Party on the Peninsulas

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The WØRD – “Insurrection”

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From the Chair

Three years ago, Donald Trump fueled the flames on one of the darkest days in American history when thousands of rioters stormed the United States Capitol. This treasonous act was intended to undermine our democracy and override free and fair elections, and since then the GOP has never drifted from that goal. Three years later, the fate of our country rests with the 2024 election.

The stakes could not be higher here in Michigan. It’s easy to forget, in light of all the progress we have made over the past few years, that Michigan was ground zero for the tools that built the insurrection. January 6th must serve as an ever-present reminder that under the wrong leadership, the very foundation of our democracy is at risk.

While Michigan Democrats have taken significant steps to protect our democracy and ensure an insurrection like January 6th never happens again, the threat is far from gone. Michigan voters know how high the stakes are this November, and will stand with President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Michigan Democrats up and down the ballot as they fight to protect our democracy and defend every American’s freedoms.

As we observe this anniversary, it is important to remember that after taking control of the state legislature for the first time in 40 years, Michigan Democrats took action in the face of the January 6th insurrection and have done vital work to protect democracy in our state including:

• Expanding our automatic registration system
• Repealing our arcane 1895 ban on hiring transportation to the polls on Election Day
• Establishing 9 days of in-person voting before Election Day
• Setting penalties for intimidating or preventing election officials from performing their duties
• Allowing Michigan clerks to begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day
• Strengthening our state election certification timeline and duties to remove any ambiguities
And we have one more safeguard in place: the best Secretary of State in the nation, Jocelyn Benson. If you missed our discussion with her last month, check out the podcast from our archives.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority – better known as MSHDA estimates the state is short about 190,000 homes. That lack of supply is pushing up costs and making housing increasingly unaffordable. With this crisis at hand, the state is trying to find innovative ways to meet housing needs. Ann Hovey, the executive director of MSHDA, says “We have people scrounging for housing.”

The problem is multifaceted:
An aging population means the average household size has decreased, according to Hovey. So even though Michigan’s population growth is on a decline, the number of households grew from 3.8 million to 4 million in the past decade, census data shows.
Another contributing factor: vacation homes eating away at supply. Half of the country’s second homes are concentrated in eight states including Michigan, according to the National Association of Home Builders. In six Michigan counties, more than half the housing stock is second homes. That creates a housing crunch for full-time residents.
Democrats in the Legislature are working tirelessly to come up with solutions. One of the leaders in that effort is Traverse City Representative Betsy Coffia. She discusses the challenge and possible solutions with our Walt Sorg.

In the News

‘Democracy Is on the Ballot’: Biden Decries Trump in Campaign Speech – The New York Times

Biden calls Jan. 6 a day ‘we nearly lost America’ – AP News

Michigan Policy

Michigan Politics

Trump Court & Crime Watch

National Politics and Policy

The WØRD – “Next!”

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From the Chair

You may remember that great TV show “The West Wing.” In it, President Bartlett was always focused on moving forward. He regularly made it clear he was ready for the next challenge with a simple phrase: “what’s next.”

We’re preparing for what’s next: a year-long campaign culminating in what will be the most important election in my lifetime. To set the stage, our Walt Sorg talked late last week with one of the pivotal leaders in determining “what’s next”: Speaker of the House Joe Tate.

Speaker Joe Tate is serving his third term and now represents the 10th House District, a diverse community that covers Detroit’s northeast side and the communities of the Village of Grosse Pointe Shores, Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe city, Grosse Pointe Park and part of Harper Woods.

Tate is Michigan’s first Black Speaker of the House, now holding the gavel and setting House priorities in a legislative term in which Democrats have the majority for the first time in over a decade. His policy priorities include uplifting Michigan families; protecting the rights of all people; ensuring workers are valued; and investing in a world-class education system, a strong infrastructure, and a thriving economy.

The Speaker decided to run for office as a part of his deep and lifelong commitment to public service. The value of service was taught to him by his parents — a teacher in the Detroit public school system and a Detroit firefighter. His life has been shaped by teamwork, commitment and community.

