Money, sex, and politics! Larry Inman is indicted, anti-choice forces attack, Dems on car insurance, and more

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Michigan Policast for 5-20-2019

Segment One:  State House Representative Larry Inman

Walt, Christine, and Amy run through a handful of hot topics in this episode, starting with the troubled State Representative Larry Inman.  Inman, who represents 104th District of Grand Traverse County, has been indicted for extortion and Amy gives us the details on this one.

• State Representative Larry Inman Indicted – Press Release from Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan
• Inman Indictment document (pdf) on DOJ web site
• Michigan House of Representatives site for Larry Inman
• Indicted Michigan lawmaker Larry Inman: ‘Text messages can be taken out of context'

Inman went on to text, “it's not worth losing assignments and staff for $5,000,” and “you need to get people maxed out,” according to the indictment. “People will not go down for $5,000, not that we don't appreciate it.”

'you need to get people maxed out ... People will not go down for $5,000, not that we don't appreciate it.' via @freepClick To Tweet

• GOP lawmakers deny knowledge of Inman's alleged bribery scheme — great comprehensive article by Detroit News
• Northern Michigan Representatives Calling For Rep. Larry Inman to Resign

• Larry Inman's Political Summary on Vote Smart
• Gov. Whitmer calls cash-for-votes allegations against lawmaker ‘very disturbing’

Segment Two:  Forced birth / anti-choice forces in Michigan

Note from Christine – The Maternal Infant Health Program is what I am referring to in this segment as one of the ‘stop-gap' programs that are defunct or inadequately funded. I was speaking from my experience covering the Shiawassee County Health Department several years ago when it cut prenatal care from its programs. Prenatal care was a required service of local health departments, and the Shiawassee Dept had allegedly stopped this service illegally. The service has since been restored.

• Michigan House Bill 4320 (2019)
• Senate Bill 0229 (2019)
• STATE POLICY UPDATES: Major Developments in Sexual & Reproductive Health from the Guttmacher Institute
• Right to Life of Michigan launches ballot drive to ban abortion procedure

… Right to Life would need 340,047 signatures to make it (nearly 90,000 more than last election). RTL said its goal is to collect 400,000 signatures.

Abortion and birth control – polling report with historical data

 

Segment Three:  Auto insurance

• GOP touts ‘productive' auto insurance talks but Whitmer ‘draws the line’ on medical opt-out
• Michigan House Democrats Outline D.R.I.V.E. Auto Insurance Reform Plan to Lower Insurance Rates by Forty Percent

“Our D.R.I.V.E. plan puts drivers at the center of our solutions and makes sure they see a forty percent rate reduction for years to come.” ~@DonnaLasinski on @MiHouseDems #CarInsurance proposalClick To Tweet

• More details on the Michigan House Democrats D.R.I.V.E plan, including a savings calculator and a way to share your auto insurance horror stories

 

'When you're proud of your work, you show it to the people. You don't hide it in the dark.' ~@ChrisGreigMI37 on ramming car insurance legislation through the Michigan House of RepresentativesClick To Tweet

 

 

Segment Four:  Democratic Presidential Primary

• Meet all the Democratic candidates in the crowded 2020 race
• The 2020 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet
• 2020 Primary Schedule from Election Central

20 qualifiers for #DemDebates (*polls+donors; ^polls; $donors)
Biden*
Booker*
Buttigieg*
Castro*
Gabbard*
Harris*
Klobuchar*
O'Rourke*
Sanders*
Warren*
Yang*
Bullock^
Delaney^
Gillibrand^
Hickenlooper^
Inslee^
Ryan^
Swalwell^
de Blasio^
Williamson$ (1 poll shy)

Bennet 1 poll shy

— Geoffrey Skelley (@geoffreyvs) May 17, 2019

 

Wrapping up:  more resources and fun stuff

An incredibly interesting Young Turks segment on personhood and Elizabeth Warren's pro-choice stance as well. So good.

 

Here we have the Joe Biden video from the campaign launch that Walt mentioned

Larry Inman talking about the indictment

Thanks for listening !!