Michigan: Dead Last in Transparency and Ethics Laws

[XLFD]

The latest findings out of the Center for Public Integrity does not surprise me.  Anybody who has tried to get information out of the various state departments or otherwise want to learn of their executive, legislative or judicial actions, at least had the court system before 2013 around to help them. 

But in 2013, in a quickly passed and enacted law, Governor Snyder and a Republican majority congress insured that state agencies would become immune from charges of impropriety by creating a new court, the Court of Claims, which would decide cases brought against the state.  The judges of that court are appointed and approved by the very state officers in a political process; those appointers and approvers may be the defendants of such suits and bear great power over their decisions. 

Another indication of the state's lack of accountability is the mostly cosmetic reforms of the FOIA which recently took place.  What started off as a bill dedicated as a cure for those agencies who wanted to keep public records away from the public by using exorbitant fees and procedural hurdles as a deterrent, came out as a law that still allowed widespread abuse for those agencies who wished to exploit their stewardship of those records.  WOOD TV reports:     

LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — A new study ranks Michigan last in the nation for its ethics and transparency laws.

The Center for Public Integrity conducted an investigation into state government transparency and accountability and gave Michigan a grade of F. The state scored 51 out of a possible 100.

Michigan was one of eleven states which received a failing grade, but was still ranked very last among the states.

Michigan received an F in 10 of the 13 categories of government operations that were examined.

Chad Selweski wrote in his report: “A significant factor in Michigan’s 2015 ranking is its lack of effective disclosure rules for officials in nearly all facets of state government. Conflicts of interest and potential public corruption remain buried in an honor system with no honor.”

http://woodtv.com/2015/11/09/report-mi-gets-f-grade-for-ethics-tran...

See also:  http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/11/09/18427/michigan-gets-f-gra...  for the State's report card and a recent anecdote of unaccountability in action.

[Willy]

Michigan leads the Country while Ludington leads the State. So that puts Ludington at ground zero for uncooperative, unethical Government.

[AQUAMAN]

That's a very interesting report to find X. Glad you posted it too. Well, I guess this alone tells us a lot about Michigan, and Ludington too, as Willy just pointed out. No wonder we have the quagmire of corruption and unethical activity all around us. Looks like this town and state need a good shakedown of ALL it's governing authorities, as compared to any other state practically, we are last and definitely rate an F, Flunky in our leaders. 

[XLFD]

The City of Ludington has had problems in the past with FOIA requests, but a lot of the major issues have been ironed out over time.  I just sent my 300th FOIA request (by their count, the actual amount for me is somewhere around 230) last night to the City of Ludington.

Outside of Ludington, the Kent County Sheriff has been the most annoying entity (outside of the Michigan State Police, who are in a secret society class of their own).  I make a FOIA request through my non-profit group BUMPS (see our groups section) for a crash report and investigation.  They tell me the investigation is ongoing (which is proper if lab results are still being done) and direct me to a website where I need $13 to get a two page report mandated by the state, and the number of the report I want.  It seems the KCSO contracted out their crash report dissemination to a private firm that can charge such rates for public records, since they do not fall under the restrictions of the FOIA. 

Of course, like Ludington, their FOIA Coordinators are high paid lawyers who thwart and/or pervert the law to create roadblocks against transparency.  FOIA Coordinators should be clerks or the like.