As a teenager, Tate earned a scholarship to play football at Michigan State University before joining the National Football League. After the NFL, he went on to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps, deploying twice to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

After an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, he earned both an MBA and a master’s in environmental policy and planning from the University of Michigan. Before joining the Legislature, Tate helped small businesses grow their capacity as a program manager for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.

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The WØRD – “Service”

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From the chair

“Our purpose in life is to help others along the way. May you each try to do the same.” Those words are from Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, in a letter to her three sons, and read at her funeral last week.

It is the consummate description of the term “public servant.” All too often in the day-to-day turmoil of politics, we tend to overlook the thousands of people around us whose mission is not power, fame or riches: but to serve.

For our final podcast of 2023, I wanted to focus on those people. It is easy to take them for granted. Sadly the only time we think of them is when they temporarily disappear. A federal government shutdown – something we may see in a matter of weeks – will take away from us some of those services.

Part of the problem is that doing a good job doesn’t make for very interesting news stories. News focuses on the unusual, the unexpected. So when we read about public service, it too often is in the context of something bad. 

It’s also a shortcoming of our competitive political system. Candidates focus on what they see as the flaws in the performance of their opponents. For example, we’re hearing a lot of rhetoric about a failed economy from those seeking to regain power. The leading Republican candidates for president – including the former president – speak incessantly about how our nation is in trouble when the facts demonstrate just the opposite. Our economy is thriving. It isn’t perfect, but it’s the strongest in the world. Inflation has come down, prices of things like gasoline, travel and many food items have come down. Unemployment is at record-low levels, wages are increasing, and the predicted post-pandemic recession never happened.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be focusing on public service that is quietly succeeding. In January we’ll talk with Attorney General Nessel about the literally thousands of actions taken by her team that never make news, but improve the lives of Michiganders every day. We’ll hear from House Speaker Joe Tate on what the 2023 legislative record means to improving your life.

This week we go behind the scenes with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the work of her team on so many customer-service related efforts that don’t make headlines, but improve the service you receive from your state government. Since her election as Secretary of State in 2018, Secretary Benson has worked tirelessly to make the service you receive from her department more efficient, less costly and even more pleasant. While her department’s work on elections makes the headlines, it’s the other work of the department that impacts your life on a regular basis. 

She talked with us about those services, and how her team has improved them. (The interview was recorded before the federal court ruling on Michigan’s legislative districts, and before The Detroit News revealing the existence of an audio recording of President Trump and Republican National Chairperson Ronna Romney McDaniel attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s Michigan victory in 2020.)

“Dictator Donald” – Republican Accountability Project


In the News

Biden Year-end Memo: A Year of Record Successes – via Politico

Michigan Policy

Michigan Politics

GOP Crime Watch

MI GOP Senate Circular Firing Squad

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The WØRD – “Futility”

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From the Chair

As the year comes to a close, the contrast between the Republican-run U.S. House of Representatives and the Democratic-majority state Legislature is stunning.

In Washington: futility. Republicans have produced the least productive legislative year since the Great Depression. Republicans took control of the House in 2023. Over the year they’ve managed to enact a paltry 23 laws. The all-time record for doing next-to-nothing was set in 1931, during the Herbert Hoover administration, when only 22 were enacted. 

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell says it best in her latest weekly report to her constituents: “We have become a Congress of too much gotcha, and not enough let’s solve these problems.”

Their big accomplishment: they did manage to elect and then fire a Speaker of the House only to elect an even more extreme radical to replace him. Representative Dingell was right about the “gotcha” – they have held more than a few committee hearings to create sound bites for Fox News but which produced nothing.

What’s missing from the 2023 record of the Republican House?

They didn’t:

  • produce anything to cut costs for families
  • promote jobs creation
  • protect the planet from climate change
  • protect voting rights
  • reduce crime rates
  • pass critically needed funding for Ukraine’s war with Russia, or
  • pass funding for increased border security

They couldn’t even manage to pass a full-year budget for the government … just a 60-day kick-the-can down the road continuing resolution.

