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Tag: trust but verify . . . always

Overturned!

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Fri Sep 07, 2012 at 04:06:53 PM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, 2012 vacancy nomination, Bob Young, Mary Beth Kelly, Wayne County Circuit Court, Colleen O'Brien, Oakland County Circuit Court, trust but verify . . . always, overturned decision, Auto-Owners v Keizer-Morris (all tags)

In Grand Rapids tomorrow, the republican delegates will vote on which Judges will represent the Michigan Republican Party on the ballot for the Michigan Supreme Court. Though the incumbent justices (Markman and Zhara) are expected to win handily, the race between Judge Jane Markey and Judge Colleen O'Brien for the vacancy nomination has become a little heated, with O'Brien's personal messenger Mike Rizik recently writing an especially mean email chock full of lies about Judge Markey.

So is O'Brien fighting a grudge match? Is this a "fight between unfriendly opponents?"

(6 comments, 638 words in story) Full Story

Plaintiff Lawyer Tricks

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Thu Sep 06, 2012 at 11:47:42 PM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, 2012 vacancy nomination, Bob Young, Mary Beth Kelly, Wayne County Circuit Court, Colleen O'Brien, Oakland County Circuit Court, trust but verify . . . always, Mike Rizik (all tags)

Or, How and Why Mike Rizik's Anti-Markey Attack Piece E-mail is Phony

Republican Delegates recently received a letter from trial attorney Mike Rizik. Mike Rizik has been a plaintiffs' personal injury lawyer and a 20-year member of the Michigan Trial Lawyers' Association. The Michigan Trial Lawyers' Association, as you likely know, is Michigan's largest contributor to Democrat judicial candidates and the Democrat Party.

(2 comments, 2150 words in story) Full Story

A Message To Our Legislators - Beware False Choices

Homeless Offenders

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Thu Sep 06, 2012 at 04:14:58 PM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, 2012 vacancy nomination, Jane Markey, Court of Appeals, trust but verify . . . always, People v Dowdy, MCL 28.722(p), unintended consequences of the law, Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act (all tags)

Laws which are passed in a "knee jerk" reaction to a "preventable" tragedy often are not particularly well thought through, are insufficiently deliberated before passage, tend to overreact, and are particularly notorious for two things: (1) they tend to expand government reach into places the Founding Fathers would have never tolerated, and (2) they tend to be later found to have gaps that result from lack of foresight, and are only discovered in a post-legislation lawsuit.

The Patriot Act is a classic example of such a law. And I do find myself chuckling just a little when an Amber Alert mentions a missing 14-year-old girl, last seen headed out of town with a 19-year-old man . . . yeah, you know what's probably really happening. Also on this list are the various elements of sex offender registration. Between Megan's Law, the Wetterling Act, and the Adam Walsh Act we have I don't know how many different ways to permanently screw up other people's lives over nothing, for no other reason than because we as a society lack the testicular fortitude to deal with bona fide sex offenders according to their crime.

An example in my mind is a high school kid here in Kentwood a couple of years back who streaked across the football field during the final home game of the season . . . not even out of high school, and an overreactive law has already thrown out the rest of his productive life. (Back in my day, the only LEO involvement in such an incident would be to escort the student in question home and turn him over to the parents for disciplinary action.) I mean seriously, in Michigan you can land on the sex offender registry for nothing more offensive than cussing in public, which is a real concern for a career sailor such as myself.

And then there are other shortfalls.

(2 comments, 1105 words in story) Full Story

Ignoring The Rabbit Trail

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Tue Sep 04, 2012 at 12:28:24 AM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, Jane Markey, 2012 vacancy nomination, Bob Young, Mary Beth Kelly, Wayne County Circuit Court, Colleen O'Brien, Oakland County Circuit Court, trust but verify . . . always, "Trucker" Randy Bishop, Scott Greenlee, rabbit trails, red herrings, chasing shadows and smoke, incomplete puzzles, Michigan Freedom To Work, iCaucus Michigan (all tags)

A favorite political campaign strategy is to keep one's opponent off balance. Keep them on the defensive, keep them reacting, get them chasing down rabbit trails and responding to red herrings. Anything at all to have your opponent operating in "reactive mode" instead of "proactive mode." In a tight race, getting into an opponent's head, or into the head of her campaign team, can throw them off their game, and perhaps enable an easier victory than otherwise would happen (perhaps even snatching victory from the apparent jaws of defeat).

(4 comments, 2577 words in story) Full Story

Ballot Access Is A Supreme Concern

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Sat Sep 01, 2012 at 12:14:52 AM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, 2012 vacancy nomination, Bob Young, Mary Beth Kelly, Wayne County Circuit Court, Colleen O'Brien, Oakland County Circuit Court, trust but verify . . . always, Colleen Pero, Norm Shinkle, James Waters, Julie Matuzak, Casino Gaming Amendment, International Bridge Initiative, Taxation Amendment, Protect Our Jobs Amendment (all tags)

The headline on the front page of the Saturday paper was "CHAOS!" in four-inch, boldface, all-caps block type, punctuated by an exclamation point just in case passers-by didn't get the hint. The article underneath the attention-grabber discussed the previous day's 4-3 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court in Stand Up For Democracy v Citizens For Fiscal Responsibility, in which Justice Mary Beth Kelly, accomplishing a legal parse worthy of John Roberts, sided with Justices Michael Cavanagh, Marilyn Kelly, and Diane Hathaway and voted to order the Emergency Manager Referendum onto the November 2012 statewide general ballot, and touched off a power struggle involving contradictory claims about the status of municipalities and school districts currently operating under emergency managers. Also in that same Saturday paper was a statement from Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, a statement from Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and an op-ed piece from Stephen Henderson urging a rejection of the repeal (which he followed up on in more detail in his Sunday News & Views column).

Who says a Friday news dump doesn't get much attention?

And now, because of the actions of the Board of State Canvassers, we have a situation that may involve another Friday news dump . . . on a weekend when both of this state's major political parties have other things to do.

(5 comments, 2038 words in story) Full Story

The Opposition Already Going Personal

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Tue Aug 28, 2012 at 06:36:14 PM EST
Tags: Michigan Supreme Court, 2012 vacancy nomination, Jane Markey, Court of Appeals, trust but verify . . . always, Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, Chief Justice Robert P. Young jr, Richard Bandstra, Bill Schuette, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher, Dan Pero, Scott Greenlee, anonymous "GOP activists", Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, mudslinging attacks (all tags)

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once told the London Daily Telegraph:

"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left."

By this measure, an e-mail that's been circulating to the convention delegation for about three days now must have Judge Jane Markey on cloud nine. Two weeks before convention, and her opponent has already effectively admitted that she's going to have to go personal to beat her. If that's the case, then Markey's already got this one in the bag.

(1 comment, 1176 words in story) Full Story

O'Brien - A Supreme Gamble

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Aug 27, 2012 at 10:33:49 AM EST
Tags: John Roberts, Harriet Miers, George W. Bush, David Souter, John Sununu, George H. W. Bush, Phyllis Schafly, Bob Young, Betty Weaver, Mary Beth Kelly, Wayne County Circuit Court, Colleen O'Brien, Oakland County Circuit Court, Diane Hathaway, trust but verify . . . always (all tags)

Conservative Republicans, at least those over 25 years old, may remember one of President George W. Bush's biggest political blunders. Her name was Harriet Miers.

If you are not yet old enough to run for Congress, well, draw near. I'll tell you about the tumultuous summer of 2005. And I'll tell you why that matters to Rule-of-Law Michigan Republicans in 2012.

(13 comments, 1417 words in story) Full Story