Press "Enter" to skip to content

George Phillies: Fascism has landed in America!

By Ross Levin on April 19, 2011 2:42 PM

And here is how it is done.

The Republican-appointed “Emergency Manager” of Benton Harbor, Michigan,
appointed by the Republican Governor of Michigan, has just dissolved the
City Government of Benton Harbor in favor of his personal rule as, oh,
we need a title, “People’s Commissar”. Or, if you have an alternative
opinion of Republicans “Gauleiter”.

Here is his Leader-Decree dissolving government OF and BY the people.

EMERGENCY MANAGER
CITY OF BENTON HARBOR
BERRIEN COUNTY MICHIGAN
ORDER NO.: 11-C5
ORDER PROHIBITING ALL ACTION BY ALL CITY BOARDS,
COMMISSIONS AND AUTHORITIES, EXCEPT AS AUTHORIZED BY
THE EMERGENCY MANAGER

I, Joseph L. Harris, the duly appointed Emergency Manager for the City
of Benton Harbor, Michigan (the “City”), pursuant to the power and
authority granted by Act 4 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 2011, being
MCL 141.1501 et seq (the “Act”), do hereby resolve and
order as follows:

WHEREAS, Section 19(ee) provides that the Emergency Manager may exercise
any power or authority of any office, employee, department, board,
commission or similar entity of the City, whether elected or appointed;

WHEREAS, the power of the Emergency Manager as set forth in Section
19(ee) of the Act is superior to and supersedes any such officer or
entity; and

WHEREAS, now, no City Board, Commission or Authority has authority or
power to act on behalf of the City as provided in the Act.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS:
1. Absent prior express written authorization and approval by the
Emergency Manager, no City Board, Commission or Authority shall take any
action for or on behalf of the City whatsoever other than:
i) Call a meeting to order.
ii) Approve of meeting minutes.
iii) Adjourn a meeting.

2. That all prior resolutions, or acts of any kind of the City in
conflict herewith are and the same shall be, to the extent of such
conflict, rescinded.

3. This order shall be effective immediately.
City of Benton Harbor
Dated: April 14, 2011
(Signed) Joseph L. Harris
Emergency Manager

Now, why would a Republican Governor think he could tell the people of
Benton Harbor that they are now living in the Satrapy of Bentongrad?

A statistic courtesy Eclectablog on Daily Kos: Benton Harbor is 92.4%
African American.

After all, if Republicans let African-Americans vote for local
government officials, they might develop a far,m team of people who
might run for higher office against Republicans.

Perhaps it is time to litigate.

And perhaps it is time for Americans to bring Egypt — peaceful assembly
in protest against tyranny — to America. Because whether you live in
Bar Harbor, Kansas City, Philadelphia-Mississippi, Salt Lake City, or
San Francisco, what happened to Benton Harbor might happen next to you.

8 Comments

  1. NewFederalist April 20, 2011

    Jason… when you say “let the city die” just how would you see that playing out? I am inclined to agree with you but I am interested in how civil disturbances might be handled and so forth. Thank you.

  2. Jason Gatties April 19, 2011

    Phillies has one part of this story wrong. Harris was appointed to Benton Harbor originally by Granholm…a democrat. His new powers was via the new law passed by both houses and signed by Snyder. The bill was written by my Republican State Rep, Al Pscholka (R) of St.Joseph.

    Benton Harbor is a dying city and has been for years thanks largely to political corruption from an inept city council. That being said…let the city die with its elected officials, the state has no business getting involved.

    I work in Benton Harbor.

  3. JT April 19, 2011

    What Daniel and Marc said.

    Of course, Marc, criticizing those examples you gave wouldn’t allow George to argue Republicans vs. black people.

    Dollars to donuts that most of that 92.4% supported economic policies that led to the bankruptcy, George.

  4. Marc Montoni April 19, 2011

    Which begs the question for Mr. Phillies:

    When these bread and circuses commies bankrupt a municipal government to the point where that government is still stealing revenue from the taxpayers, but stiffs the employees, vendors, and others who are due payment for services rendered because the till is supposedly empty…

    What else is the state government supposed to do?

    I’m with Dan. I don’t see any difference between handing a city’s bankruptcy tar baby over to an “EFM” vs handing it over to a judge.

    Except the EFM is probably paid less than a judge.

    There are a lot of other things going on in the States that resemble fascism a whole lot more than this. Like maybe public employees shutting down a city and intimidating legislators, or RealID, or any part of the PATRIOT Act, etc.

  5. Daniel Wiener April 19, 2011

    This sounds like the functional equivalent of bankruptcy for Benton Harbor. Only instead of handing things over to a judge to sort out the mess, they’ve been handed over to an “Emergency Financial Manager” (EFM). Since state law establishes bankruptcy procedures for municipalities, and Governor appoint judges, I don’t see how that’s so much different than a state law which establishes procedures for turning cities in financial straits over to EFMs, who are also appointed by the Governor.

  6. Bill Wood April 19, 2011

    When I saw the headline I thought George was hitting the LNC again. LOL

  7. whatever April 19, 2011

    Interesting story. Apparently the communists have bankrupted the city and the state is using a new law to seize control of financial affairs.

    Note that cities are typically (limited-liability) corporations chartered by the state.

    Hopefully there is a still an elected county sheriff doing the law enforcement. What is the state of sheriffs’ sovereignty in Michigan?

Comments are closed.