tbreport

Question 1): Late last week, news broke that the former wife of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Brian ZAHRA told NBC News that he paid to abort her pregnancy when they were dating 39 years ago. This would seem to conflict with Zahra’s decision earlier this year to keep the proposed abortion constitutional amendment, Proposal 3, […]

       Question 1): A survey commissioned by MIRS newsletter week before last found Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon closing what earlier had been a huge polling gap with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to a skimpy two points — 49% to 47%. However, closing “most” of the gap isn’t the same as having caught up. Whitmer still […]

Question 1): With a little more than two weeks left before the Nov. 8 election, MIRS newsletter reports that underfunded Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor DIXON is within two percentage points of incumbent Gov. Gretchen WHITMER, according to a Mitchell Research & Communications survey commissioned by MIRS. The Oct. 19 survey of 541 respondents found Whitmer up […]

      Question 1): The first of two debates between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her Republican challenger, Tudor Dixon, took place last Thursday, Oct. 13, in Grand Rapids on WOOD-TV. So, how did the incumbent fare? What did we expect to see and hear from the governor, anyway?       Answer 1): First, Whitmer spent as little […]

Question 1): Democrats in the Michigan Senate, in their efforts to end longtime Republican control of the chamber, have botched what looked like a winning hand before. For example, they should have achieved a majority — or at least a tie — in 2006, which was a huge Democratic year. At least 23 districts (out […]

Question 1): In somewhat of a surprise, a $1 billion mid-year supplemental spending bill designed to replenish Michigan government’s Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund and kick start other large-dollar economic development projects passed both the House and the Senate with bi-partisan support last week. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign it into […]

Government entitlements change minds and human behavior, it seems. Take one away and what happens? November 8 will be the first time an abortion proposal of any kind has been on a Michigan statewide ballot since a half-century ago. What occurred in 1971-72 that can be compared with where we are today? An abortion rights […]

Question 1): Bridget MCCORMACK, Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court,  announced last week that she is resigning from the bench no later than Dec. 31 but not before Nov. 22. McCormack, who became the 108th justice and the ninth woman to join the Court when she was sworn in as an associate justice on […]

Beginning in 2020, retired attorney Bob LaBrant, who once had been Senior Vice President for Political Affairs and General Counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, became increasingly estranged from the Republican Party. What was the motivation for his metamorphosis? Let’s hear it from LaBrant in his own words: “I publicly supported Joe Biden for […]

Any discussion of political campaign financing and the laws governing it in Michigan must start with retired attorney Bob LaBrant, for years the Senior Vice President for Political Affairs and General Counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. LaBrant spent most of his working career defunding political opponents, almost always to the advantage of the […]