While Michigan is busy making sure the kids at 7-11 and Mikky Dees are properly compensated, we’re grateful to be here in Houston helping ensure the city’s airport system keeps its offshoot enterprises transparent and that everyone involved does the right thing. Public records in Texas are much easier to obtain than in Michigan due to both better laws and a media that has simply put its foot down in many cases and let government know that it has to do its business in the open. Perhaps it is not related, but Texas is also one of the few states not to be economically sagging. Construction is booming and this city shows few signs of any sort of downturn. Michigan truly needs some kind of body like Texas Watchdog that will work to keep government honest. In many states, philanthropists and business interests are funding watchdog groups in the best way possible; line up with the right people, hand over the means and get out of the way. This does not have to be political in any way. Transparency is an issue that rewards both sides in the best way possible; it creates an even playing field. So who’s going to get the ball rolling in Michigan? Is there someone else who sees the need for truly non-partisan coverage of government aimed at keeping records open and is willing to bring on dedicated journalism pros to do it?
Despite passing legislation in the House regarding public disclosure of financial information for state officials, the bill, HB 4381 has stalled in the Senate. And now, a new study from The Center for Public Integrity finds our state ranks last in public disclosure for public officials. Considering how the recession has struck the state's newspapers, it's hardly news that this has happened. The media's ability to act as watchdog has eroded considerably. In our case, we at Free Michigan do this for free, as so many bloggers do. And now, we are taking some time and heading to Texas to work with Texas Watchdog, an esteemed group that we feel represents the future of journalism. Non-partisan coverage of anything, be it a city, issue or statehouse, is crucial. Transparency, as we've noted previously, is a somewhat blurry notion. Texas Watchdog doggedly pursues it better than anyone without even a hint of an agenda other than the truth. This is the journalist spot in which to be. Here in Michigan, we have some troubles that we hope will be addressed in the future; a supposedly major newspaper located blocks from the statehouse with no capital presence; thinly staffed Lansing bureaus for the two Detroit papers; and several small Lansing bureaus for other media outlets in the state. Free Michigan has been embraced, it appears, primarily by audiences on the right. We take our readers where we can get them, but there is no reason that all of us - right left, center - can't agree that an open government serves the people best. When a state is in a free fall, as Michigan is, we have to look first at the leadership. At the top, that means the governor, be that leader a Republican or a Democrat. In this case, it's a Democrat. When the attorney general's office is accused of overcharging for a public records request, we simply open the records the best we can. In this case, it has been a Republican in charge of that office. Keep us on your favorites list; We'll be back in a while and will be providing updates on our work in Texas while noting developments in watchdog journalism, so please keep your eye on this page in the coming weeks.
Detroit is a well-documented city in the tank, with one of the highest poverty rates in the U.S. and severe problems with corruption. The two city newspapers do a good job of uncovering the fiscal malfeasance and the abuse of the public trust. But there is a place that has never been mined, and we have to wonder why it’s hands off. The Detroit Regional Chamber talks a good game about bringing good things to town. We really enjoyed this little essay about how the chamber worked on Detroit’s behalf in the auto flap. But when we look at the chamber’s finances, we see little to enjoy. What do you make of a group that brings in $5.4 million and spent $3.1 million in payroll-related obligations? So this group spent 57 percent of its income on paying its officers. We think that's too much going for fat catism and not enough actually going to help the city. Chamber President Richard Blouse was paid a package worth $444,476, including a base salary of $389, 683 in 2006. So how is he doing? And Detroit is not alone in its money grubbing chamber folks. In Los Angeles the percentage of chamber revenue that goes to salaries, benefits, and payroll taxes is 44 percent. In Minneapolis it’s 46 percent. In Dallas, 60 percent. What a racket. Next time you feel you want to attend some chamber event to help out, remember who you are helping out; the well-dressed folks with the big smiles and the fat wallets.
Hotels shoot for an average occupancy rate of between 60 and 65 percent, although this year the rates are projected to be lower than average at around 59 percent. Hotel operators are there to make money, of course, and most answer to. State campgrounds, paid for by us, don’t seem to have such standards. Nor do they ever have to answer to us. We have already heard that our state parks are a wreck and have no money although we doubt it and our research weakens such a statement. An attached report finds that the average occupancy rate for 2008 at state campgrounds was 54 percent, which we don’t find all that appalling. In 2007, the rate was 55 percent. But there are some parks that perform and some that don’t. Indian Lake campground in the U.P. is on the lower end, with an average occupancy of 24 percent for last summer season. State leaders find it OK, though, to spend $875,000 on upgrades to the park starting in September. William Mitchell Park in Cadillac, occupancy rate 62 percent, is getting $2 million for some work. These campgrounds are valuable tools and create a higher quality of life for us. In times of road commissions and transportation departments that can't figure out how to keep our roads in decent condition, anything that can elevate our lifestyle standard is welcome.
