Tagged: john conyers

Hundreds of people gathered at a Detroit church to voice their opposition to the possibility that the state could
take over the city's government.

Michigan Democratic Congressman John Conyers was among those at Monday's gathering at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. He told the crowd he would use his relationship with the White House to fight any attempt to appoint an emergency manager.

Last week, Gov. Rick Snyder announced members of a review team that will dig deeply into Detroit's finances.

The team's appointment comes after a preliminary review found that there was "probable financial stress" in Michigan's largest city.

Ultimately, Detroit could be appointed an emergency manager, which state and city officials have said they want to avoid.

Auditors say Detroit may run out of money as early as April.

Michigan Representative John Conyers (D-Dearborn) says Lowe's Companies, Inc. should "unequivocally apologize" after the company pulled its ads from the reality show "All-American Muslim." Lowe's pulled the ads after it received pressure from the Florida Family Association.

TLC's reality show examines life as a Muslim American.

It follows the life of five Muslim-American families in Dearborn and "the misconceptions and conflicts these families face outside and within their own community." The show's website depicts the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

In a letter trying to get companies to pull their ads for the show, the Florida Family Association said the show is propaganda and is "attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad."

Gov. Rick Snyder's administration has placed the city of Flint under an Emergency Manager. Meanwhile, financial reviews are underway for the cities of Inkster and Detroit.

On December 1, Democratic Congressman John Conyers sent a letter to the Justice Department, requesting an immediate review of Michigan’s emergency manager law, arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

Congressman Conyers spoke with Michigan Radio's Jennifer White.

"Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters"

That's what Mayor Bing tweeted last night prior to his press conference with members of city council and other Detroit leaders. It was a show of unity against the threat of an impending state review of city finances.

The tweet continued, "We know what needs to be done and we are ready to do it."

Mayor Bing and leaders were reacting to what Mayor Bing said was Governor Snyder's intent to launch a 30-day review of the city's finances this week (Snyder said those claims are inaccurate).

Bing is proposing layoffs and steep cuts to the city's budget. He and members of the city council have been battling over the cuts.

Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek reported on the press conference last night:

Bing says it would be helpful if the state offered feedback on some of the city’s proposals, and was more clear about its expectations.

“I would appreciate if the state would come back and say what they don’t like about our plan, or what they do like, or can they enhance it,” Bing says. “I think they’ve got to be a party to this.”

Bing also repeated calls for the state to pay Detroit $220 million it owes from a 1998 revenue sharing agreement. Governor Snyder and Republicans in the state legislature have been cool to the idea.

Conyers asks U.S. Attorney General for review of Michigan's EM law

The threat of an emergency manager in Detroit led to a call for a review of Michigan's emergency manager law from U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit). Conyers is asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review the law.

The emergency manager law allows a state-appointed official to strip local officials of their power and to dissolve union contracts.

Jonathan Oosting of MLive.com reported on the request from Conyers:

Conyers asked Holder to consider two separate constitutional issues: Whether the law violates the Contract Clause by allowing EM's to terminate collective bargaining rights and whether is violates Article 4, Section 4 that provides for a republican form of government.

"The Supreme Court has previously held that this clause guarantees the people the right to a democratically elected form of government," he wrote. "It goes without saying that appointing an unelected manager in place of an elected mayor, city council and other public officials would be totally anithetical to the concept of democracy."

Faculty at CMU close to a new contract

After a long battle over a new contract that included a strike on the first day of classes, Central Michigan University says it has has a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract with the CMU Faculty Association. The Associated Press reports "the deal with the CMU Faculty Association was reached after a 14-hour negotiating session facilitated by a county judge. Details of the tentative agreement weren't released pending ratification."

State Senator Glenn Anderson of Westland likes to think of himself as a workhorse, not a show horse. In other words, as a guy more interested in getting it done than getting press attention.

That’s a little difficult to do these days in the Michigan Senate, where Democrats have less than a third of the seats and can’t accomplish anything, at least not on their own.