In Lansing things have been completely different. Democrats gained the majority in 2023 and set records for legislative successes including new laws on gun safety, worker rights, green energy, reproductive medical freedom for women, improving K-12 and higher education, protecting your right to vote and to have your vote accurately counted.

Republicans bring futility. Democrats bring results.
Keep that in mind as we campaign in 2024.

I also want to address two of the latest GOP outrages: the shameful treatment of Kate Cox in Texas, and the ridiculous Trump-ordered impeachment vote in the House.

You’ve probably heard about Ms. Cox. She and her husband were eagerly looking forward to the birth of their third child when they got the horrible news that the fetus has a fatal genetic defect that guaranteed her baby would die a painful death within days of birth, and that she could lose her ability to have another child … and might even die. Thanks to a draconian abortion ban law passed by Texas Republicans, backed up by the state’s corrupt Republican Attorney General and the all-Republican state Supreme Court, she was denied an abortion that doctors unanimously agreed was vital to protect her life and to avoid needless suffering for her baby. It was inhumane and outrageous. Ms. Cox was fortunate enough to have the ability to travel out-of-state to get medical help. Untold thousands of women in states like Texas and Florida won’t have that option.

“Kangaroo Court” by Pete McDonnell

House Republicans launched an impeachment investigation into President Biden this last week with no proof of “high crimes and misdemeanors” — a fishing expedition ordered by Donald Trump that is retribution for the two impeachments of Trump.

Imagine that you get a notice from your county prosecutor saying you are being investigated by a grand jury on a hunch that you might have committed a crime: “we think there might be something there. We don’t know what it is, but we’re going to look anyway.”

That’s exactly what is being done to President Biden. It’s a brazen, unconscionable effort to destroy the reputation of a man known for his integrity … all because their likely presidential candidate is charged with 91 felonies and has demanded that his MAGA puppets slime Joe Biden with baseless insinuations amplified by their right-wing media patrons. It’s a repeat of McCarthyism, but this time with the backing of an entire political party.

Sen. Sam Singh
Rep. Abraham Aiyash

Joining the podcast this week are the Majority Floor Leaders of the state Senate and state House: Senator Sam Singh and Representative Abraham Aiyash. They are the “traffic cops” for legislation, guiding bills on the floor of each chamber in consultation with the rest of the leadership team. Among the many victories the two of them help orchestrate: significant climate change legislation.

In the News

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Michigan Policy

The Biden Agenda

Trump Travesties

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Ann Telnaes Washington Post

The WØRD – “Dictatorship”

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From the Chair

Donald Trump said it out loud: yes, he wants to be a dictator. (But he “promises” it would only be for a day.)

Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes

This comes in the same week that one of the nation’s most conservative politicians, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (Dick Cheney’s daughter!), said she had no doubt that if Trump is returned to the Oval Office he will not leave, and that he’s unfit to serve. She sees Trump moving in the direction of the dictators he calls “friend.” In their world, elections are meaningless: the results are pre-determined. It’s worked that way in Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China, Khomeini’s Iran and Erdogan’s Turkey.

Also in the last week: “The Atlantic” magazine has taken the unprecedented step of devoting its entire January/February issue to 24 essays on how a Trump-run anti-democracy government would change all of our lives. 

Trump has already told us a lot about his plans:

  • He would abolish freedom of the press, putting NBC and MSNBC on trial for treason; 
  • Demolish civil service and load up the federal government with pre-screened Trump worshipers;
  • Give lifetime federal court appointments to right-wing extremists pre-screened by the secretive Federalist Socity;
  • Repeal Obamacare, something we discussed in last week’s podcast;
  • Use the Justice Department and FBI against his political enemies; 
  • Use the military to shut down peaceful protests, just as he did in his first term when soldiers were brought in to end a peaceful D.C. demonstration;
  • And he would pardon many, if not all of the hundreds convicted for the January 6 insurrection including the leaders who were convicted of insurrection.