The Lansing State Journal today opines on a bill that would permit local governments to post legal notices online if it chooses, rather than the more expensive and requisite public notice in a local publication. (can someone help me out with a number on that legislation?) “Internet access to foreclosure notices, bankruptcy filings, meeting notices, bids for contracts and the like are great for people specifically looking for this information. But that's a small, small slice of the public. Honestly, who plops down in front a computer and says "I've got some time, why don't I check out Delhi Township's Web site and catch up on the latest zoning variances.” People who want to know things, that’s who. The paper makes a good point in asserting that ideally, these notices would be posted both online and in print. Many of us no longer choose to pay for the print product put out by a number of publications because those pubs have opted out of the news business, for the most part. Some, in fact, don’t even have a statehouse presence. We live online for much of our news. And that’s where the notices should be. And it is our responsibility to find them, if we want. What is lamentable is the secrecy with which the myriad boards and panels of the state of Michigan meet. How about the Michigan Civil Rights Commission meeting tomorrow (Monday)? This is the post you get. If you want to find out, you call the agency and maybe they will tell you where that meeting is. But there appears to be little or no interest from the public and even less from the media, which was once a guardian of the public trust. Other boards meet, do some weird things with public money, and no one knows that they were even meeting. Did you know that on Aug. 19, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund board will meet at Lansing Community College in Lansing? We’d love to think there will be a media presence. Several outlets have offices a few blocks from the site.
The news industry is always catching up to itself, and more frequently editors are letting through stories that have been published before. An April story by the New York Times addressed an initiative to “shrink” cities, or taking out blighted neighborhoods wholesale. The Times’ piece no doubt sprung from this Flint Journal story in March. This is what news has come to. The story is based in Flint, which, as you well know, has been a pox on Michigan for a long time and is home to both one of the nation’s highest crime rates and most widespread poverty. It has gone from a population of 200,000 in 1965 to 110,000 today. We’ve often wondered why school districts and municipalities never seem to contract along with the local population. “Instead of waiting for houses to become abandoned and then pulling them down, local leaders are talking about demolishing entire blocks and even whole neighborhoods.The population would be condensed into a few viable areas. So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.“Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life,” said Dan Kildee, the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint. “We need to control it instead of letting it control us.” “ This week, the issue is back in the news because a reporter at the Guardian in the U.K. decided to spice it up by adding in a reference to President Obama. Bingo! Big chatter in a slower news cycle. Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.Mr. Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with theirdeclining fortunes.Most are former industrial cities in the "rust belt" of America's Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,Baltimore and Memphis.” This talk is good, though, and the idea of taking these properties, plowing them and hoping for a better option is a good one. The Flint Journal’s blog does a good job of fielding the issue, as it was the first one there.
The condition of our roads in Michigan has been documented well, both here and in other places. And the solutions proposed by out-of-touch bureaucrats who are eager to pass the buck do not help. Finally, a group of residents in Scio Township has an answer – tax yourselves, as long as the majority is in favor. Note in the comments section that it is correctly pointed out that this is, indeed, double taxation. And there is little doubt that money that has been traditionally used for road repairs has been squandered. Scio Township, located in the southeast region of the state, is a wealthy area and most of the people can afford to chip in a little to cover for the ineptitude in leadership. Many townships, villages and municipalities don’t have that luxury. That leadership looks something like this. We also see that township board supervisor E. Spaulding Clark ran with a campaign Web site that he called Leadership for Scio. But once he was re-elected, apparently he didn’t feel the need to tout such leadership; the site is dead. It’s just politics. Scio Township, by the way, has an amazing Web site laudable for its transparency and ease of navigation.
Trustees for the two city of Detroit pension funds have globe-trotted to the tune of $380,000 in the past year, the Detroit Free Press reports today. The trustees “often traveling in packs, with virtually no limitation on where they went or how often they traveled. Trustee Ronald Gracia spent the most time on the road -- billing the General Retirement System for $105,000 in travel, including three trips to Singapore and $18,600 on travel to Hong Kong, according to records provided by the pension funds,” the Freep reports. To gather records for the story, the newspaper was forced to sue the two retirement systems, which charged over $3,000 for the sought after records. “The Free Press sought additional travel and other documents in late 2008 but was told those records would cost more than $41,000. In its suit, the Free Press said the fees violate the law and are "unconscionable. As such, they constitute a constructive denial of the Detroit Free Press' FOIA requests." Pension fund lawyers have described the Free Press' case as "entirely frivolous." They agreed in May to turn over some records as part of the litigation.” Most of the trustees and their lawyer did not return calls to the Freep, but one, Garcia, did defend himself in an email, stating that his further education in ways to invest pension money required his travel. The pension funds and their administration have been questioned before, most recently in May as the Freep tried to obtain records. In 2003, two audits were scheduled of the $2.2 billion fund after the discovery that board trustees had racked up $586.269 in travel costs between 1999 and 2002. Third Circuit Court Judge John Gillis Jr., barred board members from taking some scheduled trips -- to destinations including Arizona, California and Florida -- for pension business. Also that year, “the pension board sued Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and [city CFO Sean] Werdlow, alleging Werdlow was interfering with trustees' ability to perform pension board duties by demanding accountability for time spent conducting pension business on city time,” according to a story in Crain’s Detroit Business. In 2004, Werdlow tried to impose some kind of oversight on the trustees but nothing came of it. Werdlow today is at Siebert Brandford Shank, a securities brokerage. Would have loved to seen his comment in the Freep story, which does a fine job detailing the unfettered abuse of the public trust in a city with a deficit of over $300 million.
