UPDATE: This episode of the podcast was recorded about an hour before Donald Trump announced that he’s made history again by being indicted on multiple felony counts …

Michigan’s Quality Guru Perry Johnson now has a lot of competition for the most obscure Republican presidential candidate as the field of GOP wannabes grows to about an even dozen, and as we learn that North Dakota has a Governor and his name is Doug Burgum. Mark and Jeff take a look at the most unusual cadre of candidates … as well as the quixotic Democratic campaign of the Kennedy family’s black sheep.

Also on the agenda this week: the U.S. Supreme Court’s surprising ruling in support of the Voting Rights Act, turmoil in the ranks of U.S. House Republicans, and an early start to the 2023 state legislative campaign.

Joining us on the podcast is a veteran of state capitol journalism, Kyle Melinn. Kyle has been editor of the MIRS Newsletter for 20 years. If you aren’t familiar with their newsletter, it’s a daily deep dive into everything happening in state government – a must-read for leaders in government, lobbyists, other journalists and state politics junkies. Kyle also is host of the longest-running political podcast in Michigan, the MIRS Monday Podcast, a part of the Michigan political landscape for 13 years.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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Another crisis averted after the political pros take charge in Washington. Joe Biden quietly cleans up a right-wing created mess, avoiding the shock of a first-ever U.S. credit default with deft negotiating skills and public confidence that he could get it done (and did!).

Governor Whitmer takes what could be a major step for Michigan’s future, or could end up as just another report getting dusty in the archives.

A key Michigan congressional battleground district gets more focus as the list of likely serious Democratic contenders goes down to just 1. And the state’s political/business power structure gets together on Mackinac Island to talk policy. We get an insider’s look from Michigan Public Radio’s award-winning correspondent Rick Pluta.

Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987. His journalism background includes stints with UPI, The Elizabeth (NJ) Daily Journal, The Oakland Press, and WJR. He is also a lifelong public radio listener.

He was one of the first Michigan political reporters to write about “pay-to-play” fundraising, and the controversies surrounding recognition of same-sex relationships. He broke the news that Gov. John Engler was planning a huge juvenile justice overhaul that included adult-time-for-adult-crime sentencing, and has continued to report since then on the effects of that policy decision.

Pluta co-hosts the weekly segment “It’s Just Politics” on Michigan Radio which is co-hosted with Zoe Clark.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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Ron DeSantis teams up with everybody’s favorite billionaire for a 404-error campaign launch … while Donald Trump hunkers down in Mar A Lago waiting for what could be his summer of indictments. In Michigan, politics and government is a little more on track – the Governor signing another major gun safety law, the state’s attorney discipline board takes aim at the lawyers who led the Big Lie lawsuits, and there’s still another money-based scandal brewing as part of the Republican legislative legacy.

And we’re sad to report that neither Jeff nor Mark is on Putin’s list of 500 Americans barred from visiting Russia. Barack Obama and Stephen Colbert made the list — but Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are still welcome. (Also on the list: former Senators John McCain, Harry M. Reid and Orrin G. Hatch — who are all currently dead.)

The calendar may tell us it’s the spring of 2023, but for local election administrators across the state it’s already 2024. The newly enacted voter protection rights approved by voters in 2022, the likelihood of an early presidential primary and continuing right-wing claims of 2020 election fraud, have local clerks in full implementation mode for what could well be a very challenging election cycle. Joining the conversation this week is one of the state’s leading experts on running fair and accurate elections, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum.

Prior to her election as Ingham County Clerk 10 years ago she served for 6 years in the state Legislature where she was ranking member of the House Elections Committee. She’s a lifelong resident of rural Lansing, and the daughter of Dianne Byrum who was the first woman to lead a party caucus in the state Legislature. Barb Byrum has a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management, and a law degree from the MSU College of Law. Also in Clerk Byrum’s resume: after the 2014 Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriages she presided over the first gay marriage in Michigan.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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Michigan politics and policy

Voting Rights and Candidates

The GOP Culture Wars

The polling shows Michigan voters unhappy with the economy, yet the numbers tell a different story. Unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in April, tying the pre-pandemic February 2020 rate. 

