Tag: Chetly Zarko

This morning, I started a process which will add to the ongoing relevance of the remaining links to (primarily Michigan based) conservative blogs in the lower right section of the front page.  By removing links that are either outdated or simply bad, it will help diehard RightMichigan.com reader see the freshest content and stay up to date without wasting time on links to nowhere.  If there are links we should have that arenot included already PLEASE let me know!

Below is a list of the links that were removed today.  So far the editing has only gone through the "Cs".

The following blogs were removed.

Akindele Unleashed
Well over a year no post

An American for Common Sense
 Well over a year no post

The Blog Prof
Sadly Mr Kobus has retired the pen this year.  Perhaps again in the future?

Carrying On
Apparently now a 'private' blog?

Chetly Zarko
A site loss that now has followed to his last writings.  Hopefully Archive.org was able to get a snapshot at some point.

The inability for the Michigan Supreme court to hold government agencies to the freedom of information standards we THOUGHT we had in place as an oversight tool is a bit of a tragedy.  we should have the expectation that ALL correspondence done by our public officials on company time on government owned equipment is not private use. From a release:

State Supreme Court Failure to Rectify Disastrous FOIA Ruling `Must Be Fixed,' Says Center Attorney

Legislature should act swiftly to restore the intent behind Michigan's public disclosure law  

MIDLAND -- In a setback for government transparency, the Michigan Supreme Court yesterday refused again to hear an appeal of a lower court decision that misinterpreted the Freedom of Information Act and now thwarts disclosure of improper activity by public employees. The Mackinac Center and the Michigan Press Association had filed a joint amicus brief seeking to have the state Supreme Court overturn the ruling and uphold the true meaning of the statute.

"In one sense, the Court's decision is unsurprising, since the court rarely grants reconsideration motions," said Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. "On the other hand, the Court of Appeals completely misread the law in a way that will help government officials hide criminal activity -- the exact opposite of FOIA's intent. This ruling must be fixed either by the Legislature or by the Michigan Supreme Court in a future case."

The case was originally filed by citizen-journalist Chetly Zarko in 2007. Zarko, who passed away in 2010, was seeking public-employee emails related to a labor conflict and potential illegal politicking in the Howell School District. The Michigan Education Association subsequently filed a suit to prevent the disclosure. A trial court ruled in Zarko's favor, but the Court of Appeals overturned that decision in a manner that significantly undermined the effectiveness of FOIA, which was enacted post-Watergate to enable the public to ferret out illegal governmental conduct.

In December 2010, the Supreme Court denied leave to appeal the decision in a 4-3 ruling. A reconsideration motion was filed by Zarko's attorneys in January and heard by a court that included two new justices.

"If allowed to stand, this ruling decimates FOIA and cries out for a quick fix," said Wright. "We should not permit state and local governments to hide their criminal activity from those they serve."

The spirit of that type of determination in revealing truth in government shall be missed. It was good for us and truly good for the elected officials in keeping them straight up.

I was a finalist, then won, and split the prize with Chetly Zarko for the watchdog award at the Sam Adams Alliance event as mentioned previously.

The other two finalists Rob Port of Minot ND, and Sherry Loar of Petoskey were both worthy of this award, so its with a greater sense of humility that I accepted it.  Its really a big deal. Rob runs a watchdog type blog which is like a combination of the Blog Prof's site, and RightMichigan.com.  Sherry took the lead as the plaintiff fighting the forced unionization scam, who sacrificed both monetarily and psychologically in dealing with the collusive measure brought about by the last administration and their union cronies.

I was in very respect worthy company.

I should note that I am not the greatest speaker, and I do not travel with dueling teleprompters. So this award might well be seen as the greatest speaking fee I should ever expect to see.  I guess that is OK, as long as I can keep the pen to the page (so to speak) to entertain and inform.

I hold a lot of opinion.

The validation of what we had considered early in the new political 'tea party' was indeed a motivating factor in finding the truth.  It was a nearly unanimous thought among political watchers that the effort MUST be the efforts by Democrats who knew they were about to have their clocks cleaned politically.  The signature campaign identified early by Chetly Zarko as being run by Progressive Campaigns Inc gave even more weight to the theory, and the ultimate release of the candidate slate provided my own investigation with the necessary smoking gun.

There were likely 100 people working on this as it developed.  Our consideration of what was really the truth, motivated, and guided investigators and tea party types across the state. The stealth efforts of the Michigan Democrat party needed to be exposed by making the connections to the candidates. The race to discovery was on when the slate emerged, and I was lucky enough to cross the finish line first with the connection to THOSE GUYS who had such disregard for integrity, that they would have to defraud Michigan for political advantage.

Our effort, paid off, and my own resulted last night in an honor I had only dreamed of.

The 2011 Sammie Watchdog Award.

It was no disappointment.

A standing room only crowd collected and shared their stories with Sharon (Chetly's Mom)and the rest of us.  There was family on hand,  former associates, politicos, conservatives, and even liberals as well.  All had nothing but a sincere respect for Chetly, his endeavors, and his character.  Many were quite able to express it quite well.

Visitation services have been announced and will be held this Sunday, July 25, from 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM at Palmer, Bush and Jensen Family Funeral Homes in Lansing.

You can reach the funeral home at (517) 484-5349.

"Lord, we have some unusual requests from a new arrival at the gate.."

To which The Lord replied:

"The look on your face tells me it is not normal requests of which you speak.  What is it Peter? "

Peter, rubbing his hands together began to list what the newcomer had asked for, which was indeed a quite extensive list, but with a similar theme throughout.  The requests took many hours to recite, and eventually concluded:

"...and THEN he said he wants to know how the Angels wound up with free wing repair insurance and where the money is supposed to come from..  citing some transparency promise, and.."

"AND.."

"He has earned it, and..
You shall give to him what he asks."

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