Posts published in “Guest Column”

If you pay attention to headlines, no doubt you’ve been reading about issues with how Michigan’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission has carried out its conversations about our state’s new redistricting map. This is a process…

  Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many asking for the science and data used to make policy decisions have faced nothing but roadblocks. The Mackinac Center is one such group. In May of 2020, we sent…

Educators knew. Policymakers often denied or ignored the issue. For a decade across the country, the teacher shortage quietly grew. In Michigan, the shortage was deepened by the lowest inflation-adjusted revenue increase of any state…

  We Michiganders overwhelmingly approved Proposal 2 in 2018 to end rigged elections. While gerrymandering conjures images of squiggly boundary lines, what upsets voters most is political maps that sustain the power of one party…

The public ought to be concerned — deeply concerned — about the operation of its local government when it comes to public health. I serve as the health officer for six counties and two local…

For months, a group of mothers of seriously injured auto crash victims — including myself — have been begging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for a few minutes of her time. Not as Democrats, Republicans or a…

It’s an exciting time in Michigan right now as voters — not politicians — are drawing the maps for our elected officials for the first time in state history. Unfortunately, we’ve seen increasing efforts to…

  A couple months ago at a hockey rink in Kalamazoo, I enjoyed seeing democracy in action at one of the 15-plus public hearings held around Michigan by the new Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC).…

The pandemic has brought a welcome and long-overdue focus on child care as the bedrock component of a functioning economy and an essential service to support working families. Yet the simple fact remains: Wages for…