VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

AFSCME Local 2920 President Thomas B. Johnson II address union leaders at Nov. 10, 2011 press conference opposing Judge Sean Cox’s water department takeover

• AFSCME Co. 25 files motion to intervene, bar contract changes
• City union leaders join to support AFSCME
• Rally set for Thurs. Nov. 17, 4:30 p.m. at CAYMC 

By Diane Bukowski

Nov. 14, 2011 

DETROIT – In the wake of a mass press conference held by city union leaders Nov. 10, Michigan AFSCME Council 25 on Nov. 14 filed a motion to intervene in the federal lawsuit against the water department and to bar massive changes to AFSCME’s contract with the city. 

The union has also called on union members, the community, and Occupy Detroit to rally Thurs. Nov.17 at 4:30 p.m. outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center,then march to the Guardian Building, where embattled Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano’s offices are located. 

George W. Bush appointed Cox to federal bench

 On Nov. 4, U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox issued a broad order attacking the rights of workers, Detroit residents, and the City Council with respect to the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) under union contracts and the City Charter.  He also barred actions brought with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission and state courts challenging his ruling. 

(Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/10/cox-axes-detroiters-control-over-water-department/ for complete details.) 

During the press conference, union leaders likened Cox to a slavemaster. 

Cox and Detroit

“Cox is treating Detroit like it’s a slave plantation he gets to run,” said Attorney George Washington. Susan Glaser, president of the Senior Accountants, Analysts and Appraisers Association (SAAA), compared his naming of a “Special Master” to the appointment of a plantation overseer. 

The motion, filed by Attorney Herbert Sanders of the Sanders Law Firm, contends that Cox’s Nov. 4 order violates the contracts and takings clauses of the U.S. Constitution. It also demands that Cox permanently bar “the modification, amendment, or termination of the AFSCME collective bargaining agreement.” 

(Click on Cox Co 25 motion to intervene 11 14 11 to read entire motion.)

It notes that AFSCME was never contacted by Cox regarding his changes to its contract. 

It says, “None of the recommended changes to the AFSCME collective bargaining agreement are even remotely connected to enforcement of the Clean Water Act.” The  federal lawsuit against DWSD, #77-71100,  under which Cox acted, was filed in 1977, specifically to address violations of that Act.

Atty. George Washington, Local 207 officers John RIehl and Mike Mulholland announce lawsuit against Synagro contract Jan. 26, 2099

“We are standing in defense of our city workers, members, and residents,” John Riehl, president of AFSCME Local 207, which represents 1,000 DWSD workers, said Nov. 10. “Detroit deserves better treatment of its workers and residents.”  (Click on Riehl declaration  to read Riehl’s affidavit filed in Cox’a court.) 

Riehl noted, “Our union was highly instrumental in exposing and defeating the Synagro contract, brought by the Kwame Kilpatrick administration. Judge Cox’s order threatens to reinstate the same corruption that existed then.” 

The U.S. Justice Department has brought extensive charges against Kilpatrick, former Water Department Director Victor Mercado, Kilpatrick aides, City Council member Monica Conyers and city council aides, among others, related to the Synagro contract. 

BOWC chair James Fausone, representing Wayne County

Cox’s order largely transfers contracting and rate setting powers to the seven-member Detroit Board of Water Commissioners (BOWC). It is now dominated by three suburban commissioners because they have veto power on contract and rate votes, which require a supermajority. Many, like BOWC chair James Fausone, representing Wayne County, have ties to water contractors. 

The entire Wayne County administration under Ficano is also now under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department largely related to allegedly corrupt contracting practices. 

Riehl said the city administration has caused many problems with Clean Water Act compliance by understaffing the water department. 

“There is a brain and experience drain because of attacks on pension rights,” he explained. “Every week, 10 0r more DWSD workers retire before more attacks come. The real shortages started under Kilpatrick and [former Water Department director Victor] Mercado with lay-offs and privatization.” 

Former DWSD director Victor Mercado and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, both under federal indictment

Kilpatrick laid off hundreds of DWSD workers in 2006 after Local 207 voted against a take-back contract. 

The Council 25 motion contends among other declarations, “The collective bargaining agreement . . . encourages management to maintain a full staff of regular workers capable of running the plant on a daily basis. Daily operations and maintenance are subjected to better quality control and greater collective knowledge and skills when this work is done in-house.”

 Thomas B. Johnson II is president of AFSCME Local 2920, which represents clerical and other city-wide classifications at DWSD. 

Local 2920 Pres. Thomas B. Johnson II

“There is too much management and too many consultants in the Water Department, who have carte blanche to do whatever they want to do,” he said. “The Water Department has never been under a deficit so there has been no reason to lay-off our workers.” 

Cox’s order bars city workers from other departments from using their seniority rights to bump into DWSD if they are laid off, as Mayor Bing is threatening. It thus represents an attack on ALL city workers, not just those at DWSD, Johnson agreed. 

“Cox is trying to bust our unions,” Dempsey Addison, president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE). “We are not going to stand for this. Nobody has absolute power, not even a judge.” 

