CONYERS, Kildee & Lawrence Urge Governor Snyder To Ensure Local Taxpayers Don't Foot The Bill For Emergency Managers' Mistakes

Washington, D.C. – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, today led a letter to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, urging him to strongly reconsider requirements that local governments operating under Emergency Management, pay the legal fees and judgements against their Emergency Managers.  In addition to Congressman John Conyers, Jr., the letter to Governor Snyder is signed by Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-5) and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (MI-14). 

Currently, Michigan’s Local Financial Stability and Choice Act, MCL § 141.1560, requires local governments to cover the costs associated with appointed emergency managers who are sued in that capacity. However, legal fees incurred during Congressional investigations by former Emergency Manager for Detroit Public Schools and the City of Flint, Darnell Earley, have been voluntarily paid by the state. Congressman Conyers, Congressman Kildee, and Congresswoman Lawrence are calling on Governor Snyder to ensure all of Earley’s legal fees are covered by the state, not local taxpayers; and to ensure local governments are not required to pay legal fees associated with emergency managers’ mistakes.

“The exception made in the case of Darnell Earley, should be the rule moving forward,” said Congressman Conyers. “Local taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for mistakes made by state appointed officials who they didn’t elect. Governor Snyder must ensure the burden of legal fees incurred by emergency managers falls on the state, not local governments.”

“Michigan families should not have to pay the legal bills for state-appointed emergency financial managers. Unelected emergency financial managers are accountable only to the Governor and the state should have to pay for their mistakes,” Congressman Kildee 

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

said.

“I find it unreasonable to place the burden of legal fees incurred by emergency managers on local taxpayers,” said Congresswoman Lawrence. “Michiganders should not be on the hook for the mistakes of the Governor’s appointed emergency managers. The State’s emergency manager law disenfranchises voters and takes away local control. Local taxpayers should not be required to foot the bill of fraud and abuse committed by Snyder’s appointees. The State should absorb the financial burden imposed by such crimes and Governor Snyder should ensure that taxpayers are protected from the misuse of their hard earned dollars.”

In their letter, the Members wrote, “…we find it deeply troubling that the former Emergency Manager of the Detroit Public Schools and the City of Flint, Darnell Earley, requested that Flint reimburse more than $75,000 in legal fees that he incurred while under investigation by Congress regarding his role in causing the City’s water crisis…By diverting local taxes from crucial priorities to pay for unelected officials’ legal fees representation and damages, this law places a burden on local taxpayers even as it removes their control of that burden.”

“Further, it would appear to frustrate several federal statutes designed to protect the civil and constitutional rights of our citizens.  And, it permits the State of Michigan to shift responsibility for its actions to localities by dipping into the local taxpayers’ pocketbooks, even in cases where those taxpayers are injured by an Emergency Manager’s conduct…,” the Members continued.

Conyers, Kildee, Lawrence Letter to Snyder 5.19.16 by Beverly Tran

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Conyers Calls for Real Action to Restore Detroit Public Schools

DETROIT – Yesterday, the Michigan House of Representatives introduced a package of bills that is intended to fix the financial problems being faced by Detroit Public Schools. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued the following statement after the proposed legislation passed the Michigan House:

Dean of the U.S.House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“The legislative proposal put forward by the Michigan House is unserious and regrettable.  It continues to pursue the failed model that has brought us to this precipice: it denies students the resources they need to learn and educators the conditions they need to teach.  After the Michigan Senate worked out a deal all sides could work with, it is distressing to see our state representatives offering nothing more than austerity cloaked in the language of reform.

“Everyday, our schools struggle to educate children who come to school hungry for the lives and futures that too many take for granted.  That the majority of Michigan House members cannot even overcome their own selfish interests tells us where real reform is needed.

“I am calling on Governor Snyder to stand up to the fringes of his party, and with my state colleagues--Republicans and Democrats--who put the public good ahead of their own ideological crusades. The Governor must announce he would veto the House bills if presented before him, and show Michiganders that the children in Detroit should have the same opportunities as their Representatives want for their own children.”

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CONYERS, Scott and Lawrence on Unsafe Learning, Working Environment in Detroit Schools

Washington, D.C. – Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee and Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) today released the following statements after teachers at several Detroit Public Schools (DPS) reported dangerous working and learning conditions:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Rep. John Conyers: “After what we have witnessed in Flint, Michiganders are rapidly losing whatever trust they had in their state government to protect them. We need transparency and a commitment to dialogue between the public and their elected—and appointed—officials in order to solve the problems we are facing. Against this backdrop, the apparent decision of the DPS emergency management team to block Detroit Federation of Teachers’ health inspectors—with threats of arrest no less—is a grave mistake.  Our educators and our children are subjected to learning in schools that are unsafe, unsanitary and unacceptable.  It is reprehensible to turn away free resources meant to help us solve these problems.  While Detroit Emergency Manager (EM) Earley, formerly Flint’s EM, made an abrupt decision to step down from his position last week, it appears he has not finished stonewalling those who want to get to the bottom of questions about public health and safety.  While the DPS emergency management team may—or may not—be within their authority to block these inspections, it is clearly wrong to prevent us from learning more about the deplorable conditions of our schools and how we can remedy them sooner, instead of continuing the gridlock.”

Rep. Bobby Scott: “Rat infestations, black mold, leaking roofs, and excessive heat and cold are not conditions conducive to teaching and learning in Detroit or anywhere else in our country. All students and school employees deserve a safe environment in which to learn and to work. Any health hazard that jeopardizes learning and working conditions is unacceptable. I look forward to working with my colleagues to support efforts that would ensure a long term sustainable solution to remediating the infrastructure issues in Detroit to ensure that we live up to the decision in Brown v. Board of Education and provide the students of Detroit and across the country an education that is ‘a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”

Rep. Brenda Lawrence: “As someone who was born and raised in Detroit and educated in the Detroit Public School system, and as a former School Board President, I am horrified by the deplorable conditions our teachers and students have been subjected to. If we are to correct these conditions we cannot put up roadblocks to health inspectors who are trying to make sure our children are in a safe environment. This is about our investment in our children, in their education, and in their future. We must do whatever we can to ensure not one more child is exposed to these hazardous conditions.”

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CONYERS at Gompers Elementary-Middle School along with State Reps. Sherry Gay Dagnogo, Brian Banks, and LaTanya Garrett during the Detroit Public Schools Legislative Tour.

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting and joining students in the classroom at Gompers Elementary-Middle School along with State Reps. Sherry Gay Dagnogo, Brian Banks, and LaTanya Garrett during the Detroit Public Schools Legislative Tour.

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