Imagine having someone like Rudy Guiliani as Attorney General and Sheriff David Clarke of Wisconsin running the FBI, both charged with investigating and jailing Trump’s political opponents beginning with Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Adam Schiff. Imagine having General Michael Flynn, a convicted felon, as Secretary of Defense or head of Homeland Security.

The Trump agenda is being written by right-wing extremists now. The New York Times reported in July that “Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.”

Trump’s blueprint for amassing power has been developed by a constellation of conservative organizations that surround him, led by the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025. This plan would elevate personal fealty to Mr. Trump as the central value in government employment, processes and institutions. 

The dangers of Trump have motivated a core group of traditional Republicans to actively work against Trump and his band of MAGA candidates. We’re joined by one of those former Republicans who is now devoted to saving our democracy by reelecting Joe Biden and a Democratic congress: Jeff Timmer, onetime Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party who is now a senior adviser to The Lincoln Project.

The Lincoln Project’s latest: “Feeble.”

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The Trump Files

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The WØRD – “Voting”

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From the chair

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes

Choosing our government through free-and-open elections is the foundation of our representative democracy. Throughout our nation’s 234 history the right to vote has evolved multiple times to make that right more inclusive. For the first 131 years of our Constitution, half of us – women – couldn’t vote. Now not only can we vote, but In Michigan three of our top four statewide officials are women … and the fourth is a Black man whose ancestors’ right to vote was denied for the first 79 years of the Constitution. 

A majority of the Democrats in both the state House and Senate are women, including the Senate Majority Leader and the chairs of both Appropriations Committees. The Speaker of the House is Black and the Speaker Pro-Tem is a woman. Five of our seven U.S. Representatives (and one of our two Senators) are women.

As political scientist Larry Sabato has noted, “Every election is determined by the people who show up.” And all too often, people who crave power have worked to prevent those who disagree with them from showing up, or having their vote matter. They do it through gerrymandering, voter purges, manipulating the number and location of voting precincts, excessive voter i.d. requirements, and barriers to voting by mail.

Under Democratic leadership in Michigan, we are doing just the opposite: removing barriers that unfairly make voting a burden. This week, Governor Whitmer signed a package of 23 Democratic bills which further our goal of having every adult being able to readily exercise their right to vote. 

The bills update voter registration with a more complete, streamlined and secure automatic voter registration process in Michigan, and allow 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote. Other bills expand and secure early voting, ban deep fakes and require disclosure if Artificial Intelligence is used to create campaign advertising, protect the safety of election workers, and clarify that only the Governor can transmit Michigan’s presidential to Congress.

At the bill-signing ceremony, House Elections Committee chair Representative Penelope Tsernoglou summed the philosophy behind Democrats’ efforts:
“Today, with the signing of these bills, we affirm Michigan as a place where every voice matters and that our state is dedicated to truly being a government for the people.”

Dr. Farhan Bhatti is on the front lines of affordable healthcare. He details what Trump’s promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act would mean for Michigan.

Another issue of importance to every Michigan family: healthcare.

Once again, Republicans are threatening the availability of healthcare for upwards of 750,000 Michiganders.

Even before taking office in 2017, Donald Trump was promising a new and better healthcare plan. It was always coming in two-to-three weeks. (Click here for video of 19 times he promised a replacement plan!)

What is certain: if he is elected and given a Republican Congress, the Affordable Healthcare Act will be repealed. Their replacement? We could go back to the pre-ACA days with out-of-control insurance premiums, tens-of-millions left with no medical coverage, and profiteering by pharmaceutical companies. 

To find out more about how the ACA has impacted Americans (and what repeal would mean for our state) we’re joined by Dr. Farhan Bhatti. Dr. Bhatti is medical director and CEO at Care Free Medical, a nonprofit clinic in Lansing which serves more than 13,000 uninsured and underinsured people each year. Since clinic founder Barry Saltman designated Bhatti as his successor in 2015, Bhatti is credited with tripling the size of the clinic and broadening its services. He also serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Medicare.