This is what happens when you poke around Legistorm, a site that posts the financials of our elected officials in Washington. Rep. Vern Ehlers last year made $38,683 on his state of Michigan pension – another $2,007 on his pension from Kent County, and another $4,785 from a state of California pension (we believe that comes from a teaching gig he had at UC Berkeley). His pension from the state of Michigan in 2007 was $37,195. So we apparently gave him a raise. In 2002, it was $29, 296. He’s gotten a 32 percent raise in seven years. In Kent County, it went from $1,911 to $2,007 over that period, a paltry 5 percent raise. Rep. Dale Kildee reported $23,740 last year on his Michigan Legislative pension. In 2002, it was $18, 763 - the jump is 26 percent. For Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, she made $53,498 for her legislative pension compared to $42,280 in 2003, also a 26 percent bump. Rep. Candice Miller reports that her spouse draws a salary from both the state of Michigan and Macomb County, as well as a pension from the state of Michigan. The qualifications are difficult to find even in this age of transparency. From a financial audit of the legislative retirement system in 2001, we found this: “A member may retire and receive retirement benefits based on age and service after: (1) attaining age 50, if age and years of credited service combined are equal to or greater than 70; or (2) attaining age 55 with 5 or more years of credited service if elected, qualified, and seated not less than (a) 3 full or partial terms in the House of Representatives, (b) 2 full or partial terms in the Senate, or (c) 1 term in the House of Representatives and 1 term in the Senate. For those legislators who first became members on or before January 1, 1995, the retirement benefit is calculated by multiplying 20% of a member's highest salary earned for the first 5 years of service, plus 4% of the member's highest salary for each of the next 11 years of service, plus 1% of the member's highest salary for each additional year. For those legislators who first became members after January 1, 1995, the retirement benefit is calculated by multiplying 3% of the highest salary for each year of service.” And this speaks to those massive increases in benefit pay: “For those legislators who first became members on or before January 1, 1995, the annual retirement benefit payable to a retiree or a retiree's survivor is increased by 4% compounded annually. The adjustment is effective each January 1. For those legislators who first became members after January 1, 1995, the annual retirement benefit payable to a retiree or a retiree's survivor is increased by 4%, but is not compounded annually. The adjustment is effective each January 1.” This is stuff that voters should know and, if appropriately incensed, make noise about. It’s been covered before, and no one has mustered enough outrage to change things. One more reason bureaucrats dislike transparency.
In the world of transparency, there are blunders and then there are massive blunders. And just the same, there are gadflies, and then there are people with just too much time on their hands. In Augusta Township, outside of Ypsilanti, the two have met with interesting results over the last few months, The Augusta Township board of trustees last December voted to file a suit against resident Jim McDonald. The apparent reason? McDonald filed just too damn many FOIA requests and acted weird when he came around to retrieve the records to boot. According to a report in the Ypsilanti Courier, a judge signed an injunction barring McDonald from using the Freedom of Information Act at township offices along with assessing a fine of $5,000 to help the township with the nearly $12,000 in legal costs. McDonald agreed to the injunction and fine in May. The legal fees were needless, of course. Now, officials are considering returning the $5,000 to McDonald. And we see that tonight, June 9, the trustees are scheduled to vote on a FOIA coordinator. Seems McDonald has had some trouble up there at town hall before. The story states that McDonald filed a suit against the township when he became frustrated at the bureaucratic hoops he was made to jump through by Township Clerk Kathy Giszczak. The township countersued and won. Trustees blamed Giszczak for a lot of the trouble. “[Trustees] Hafler, Jackson and King all contend that Giszczak is to blame for McDonald's being unable to get information and driving him to the point of frustration where he banged on metal desks and cabinets. They each said they also have problems getting information from the clerk.” And as if this isn't all enough, the whole place seems pretty unhappy with this public servant, her being the subject of a recall in 2005. We’ve been to smallish townships that have no idea what an open record is – Meridian Township outside Lansing, for example, will outright refuse to hand over information that is clearly public. Lacking any real support in this state, the only remedy is court action. That erases the news value if one is writing for deadline. And it's needlessly pricey in case you run into a judge who also doesn’t know or care about the public’s right to know. These small-town squabbles over public records and who said what and did what to whom make for great local news. It’s surprising that no other media outlet has been around to cover it a little more extensively. Then again, maybe not.
