Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Analysis:

The channel 8 story was incredibly short in length and did not touch on most of the areas that the Mayor mentioned in his speech, nor provide details of what the City would work on over the next year. Heartwell also mentioned the successes and accomplishments over the past year, but channel 8 did not verify those claims, nor did they seek out any reaction to the speech or provide an independent perspective.

Story:

Reporter – Grand Rapids Mayor, George Heartwell, filled with high hopes as he delivered his 4th State of the City Address. Speaking to a crowd of citizens and community leaders, Heartwell says while he’s accomplished several things, there are still many challenges ahead, on the forefront, fighting the passage of Proposal 2, which bans some forms of Affirmative Action. Heartwell also wants to see major improvements in the city’s public education system, like lower drop out rates and higher test scores.

Mayor Heartwell – “No city can hope to be completely successful in the knowledge economy that doesn’t have a great public education system.”

Heartwell also hopes to end homelessness by 2014. He would also like to see neighborhoods raise their own funds for services as the city tackles its financial challenges.

Analysis:

This story provided viewers with a summary of the issues addressed in the Mayor’s State of the City address and then focused on one issue that included two community responses. They even told viewers at the end of the story that there was a link on their website for viewers interested in the entire speech. This story was considerably longer and more substantive than the channel 8 story that deal with the same topic.

Story:

WZZM 13 newsreader – Good evening, I’m Val Lego. Mayor Heartwell made his 4th State of the City speech this morning, he spoke to a crowd of hundreds about his 4 major goals for the community. Heartwell says he wants to increase diversity through programs like the Disadvantaged Business Proposal. He feels the city can increase diversity despite the fact that proposal 2 now outlaws Affirmative Action. The mayor set a goal of eliminating homelessness by 2014. To meet that goal he predicts private non-profit organizations will need to create 500 affordable housing units per year. Mayor Heartwell also wants to focus on improving public education by creating a more regional approach.

Mayor – “Our future depends on quality public education for all our children, not just suburban children but all children, not just white children, but all children, not just children of the elites, but all children.”

WZZM 13 newsreader – The Kent County Intermediate School District plans to set up an education senate for all the schools superintendents and municipal leaders in Kent County. Mayor Heartwell’s 4th main goal for 2007 deals with neighborhoods. Amy Fox joins us now with more on the Mayors plans to strengthen neighborhoods.

WZZM 13 Reporter – Val, the plan would allow neighborhood associations to collect a special assessment in order to improve their community. It’s a new concept that has some neighbors worried about their finances. They fear placing another tax burden on residents even if the money will go directly back into the neighborhood. Grand Rapids is a city of distinct neighborhoods,

Peg Markle – “We get animals from all over West Michigan”

WZZM 13 Reporter – Peg Markle lives and runs an animal rescue center in the creston area. Shes active with the Creston Neighborhood Association.

Peg Markle – “We’ve got a very close nit neighborhood right along here, but I know neighborhood associations keep getting cut down on the money they have and have to work with.”

WZZM 13 Reporter – In the State of the City speech, Mayor George Heartwell purposed neighborhood improvement districts as a way to provide more money for neighborhood associations.

Mayor – “They set the level of the assessments and then the city commission approves it and the city collects the funds on their behalf. Its part of the tax bill to be returned to the neighborhood association to be used to meet its goals.”

WZZM 13 Reporter – Those goals could range from street scaping business districts to crime prevention programs.

Mayor – “Or they might use the funds for youth programs, for park enhancements.”

WZZM 13 Reporter – Some neighborhood leaders who heard the speech wonder how the special assessments would work.

Christine Helms-Maletic/neighborhood organizer – “I’m concerned about what would happen to that volunteer ethic that happens in neighborhood associations, particularly if the city is administering taxes that are collected and then turning them over to us, um, what does that do to our autonomy, what does that do to our role as advocates for residents?”

WZZM 13 Reporter – Peg Markle worries about the financial aspect of the plan.

Markle – “We’re not an affluent neighborhood”

WZZM 13 Reporter – She, like many others, wants to help improve her neighborhood but doesn’t know if a special assessment is the way to do it. Mayor Heartwell says the State Legislature might have to pass a new law to allow neighborhood improvement districts. Downtown Grand Rapids already has a similar Special Assessment District. Val.