One huge threat to that strong economy: Congress. Congressional leaders say the nation won’t default on the national debt, but we’re really at the mercy of the GOP Cuckoo Squad … and George Santos. Also in the political spotlight: Republicans are continuing to do everything they can to enact laws and nominate candidates that are only popular with their base, moves that could well lead to a GOP election bloodbath in 2024. Florida, under Ron DeSantis, is leading the way – even investigating an elementary school teacher for showing a Disney film in her classroom.

Michigan is becoming the un-Florida, enacting laws that enjoy wide voter support and using those laws as a lure for new talent. Joining our conversation is the head of the progressive think tank Michigan Future, Lou Glazer, about Michigan’s new marketing campaigns focused on promoting progressive social policies. Michigan Future, Inc., is a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to be a source of new ideas on how Michigan can succeed as a world class community in a knowledge-driven economy. Its work is funded by Michigan foundations.

Lou currently is heading efforts to implement a new agenda designed to raise household income for all. Prior to joining Michigan Future, Lou Glazer served as Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Commerce during the Blanchard Administration. He received Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Michigan.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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The Culture and Voting Rights Wars

The two biggest liars in politics had an especially bad week. It’s 5-million dollars for one of the many crimes of Donald Trump followed by a 13-count felony indictment over the Congressman currently known as George Santos. It was topped off by a truly bizarre hour organized and broadcast by CNN, which called it a Town Hall but in reality should have been labeled a Trump campaign rally.

On a much more positive note, Governor Whitmer’s sister is running for Congress. Lynn Whitmer Gereghty is running in a suburban New York City district – for the seat held by new Biden buddy Republican Mike Lawson who upset DCCC chair Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022. And while Congress is in a stalemate over the budget and national debt (threatening an economic disaster), Michigan’s legislature is quietly moving forward on enacting Governor Whitmer’s budget.

Sitting in for the vacationing Jeff Timmer this week is longtime political troublemaker (and this podcast’s producer) Walt Sorg. Joining the conversation this week is Chad Livengood, politics editor and a columnist at The Detroit News. Chad was a political reporter in The News’ Lansing Bureau from 2012 through 2016 before becoming a reporter and columnist at Crain’s Detroit Business. He rejoined The News’ politics team in May 2022.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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Still no big-name Republicans in the Senate race, but a deep pockets candidate may parachute in. On the Democratic side, a potential deep pockets challenger to Elissa Slotkin drops a hint that he’s running — a hint dropped on national TV.

Led by Florida and Texas, red states have launched a book banning binge unlike anything we’ve seen since the days of McCarthyism in the early 1950s. It’s probably the most attention most people have paid to librarians since the 1962 movie The Music Man (centered around the romance between Professor Harold Hill and “Marian, Madam Librarian”). The Michigan Library Association asked our friends at EPIC/MRA to survey the attitudes in Michigan towards libraries and book bans.We talk with the MLA’s executive director, Debbie Mikula, about the poll.

Also: the corrosive impact of money on politics and governance. Money is at the heart of a lot of political scandals. Michigan has some of the loosest campaign finance regulations in the nation and that’s led way too many scandals and mini-scandals. One of the groups working to reign in the abuses is Voters Not Politicians, the grassroots organization best known for leading the successful drive to end gerrymandering in Michigan’s congressional and legislative races. Joining us on the podcast is the Executive Director of VNP, Nancy Wang. VNP is in the vanguard of grassroots groups working to bring some reforms to Michigan’s campaign finance regulation, as well as several other much-needed good government reforms.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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The Biden campaign is officially underway – with Gretchen Whitmer the only Governor among the campaign’s 7 co-chairs. A signal of things to come? There are media reports of a special grand jury on election machine tampering add to state Republicans’ unenviable list of criminal investigations, even as one scandal brings a guilty plea from a former Republican House Speaker whose cooperation may bring still more indictments.