APTE Pres. Dempsey Addison at first Occupy Detroit march

Washington said that if Cox denies the union’s motion to intervene, “We will be in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in 24 hours.” 

Cox held a “status conference” on the AFSCME motion Nov. 14. Further details were not available at press time.

Detroit’s City Council earlier voted to hire its own attorney to advise it on Cox’s order, which overrules many of its powers, but to date has filed no action. Cox appointed Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh and President Pro-Tem Gary Brown to a four-member committee which issued a “Committee Plan” to him Nov. 2 recommending many of the changes he ordered. 

SEAN COX CHAIRS U-M LAW SCHOOL MEETING OF RIGHT-WING FEDERALIST SOCIETY (video below)

Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/14/sean-cox-right-wing-affiliations/ for further info on the Judge.

The Federalist Society’s Student Division presented this speech and commentary at the 2008 Annual Student Symposium on March 8, 2008.

Speech and Commentary: An Originalist Judge and the Media

–Justice Stephen Markman, Michigan Supreme Court
–Prof. Richard Primus, University of Michigan Law School
–Mr. Pete Williams, NBC News
–Moderator: Judge Sean Cox, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Detroit’s Mayor Wants Union Pay Cuts, Layoffs: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Mayor Bing uses shadowy E & Y report to demand city cutbacks

CUT DEBT TO THE BANKS, NOT WORKERS AND SERVICES!

 By Diane Bukowski 

November 14, 2011

Ernst & Young Detroit building towers over Campus Martius

DETROIT – Ernst & Young, author of the secret report on Detroit’s finances that Mayor Dave Bing is brandishing like a cudgel over the heads of workers and residents, faces lawsuits by the states of New York and New Jersey for actively helping Lehman Brothers cook their books over a seven year period. 

Lehman, worth $600 billion, collapsed in 2008 in the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Its collapse was a key factor in the Wall Street’s subprime mortgage meltdown.

Despite Ernst & Young’s reputation, Bing is demanding heavy concessions from city workers and residents, after meeting in an illegal secret session with the entire City Council Oct. 26 to discuss the firm’s report. He plans to address the city as a whole about city finances Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Northwest Activities Center.

Mayor Dave Bing listens approvingly to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano discussing cutbacks during interview at 2009 Mackinac Island conference

Bing met with leaders of the city’s 40 plus union s Nov. 8 and gave them a two week deadline to comply with his demands.

Leamon Wilson, president of Local 312 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said Bing specifically refused to give union leaders at the meeting the Ernst & Young report.

“He said the city will be broke by late April and he wants to cut $64 million,” Wilson reported. “He wants to eliminate furlough days and instead institute a 10 percent pay cut, replace overtime with straight time, get rid of the pension multiplier, totally privatize maintenance at DDOT, and lay-off 1000 workers. He ended the meeting with only four questions from us. He also said he doesn’t want to be the city’s emergency manager, that he was elected to be Mayor.”

City workers demand no attacks on pensions

Regarding Bing’s stance on becoming Detroit’s EM, Nolan Finley of the Detroit News commented Nov. 13, “The emergency manager law allows for public officials to ask for a consent agreement from the state that bestows on them certain powers of a state-appointed manager, without surrendering local control. That includes the ability to revise contracts to reduce budget-busting pension and health care obligations.”

Bing additionally demanded that city workers pay 30 percent of the cost of their health care, up 10 percent, saying the cuts in total would result in $118 million annually in savings. (Click on BINGS-UNION-DISCUSSION-POINTS[1] for copy of document Bing gave to the union leaders.)

Union leaders left the meeting enraged. 

AFSCME Co. 25 President Al Garrett (r), Metro Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams (center)

Al Garrett, president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, said, “Cuts and more cuts and more cuts, with little regret for the families of those who work for the city!  At the end of the day he is saying your jobs still won’t be safe, but while you’re waiting to become unemployed, you’re going to make less, pay more for your health care, and decimate whatever pensions you’re going to get, and that’s life in Detroit.” 

The Oct. 26 City Council agenda says the closed session on the Ernst & Young report was held to “discuss a privileged and confidential memo submitted by the Law Department dated October 21, 2011 entitled Report by Ernst & Young, LLP, Concerning the City of Detroit’s Cash Flow Analysis in the General Fund Area Beginning May 1, 2011 through August 26, 2011 as it Relates to the Emergency Financial Manager Legislation Otherwise Known as ‘The Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act.’” 

Council Pres. Pro-tem Gary Brown, Member Saunteel Jenkins, Pres. Charles Pugh; all have endorsed worker cuts

On the same day, the Council held another closed session to discuss another “privileged and confidential” matter: “The Necessity of Emergency Procurement for the Detroit Public Lighting Department for the Installation of New Lighting and Repair of the Grid System.” It later voted 5-4 for a three-quarter million dollar contract with DTE to fix 500 street lights out of 12,000 that are out. 

The Council has also scheduled a  Nov. 16 closed session  “to discuss privileged and confidential legal opinions submitted by RAD and the Law Department entitled (1) Legal Rationale for Proposed Amendment of the Privatization Ordinance dated October 26, 2011; (2) City of Detroit Privatization Ordinance dated October 3, 2011; and (3) Documents Supporting the Proposed Ordinance to Amend Article V, Chapter 18 of the 1984 Detroit City Code, Finance and Taxation, Purchased and Supplies, Division 8, Privatization of Certain City Services, commonly known as the “Privatization Ordinance.”