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Michigan Politics

In memoriam

The GOP Zoo

National Policy

The WØRD — “Hope”

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From the Chair

Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes

Robert Kennedy famously said “Some men see things as they are, and say why. I dream of things that never were, and say why not.” Every era has its challenges, its turmoil and its potential. What gives me hope are the many thousands of people across Michigan who give of themselves, everyday people who are devoted to dream of things that never were, and say “why not?”

As we pause to celebrate the holidays, I think about them and give thanks:

  • The people who stand for local elective public office, jobs that combine endless hours of work, little recognition and low or no pay;
  • The people who become precinct delegates, the grass roots base for true democracy;
  • The thousands who gather petition signatures as a part of our direct democracy;
  • The journalists whose mission is to keep us informed of both the good and not-so-good in government;
  • And for me personally, the fabulous team who are your Michigan Democratic Party. I’m out front as your chair, but it’s our team that makes it work.

It isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean we stop trying. Dr. King may have said it best:
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

One of the newest victories for us that has been years in the making: a new state law which will provide some protections for victims of domestic violence. We’re joined this week by the sponsor of a package of laws taking deadly weapons out of the hands of domestic abusers, Detroit Senator Stephanie Chang.

Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit)

Opportunity, access, equity, justice and service are the core values driving Senator Stephanie Chang, the first Asian American woman elected to the Michigan legislature. She worked as a community organizer in Detroit for nearly a decade before serving two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives and then as the Democratic Floor Leader for her first term in the Senate. She is currently serving her second term in the Michigan Senate and is the Senate Democratic Policy and Steering Chair.

In the state legislature, she has led on air quality and environmental justice, criminal justice reforms, affordable, safe drinking water, and immigrants’ rights issues. She has passed bipartisan legislation on a range of issues including sexual assault education and prevention, an address confidentiality program for survivors of domestic violence, the COVID-19 water shutoff moratorium, female genital mutilation, nitrous oxide “whip-its”, reentry services for wrongfully convicted individuals who were exonerated, improving Michigan’s maritime economy, support of community crisis response to mental health emergencies, and establishing Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. She is proud to have helped secure a historic community benefits agreement for Southwest Detroit residents near the Gordie Howe International Bridge and is active in her district advocating for the community’s needs. She cofounded the Asian Pacific American Legislative Caucus in Michigan and served as the chair of the Progressive Women’s Caucus in 2017-18.

She served as state director for NextGen Climate Michigan, alumni engagement and evaluation coordinator for the Center for Progressive Leadership in Michigan, deputy director for the Campaign for Justice and as an organizer for Michigan United/One United Michigan. She also worked as a community engagement coordinator for the James and Grace Lee Boggs School and assistant to Grace Lee Boggs, an activist, writer, and speaker. The senator is a co-founder of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote-Michigan and Rising Voices; she also serves on the board of the Southwest Detroit Community Justice Center.

Chang earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degrees in public policy and social work from the University of Michigan. She lives in Detroit with her husband, Sean Gray, and two young daughters.

In the News…

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The WØRD – “Results”

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The do-nothing U.S. House GOP

Video: “One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing – one – that I can go campaign on and say we did. One.”

From the chair –

Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes

Results.

There’s no other word to describe the work of our Democratic state legislature and Governor Whitmer in 2023. With the end of the 2023 session, Democrats can take pride in the most productive legislative session in memory. It’s a stunning contrast with the U.S. House of Representatives, where Texas Congressman Chip Roy went to the House floor to angrily concede that they have accomplished just about nothing in 2023.

