EMUtalk.org » State Government

In the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” department

sitedad — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:23:11 +0000

An alert EMUTalk.org reader emailed me today about an article in the New York Times, “Digital Billboards, Diversions Drivers Can’t Escape,” which, as the headline suggests, is about these new digital billboards and if they are (or aren’t) dangerous. But by coincidence (I presume), this article features prominently an EMU “Explore Eastern” ad on [...]

Chief Government Relations position morphs into Executive Director, Governmental & Community Relations position

sitedad — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:02:56 +0000

FullOfQuestions comment on the “An Open Letter Regarding the EMU Chief Government Relations Search” reminded me of an email that Geoffrey “Geoff” Larcom sent around the other day. Remember those heady days of the Chief Government Relations position, the one that was going to replace Freeman Hendrix in that job? Well, that’s turned into [...]

Jack Lessonberry praises the governor

sitedad — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:39:49 +0000

An alert EMUTalk.org reader (perhaps one interested in becoming a regular contributor?) sent me a link to this Jack Lessonberry commentary, “Praise for the Governor.” Lessonberry is commenting on Granholm’s reply to Mike Bishop’s plan for cutting state employee pay, something we discussed here a couple weeks ago. I thought this quote was pretty [...]

“Senate Leader: Cut All Public Workers’ Pay, Benefits”

sitedad — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:48:48 +0000

A loyal EMUTalk.org reader (perhaps this person would be interested in becoming a regular contributor to EMUTalk.org?) sent me this: from WWJ Newsradio, “Senate Leader: Cut All Public Workers’ Pay, Benefits.” The bullet point that caught my eye/wallet:

Reduce pay for all school, university, community college, state and local government workers by 5 percent, [...]

Finally, a smoking ban in public places coming

sitedad — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:09:33 +0000

I’m posting this here mainly because smoking has been a topic off and on over the years: I just heard on public radio this morning that a smoking ban finally passed the state legislature and will almost certainly be signed by the governor. There are some exceptions to the law– casinos, home offices, and [...]

So, seriously– what’s the deal with the government relations position?

sitedad — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:34:21 +0000

Okay, just to recap a bit:

Way back in late October/early November, Jerry Gemignani sent and I posted “An Open Letter Regarding the EMU Chief Government Relations Search,” which raised some serious questions about the process of hiring for this position. Many comments ensued. In mid-November, EMU had a press release I posted about [...]

How was the Governor? (And an open letter)

sitedad — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:58:28 +0000

I didn’t realize that Governor Jennifer Granholm was going to be on campus so early today, 9 am. I couldn’t have made it if I had remembered though. Did anyone go? How was it?

I also discovered this morning this fine press release on the EMU web site, “An open letter to EMU Students [...]

“Forums on Nov. 20 to meet finalists for position of chief of governmental and community relations”

sitedad — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:56:18 +0000

I’ve gotta say: this is starting to look a little fishy.

Geoff Larcom sent around this email this afternoon at about 1:30 announcing the opportunities for faculty and staff to meet and greet the finalists for the chief governmental and community relations job:

Faculty, staff and students are invited to open forums to [...]

Eastern Michigan University selects finalists for Chief of Governmental and Community Relations

sitedad — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:44:25 +0000

As Alum pointed out in a recent comment, the plot appears to have thickened a bit on the Chief of Governmental and Community Relations position. The press release about the candidates is on the EMU homepage: “Eastern Michigan University selects finalists for Chief of Governmental and Community Relations.”

The release says there will [...]

“An Open Letter Regarding the EMU Chief Government Relations Search”

sitedad — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:03:39 +0000

I received an email today from loyal EMUTalk.org reader Jerry Gemignani, who asked if I would post the open letter below. I don’t know much about the details, but Jerry seems to and I’ll pass this along in the spirit of EMUTalk.org as a space for exchange of ideas about all sorts of things [...]