Closed sessions of bodies like the City Council, by state statute, are narrowly limited to discussions of matters like lawsuits. 

All Council members were contacted for their response on whether they voted for the secret session on the Ernst & Young report, whether they believed it was legal, and their stance on Bing’s demands to the unions. No council members had responded by press time.

Ernst & Young offices in New York

The Voice of Detroit and the Detroit Free Press have filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the Ernst & Young report, which cost $1.7 million of taxpayer funds, with the city’s Law Department.

VOD also contacted Ernst & Young’s media director Charles Perkins for comment on the New York and New Jersey lawsuits, with no response before press time.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed that state’s suit against Ernst & Young in December, 2010.

WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell gestures next to Ernst & Young CEO and chairman James S. Turley during a session untitled "What Is the New Economic Reality?" on the opening day of the World Economic Forum annual meeting on January 26, 2011 in Davos. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI)

In a release, he said Ernst & Young engaged in accounting fraud for seven years, explicitly approving the surreptitious removal of tens of billions of dollars in liabilities from Lehman’s balance sheet, transferring it temporarily to overseas banks, in order to deceive the public and the market about the company’s true financial condition.

 “This practice was a house-of-cards business model designed to hide billions in liabilities in the years before Lehman collapsed,” Cuomo said in a release. “Just as troubling, a global accounting firm, tasked with auditing Lehman’s financial statements, helped hide this crucial information from the investing public. Our lawsuit seeks to recover the fees collected by Ernst & Young while it was supposed to be using accountable, honest measures to protect the public.”  

(Click on  http://www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/dec/dec21a_10.html for copy of full statement. Click on www.ag.ny.gov/media_center/2010/dec/ErnstYoungComplaint.pdf. for copy of lawsuit.)

Ernst & Young London headquarters

The Wall Street Journal reported in October, 2010 that the state of New Jersey had re-instituted legal action against the company.

“New Jersey’s investment division, which manages pension- and retirement-plan funds for over 700,000 state workers, including teachers, police and firemen, pumped $385 million into Lehman, purchasing a combination of stock and notes from the investment bank before its collapse,” said the WSJ. It said New Jersey lost $192 million on its Lehman investment.

“[Ernst & Young’s] review reports were false, as E&Y knew or should have known that Lehman’s quarterly financial statements were not prepared in accordance with ‘generally accepted accounting principles,’” the WSJ quotes from the suit. “E&Y had no reasonable basis for issuing its clean audit and review reports.”

Bail Out the People, not the Banks march on Wall Street

One of the Big Four accounting firms, Ernst & Young is headquartered in London, UK,  and has member companies in over 140 countries, with global revenues of $22.9 billion.  In 2010, Forbes magazine ranked it as the ninth largest private company in the U.S.

It has offices all over the world, including one on Wall Street and a spanking brand new green glass building glowering over downtown Detroit.

It is part of the global cabal of banks, mortgage companies and professional services firms which created the current economic crisis. They are now demanding that workers and poor people suffer for their actions.

Crains’ Detroit Business reported from an interview with the City Council’s fiscal analyst Irvin Corley in April of this year that the city cannot borrow more money to shore up its finances.

“The city can’t fund its deficit with borrowed money,” Corley said according to the article. “Detroit’s low credit rating makes short-term borrowing too expensive, long-term borrowing would require state legislation, and the city lacks a revenue stream to pledge as security for another bond sale.” 

In June, Fitch Ratings downgraded Detroit’s Unlimited General Obligation bonds to BB- and its Limited General Obligation Bonds to B+, “outlook negative.” (Click on Fitch Downgrades Detroit bond ratings June 2011 for full report. It states essentially that Detroit’s decline was caused by the national economic crisis, which of course in turn was caused by Lehman Bros., Ernst & Young, Fitch Ratings, et. al.) 

Among other reasons Fitch cited for the downgrade: 

“The debt burden is exceptionally high, offset somewhat by a sizable amount of pension obligation bonds that result in well-funded pension plans.” Detroit borrowed $1.2 BILLION in pension obligation bonds in 2006. How that debt “offsets” the city’s other debt remains to be seen.  

(L to r) Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow, Stephen Murphy of Standard & Poors, Joe O'Keefe of Fitch, and Deputy Mayor Saul Green urge City Countil to borrow $1.2 billion in pension bonds in 2006

Ironically, Fitch representative Joe O’Keefe recommended in 2006 that Detroit  borrow that money, despite heavy opposition from some City Council members, who had to be forced to the table by police to make up a quorum. 

At the time, O’Keefe said Fitch rated the city “A,” with a negative outlook if the city did not enact lay-offs and service cutbacks to deal with a $300 million budget deficit.

The Kwame Kilpatrick administration and the City Council borrowed the money. In 2009, the lender, UBS Financial Services,  called in the debt, which would have caused total economic collapse in Detroit.  The lender, among whose agents was former Mayor Dennis Archer, compromised by agreeing that bank trustees would directly receive Detroit’s casino tax revenues and state-revenue sharing funds so that the $1.2 billion debt would be paid before all else. 

