Civic Engagement and Elections in Michigan

In a very memorable episode of Seinfeld, Kramer and Newman take off in Newman’s mail truck loaded down with empty pop cans to return in Michigan for a tidy profit of 10 cents per can. The scheme was hatched in Jerry’s apartment, and their initial run was to be a sort of test to see whether or not a massive operation of muling pop cans into Michigan to defraud our bottle bill program was feasible.

Lame Duck Heroes and Zeros

The end of 2018 was record-breaking. After passing 351 bills over the course of the first 22 months of Michigan’s 99^th legislative session, lawmakers passed a whopping 408 bills in a frenzied four-week long lame duck session. This was the busiest and the most environmentally destructive lame duck session in state history. Many of the bills passed were so widely unpopular that sponsors neglected to introduce them until after things died down post general election.

The Michigan lame duck legislature is racing to pass attacks on our water before the new legislature and Governor are seated in January. We need all Michigan clean water activists to help fight back by making two quick phone calls, one to your State House Representative and one to your State Senator, asking them to oppose the multiple anti-environment and anti-democratic initiatives that corporate lobbyists have pushed lawmakers to pursue during this backward and unaccountable session.