Some excellent investigative reporting by a reporter at the Jackson Citizen Patriot finds that CEO salaries at area hospitals rose 52 percent over the past five years. The revelation should irritate hospital workers who face pay freezes, as well as layoffs . And let's not forget about that all-time favorite, buyouts. Such excesses and disregard of employees give an opening to union groups, who almost look like a face of common sense when taken in context. This excellent work, by a guy named Brad Flory, also comes with a supporting blog entry. This is the kind of reporting that induces changes and puts the news back in newspapers. The Citizen Patriot, which may or may not have good relation with the local Allegiance Health hospital, shows guts in running a story that takes a hard look at the finances. These tax form 990s can tell you a lot of things. Below is the 2006 form for Ingham Medical Center. See anyone you know in there? Let’s toss in one more exec’s pay – Randall Oostra was paid $872,438 in 2007, according to tax records for the Emma L. Bixby Medical Center in Adrian. The form states he is paid in his relation and as president and COO of the parent company, Pro Medica Health Systems. And yes, they, too, have decided to eliminate positions.
Allegiance Health image by Flickr user photobysg, CC 2.0
Our cousin to the south, Ohio, is blundering along this economic downturn in almost as dire a fashion as Michigan. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is about as inspiring as our Gov. Granholm, speaking of “new economy platforms” and other notions bureaucrats mutter about when they can’t figure out what to do. What a mess he's made of that state. And we say him because he is captain of the ship. This is the price of assuming leadership. Still, Ohio has plenty to recommend, and we like the place. Some of it's newspapers are among the best in the U.S. Lacking a formidable think tank with investigative abilities in the state, Ohio newspapers have done an excellent job of forcing transparency in government, most recently with the Columbus Dispatch taking on college athletics by sending open records requests to 119 schools. The requests asked for “airplane flight manifests for football-team travel to road games; lists of people designated to receive athletes' complimentary admission to football games; football players' summer-employment documents; and reports of NCAA violations.” One school completely ignored the request. Who do you think that was? Michigan State University, creating the potential for another open records-related court case and costly litigation that taxpayers will have to cover. Also noted is the openness of Eastern Michigan University, which responded promptly and provided records with no names redacted. At any rate, the Dispatch has provided a terrific tool for check college athletic programs in terms of graduation rates, academic performance scores, athletic spending, NCAA violations, and how they scored in terms of openness when asked for public records. MSU graduates 60 percent of its basketball players and 39 percent of its football players, compared to 74 percent of its overall student body. Michigan fails its basketball players prolifically, graduating 31 percent – the lowest in the Big Ten - as opposed to 88 percent of the general student population. There is plenty more information available in the database – have fun looking up your favorite school.
MDOT Chief Kirk Steudle needs a little media coaching. It might make him understand that making a plea this week to the state legislature for more money to fix roads is ok, but he should refrain from telling us what we can and can't afford. And we thought things we going so well for MDOT. From the story by Associated Press, "State Department of Transportation Director Kirk Steudle on Tuesday estimated motorists would pay an extra 16 cents per week - "a stick of gum" - for every penny increase in the 19-cents-a-gallon gas tax. "This will break everybody's back? Really? A half-pack of gum is going to break everybody's back? Let's put this in perspective," Steudle told the House and Senate Transportation committees. Steudle in 2007 was paid $140,000 a year, according to the Lansing State Journal’s state salary data base. It reminds us of the Detroit Three CEOs who flew on private planes to DC to beg for a bailout. Speaking of flying: In document 2 below, we see that MDOT has quite a taste for plane trips around the state. Good way to miss a few potholes. The department’s defense will be that this state is so big and in the name of expedience, the planes are necessary. Perhaps that's true. Most of these trips are to places that you and I have to take hours to drive to if we want to be there. But we aren't doing important state business. Some of us just have work up there, or are vacationing. You pay, you decide. On the heels of his marquee appearance at the statehouse, Steudle is also making an appearance in Flint Friday to let them know the situation.
Michigan ranks 10th in violent crimes in the U.S., a dubious place to be considering that the state is also up there in terms of high taxes, stratospheric insurance rates and has led the league in unemployment for some time. Some might say our roads are kinda in need of a fix as well, but now we’re nitpicking. If crime is as high as statistics indicate, it would be enlightening if we were to have some transparency in terms of crime reporting and accountability among our law enforcement agencies. There are a number of states that put crime statistics online, giving some power to residents and even encouraging them to get involved with their communities. One site, Crime Reports, is available in 45 states and allows interested parties to view the locations of crimes in their neighborhood. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, all have agencies participating. Not Michigan. Crime Mapping provides crime figures for certain areas in 11 states, including Ohio and Illinois. Not Michigan. Every Block features profiles, including crimes, for a number of cities including Washington D.C., Miami and Los Angeles. But not our largest city, and today the third highest ranked city for crime in the nation, Detroit (see below). Law enforcement transparency is not talked about as much as it should be; these are folks charged with keeping us safe and as long as we are, who wants to rock the boat. We recall a journalism instructor at Michigan State University who, as an assignment, had her students ask local law enforcement agencies for a look at their daily reports. These are open records, of course; one of the most ponderous tasks this writer had as a cops reporter in Dallas was to pore through a stack of the previous day’s police reports to make sure no local celebrity had gotten in any trouble or died. But the students seeking the reports from the Lansing Police Department were told they had to file a Freedom of Information Request before gaining access to the reports. Such a requirement in effect thwarts the intent of access, or diminishes or halts the news value of such access, it could be argued. It would take a court hearing in front of a sympathetic judge to gain ready access, a timely and costly effort that the city has resources for – after all, it’s your time and your money – but few others do. A strong press from a willing media would no doubt do the trick in recalcitrant cities. But we’re not sure such things exist at this point.