Therefore, according to recent reports, half of the city’s vendors, including those who supply parts for its buses, are going unpaid, and the city is threatening payless paydays for its workers. 

According to Detroit’s 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,  the city’s total debt is approximately $7.7 billion, including the $1.2 billion pension obligation certificates. 

 Also according to the 2010 CAFR the city was scheduled to pay a total of $433,691,964 in debt to the banks in 2011. Of that, $216,418,043 was to be in interest alone. THE INTEREST ALONE IS FAR GREATER THAN THE CITY’S DEFICIT!

The U.S. government has bailed out the banks to the tune of trillions of dollars–time for the banks to put their heads on the chopping block, not the workers and people of Detroit.

US  SUPREME COURT TO LOOK AT LIFE IN PRISON FOR JUVENILES 

WASHINGTON November 7, 2011 (AP)

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether juveniles convicted of killing someone may be locked up for life with no chance of parole, a follow-up to last year’s ruling barring such sentences for teenagers whose crimes do not include killing. 

The justices will examine a pair of cases from the South involving young killers who are serving life sentences for crimes they committed when they were 14. 

Kuntrell Jackson

Both cases were brought by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala. The institute said that life without parole for children so young “is cruel and unusual” and violates the Constitution. 

The group says roughly six dozen people in 18 states are under life sentences and ineligible for parole for crimes they committed at 13 or 14. 

Kuntrell Jackson was sentenced to life in prison in Arkansas after the shooting death of a store clerk during an attempted robbery in 1999. Another boy shot the clerk, but because Jackson was present he was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery. 

Evan Miller, foreground, and Colby Smith, wait for a jailer to take them back to the lockup after the teens pleaded not-guilty to capital murder and robbery charges Thursday. Photo by Clyde Stancil 2/2/06

Evan Miller was convicted of capital murder during the course of arson. A neighbor, while doing drugs and drinking with Miller and a 16-year-old boy, attacked Miller. Intoxicated, Miller and his friend beat the man and set fire to his home, killing the 52-year-old man. Miller’s friend testified against him, and got life in prison with the possibility of parole. 

The high court has moved toward judging juveniles less responsible than adults when considering severe sentences. 

The high court ruled out the use of the death penalty for people under 18 in 2005. In May 2010, the court said that teenagers may not be locked up for life without a chance of parole if they haven’t killed anyone. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in both of those decisions. 

“The identical analysis which led to the results in those cases logically compels the conclusion that consigning a 14-year-old to die in prison through a life-without-parole sentence categorically violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments,” Miller’s lawyer Bryan Stevenson said in court papers. The Supreme Court should “make that logical conclusion the law of the land.” 

The court will hear arguments next year. 

The cases are Miller v. Alabama, 10-9646 and Jackson v. Arkansas, 10-9647.

VOD: click on the following links to read Supreme Court questions and state court of appeals decisions in the cases:

Kuntrell Jackson questions and Kuntrell Jackson v State of Arkansas

Evan Miller questions and http://willamettelawonline.com/2011/11/miller-v-alabama/. 

SUPREME COURT DECISION COULD HAVE MAJOR IMPACT IN MICHIGAN

Thomas McCloud Jr. and Dontex Tillman

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

By John Barnes MLive.com

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear two cases involving whether life sentences without chance of parole for minors in death cases constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

With more “juvenile lifers” serving the mandatory sentences in Michigan than almost any other state, 358, the high court’s decision could have a large impact here.

The ruling comes as a similar case makes its way through federal court in Detroit. It was not immediately clear what impact Monday’s decision will have on the progress of the Michigan case.

It also comes as Mlive.com and its affiliated Booth Newspapers are running a series this week on juvenile lifers.

In deciding to hear the two new cases, the Supreme Court is potentially extending the reach of two recent decisions involving how juveniles are treated in adult court.

In 2005, the court ruled minors 17 and younger could not be given the death penalty.

In 2010, the court extended protections, ruling a minor could not be sentenced to life without  parole in non-homicide cases.

In both cases, the majority of justices ruled juveniles’ mental abilities are lesser developed than adults, and sentencing them as such violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The new cases would move the bar even further, banning mandatory life involving juvenile homicides, including when the juvenile was present at a crime, but did not commit the actual killing. About one-third of Michigan juvenile lifers fall in that category.

Both inmates in the cases involve 14-year-olds. But some Supreme Court watchers believe the justices would be unlikely to confine their ruling to that specific age, given their prior rulings using the 18th birthday as the constitutional dividing line.

There are about 70 such prisoners nationwide, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law firm in Alabama that represents the inmates.

Six juvenile lifers in in Michigan were 14 at the time of their crimes, including Dontez Tillman, the state’s youngest. He was profiled Monday on Mlive.com.

