Black fascist corporate agents David Bing, Kevyn Orr and their white overseer Rick Snyder. The banks are enslaving Detroit to seize public assets and pension funds to gamble away on Wall Street., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
October 21, 2013 at 1:00 am
Snyder asks judge to block emails, documents about EM search
Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing — Exerting a broad executive privilege, Gov. Rick Snyder has asked a Wayne County judge to block disclosure of internal emails and documents members of his administration exchanged last winter while deliberating over candidates for Detroit’s emergency manager.
On Friday, Attorney General Bill Schuette filed an emergency motion on Snyder’s behalf seeking gubernatorial intervention in a lawsuit brought by union activist Robert Davis against the state Treasury Department for documents pertaining to the emergency manager search process.
Snyder seeks to become a defendant in the case to “protect the other candidates for the emergency manager position from being unnecessarily burdened and harassed, and to preclude Davis from furthering his ‘fishing expedition’ and quest for media attention,” Schuette’s office wrote in court papers.
Circuit Judge Maria Oxholm has scheduled an 11 a.m. Tuesday hearing on Snyder’s motion to intervene. Last week, Oxholm ordered the Treasury Department to provide her with copies of the un-redacted records under seal, court records show.
Redacted documents disclosed in the suit reveal Snyder’s office entered into a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement Jan. 7 with an unnamed man “to hold discussions regarding the possibility of the appointment of an emergency manager.” The state didn’t declare Detroit to be in a financial emergency until Feb. 19.
On Jan. 6, Snyder chief of staff Dennis Muchmore approved the confidentiality agreement drafted by Lansing attorney Richard McLellan, according to emails disclosed in the lawsuit.
The emails suggest the potential emergency manager candidate that Snyder’s staff was speaking with in confidence was someone they knew, not an out-of-state candidate like Washington, D.C., bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr, who was appointed to the post in March.
“Lets go with this. I doubt we can be too worried about (redacted name) under any circumstances,” Muchmore wrote in an email to Snyder, McClellan, state Treasurer Andy Dillon and gubernatorial adviser Richard Baird. “He’s handled a lot of sensitive material in his life, and I suspect he keeps everything to his vest under any circumstances.”
A Michigan Court of Appeals panel and federal bankruptcy judge have blocked previous attempts by Davis and labor unions to force the Governor’s Office to disclose unredacted emails related the emergency manager search.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Governor’s Office is exempt from disclosing public records, but the Treasury Department is not, which is why Davis’ group, Citizens United Against Corrupt Government, sued the state agency and its Freedom of Information Act coordinator.
Schuette’s office says Dillon and his department employees’ emails detailing emergency manager deliberations should be extended the same executive privilege protection from disclosure that Snyder’s staff has.
“For all intents and purposes, those involved in the process were acting for the benefit of the governor and the executive office,” Schuette wrote. “ ... The governor’s verbal and written communications with those high level officials who advise him must be afforded protection and deference, to assure that such communications can be candid and confidential.”
Davis said he’s trying to determine whether one of the unnamed candidates was Detroit mayoral hopeful Mike Duggan, though the former Detroit Medical Center CEO has denied he was ever offered the emergency manager job.
In a separate failed lawsuit seeking to nullify Orr’s appointment, Davis obtained emails showing Duggan urged Baird in February against the appointment of an emergency manager until after the Nov. 5 mayoral election. Baird has testified in Detroit’s bankruptcy case that he began recruiting Orr for the job in late January, several weeks before the March 14 appointment.
Davis works for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25, which is supporting Duggan’s opponent, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, in the mayoral race. Davis assisted a court fight earlier this year to remove Duggan’s name from the ballot of the August primary, which Duggan won as a write-in candidate.
Separately, Davis is awaiting trial on charges of stealing from the Highland Park school district.
clivengood@detroitnews.com
(517) 371-3660
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131021/METRO01/310210021#ixzz2iPVrVNPP
October 21, 2013 at 9:05 pm
Snyder's NERD Fund to be dissolved
Gary Heinlein and Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing — Gov. Rick Snyder’s NERD Fund will be scrapped and replaced with a new more transparent fund, his spokeswoman, Sara Wurfel, confirmed Monday.
“The fund is in the process of being dissolved,” Wurfel said. It can’t be closed until year’s end for tax reasons, but will collect no new money, she said.
Despite full confidence that it was in compliance with state and federal tax and election laws by the board overseeing the fund, it had become an unnecessary distraction, Wurfel said.
Its replacement “will go far above and beyond what the law requires,” she said, including quarterly online disclosure of donors, amounts given and spending details by category.
The NERD Fund created controversy because it was, until recently, paying the $100,000 annual salary of Snyder top adviser and friend Rich Baird, who recruited Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and state Budget Director John Nixon.
The Detroit News first reported last week that Baird, a retired PricewaterhouseCoopers executive, had been transferred to the state payroll at a $140,000 salary.
The nonprofit fund, whose name is an acronym for New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify, also has covered Orr’s living and travel expenses.