In Michigan, it’s a different story. The list of highlights is a long one:

  • Reproductive rights with repeal of the law making abortion a crime, and eliminating bureaucratic red-tape enacted to make legal abortions difficult
  • Protecting your rights under the Affordable Care Act in case Republicans in Congress succeed in gutting the law
  • Expanding Michigan’s pioneering Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act to recognize the rights of LGBTQ+ people
  • Outlawing conversion therapy
  • Repealing anti-worker laws including the deceptively named Right to Work law
  • Repealing the Snyder-initiated retirement tax
  • Expanding the Earned Income tax credit for lower income working families
  • Voter rights legislation that runs counter to nationwide Republican efforts to suppress voting
  • Record investments in education from pre-K right through higher education
  • Record investments in repairing our long-neglected state highways and water systems
  • Enactment of common-sense gun safety laws including a red flag law and requiring safe gun storage in homes
  • A package of laws promoting clean energy, bills which help protect the planet from climate change and (at the same time) will create thousands of new jobs for Michigan.
  • Enactment of financial disclosure requirements for elected state officials and candidates for those offices

There’s still work to be done. Legislative Democrats and the Governor will continue their efforts in 2024 working on issues ranging from Artificial Intelligence to further improving public education and taking steps to expand Michigan’s economy. 

Thanks to some local electoral successes – and a do-nothing mentality amongst legislative Republicans – we may be delayed a little. Democrats have temporarily fallen into a 54-54 tie with Republicans in the state House due to the election of Representatives Kevin Stone and Lori Stone as mayors of Westland and Warren. Without Republican support, no bill can pass until those two vacancies are filled. Sadly, Republicans have shown little interest in serious bipartisan discussions on major legislation.

While we await the restoration of our majority, our members will be working individually and in committees on multiple issues. It is their goal to make 2024 as productive as 2023 in moving Michigan forward.

Some of the issues that are part of next year’s agenda:

  • Making prescription drugs more affordable
  • Paid family and medical leave
  • Police accountability
  • Rights for victims of sexual abuse
  • Regulating the use of Artificial Intelligence to deceive voters 
  • Expanding open meetings and open records laws to the Legislature and Governor’s office
  • Improving Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance laws

Democrats in Lansing are laser-focused on making 2024 as productive as 2023 in moving Michigan forward.

To update us on the prospects for 2024 we’re joined by East Lansing Senator Sam Singh.

Senator Singh is the first Indian American elected to the Michigan Senate, where he serves as Majority Floor Leader in his first term in office.

No stranger to Lansing, Singh served three terms as State Representative, from 2013-2018, where he was a passionate champion for K-12 education, environmental protection, and economic development. In his last term, his colleagues selected him to serve as the Democratic Leader.

Over the past 25 years, Singh has made a career of supporting the mid-Michigan area through his work with philanthropy, public service and nonprofit board service. In 1995, at the age of 24, he was elected to the East Lansing City Council where he served three terms, one as Mayor. He has also served as president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, senior consultant for the New Economy Initiative, and CEO of Public Policy Associates.

Singh is a graduate of Michigan State University and lives in East Lansing with his wife, Kerry, and their son, Remy.



In the News This Week

2023 Legislative Report Card: RESULTS!

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The WØRD – “Freedom”

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From the chair:

Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid out this nation’s core principles 83 years ago, in his 1941 State of the Union speech given even as a totalitarian dictator, Adolph Hitler, was assaulting democratic freedoms across Europe.

Too often, we take freedom for granted. But it under assault today by leaders of the Republican Party:

  • Attacking free speech by banning books, calling anyone who speaks out against them Socialists or Marxists or Communists; and re-writing history by banning the teaching of anything that makes them uncomfortable;
  • Attacking freedom of religion by demanding all of us live under their religious beliefs and promoting discrimination against non-Christian faiths;
  • Attacking freedom from want by slashing the social safety net that guarantees basic subsistence: food and shelter, and demanding cuts in Social Security;
  • Attacking freedom from fear by instead stoking fear with claims of crime waves when, in fact, crime has been going down for the last two decades – and claiming without foundation that Democrats want to defund the police when it’s Republicans who call for defunding the FBI … and adding to fear of devastating illness by opposing guaranteed access to healthcare.

Republican leaders demand that government make medical decisions for women over the objections of the women and their doctors.

They fight against free-and-fair elections with outrageous gerrymandering, voter purges targeting minorities and young people, limiting the number of polling places in Democratic-leaning locations, and seizing control of elections so that elections are controlled by gerrymandered legislatures.