Michigan families traveled from across the state in 2006 to support legislation that would have outlawed juvenile life without parole sentencing' they included families of prisoners as well as family members of victims. Photo: Diane Bukowski

Edward Sanders

 VOD ed: Juvenile lifer Edward Sanders alerted us to this series of articles being published around the state by six different newspapers. Hopefully this coverage will encourage progress in the federal lawsuit being heard by U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of nine juvenile lifers. The last action on the case was Aug. 5, when the ACLU filed a response to the state’s motion for a stay pending interlocutroy appeal. Write Edward Sanders, #141545 at Kinross Correctional Facility, 16770 S. Watertower Drive  Kincheloe, MI 49788.

November 06, 2011; Updated: Thursday, November 10, 2011  

By John Barnes  Mlive.com

They were teenagers once, and did horrible things, or were in horrible places. People died. Sometimes at their hands; sometimes not. But they were present. 

And for that, they were told they will die, too, in prison. 

These are Michigan’s “juvenile lifers,” although most are much older now, sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole. And there are more in this state than in almost any other. 

Keith Maxey

There is Keith Maxey, wounded in a drug theft gone bad. He was unarmed and fled, but another man was killed. A jury found the 16-year-old just as responsible as if he had pulled the trigger. Except the shooter got a lighter sentence. 

There, too, are identical twins David and Michael Samel, arrested at 17 for beating a pool hall worker to death. Michael pleaded to a reduced charge and was released in 2009. David took his chances with a jury. He is in the 30th year of life without parole. 

And there is Cedric King, 14 when he helped set up a marijuana thief to be killed. Except the court thought he was a year older, and the victim survived. Still, confusion has persisted for years over whether he was given the state’s severest punishment, or something less, a Booth Michigan investigation found. 

Cedric King

As a federal judge in Detroit weighs whether such sentences are unconstitutional, reporters from six newspapers and MLive.com spread out across the state. 

FACTS 

A juvenile lifer primer 

In general, mandatory life without parole is reserved for first-degree murder, but that covers a range of crimes: premeditated killing; intentional or unintentional death during another felony; or aiding and abetting the previous crimes. 

Here’s how the treatment of minors charged and convicted of such crimes has evolved: 

• Pre-1988: Only 17-years-olds automatically treated as adults; 15- and 16-year-olds waived to adult court only if juvenile judge approved. No one younger than 15 tried in adult court.
• October 1988 through 1996: 15- and 16-year-olds automatically waived to adult court. A judge had two options: Mandatory life in adult prison, or send them to a juvenile facility for release no later than 21. The number of juvenile lifers more than doubled from the previous eight years.
• 1997 to now: 14-year-olds also automatically tried as adults. Prosecutors also can designate 14- to 16-year-olds for “adult-like” proceedings in juvenile court, and request those 13 and younger be subject to the same proceedings.The change gave juvenile judges three options:

1. Commit the minor to a juvenile facility until 21.
2. Sentence them as adults to life without parole.
3. Apply a “blended” sentence, where the minor would go to a juvenile facility until 21. The judge would then determine whether to order mandatory life. 

Nathaniel Abraham on trial at 11; his feet could not reach the ground from his chair.

Nathaniel Abraham is the most famous case. He was 11 in 1997 when he killed 18-year-old Ronnie Green. He was charged with first-degree murder but convicted of second-degree murder. A juvenile judge chose to sentence him to a juvenile facility. Abraham was released in 2007 at 21, but was arrested 16 months later on a drug charge. His earliest release date is next August. 

They interviewed nearly two dozen inmates, including some who committed their crimes before they could drive. They also talked to victims’ families, prosecutors, judges and lawmakers. 

What they found was regret and bitterness, anger and forgiveness. They also found an issue measured more in shades of gray than black and white. 

Ask Shirley Schwartz what her brother would think of imprisoning juveniles for life, and she pauses. 

“That’s a really difficult question,” she finally says. Her college professor brother was “very liberal,” she recalls, an advocate for his urban neighborhood in Grand Rapids’ Heritage Hill. That was where he met his killers; Jerry Freid died after being beaten to death with a baseball bat during a burglary by a 16- and a 17-year-old. 

Ask Schwartz the same question, what she thinks of life sentences for juveniles, and she does not hesitate. 

“I never believed in the death penalty,” she says. “After this happened, I was pretty sure I could pull the switch. You can afford to be a liberal when it doesn’t touch you.” 

Told one of her brother’s killers died in prison, Schwartz says one word. 

“Good.” 

 A state industry 

Michigan spends more than $10 million a year to house more juvenile lifers than all but one other state, Pennsylvania. 

In all, 358 inmates are serving life sentences for crimes committed from ages 14 to 17. One in five has been in prison 25 years or longer.  Continue reading →

Police at schene of Oakland shooting near Occupy Oakland camp

Deborah Dupre

Human Rights Examiner

November 11, 2011 – Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates. 

Police have confirmed the shooting death of a young man in a gunfight that broke out near 12 Street BART police station, adjacent to Occupy Oakland camp at Frank Ogawa Plaza Thursday evening, the second night the city turned the lights out at the camp. Although investigators say the fight was not between protesting human rights workers at the camp, police say due to the incident, protesters must dissolve the camp, a city councilman is blaming the mayor, the mayor says she wants the camp dissolved.

Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan confirmed to ABC7 News that the shooting victim in a gunfight that broke out near BART police station and Occupy Oakland has passed away from his injuries. 

“Six gunshots rang out shortly before 5 p.m. several feet from the 12th Street BART station adjacent to the plaza where Occupy protesters have set up camp,” reports ABC7. 

Occupy Oakland holds candlelight vigil for shooting victim

The human rights Occupy protesters were the first to administer first aid to victims according to ABC News. 

An acting spokesperson for the human rights defender protesters told ABC7 that maybe the victim had been hiding nearby from a person or a group of people at the encampment shortly before the incident. 

City councilman Ignacio de la Fuente said in a phone interview with ABC7, “I have been very vocal on the fact that this cannot continue. I think fear has become a reality. This mayor has got to take responsibility for that.” 

De La Fuente said the Occupy encampment “does a lot of harm to the city and the individuals, and they should just pack and leave — and if not, we should take whatever action is necessary.”

The Occupy protesters formed a human chain around the victim until help arrived and are holding a candlelight vigil this evening. Continue reading →

Concern over Lou Engle’s Views as Prayer Summit Comes to Detroit: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Prayer Rally Planned to Oppose Michigan TheCall Event
Updated: Wednesday, 09 Nov 2011, 3:57 PM EST

Posted By: myFOXDetroit.com Staff

DETROIT (AP) – A coalition of Detroit clergy and community activists plan to march to a downtown football stadium and hold a prayer rally while thousands gather inside for a 24-hour Christian event known as TheCall.

The gathering inside Ford Field espouses anti-Muslim, anti-homosexual and anti-abortion beliefs and is designed to separate people of various faiths, the Rev. Charles Williams II told reporters Wednesday.

TheCall is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Friday. Organizers have said Detroit is a “microcosm of our national crisis” that includes economic and racial struggles, as well as “the rising tide of the Islamic movement.”

Detroit area Muslim leaders have said they fear some attendees might provoke or disrupt Friday prayers at local mosques.

“We certainly don’t believe that the Muslim community is what cast a dark shadow over the city of Detroit in terms of economics,” said Williams, pastor of Historic King Solomon Church in Detroit.

“Our prayer will be a prayer where we will be calling on God to help us solve the foreclosure crisis; to help us solve the job crisis; to help us solve the education crisis. This is the prayer we should be calling on, not a message of hate against those who are United States residents.”

The Associated Press left a message Wednesday seeking comment from Lou Engle, co-founder of TheCall assemblies.

Concern over Lou Engle’s Views as Prayer Summit Comes to Detroit
Updated: Tuesday, 08 Nov 2011, 10:07 PM EST

By BILL GALLAGHER
WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com

DETROIT (WJBK) – Lou Engle is leading a prayer summit at Ford Field in Detroit this Friday and Saturday. His controversial remarks about homosexuals have raised concerns from Detroit religious leaders.

Rev. Charles Williams II, pastor of the historic King Solomon Baptist Church, is one of those leaders worried about Engle’s views.

“Any man who stands in Uganda and promotes a policy that would kill thousands of homosexuals [there] I think, obviously, is on the outside of what the real call for our Christian mission should actually be,” said Williams.

Muslim leaders are concerned about Engle’s belief that people of that faith are demonically possessed and require conversion to Christianity. The head of the Council on American Islamic Relations has spoken out against the call session in Detroit.

Meanwhile, Rev. Williams is calling for religious tolerance.

“I don’t believe, quite frankly, that the way he goes about his mission in terms of berating Muslims and Islam itself is the way to do that,” he said.

Lou Engle says Detroit needs economic and spiritual salvation.

Williams says Engle should concentrate his prayers on his native Minnesota.

“I would say to him that he can go back to Minnesota and spend his time praying in Minnesota, hopefully, that they might be able to be saved also,” he told us.

 Williams says he welcomes prayers for Detroit, but not divisive rhetoric.

“I think most of us in the City of Detroit and I think most Christians have much more sense then some of [these] radical religious right values that this guy’s promoting,” he explained. “We just don’t need that kind of politics of deception nor fear here in Detroit.”
Engle and representatives of TheCall did not return phone calls for comment.

Good Jobs Now is a broad coalition of community groups, faith leaders, concerned citizens and labor who are committed to solving the issues facing our neighborhoods and holding decision makers and elected officials accountable to create jobs and find solutions to those problems, Now.

The issues we are facing: 

• Detroit is suffering from unemployment rates worse than the Great Depression, coupled with a lack of job opportunities.
• There are abandoned and foreclosed homes at a level we have never seen before.
• Our educational system is in a crisis, leaving our children unprepared to compete for what jobs there are.
• The rising crime rate has made our neighborhoods unsafe and has caused a dramatic drop in population as people seek safer communities.

Click on GJN recruit for form to sign up with Good Jobs Now. Send to 2604 Fourth Street, Detroit, MI 48202.