Critics questioned the lack of disclosure of fund donors. During a deposition on Detroit’s bankruptcy, Snyder said he doesn’t know who they are.
Late Monday afternoon, the directors released as statement saying the board is eliminating the fund at Snyder’s request.
“The fund has been used to advance good government in Michigan while easing the burden on taxpayers,” the statement said, adding board members “are proud of the work that has been achieved with the fund’s resources” and that it “has been administered in full compliance with state and federal laws.”
“These types of funds are not uncommon.” the statement added. “The legality of the fund and the integrity with which it is administered has never been questioned.”
Political adversaries pounced on Monday’s announcement, with Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Lon Johnson saying past fund donors shouldn’t remain secret.
“We know Rick Snyder’s slush fund will no longer be paying for Rich Baird’s salary, Kevyn Orr’s travel and luxury housing and improvements to Rick Snyder’s home — but what we don’t know is far more concerning,” Johnson said.
Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift was equally critical.
“The question still remains, why was it set up in the first place?” Swift said. “Who did it serve and why back away from it now?”
Swift noted NERD Fund directors who helped get Snyder elected in 2010 received political appointments:
■Fund President Charlie Secchia, a Grand Rapids developer, to the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority in March 2012.
■Fund Secretary-Treasurer Brad Canale to the Natural Resources Trust Fund in November 2012. He is executive director of advancement at the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering.
■Past fund Vice President David Nicholson to the Wayne State University Board of Governors in February. Nicholson is an executive at PVS Chemicals Inc. in Detroit.
“These are people who are close to Snyder and they’re leading the NERD Fund and yet … Snyder testified under oath that he knows nothing about the contributors,” Swift said. “I just don’t find it believable.”
Mark Schauer, the likely 2014 Democratic candidate for governor, seized the opportunity to criticize the incumbent.
“The appearance of impropriety and conflicts of interest won’t go away until the governor discloses existing NERD Fund donors,” Schauer said. “Michigan taxpayers deserve answers, not more political excuses from Gov. Snyder.”
Remaining fund money will go to expenses for which it was created, such as technology and event outreach, staff meetings and travel, Wurfel said.
The new fund will be “essential to continued reinvention efforts, saving taxpayer dollars and helping ensure responsive, accessible government,” she added.
gheinlein@detroitnews.com
(517) 371-3660
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131021/POLITICS02/310210100#ixzz2iPWaBk8M
October 21, 2013 at 3:39 pm
UAW lawyer: Detroit's historic filing will change Chapter 9
Chad Livengood and Robert Snell
Detroit News
Detroit — The city’s Chapter 9 filing puts bankruptcy law at a historic crossroads that could end with the city violating the state constitution by shedding billions of dollars in public pension debt, a union lawyer said Monday.
A final pretrial hearing in federal court Monday foreshadowed the fight over the fate of public pensions as city unions and retiree groups held a spirited debate with Detroit’s bankruptcy legal team. The fight will likely intensify Wednesday at the start of a trial that will determine whether Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy relief.
“We are at one of those moments that I think we will look back on and say ‘this is where Chapter 9 changed,’” United Auto Workers lawyer Babette Ceccotti told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes while objecting to the city’s eligibility for Chapter 9 bankruptcy relief.
Ceccotti urged the judge to uphold state constitutional protections of vested public pensions despite the city’s goal of shedding the obligation in bankruptcy court.
Detroit’s top bankruptcy lawyer Bruce Bennett said the state constitution might protect vested public pensions, but the city’s financial situation is dire.
The power of a Chapter 9 bankruptcy lets municipalities cut pensions and contracts despite state constitutional protections, Bennett said.
“You can say pensions cannot be impaired, but the reality is, at the end of the day, there isn’t enough money to pay them,” Bennett told the judge.
If city unions and retiree groups don’t like expected pension cuts, try life outside of bankruptcy court, Bennett said.
“We’ll see how it turns out,” Bennett warned. “I think that will not be a good outcome.”
Ceccotti said she hopes Detroit is blocked from cutting pensions while restructuring its $18 billion in debt. She joined lawyers for various retiree groups and unions that are trying to kick Detroit out of bankruptcy court by arguing, among several reasons, that the Chapter 9 filing is unconstitutional.
Earlier Monday, the UAW signaled it wants to call Gov. Rick Snyder and two senior members of his administration to the witness stand in a trial that starts Wednesday and will determine whether Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy relief.
The UAW, which represents a portion of the city’s unionized workforce, wants to ask Snyder, outgoing state Treasurer Andy Dillon and gubernatorial aide Richard Baird under oath about the administration’s “motivation for Chapter 9 filings and dealings between Emergency Manager and state officials,” according to a proposed pretrial order obtained Monday by The News.
The UAW has sent trial subpoenas to Snyder, Dillon and Baird.
“Our plan is to have them go ahead and testify live during the trial,” UAW lawyer Peter Dechiara said Monday.
The state Attorney General’s Office doesn’t want the trio to testify and offered, instead, to have their depositions available during the trial.
