Republicans in Michigan don't believe in democracy and they aren't above going to any lengths to prevent it. Last year the newly Republican-controlled legislature and the governor passed an emergency manager law. Under the law, the governor can dismiss locally elected governments and replace them with an appointed manager.

Needless to say, many of the voters of Michigan were not impressed and were more than willing to sign a petition that would put the law on the November ballot. After crates of petitions were delivered to the state board of canvassers, the signatures were checked and even after some were disallowed, there were 203,238 signatures, 40,000 more than required for a recall vote.

However, four member board deadlocked 2-2 along party lines about approving the ballot measure. It turns out that a group called Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility protested the petition on the grounds that the font was too small. Not the language of the ballot, or the validity of the signatures but the font size!

It turns out Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility happens to operate out of the law offices of Jeffrey Timmer, one of the two republicans on the board of canvassers. Despite the obvious conflict of interest Timmer did not recuse himself from the vote. What a farce!

#emergencymanager #michigan #recall

Embedded Link

EM referendum off November ballot, opponents vow appeal

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 along party lines today on whether Michiganians will get to vote in November on a repeal of the controversial emergency manager law – sparking angry shou…

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.