Note: I know it's considered bad form to be a "rec begger" but this one is really important to me. This campaign got off to a late start, so they're really scrambling to spread the word.
I've been a website developer for 9 years. While I've been active politically since 2003 (I'm your basic Deanocrat), I've only recently delved into political clients.
Recently, I had the good fortune to be asked to take over as the web developer for the MDP Justice Caucus, devoted to helping elect honest, progressive judges of integrity.
This election season, while the JC is supporting various candidates throughout Michigan, there's one cause and one cause alone on which they're focusing the bulk of their efforts: The replacement of one Clifford Tayor on the Michigan Supreme Court. To this end, my major task has been to develop a new website specifically devoted to educating Michigan voters about just how lousy a judge Taylor is, why he needs to go, and about his challenger, Circuit Court Judge Diane Hathaway.
Given the short timeframe I've had to put the site together, I initially didn't pay too much attention to the actual content, as I didn't have time to read it all thoroughly. I was sent articles, background info and so on to add, and did so as quickly as I could.
And then I received the photos.
The case in a nutshell is that a city-owned apartment had faulty wiring which was left unrepaired for months in spite of repeated complaints about it; eventually this led to an apartment fire which killed six young children. Four courts ruled that the city was responsible; Cliff Taylor, Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court, ruled otherwise. Worse yet, he apparently dozed off while hearing the heartbreaking testimony.
It's one thing to read a case study about a half-dozen kids dying in a fire.
It's something else to be sent their photos, to have to crop them to size and upload them to a website.
It may seem a small thing, but in 9 years as a web developer, this is the first time I've ever had to post photos of dead kids. It's not an easy thing to do.
I have a 2-year old son myself, which makes this feel personal for me.
I ask you to read their story, as well as the others--such as that of Lisa Brown, a night shift security guard who was raped by her foreman after months of repeated complaints to management about being sexually harassed by him. Taylor ruled that her civil case against her employer wasn't subject to a jury trial, and that the employer wasn't at fault in any way despite ignoring her complaints.
Then, if you live in Michigan, please sign up to help.
There's plenty more, most of it pretty disturbing. This guy is bad news.
MDP Justice Caucus
Justice for Michigan
Diane Hathaway for Michigan Supreme Court
Dump Terry MacAuliffe's previous diaries on Taylor:
How Dysfunctional is the Michigan Supreme Court?
Study: Michigan Supreme Court is America's Worst