“We do not believe the governor should testify because it is unnecessary,” said Matthew Schneider, chief legal counsel to state Attorney General Bill Schuette. “If he did not testify, it would speed up the trial.”
Rhodes, however, said he prefers live testimony. It was not clear when Snyder would be called to testify.
In all, there could be 15 to 16 witnesses testifying during the trial.
The city anticipates its case could be finished by the end of Friday.
The city will open the eligibility trial by calling five witnesses, including Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Police Chief James Craig.
The city’s witness list also includes restructuring consultant Kenneth Buckfire.
Rhodes told lawyers for the city and various creditors not to file post-trial briefs, a possible signal he will rule from the bench immediately after the trial.
“You should focus the full thrust of your arguments that you want to make to the court on your closing arguments,” Rhodes told lawyers Monday.
In the bankruptcy case of Stockton, Calif., the bankruptcy judge ruled immediately after the trial that the city was eligible for Chapter 9 relief.
The UAW has opposed Detroit’s petition for bankruptcy protection from its creditors on grounds that the Chapter 9 process could be used to make deep cuts to pensions for retiree and active city employees.
Other city labor unions, retiree groups and Detroit’s pension funds want to use Snyder, Dillon and Baird’s sworn depositions as testimony in the trial.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is holding a pretrial conference at 10 a.m. Monday to finalize how the eligibility trial will be run.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2028
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131021/METRO01/310210079#ixzz2iPXW0kSI
UAW subpoenas Snyder in Detroit bankruptcy
4:55 PM, October 21, 2013
By Nathan Bomey
Detroit Free Press Business Writer
The UAW is trying to force Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to testify during Detroit’s bankruptcy eligibility trial, which starts Wednesday.
The union disclosed this morning at a bankruptcy hearing that it issued subpoenas to Snyder, Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon and Snyder aide Rich Baird, requesting them to testify in person on their roles in the city’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.
Judge Steven Rhodes said that his preference is for witnesses to testify live, which would require that Snyder be called to the witness stand and cross examined by union attorneys. The union wants Snyder to discuss his role in authorizing the city's Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing on July 18, which the UAW and Michigan Council 25 of AFSCME say was a foregone conclusion when Snyder appointed Kevyn Orr as Detroit emergency manager in March.
Detroit's bankruptcy attorneys also disclosed plans to call Detroit Police Chief James Craig to testify at the trial, presumably to expound on the city’s argument that it is "service delivery insolvent."
As expected, Orr will also testify live during the city's portion of the trial, joining Ernst & Young’s Gaurav Malhotra, Conway MacKenzie's Charles Moore and Miller Buckfire’s Ken Buckfire.
Michigan chief legal counsel Matthew Schneider asked Rhodes to block Snyder from being required to appear in court. Snyder recently agreed to a three-hour deposition, where he answered questions under oath about his decision to authorize the city’s bankruptcy filing.
"We believe the governor should not testify because it’s not necessary," Schneider said.
Rhodes appeared unsympathetic to that request.
"That’s not exactly what the federal rules of civil procedure or evidence contemplate, is it?" Rhodes said. "The rules contemplate the use of deposition testimony when witnesses are not available. So why should there be a different process here?"
Schneider responded, "If the objectors want the governor as a witness, we want direction as to when would we be doing this?"
Rhodes responded: "That’s a fair question."
Rhodes left open the possibility that the UAW and attorneys for the city of Detroit could reach an agreement in which Snyder would not testify.
But UAW attorney Peter Dechiara gave no indication that the union, which represents some city workers, would back down.
"We recognize that the governor is a very busy man," Dechiara said. "We’re certainly not going to make any unreasonable demands."
Also this morning, it became clear that the bankruptcy eligibility trial would last at least five business days and perhaps longer. The trial is expected to take place Oct. 23-25 and Oct. 28-29. But it could last longer, with possible hearings scheduled for the week of Nov. 4-8.
The city of Detroit must prove that it is eligibile for Chapter 9 bankruiptcy, which requires the city to be insolvent, prove legal authorization to file, show it negotiated in good faith with creditors or prove that such talks were not practical.
Several major labor groups are fighting the bankruptcy filing in a bid to get Rhodes to throw it out of court. They include the UAW, Michigan Council 25 of AFSCME, the city’s two pension funds and a committee representing the city’s retirees.
Geoffrey Irwin, an attorney for Jones Day, which represents the city, said his team finish its portion of the case within three days. But then the objectors will get their chance to call witnesses. That list of witnesses was not disclosed this morning.
Rhodes weighed the prospect of imposing time limits on the trial, but decided against it.
"I’m pleased to hear, at least at the outset, that everyone has the intention to proceed here crisply and efficiently," said Rhodes said. "It of course will remain to be seen whether this intent gets executed or not."
Rhodes will conduct another hearing at 1 p.m. today to hear legal arguments on the city’s eligibility for bankruptcy.
Contact Nathan Bomey: 313-223-4743 or nbomey@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @NathanBomey.
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