There's something rotten in Michigan - Jeff Timmer

There's something rotten in Michigan - and it all centers on a guy named Jeff Timmer. We'll get to who Jeff Timmer is in just a minute - but first - follow me as I explain what's going on in the fight to keep democracy alive in Michigan. First - there's Governor Rick Snyder - who moved into the Governors Mansion last year - and immediately passed one of the most controversial laws this nation has ever seen. It was called Public Act 4 - which gave Snyder the power to appoint what he calls a "financial manager" - or what I call a "little dictator" - to seize control of a city in Michigan - fire all the local elected officials - break union contracts - slash spending on social services - and sell off huge chunks of the commons at a fire-sale price to corporate buddies. So far - cities like Benton Harbor - Flint - Ecorse - and Pontiac have met this fate - and citizens of those cities no longer have control of their local democracy. This is literally - at least at the local level - the death of democracy.

But Michiganders don't give up - especially on democracy. So after rallies, marches, and a massive petition drive - the group "Stand Up for Democracy" collected 226,000 signatures to immediately put Snyder's little dictators law on hold - and place it on the ballot in November - so that Michiganders can have a vote to repeal it for good. So even though Snyder killed off local democracy - he wasn't able to kill off state-wide democracy: he couldn't stop people organizing, collecting signatures, and formally challenging Snyder's radical law. Democracy couldn't be killed off that easily. And that's when Jeff Timmer stepped in. Timmer is a partner with a business called the Sterling Corporation - which prides itself as the "premier Republican communications company specializing in public affairs, political campaigns, BALLOT INITIATIVES, and fundraising for corporations, trade associations, issue advocacy groups and political candidates..." According to the Sterling Corporation's website - Jeff Timmer is a "veteran political and public affairs strategist specializing in public policy issue management, BALLOT PROPOSAL CAMPAIGNS, and partisan political campaigns." The website also notes that Timmer oversees development and production of Sterling's printed materials for clients. In other words - he knows a lot about font sizes - and we'll get to why font sizes are so important in just a moment.