We’ve said before that the idea of transparency is much more appealing than actually committing to it. The Wall Street Journal today writes that lawmakers in Washington are doing their best to ensure their expenditures are kept, at the least, difficult to obtain. The story states, “Summaries of…lawmaker expenses are available to the public in print, either by mail or in volumes that can be viewed in basement rooms on Capitol Hill. The House's quarterly reports -- which run over 3,000 pages apiece, across multiple volumes -- are stored in a cupboard in a windowless office near a shoeshine stand.” “The Senate's semiannual reports, which use type about half the size of the print in a daily newspaper, are in a building nearby. Expense entries for both chambers can be difficult to decipher, with entries and explanations sometimes cutting off midword.” No big surprise is it? The story also makes us aware of a site that does some of the desired tracking for us, a place called Legistorm. We signed up immediately and are gorging ourselves on the feast of records. Little things give us the incentive to keep going. For example, a staffer of Michigan Rep. Dave Camp, name of Bradford Dayspring, listed a purchase of the stock of L-1 Identity Solutions in 2007. L-1 that year earned over $100 million in government contracts with only about 8% of those contracts up for a fully competitive bid. Hardly a smoking gun in Beltway terms, but just interesting. And we can hardly blame the guy for making a good buy - anyone would do it and there is nothing wrong with seeing an opening. Still, these are the things that fuel further looks, especially if related to an elected official.
We’d like to be more sympathetic to the fate of General Motors, which will likely declare bankruptcy tomorrow but we’ve already tipped our hand ; this is one more company that deserves to fall into the hole (we put AT & T, Northwest Airlines and Hilton in that batch as well). Folks want to blame the current buying slump that is afflicting the auto industry for GM’s latest trouble, but that is rather simple-minded. GM has been losing market share for years. As of April it sat at a meager 19.2, falling from a mighty 60% at one time. How foolish was the move to hand over billions to avoid what was plainly inevitable? In November, the freshly minted President-to-be Obama – along with our Gov. Granholm - pushed for $50 billion for GM; “And if the companies don't get almost $50 billion, Obama will be dealing with the issue again by next summer,” a Bloomberg article stated,with little apparent insight. Granholm said in a December statement that "the auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing, and the ripple effects of bankruptcy would have touched communities and families all across our nation." Recall Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announcing that “Congress is trying to save Detroit” also in December. We'd like to pass if that offer comes this way. In the aforementioned Bloomberg piece, we also heard that "the auto industry is too big to fail," from Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight. We have looked for more insightful comments on the auto industry from Behravesh in the wake of the latest developments, but they are nowhere to be found. So what is the fallout? We’ve seen so much hand-wringing and sky-is-falling utterance that it’s almost impossible to believe that the whole state will shut down upon the end of GM as we know it. Don’t feel badly for the employees; they have been handed plenty of ammo for the future in the way of money and benefits. Their going away package is something all of us would covet. Ditto the executives. And for any merchant who has based a life on the health of GM, well, GM's ebbing market share has been available for anyone to see for the past decade. Now we move forward and watch for the new big thing.
Hummer image by Flickr user GTM,CC 2.0 Toyota Camry image by Flickr user The Toad, CC 2.0
Why are tax incentives failing to give Michigan an economic boost? The Anderson Economic Group’s study released this month was commissioned mysteriously by the Michigan Education Association and the National Education Association, and we couldn’t be happier to see them all in the same space. Patrick Anderson’s dead-on editorial piece in the Freep last week cites, among other things, “a troubling lack of transparency in reporting the results of these major taxpayer investments.” And from the report, which we are trying to get permission to post here, the authors say "There is currently no proper, publicly-available inventory of business tax incentive programs. Such an inventory should list the programs, statutory authorizations, intended purposes, eligibility criteria, nominal or estimated amount of tax revenue foregone, and nominal or estimated effectiveness in attaining the intended purpose." In the Freep op-ed, Anderson goes on to mention that the state’s tax-based programs, which include tax abatements for manufacturers to update facilities, MEGA grants for some companies and the tax breaks for the film industry have also been plagued by that lack of a compilation of these tax breaks and no independent agency to collect the information, He could have also mentioned something else: Where the Hell are the newspapers that used to dog governments and make them accountable? Since you asked… The Lansing State Journal has no statehouse presence, instead opting to use its talent for stunning stories such as “Walk to School Day a healthy step for kids.” The Detroit News, which has a small statehouse bureau, finds it important to cover a parade and run a story “Thousands crowd downtown for Race for Cure.” We could have found a better use for that space. The Grand Rapids Press blows the lid off a new scheme with a story, “Michigan state parks offer novices camping lessons,” which is a rewrite of a story the News ran in April. Who didn't do their homework? Lightweight stories can add to a news product's value. But when a dearth of coverage shows up repeatedly, it becomes apparent that resources are being directed away from actual news and more toward features. And Anderson's report exposes the glaring lack of a real news industry. We’ve explained the demise of the old news model, which was brought about not only by the rise of the Web, as most newspaper folks want you to believe, but by the people who have decided to pass by the burning building on the way to cover the parade. The Anderson report is a terrific work, although we feel the authors missed one aforementioned crucial element, that of a derelict news industry.
