Free Republic

A lobbyist organization funded by local governments held a press conference in the state Capitol this week to urge lawmakers to send its members more in state taxpayer dollars. The event took place as legislators are preparing to pass a state budget for next year, and was cast as an invitation to discuss how local government funding is “broken.” Given that message, it may seem ironic that the host city of Lansing collected more tax dollars than it expected for a third straight year and had a surplus. The group is called the Michigan Municipal League, and its members want...

A leaked memo revealed how the state’s largest teachers union planned to get around Michigan’s new right-to-work law soon after it was enacted. The law repeals the power previously enjoyed by the union to get a school employee fired for not paying it dues or fees. In the memo from December 2012, Michigan Education Association President Steve Cook laid out the union’s strategy: “We will use any legal means at our disposal to collect the dues owed under signed membership forms from any members who withhold dues prior to terminating their membership in August for the following fiscal year. Same...