Mark and Jeff discuss the latest turmoil (criminal and otherwise) in the GOP, the spiraling culture wars targeting just about anyone who isn’t a straight white male, the futility of attacking Mickey Mouse, and another Republican-controlled state legislature officially silencing differing points of view.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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It’s now official – Fox News lies, but that’s just a cost of doing business as the media giant buys its way out of getting caught … while failing to share the news with the millions the company has willingly deceived.Also this week: there’s a nationwide contrast on two hot-button issues: gun safety and reproductive healthcare rights look to be the pivotal issues in 2024, and Republicans are on the wrong side of both.

The turmoil in the Michigan Republican Party continues and now even features actual physical fighting as a war breaks out between two leaders of the whack-job core of the party. And speaking of delusional – we have a quick update on the Quixotic presidential campaign of onetime failed Michigan gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson. 

Returning to the podcast this week is John Della Volpe who has spent 20 years surveying millennials and Gen Z and advised President JOE BIDEN’s 2020 campaign on its outreach to younger voters. John is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and the author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America. The Washington Post referred to John as one of the world’s leading authorities on global sentiment, opinion, and influence, especially among young Americans and in the age of digital and social media.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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In a study of contrasts, Donald Trump and Trump wannabes are gathered in Indianapolis as we recorded this week’s podcast. They are all paying homage to the National Rifle Association at the gun manufacturing groups annual convention … even as Governor Whitmer signs two more gun safety laws opposed by the NRA into law with state and national leaders of March for Our Lives at her side…and additional laws working their way through the Legislature.

The national debate over reproductive rights grows even more heated. Just before we started recording, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito — who wrote the Dobbs decision overturning Roe – has issued a short stay on the Texas court ban on the abortion drug mifopristone.

It’s not just reproductive rights under national attack. Republican legislatures across the nation have declared war on transgender Americans. We’re joined on the pod this week by Emme Zanotti, Director of Advocacy and Civic Engagement, for the Equality Michigan Action Network. 

Emme is a dedicated advocate for equality with integral roles in candidate campaign management, statewide caucus leadership, progressive coalition advisory, non-profit board service, and enhancing LGBTQ+ issue awareness and protections in the private sector. As a transgender woman who too often relied or had to rely on self-advocacy, Emme’s passion is in coalition-building, empowering fellow-LGBTQ+ Michiganders to enter the advocacy arena, and making sure the community is well-represented at the tables where decision-making is happening about their lives and well-being. 

She is a former board member at Stand with Trans where she still facilitates a monthly support group for young trans women, and she most recently served as co-Chair and Vice Chair of the #HateWont Win Coalition and the Michigan Democratic Party’s LGBT&A Caucus.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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Republican Attacks on Transgender Americans

Climate Change and Environment

Gun Safety

Reproductive Rights

Democrats in the News

Republicans in Disarray

But of course Mark and Jeff weigh in on the first indictments handed down against career criminal Donald Trump. Their focus: the potential political impact on Michigan (site of one of the nation’s first presidential primaries)…and on the multiple criminal investigations into prominent Michigan Republicans.

Also this week: In 1866, New York state surrogate Gideon John Tucker wrote in a decision on a legal malpractice claim: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” The Michigan legislature is in recess right now so all is safe, and gives us time to ruminate on what may be the most important election in 2023: the flipping of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Also on our agenda this week: the stampede of Red States to attack transgender Americans, and the politics of what looks to be a temporary income tax cut in Michigan.

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This week’s podcast is underwritten in part by EPIC-MRA
EPIC ▪ MRA is a full service survey research firm with expertise in:

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Gun Safety

State Government

Wisconsin Supreme Court

GOP Attacks on LGBTQ Rights

Other Political News