Being Michiganders, our adult beverage industry is a teeming, blessed money maker. To lose money on drinking habits in the Great Lakes state is to not try, or to be hampered by ill-advised regulation; our state is one of 18 to have its booze sector managed by the government. We’d bet that such management has closed a number of fine establishments, as well as keeping prices on the high side. Looking around at the site of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, we noted a number of things. First of all, like so many state boards, the commission meets monthly virtually without any coverage by a media outlet. In case you are interested, we’ve posted the schedule below. Please note the additional change of venue for the June meeting. In poring over the commission’s FY 2008 report, we see that this 144-person unit must be one of the few offices in our state government to oversee an industry making money. Even the gross sales increase of 3.4% is enough to make us think positively. Better yet, the report states that “Since the 1999 fiscal year, there has been a 45.1% increase in dollar sales from $638.0m in FY 1999 to $925.5m in FY 2008.” In that same period, the state’s jobless rate has more than doubled, from 3.8 to 8.4. We aren’t about to let a job loss keep us from a drink or two. We can also note here that a large portion of the MLCC was privatized in 1996-97, taking the staff from 532 to 152. This was former Gov. John Engler’s thing, privatize at any cost. Overall, he failed in his attempt to do it with liquor in the 90s. The commission has not had a thorough performance or financial audit since 2001, and we see that it was a very cursory look compared to a 1998-99 financial audit of the commission in which the Michigan Office of the Auditor General discovered that some commissioners were using state phones, cell and office, for their own expensive personal calls, in particular. “In some instances, Commissioners did not identify if telephone calls were for MLCC business or personal (III). However, our review of these telephone calls disclosed telephone calls that appeared personal. For example, former Commissioner Arthurhultz did not identify telephone calls made to a relative, individuals in foreign countries, an out-of-State real estate agent, and art importers.” Seems the former state senator was chalking up hundreds of dollars in personal business phone bills to taxpayers. We can only hope that such abuse has been stemmed, although we are not optimistic. The state has been wise enough to keep a lid on booze taxes, although we chuckle at the graphic in the report – which we have also posted below – that notes that of the retail license fee revenue earned in FY 2008, 55% went to local governments, 41.5% to licensing and enforcement and, a nice token of 3.5% to “alcoholism programs.” The commission has been on the wrong side of a few issues, particularly the mail order wine sales, which was a political matter that only a state so fearful of competition like Michigan, could embrace. Let’s also make sure that voters know that gubernatorial hopeful Mike Cox was a leader in the effort to prohibit those wine imports, and even advocated for an overall ban on mail order wine. Overall, we like the commission, one of the few government agencies that actually delivers a product that taxpayers enjoy. Even the salaries are not out of control – MLCC chief Nida Samona makes $106, 037 and a number of others we check through the Lansing State Journal’s salary database came back under $100,000. Yes, there is a huge money grab in there somewhere, and special interests abound. What we’d like to see is more coverage of this important body. But the depleted journalism ranks do not allow such, so the MLCC will continue to meet without critique. We don’t see minutes of the meetings posted, and can only assume that the MLCC likes things they way they are, that is, running under the radar.
A rather infamous Michigan case went before the U.S. Supreme Court this week in which the right of a suspect to a lawyer, and that murky territory between apprehension and courtroom is addressed. The 1986 Michigan v. Jackson ruling held that law enforcement may not question a suspect who has a lawyer unless that lawyer is present. This applied to suspects who consented to speak to the cops even without their lawyer, although they had one or had asked for one. Usually, based on this, once a suspect asks for a lawyer, all questioning stops. Numerous parties, including U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, asked that this be overturned. The court this week agreed and made it easier to question suspects. We agree with both the Obama administration and the court on this. A prisoner still maintains his or her right not to speak to authorities. This is a right anyone who has committed a crime knows to exercise. The cops use dirty tricks and will lie in order to get what they want. This is a game – cops v. robbers – in which both parties are often bad news. But the summary is this: If someone commits a crime, they need to be removed from among us and punished. But even then, they can keep quiet if they so choose. One thing we do note, and for this reason continue to be impressed with Obama on many law enforcement (and other) issues: Check the Associated Press account of the SCOTUS decision and read between the lines at its own regret: “The Obama administration had asked the court to overturn Michigan v. Jackson, disappointing civil rights and civil liberties groups that expected President Barack Obama to reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.” SCOTUS Mich. v. Jackson
We’re out of town for the week and most likely won’t be putting a whole lot up. But this little look at the sad, sad Republicans and their hope to somehow thwart Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s vault to the nation’s highest court is interesting. Doubtful she’ll make the cut; Her record of running this state into the dirt is much too obvious, and we’d guess Obama wants to appear open to her just for the political statement. But with such a poor track record as a politician, we don’t think Granholm is actually taken seriously in most places in the U.S. We do think that a nice soft spot on the court would keep her away from places where she would pose a much more dangerous threat. That justice selection is going to a liberal voice no matter what, and that's where it should go. And Granholm, if she could get the nod, can continue her record of inadequacy and drama in a place much more suited to such, Washington D.C.
