Examiner.com articles on Supreme Court and ballot proposals

I concluded Good news for Democrats, bad news for proposals at Examiner.com, by whining about not finishing all I wanted to do.

Had I not run out of time and energy last night, I would have written a fourth article about the polling in the Michigan Supreme Court contests. That's also good news for Democrats, as Connie Kelley and Bridget McCormack, the two candidates the Free Press endorsed, are both leading for the two eight-year terms on the ballot. That would be enough to swing control of the court to the Democrats.

It turned out that I got my opportunity after all. The Detroit News and Lansing State Journal both posted the summaries of their endorsements today, which made them newsworthy again. I also stumbled across an angle for the story, making Bridget Mary McCormack the star. After all, as you'll find out if you read the entire article, everything happened to her. Also, it seems that most everyone likes her.

It's been a busy week for University of Michigan law professor Bridget Mary McCormack as she runs for Michigan Supreme Court.
Credits: McCormack's campaign website

A busy week for McCormack and others in Supreme Court contest

It's been a wild week for Bridget Mary McCormack's campaign for Michigan Supreme Court. The University of Michigan law professor earned the endorsement of one newspaper last Sunday, had two others reissue their earlier endorsements this Sunday, and received both an endorsement and free advertising from a prominent Detroit area attorney in between. On Tuesday, McCormack also came in second in a statewide poll for a contest in which there would be two victors.

That was the good news. The bad news was that she became the target for an attack ad from an outside group. In response, she defended herself on television Friday.

As for the other candidates for the state's highest court, they came along for the ride, with four candidates, Shelia Johnson, Connie Marie Kelley, Stephen Markman, and Brian Zahra, earning two endorsements each, Johnson and Kelley also being the beneficiaries of donated advertising, and Kelley and Zahra also leading in the polls.

It pleased me to find two sources who agreed with me on who to vote for. In case you haven't already figured out who, it's the three women I used to illustrate Examiner.com article on Michigan Supreme Court nominees--Johnson, Kelley, and McCormack.

  Michigan Democrats' "Three Supremes" at this spring's endorsement convention.
Speaking of agreeing with endorsements, I disagreed with the opinions I described in Examiner.com article about Free Press referendum endorsements.

For what it's worth, this is not how I would vote. I'm voting no on Proposal 1, as I think the assault on democracy and local control is a cure worse than the disease. I'm also voting yes on Proposals 2, 3, and 4. I'll have more to say about Proposal 3 in particular.
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However, I agree with the Detroit Free Press on the rest. I'm voting no on Proposals 5 and 6.

Lucky me, I managed to find some papers whose opinions I agree with and did so barely in time to write about them as newsworthy. That pleased me.

Proposal endorsements of alternative weeklies favor change over status quo

This past week, two of Michigan's alternative weeklies published their endorsements for the six proposals on the ballot. Unlike the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and Lansing State Journal, which favored the status quo by telling their readers to vote "yes on 1, no on the rest," the alternative weeklies recommended voters cast their ballots for change.

Last Sunday, City Pulse included its recommendations in a massive editorial covering offices at all levels as well as proposals. The Lansing weekly urged no votes on Proposals 1, 5, and 6 and yes votes on 2, 3, and 4.

On Friday, it was the Metro Times turn. The metro Detroit alternative paper agreed with City Pulse on voting no on Proposals 1, 5, and 6 and yes votes on 2 and 3. They had second thoughts about Proposal 4 and urged their readers to vote no.

I'm still voting yes on 4, but at least I'll listen to the Metro Times.

Finally, there's one bit of unfinished business to attend to. From the conclusion of Election news from campuses in the swing states:

Speaking of university governing boards, the Detroit Free Press endorsed six candidates, four Democrats and two Republicans, for the three elected university boards governing the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University. I should write an article about that for Examiner.com, if I can figure out a newsworthy angle.

I have. Stay tuned.