Organizers celebrate resounding defeat of Ohio’s anti-collective bargaining law Nov. 8, 2011

 Ohio Issue 2: Controversial Anti-Union Law Defeated By Voters

Huffington Post

Amanda Terkel aterkel@huffingtonpost.com;  John Celock john.celock@huffingtonpost.com 

First Posted: 11/8/11 09:22 PM ET Updated: 11/8/11 10:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON — Ohioans overturned a divisive anti-union law on Tuesday, delivering a significant defeat to Republican Gov. John Kasich and a victory to labor unions.

Ohio voters rejected Issue 2, a ballot referendum on Senate Bill 5, a measure that restricts collective bargaining rights for more than 360,000 public employees, among other provisions. Opposition to the legislation inspired large protests from residents around the state this year.

Ohio governor John Kasich also signed law allowing guns in bars

Immediately after the results came in, union officials sent out statements declaring success.

“One message rang loud and clear tonight in Ohio and across the country: those who spend their time scapegoating workers and pushing a partisan agenda will only strengthen the resolve of working people,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “From the very beginning, it’s been clear that Gov. Kasich, and indeed many politicians, were pushing an agenda that was about politics, not about solving our nation’s problems or creating jobs.”

“Even after John Kasich locked the doors to democracy and shut out everyday heroes from the Statehouse, in the cold, blister of February — working people never lost hope. We marched in the spring, circulated petitions in the summer and now, this fall, we delivered a win for all working people by defeating Issue 2, repealing Senate Bill 5,” added Becky Williams, president of SEIU District 1199 in Ohio.  

Video from WE ARE OHIO: The WE ARE OHIO coalition brought together thousands of union members, community activists and concerned citizens to build opposition to Issue 2 on the November 8 ballot. A NO VOTE on Issue 2 overturns Ohio Senate Bill 5 which eliminated collective bargaining rights for public employees. Members of the Ohio Education Association were critical in the coalition’s efforts to defeat Issue 2.

Kasich held a press conference shortly after the fate of Issue 2 had been declared, saying it was time for him to “take a deep breath” and figure out what to do next.

“When I say it is a time to pause, it is right now, on this issue,” he said. “The people have spoken clearly. You don’t ignore the public. Look, I also have an obligation to lead. I’ve been leading since the day I took this office, and I’ll continue to do that. But part of leading is listening and hearing what people have to say to you.”

Ohioans rallied against SB 5 by the tens of thousands at state capitol and elsewhere earlier this year.

Kasich signed SB 5 into law on March 31, although the law was put on hold during the referendum campaign. The labor-aligned group We Are Ohio organized the anti-Issue 2 effort, and Building A Better Ohio led the pro-Issue 2 fight.

Tuesday’s defeat may have nullified SB 5, but parts of the law may not be dead in the long term. While much of the public attention has centered on the law’s ban on collective bargaining for public employees, the law also contained provisions to require public employees to contribute to their health care and pension benefits, along with pushing merit pay for teachers — proposals that polled well in the run-up to the election.

Ohio State Rep. Mike Foley (D) said the Republican leadership in the legislature may try to pass these proposals one by one when they reconvene in January.

“They could act and take bits and pieces of it and try a new bill on teacher merit pay or health care…or any of the parts of the bill that they think they can get passed,” Foley said. “I don’t know if they will. We’ll have to see. … I think some of the Republican members on their side of the aisle are going to start looking at their leadership funny if they come back with another collective bargaining bill.”

“We certainly are going to be ready for that, if we’re still in the same kind of political situation of them controlling the state legislature and governor’s office,” added AFL-CIO Political Director Mike Podhorzer. “We’re hoping the vote on Tuesday will have demonstrated this is enormously unpopular. Continue reading →

Two arrested, released with ‘disrupting public meeting’ charges after march on WSU police station 

CEO, “still on the loose,” spent 22 years with Goldman Sachs, under investigation by DOJ 

Videos: Occupy Chicago disrupts Walker’s talk; Occupy Oakland strikes; Occupy Pittsburgh People of Color Working Group expresses solidarity

By Diane Bukowski 

November 7, 2011  

OD protester Joe McGuire is handcuffed after being hauled out of Niederauer taping Nov. 2, 2011

DETROIT – Occupy Detroit protesters sustained their first arrests Nov. 2 as they confronted one of the highest level criminal banksters on Wall Street and in the world, Duncan Neiderauer, during a taped interview at Wayne State University (WSU). 

Joe McGuire and Susan Ross stood up in the audience at two intervals to demand to know why Neiderauer is not in prison. They were promptly hauled off by WSU police in handcuffs. Occupy Detroiters then took the streets in a militant march to WSU police headquarters to demand their release. 

“I would like to know if you guys have some code word that you use with the police to avoid going to jail for your crimes?” McGuire asked Neiderauer only minutes into the taping. He was sitting in the front row of an audience of about 40 people. 

Duncan Neiderauer calling the shots on Wall Street

As WSU cops handcuffed McGuire behind the Maccabees Building, where the taping was held, he said, “I requested an attorney and invoked my right to remain silent,” he said. Unphased, he added, “I’m going to call my mom too.” 

Ironically, McGuire himself just passed the bar, having graduated from WSU’s Law School. The officers would not say why they were arresting him. 

