This might be the cold dark heart of what honest Michiganders must change in the upcoming elections. We’re talking integrity failre. It won’t get done by just any old Democrats taking a turn.
Under Governor Rick Snyder, Michigan went from 44th to 50th in political integrity, the lowest ranking in the country, as measured by the Center for Public Integrity.
Yes, a lot of states flunked integrity. But Michigan gets the biggest red F for being dead last and going in the wrong direction. Michigan operates as an “honor system with no honor”.
Michigan is dark money paradise. Michigan’s money-driven politics are deliberately not transparent and results in “tens of millions of dollars of undisclosed campaign cash”.
Michigan is also the water wonderland, touching 20% of the world’s fresh water. Under Snyder, we got Flint lead water, and more recently, slow action on Michigan’s extreme corporate spreading of PFAS contaminates. (They might be the highest levels in the world). Neither Snyder nor GOP protégés (like Bill Schuette) are willing or capable of standing up to water responsibilities. If you look at the Michigan Water Strategy as published by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), you are pressed to find anything definitive about corporate offenders – nor is it in their scorecard of priorities – because there is no real intent.
Integrity is part of the criteria through which progressive candidates are being judged. The candidates are certainly aware the topics, but especially with regard to dark money, it would be helpful to know more specifically how candidates will break this deep self-defeating cycle.