Donald Trump has even gone so far as to say publicly that he’d use the Department of Justice and FBI to indict and jail anyone who spoke out against him. That’s what they do in Russia, North Korea, Iran and China. It’s what Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler did to seize and hold onto power in the run-up to World War II.

Democrats stand by FDR’s Four Freedoms. Republicans do not. That fact is mirrored by the record of our Governor and Legislature this year, a year in which dozens of bills have been signed into law advancing the Four Freedoms, many strongly opposed by Donald Trump’s Republican Party.

As Coretta Scott King has told us, “Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.”

We must never take our freedom for granted, or we will lose it.

Joining the podcast this week is Representative Helena Scott, chair of the state House Committee on Energy, Communications, and Technology.

Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit)

Rep. Scott is a former organizer and longtime labor and social justice community activist. She was appointed to serve on the House Democrats’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Planning Committee and the House Committee on Committees. Scott graduated from Marygrove College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science.

As the lead organizer for Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice, she spearheaded a petition drive to gather over 5,000 signatures for the One Fair Wage ballot proposal initiative. More recently, she served on the Steering Committee to Protect and Defend One Fair Wage. Her sister-in-law, former Detroit City Council Pro Temp Brenda Scott, fostered her passion for service.

Scott’s commitment to the community led her to volunteer and serve on many boards and organizations. Formerly, she was an executive board member for the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Detroit League of Women Voters, and vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus. Currently, Scott is a vice chair of the 14th Congressional District and was recently elected to serve as the vice chair of the Detroit Caucus. Additionally, she serves as the chair of the bicameral Legislative Care Caucus and the historian of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus. Before joining the Legislature, Scott worked in the airline industry for over 20 years as a sales and service instructor. She also worked for her predecessor, former Rep. LaTanya Garrett, as her community liaison.

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The WØRD – “Scandals”

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Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) has been the lead in the state Senate’s drive to enact much-needed financial disclosure requirements for elected officials.

From the Chair

Nothing undermines trust in our democracy more than scandals, and it seems as if the number of scandals have been increasing.

Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes

At the federal level, revelations about millions in gifts, luxury vacations and private jet service for Justice Clarence Thomas … along with high-paying jobs for his wife … have accelerated calls for a Supreme Court code of ethics. In Congress, Senator Bob Menendez and Representative George Santos continue to serve despite multiple serious federal indictments, many of the charges about illegally obtaining hundreds-of-thousands of dollars. And right now we have former President Trump on trial for financial fraud in the hundreds-of-millions of dollars.

In Michigan, one former Republican House Speaker has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes. Another former Republican Speaker and two former Senate Republican leaders are under investigation for their use of money from dark-money political funds.

It’s said that sunshine is the best disinfectant. Last year the voters of Michigan agreed. By your vote you said “enough is enough” and enacted a constitutional amendment demanding some critical sunshine: financial disclosures from elected officials. It’s something Democrats have long advocated. Now, with Democrats in the majority, it is happening. Bills long stymied when Republicans were in the majority are now moving through both chambers. We’re joined on the podcast by the Senate’s lead sponsor of financial disclosure legislation, Southfield Senator Jeremy Moss.

Senator Moss is the President Pro Tempore of the Michigan Senate, where he is also serving his second term. Always looking to build relationships across the aisle, Moss has successfully had legislation signed into law to reduce unfair employment barriers for people with past criminal records, help homeowners make home improvements by lowering property taxes, allow public-private partnerships to rebuild crumbling bridges, and to create more pathways for students who dropped out of high school so they can complete their degree.

Moss holds the distinction of having been the youngest-ever elected official on the Southfield City Council (2011) and has not let up on public service since. After City Council, he was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, serving as the Democratic Caucus Whip, and then became the Assistant Democratic Leader in his first term in the Michigan Senate.

Moss earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University, where he participated in multiple student-led humanitarian aid missions nationally and across the globe. He lives in Southfield.

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