Susan Reed thanks protesters as Joe McGuire listens, after they were freed

About 15 minutes later, Susan Reed stood up to tell Neiderauer that he needed to be held accountable for the Wall Street meltdown. She was similarly hauled out in handcuffs, with word of her arrest reaching the marchers as they got to the police station. 

Attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild Detroit chapter represented them, and they were eventually released with “disorderly conduct” charges.

Neiderauer has been CEO of NYSE Euronext, which owns the New York Stock Exchange and four European stock markets, the first global equities exchange, since 2007. NYSE Euronext is in merger talks with Deutsche Börse, owner of the main German stock market as well as the Eurex derivatives exchange. The merger would make it the world’s largest stock exchange operation with a $15 trillion total capitalization of listed companies.

Occupy Detroiters take the street to the WSU police station

“We are moving forward with our merger with Deutsche Boerse and have just recently conducted a hearing before the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission,” Neiderauer said in a Nov. 3 release.

“. . . .given the strong prospects for growth for investors as a result of our proposed merger and the company’s current valuation, we recently announced a plan to acquire up to $100 million in stock in the fourth quarter, as part of our Board authorized stock buy-back program.” 

Graeme Irvine, editor of Currency Countdown, had a different take in a Nov. 7 article  (http://www.currencycountdown.com/2011/11/lir-insolvent.html .)

Ross Hill Academy students at bus stop cheer protesters on

“The [Wall Street] journal this morning raises the prospect that most of Europe’s banks are actually insolvent,” Irvine said. “ Still holding on to ‘assets,’ sovereign debt and failed US ‘triple-A’ mortgage securities, that need to be written down to reality. To which all I would say is so are the giant American banks. Still being allowed to mark assets to the fantasy model and pretend everything is normal.  It’s in large measure why banks won’t or can’t lend to each other. If my books aren’t real yours probably aren’t either. Since the banksters fear that the system can’t be fixed and the banking model must be changed, it’s why they continue looting the system for all its worth while they can.”

Neiderauer spent 22 years, from 1985 until 2007, as a managing partner of Goldman Sachs, currently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for “looting the system,” to use Irvine’s term.

Protesters marched at police station until Joe and Susan were released

The company is named in a 635 page report from the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse. The report alleges that Goldman Sachs misled investors, profiting from the collapse of the mortgage markets at its’ clients’ expense.  The alleged crimes involved collaterized debt obligations (CDO’s) which Goldman Sachs sold to investors, then bet short on them.

Matt D. calls to marchers after cops arrested him; marchers chanted "Let him go!"

The actions took place from 2004-2oo8, during Neiderauer’s tenure. The company has also been implicated in creating the 2005-2008 world “food bubble,” during which food prices skyrocketed, by creating the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI). Some say Goldman Sachs profited while people across the world went hungry or even starved.

In 2010, Goldman Sachs was charged with civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It settled the lawsuit for $550 million, which the SEC termed the largest commission penalty to date for a Wall Street firm. But it was later referred for criminal investigation by the DOJ, which is still ongoing.

Protesters crowded sidewalk until cops freed Matt

The Nov. 2 taping was part of a series, “Leaders on Leadership,” produced by the WSU School of Business Administration in partnership with WTVS Channel 56, and hosted by Larry Fotes,  After the disruptions, Fotes and Neiderauer finished taping, but the show, which was to be aired live and archived, is not currently on websites for WSU and WTVS.

Police were on the ready as audience members, who had pre-registered for the event, came in. However, no announcement was made prior to the taping warning audience members that they could not speak. They were only told to turn off their cell-phones and refrain from “rustling papers.” 

Demonstrator reflects general sentiments on march

After McGuire’s arrest, dozens of Occupy Detroiters marched from the Maccabees Building down Cass Avenue to the police headquarters.

Chanting,“Whose streets? Our Streets,”  “Where Wayne State students are under attack, stand up, fight back” and “This is what a police state looks like,” they took over both sides of the street, blocking traffic. They were dogged by numerous police cars, which eventually included Detroit police.

Police arrested Matt Dwiecielicz during the march, but ticketed him for loitering and released him after marchers gathered around chanting, “Let him go! Let him go!”

At the station, marchers chanted “Let Joe Go!” and “Let Susie Go!” as students at a bus stop across the street, who said they were from the Ross Hill Academy, cheered them on. 

Joe rallies crowd after release from detention

On his release, McGuire said, “This moment is just a beginning. We want more people to realize that we need to stop people like this from coming to our school. We didn’t cause the economic crisis, Wall Street and companies like Goldman Sachs did.”

Matt Lockwood, WSU’s director of communications, said the two were arrested for “disrupting a public meeting,” a misdemeanor, but did not explain how the meeting was public, since pre-registration was necessary. He falsely claimed that the audience was warned against disruption before the meeting. 

WISCONSIN GOV. SCOTT WALKER MIC-CHECKED

When Wisconsin Governor gave a speech at Chicago’s Union League Club the morning of Nov 3rd, he had some unexpected guests from Occupy Chicago!

 Occupy Oakland joins with Occupy San Francisco and area unions in massive rally and partial general strike.

 The People of Color Working Group with Occupy Pittsburgh makes powerful statement of solidarity with Occupy Movement, calls for dismantling of white supremacy.