even suggest that the cost is TOO high to shelter poor people. Today’s demonstration confirmed that people are totally offended by this Draconian action!

Working people in Michigan and, especially, the militant union workers in Detroit and Highland Park are under a full court press as our standard of living and now even our lives are under attack.

How bad is it? 

• Seniors are receiving letters telling them that if they ever had any assistance from the Welfare Dept., their life insurance policies should be turned over to them as they believe themselves to be the real holders of that policy.
• All Social Security numbers in families that are being cutoff of assistance are being sent to Lansing so the State Police can cross-match those numbers and determine if anyone has an outstanding warrant.
• The Food Assistance program will be reviewed by case workers performing the food asset test -– they will be looking for those nice items in your home that can be sold if you are going to continue receiving food assistance.

The only conclusion left is that “THESE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU!!” 

WORKING PEOPLE –- wake up!  The world has changed and these corporations don’t need us anymore! If we are not needed, why feed us?  Why house us?  Why educate us? Why provide medical support for us? Because the world has changed and continues to throw off millions of laborers out into the streets each day, we MUST envision what kind of world we have to have. We will design the change, or they will.

We march to Washington, D.C., June 30^th, 2012.  get involved and find your place as we amass millions toward the fight to eliminate poverty.  Reach us at: endpoverty2012@gmail.com or call us at: (313) 964-0618.  You have 278 days left.

Image from MWRO member Fred Vitale. See more Resurrection March photos.

Sacrificing Children to Enrich Corporations and Politicians

Our good friends at the Sierra Club in Detroit have been following up on the public assistance cuts to families signed by Michigan Governor Snyder and have learned several more distressing facts:

1. As of October 1, 2011: 11,000 people will be cut off from welfare benefits, and that will continue through until 40,000 people are eliminated from the system. 75% THOSE PEOPLE WILL BE CHILDREN WITH THE AVERAGE AGE OF 7 YEARS OLD.
2. Unemployment insurance was cut from a 24 weeks to 20 by the state.
3. The Low Income Energy Efficiency Fund which gave DHS, THAW and Salvation Army energy assistance funding every year -- adding to $575million in help for the poor since 2002 -- has been completely eliminated by ABATE and the Attorney General and the Michigan Court of Appeals; although federal money is still available, it is not enough to cover the gap.
4. College students are no longer eligible for food aid, a much needed subsidy.
5. There is now a lifelong cap of 48 months for those who receive assistance.
6. Most of the assistance cuts will be to renters, disproportionately effecting women.
7. These cuts have a secondary effect of increasing domestic violence.
8. If utility service is cut from the home, children must be removed by law from the family and home. And, yes, the foster care system is hiring.
9. NO ONE IS EXEMPT: Persons with mental disabilities are not exempt from the cuts, recent mothers are exempt for only 2 months after birth, victims of domestic violence exempt for 3 months and caretakers of persons with disabilities for 12 months.
10. THE STATE OF MICHIGAN WILL SAVE $68 MILLION IN TAX DOLLARS FROM STARVING CHILDREN. 

MEANWHILE, corporations will receive $1.8 billion in tax breaks to ensure major profits keep flowing in -- while putting an end to Michigan’s practice of not taxing retirement income and seeking to increase taxes on Michigan's working poor! (download pdf)

"Currently, someone in the poorest 20 percent of Michigan taxpayers pays a tax rate of 8.9 percent, while someone in the richest one percent pays 5.3 percent. In addition to trying to make an unfair tax system even more problematic for Michigan’s low-income residents, Snyder has also asked that the state be given the power to dismiss local government and appoint emergency 'town managers' who could break contracts and 'strip powers from elected officials.'"

When we can no longer count on government to stand up for the weakest and sickest among us, we must determine --at all costs -- how to ensure that our children, elders and the infirmed are protected. What are you prepared to do?

Sources: Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, NAACP-Detroit, Wayne County Social Services, Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm, and Michigan League of Human Services.

Press Release: Don't Throw 25,000 Children Off Welfare and Into the Streets

Michigan Welfare Rights invites the public to join us at this Press Conference on September 8, 2011 at noon (press release below)  to denounce the upcoming welfare cuts against children. You are also invited to speak up about about other major state issues that your family is facing due to cutbacks by politicians and this wretched economy.

 

Local organizations and elected officials who oppose the cuts are invited to participate in this press conference, too.

Download Press Release

Contact Maureen Taylor, State Chair, MWRO for more information (313) 964-0618.

Why We March June 2012: Welfare Recipients Are Expendable

The foundation on which society rests has been changed forever.

Picture Leonardo DiCaprio perched on the balcony of the Titanic, holding on to Rose's hand as the ship which has broken in half, stands straight up just before it goes into the the icy waters.  He yells out, "THIS IS IT!!"

Today, the State of Michigan shouted out the same thing: Letters went out across the State alerting all Family Independence Program (FIP) recipients that they may have reached the limit of welfare support.  A second letter will go out at a later date to select which families will be culled out of cash assistance forever -- along with a second note informing them where to go for the limited help they still may qualify for.

Governor Rick Snyder has determined that $64m dollars can be saved if MI stops caring for poor families. The death warrant was signed by the Governor on August 9th, 2011, shoving some 14,000 poor families -- all with minor children -- into some kind of "hell" where they will be killed off a little at a time.

These first 14,000 will be followed by more and more until all the poor families who have been on welfare assistance for 4 years are kicked out. They are on a train headed toward the concentration camps of wont:

First stop, Public Shelter Avenue where some get off and seek living arrangements in local shelters.  Girls go to the left, boys go to the right...train keeps moving toward its final destination.

Next stop, Foster Care Junction where some of the children are taken away from mostly mothers too poor to care for them any longer.

Third stop, Suicide Canyon where some moms so stressed, saddened and crushed by the loss of their home, their property, their support, will decide they are "bad" parents and the children would be better off without them. Or, some of the older children in these stressed families -- separated from friends, separated from school activities, can't go to the Prom -- will consider suicide-pacts as a viable option.
 
Fourth Stop, Murderer's Cave where some will resort to inward violence like we are witnessing on Channel 2,4, and 7 daily -- shootings, knifings, clubbings, killing in every shape and form committed by people already on the edge.

Final stop, the Burning Fields where the message is clear: it costs too much money to keep your family alive. Governors across the nation are examining this strategy that saves State dollars. 
 
The ASSEMBLY TO END POVERTY has called for a National MARCH ON WASHINGTON, June 30th 2011. Get involved asap. Email endpoverty2012@gmail.com, or call: (313) 964-0618.  There are 323 days left. Do Something!!! 

Image from State of Michigan