Although I am deeply embarrassed and regretful, because I value both my credibility and the trust that readers place in me, I am retracting my piece titled "Michigan Governor's Criteria and List of Towns Eligible for Takeover by an Emergency Financial Manager", and I am making a promise that it won't happen again.
Here's what happened.
As you may already know, the information in the retracted piece came to me by way of a reader, and knowing that the state was unlikely to provide confirmation, I published it without confirming it.
The reader, like myself, had good intentions, but it was solely my responsibility to verify that the information was indeed related to Michigan's emergency financial manager law, Public Act 4 of 2011.
No excuses, and you have my most sincere apologies.
Per the state of Michigan, it is unrelated to PA 4. In fact, the only information that the state has made publicly available to this date is this. If you click on the pdf at the top of the page, you will find no list, no numbers, no specifics, and only 1 item in that pdf that really stood out to me, but more about that later.
As I said, I value my credibility, and I make a strong effort to publish only that which I know to be true, and verifiable. I source everything, and you will not find a post on this site with out a credible source link for verification. Unfortunately, in this instance, both myself and the reader misunderstood the meaning of the information, which turned out to be the requirements for communities to qualify for grants and government programs.
That said, I am not a journalist, and no one is paying me to post. I made the decision to blog politics because I wanted to be a part of/contribute to the fight against the far right's threat to our democracy. To make the world a saner place for my son by helping to get the truth out there, understanding that we can no longer rely on our entirely profit-driven media.
Nevertheless, I also understand that I have a responsibility, one which I take very seriously, and I am trying to fulfill mine with this retraction, and my promise that it won't happen again.
