Saturday, February 28, 2009

LWVDDH calendar Mar/Apr

March 5 - Board Meeting, 7pm in LWV office
March 20 - General Meeting - "Youth Issues" - location, the Arab American
National Museum 6pm refreshments, 7pm presentation with speaker Ishmael
Ahmed
March 15 to 21 - Sunshine Week- Transparency in public office
March 26 - Board Meeting, 7pm in LWV office. (NOTE: date changed for Apr 2
GP-LWV Mtg)

April 2 - "Health Care for Children" Grosse Pointe LWV - location to be
announced.
April 30 - General Meeting - "Environmental Seminar" - location, the
Environmental Interpretive Center on U of M, Dearborn campus 6:30 pm

Friday, February 27, 2009

State of the City - 2009

Watch Mayor John B. O'Reilly's 2009 State of the City Address
and be an informed resident.
 
 
Here is an article about Mayor Paletko's address: http://pressandguide.com/stories/011409/loc_20090114005.shtml  If anyone has a link to the transcript or video, please let us know.
 

Friday, February 20, 2009

Symposium on Supreme Court Elections - Public Invited

 THE THOMAS M. COOLEY LAW REVIEW

and

THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MICHIGAN

Invite you to join a spirited and insightful discussion in Lansing

Wednesday, March 18th, 6-8:30pm

 

Supreme Court Election Campaigns: A Threat to Fair and Impartial Courts?

 

The national trend of increasingly expensive and politicized state supreme court campaigns was evident in the 2008 Michigan Supreme Court election. Our distinguished speakers will discuss the role of special interest spending in judicial elections and the critical questions of due process and recusal, issues now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Caperton v. Massey Coal Company. We will also explore the campaign finance facts of recent Michigan Supreme Court campaigns, the legal argument and implications of the Caperton case, concerns of the business community about the role of money in judicial campaigns, and the public financing alternative for state supreme court election campaigns.

 

Janet K. Welch, Executive Director, State Bar of Michigan will moderate and Peter Kemple, professor at Cooley Law School will offer special commentary.

 

We are pleased to host the following speakers:

 

·    Michael J. Petro, Vice President, Committee for Economic Development,
                           Washington, D.C.

·    Rich Robinson, Executive Director, Michigan Campaign Finance Network

·    James Sample, Counsel, The Brennan Center for Justice,
                         New York University School of Law

·    Hon. James A. Wynn, Judge, North Carolina Court of Appeals

 


Cooley Law School Temple Building,
6th Floor Auditorium, 217 S. Capitol Ave.
Downtown Lansing
The symposium is free and open to the public.

 

For more information, please visit cooley.edu or LWVMI.org.

Monday, February 16, 2009

"Michigan Human Services - Youth Issues"

Speaker – Ishmael Ahmed, State Director of Human Services

Location: Arab American National Museum

13624 Michigan Ave.

(West of Schaefer Rd.) Parking available behind bldg.

www.theaanm.org

 

6: OO PM Welcome & Refreshments

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Presentation in Auditorium

 

Invitees include city officials from Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, including mayors, council representatives, judges, police chiefs, school administrators, superintendents, principals, organizational heads and civic leaders.

 

The public is invited to learn about issues

relating to needs of children at risk.

 

An underlying current of the financial crises facing the nation today is the impact it will have on the most vulnerable among us. Without a real support system, or a voice of their own, children are most at risk. In the end, children left to drift in a life of chaos will become wards of the state. Our penal institutions are filled with adults who never had the opportunities as children to be fostered by a caring, structured support system provided by family and society - to become productive citizens. In the end we pay in many ways for that failure.

 

Ishmael Ahmed was a community activist before taking the position of Executive Director of ACCESS. A post he held for many years. In 2008, he was appointed by Governor Granholm to the position of director of the State Department of Human Services. Mr. Ahmed is a strong advocate of programs that provide a safety net for people in need. 

 

prison reform - study up!

An excellent resource to gain information on prison reform is the Citizen's Research Council. In June 2008, they published a report, "Growth in Michigan Corrections System" that documents the long-term growth in prison population & corrections spending. This report helped frame the current discussion on potential corrections system reforms.

To help prepare for the recommended LWVMI study, look up the report on:

www.crcmich.org 

 

Thursday, February 12, 2009

LWV Celebrates 89 years!

In just two days, the League of Women Voters will commemorate our 89th birthday – and we've got a lot to be proud of! Help us celebrate by signing our birthday card.

There is no other national organization in America that inspires such a great degree of commitment from its members. Here's a quick peek at five accomplishments we are celebrating and why the League's trusted legacy and grassroots strength remains as vital to a healthy and transparent government, all these years later.

  • We celebrate this year with a strong commitment to build on the civic energy generated during the 2008 election season and continue our legacy of fostering meaningful citizen participation.
  • We are so proud that in nearly 850 communities nationwide, the League remains THE trusted place for citizens to discuss the issues, ask the difficult questions, and demand accountability from their government.
  • The League is a leader in transparency – from our work in the 1950s to uncover Senator Joseph McCarthy's abuse of congressional investigative powers to our current work urging President Obama to make openness in government a priority, the League is working to make the federal government more accessible to American citizens.
  • The League celebrates our work promoting equal voting rights, having been at the forefront of the struggle to pass the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, winning passage of the National Voter Registration Act in 1993, and more recently working to enact the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and ensure full voting rights for Americans living in our nation's capital.
  • Our connection with communities is helping us expand our work on issues that impact Americans and the world, such as climate change and health care.

The League of Women Voters truly has left its footprint on American history, and our democracy is stronger because of it. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our representative democracy for years to come.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Who's Who - 2009 edition now online

Contacting your elected official is one way to participate in our democracy.  They make decisions that affect you, your city, county, state and nation.  Let them know how you see it!
 
You can find out who to contact, and how to contact them with our online edition of Who's Who 2009.  If you would like to have a printed Who's Who mailed to you, please send a request on our Publications page with your address.