The State News, Michigan State University’s student newspaper, has prevailed after working diligently on an open records case concerning a 2006 campus assault. The case involved one student and two nonstudents charged in connection with pointing a gun at three people and pouring gasoline on one of them. The original FOIA request goes back to March 2, 2006 as part of what should have been routine reporting of a pretty serious crime, a crime that other students should have been privy to every detail (especially considering the cost of tuition). This week Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk “ruled MSU must release the incident reports, which occurred on Feb. 24, 2006, as well as police officer names and suspect mug shots that were previously withheld,” according to the State News. Draganchuk originally had ruled with the university, but was reversed on appeal by the Michigan Supreme Court. The judge clearly came down against open records the first time, and she is a heavily lobbied establishment judge who was bound to side with the state. Further, an appellate court panel identified several errors committed by the circuit court, as noted in the Michigan Supreme Court's opinion. (posted below) MSU appealed to the state Supreme Court, and so on. The case has taken up plenty of taxpayer money and time. Now, over three years, later, the press appears to have prevailed. Perhaps small change in the overall scheme of things. But something to remember next election.
The difference between the mainstream media and a part-time site devoted to Michigan business and transparency is easy. We had this on March 2. The Frep has this today outlined the funds like this. With one, you get some opinion, true. With the other, you get a good overview but little context. There is room for both. That’s where we are today, the best of all worlds, whether you agree with the opinion or not.
We noted the passing of the Tucson Citizen over the weekend, although it’s hard to say that it didn’t bring on its own demise. One more chapter remains, it appears, for that paper. But it allows us to reflect on the end of the excellent Ann Arbor News, which will cease publication July 23. In its place will be a Web-based model, which is a smart plan. We’ll keep this brief, as we’ve outlined what has happened to newspapers before. But one thing has jumped out at us repeatedly, and it’s this cutting of staff. Printing jobs, of course, can go. But eliminating reporters is simply a smoke screen and conflicts with this idea of a “new model.” From the Ann Arbor News story: “As of March, a total of 272 people worked for the newspaper at its downtown Ann Arbor office, its Livingston County office and its Pittsfield Township printing plant…A total of 70 News employees previously accepted buyout offers, some of whom left before the announcement was made. All told, 214 jobs are being eliminated.” The Web provides a larger news hole, not smaller, and a larger staff, composed of hungry young reporters with a year or two at a small daily, and veterans from large newsrooms, would be able to cover the community – government, law enforcement, education – more efficiently and completely. And using the Web in a smart way, there is no worry about word count, how to publish public records, get those killer Q & As and use things like audio and video for completely cover the news. Coverage could be geographically broadened, in fact, since access to news boxes is no longer an issue in terms of circulation. But these newspaper companies have no interest in delivering the most complete news. Their troubling idea of operating a business has even opened the door to misguided notions to make newspapers government subsidized. You know, like they do in Cuba and other bastions of a free press. We have the tools to provide the most complete media ever, to be that system that questions the people who use our money. We now have room for all the news that is fit to print. It won’t be happening from the folks at Gannett, Scripps, or Tribune. But it will from somewhere else; it's just a matter of time.
The Freep today does an excellent job on reporting the efficacy of tax breaks that are handed out in exchange for the promise of job “creation.” (we still struggle with that term – Nixon had it right in noting that sound business policy presents “job opportunities.”) The story states, “...A six-month examination of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit program -- once described by Granholm as "the flagship of Michigan's economic development efforts" -- uncovered trends that raise questions about the incentives' effectiveness. * A large percentage of the tax credits has gone to companies that later couldn't meet the job creation requirements. When the Free Press tracked what happened to 195 of these tax breaks awarded by the state from 1999 through 2005, it found that 51% of these incentives had either never been used or were not used in recent years. * Despite Michigan's efforts to diversify its economy, the auto industry has been a big recipient of the tax credits. Auto suppliers and automakers received 45% of the 195 tax breaks awarded by the state from 1999 through 2005. * About 90% of the 491 total tax breaks granted since the incentive program began have gone to Michigan companies planning expansions rather than to out-of-state firms. * In recent years, the state has expanded the incentive program by enabling more companies, particularly smaller tech firms, to qualify for the tax credits, primarily by lowering the job-creation requirements.” FreeMichigan has discussed the Michigan Economic Growth Authority on several occasions, and we are happy to see our mainstream brethren checking things out. Reporter Katherine Yung did a terrific job. This board is a rubber stamp for tax breaks. Review of its minutes for meetings since last June, which is as far back as the posted minutes go, shows not a single no vote with regard to any business before board. This is not a system of checks and balance. Instead the board is packed with yes-men who apparently lack the instinct or courage to even question a petitioner’s request. Minutes also show that the governor periodically stops by the meetings to encourage and thank them. We also note that Douglas Buckler, executive secretary/treasurer of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights (MRCC), serves on the board. As a union leader, we find this wholly inappropriate. Do you think that Buckler was simply the best choice for the board, despite what one could easily claim is a fealty to special interests, i.e. organized labor? In case anyone cares, Buckler in 2007 pulled in a salary/benefit package of $418,198, which included an expense account of $25,940, per the union's 990 tax form. Someone who is so beholden to an interest as such cannot perform what is demanded of a body dealing with our money. Finally, let’s go back to November 2001, when the state and Pfizer announced the drug maker had received at least $70 million in state and local tax credits for expansion. It had threatened to leave Michigan unless it was given these breaks. One news account reported, “The deal increases the odds that the company, Ann Arbor's largest private employer and largest taxpayer, will stay put and continue to have a significant impact on the state's economy. The Pfizer expansion is the largest new economic development project announced in Michigan this year. State officials say it would pump more than $89 million and 988 jobs into the economy in the next 20 years. At a news conference Tuesday in Ann Arbor, Gov. John Engler praised the Pfizer deal as a "welcome confirmation that Michigan is attracting the important companies and investments that will make the Life Sciences Corridor vision a reality." The Michigan Economic Development Corp. on Tuesday granted Pfizer a 20-year single business tax credit worth an estimated $25.8 million. It also granted a 12-year, 6-mill abatement of the state education tax, valued at $10.7 million.” Pfizer announced in 2007 that it would close its facilities in Michigan. There is something very suspect about a board that operates with no opposition, no voice of dissent. But that is exactly what MEGA is doing. Is anyone going to do something about it?
As we spoke of our Attorney General yesterday, we noted that his notion of transparency is one that sometimes comes with a price tag. We now see that Mike Cox has joined with a number of other state AGs in asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit a decision last month by a three-judge panel of the appeals court that opens the door to private decision making by public officials. The panel ruled in favor of two members of the City Council of Alpine, Texas, who had four years ago taken part in an e-mail discussion of city business. The two were investigated by the local district attorney but their indictments were dismissed by the prosecutor. Still, the council members sued in September 2005, asking a federal judge to declare that the criminal penalties of the Texas open meetings law violated their First Amendment free-speech rights. U.S. District Judge Robert Junell ruled that the First Amendment "affords absolutely no protection to speech by elected officials made pursuant to their official duties." His ruling was appealed, and the three-judge appeals court panel reversed him last month, asking Junell to justify his ruling that the council members violated the law by discussing a city project in an exchange of e-mails. The brief filed by the groups of AGs reads in part, "The heart and soul of an open meetings law is to channel government officials' communications primarily by subject matter. Consequently, the unprecedented level of constitutional scrutiny the panel decision prescribes would impact the central function of any open meetings law." Michigan’s Open Meetings Act does not appear to address email, so we can assume that many council members, as well as other officials, conduct clandestine but public business via such missives. It would be nice to see that glaring lack remedied. Any takers? Cox has been fair in most of his rulings on open government, showing that he firmly understands the laws and will, in most cases, render a decision based on that grasp. This notwithstanding of the $143,000 charge for records requested by a political foe, Mark Brewer, as we discussed yesterday. Cox is right on in joining this collective of AGs in hopes of examining the 5th panel’s ruling.
This is the AG's response. He has some good points - On Page Two, Cox notes that "the department recognizes that the purpose of FOIA is to promote access to government records in the most efficient and economical way possible." And he makes the point that Brewer's request has political connotations, quoting a section of the FOIA law states that fees "...shall be uniform and not dependent on the identity of the requesting person." The next step on this case could be a courtroom. How much is too much? We can't wait.
Steve Miller is an investigative reporter with over two decades of experience in daily newspaper, Web and magazine reporting and writing. Miller has done time as a court and cops beat reporter at the Dallas Morning News and as a national reporter for the Washington Times, and as a correspondent for national publications including People magazine, High Times, Boston Magazine, Miami New Times, Houston Press, The Daily Beast and U.S. News and World Report. In 2012, he was an Edgar award finalist for his book, Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender. He is a recipient of the digital investigative award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Miller was also the former vocalist in the Midwest punk rock outfit the Fix in 1980-81.
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