WZZM 13 newsreader – Thanks Amy. Now you can find Mayor Heartwell’s speech on the State of the City Address on wzzm13.com. Just click on the State of the City 2007 link on our home page.

Analysis:

The sub-heading in the article says “Study raises questions about legal housing, services,” but the article focuses mostly on the children of migrant families working in the state. The article does cite Martha Gonzalez-Cortez with the Office of Migrant Affairs, who states that “If we have 90,000 farm workers in the state, where do they live? We only have licensed housing for 25,000.” The reporter does not investigate that question and instead moves on to the issue of children of migrant workers.

The only other sources cited are Evelyn Ortiz with the Grand Rapids Public Schools, Elvira Garcia with Head Start in Ottawa County, and a lawyer with Farmworkers Legal Services. There are two large photos that accompany this story, one of migrant workers hauling Christmas trees and another who is picking apples. Considering that the photographs deal with workers you might think that the issues of working conditions or the pay migrant workers receive would be included in the article, but that isn’t the case. The study looked at the migrant worker population in seasonal agriculture labor, the food processing industry, which includes slaughter houses, and a third category called “Reforestation”, which encompasses all nurseries. Another significant omission from the story is that the voices and perspectives of both employers and workers themselves were not included.

Story:

Ottawa County’s migrant population tops in state
By Nardy Baeza Bickel and Ted Roelofs

With about 90,000 migrants moving through Michigan each year, that population ranks sixth in the nation.

And Ottawa County’s migrant population ranks No. 1 in the state, according to a new study, which also ranked Kent County fifth and Allegan County sixth.

Martha Gonzalez-Cortes, state director of the Office of Migrant Affairs, said this group has become irreplaceable in the state’s agricultural industry.

“In Ottawa County, the nursery industry closes up shop and goes away without this population. The blueberry industry closes up shop if this population isn’t around.”
But Gonzalez-Cortes said the study raises questions about the need for housing and education for migrant workers, which include U.S. citizens and undocumented residents.

“If we have 90,000 farm workers in the state, where do they live? We only have licensed housing for 25,000.”

The study found there are more than 20,000 migrant children younger than 13, underlining the challenge facing schools charged with educating a transient population.

“We are continually monitoring these kids,” said Evelyn Ortiz, director of migrant programs for Grand Rapids Public Schools.

“Where do they go? Where do they come from? There is always so much to do.”

Ortiz said the district enrolled 136 migrant children in 2005-06. They were offered bilingual classes in 11 elementary schools.

Many students also participated in a summer school program while their parents picked crops.
“They move and they come back. We do as much as possible to keep them in school and to monitor their progress.”

Gonzalez-Cortes said the study should put Michigan on better footing to win an array of federal grants by furnishing detailed information on the state’s migrant population. The state’s Department of Human Services spends about $6 million a year for migrant day care, Medicaid and food stamps, she said.

The study was funded with a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and money from the state Department of Education. It accounts for seasonal and migrant workers in the fields, food processing, greenhouse and nursery production and reforestation.

Elvira Garcia has worked with migrant families in Ottawa County for 18 years, so she wasn’t surprised by the study’s results.

Garcia, who directs a migrant Head Start program in Ottawa County, hopes the study will convince funding sources that “we need more help.”
The study found that each year, 45,800 farm workers harvest Michigan crops. Another 44,916 people — including 41,038 children and youth under 20 — live in migrant and seasonal homes.
Ottawa County sees 6,030 migrant and seasonal workers each year, but the number swells to 11,942 when family members also are counted.

Kent County ranked fifth in the state, with 3,280 migrant workers and 3,496 non-workers in migrant households. Allegan was sixth, with 1,827 workers and 3,618 family members a year.
Garcia hopes the study proves the need to extend her Head Start program into September. It now runs from June to August.

More migrants are staying longer in the season to work at nurseries, she said. And their children could use the extra time in school.

“Migrants are caring people, very hard workers, and they want the best for their children. But when they’re here, their main focus is to work so they can supply the basic needs for their children.”

The study’s results also will make it easier for other agencies working with migrants, said Tom Thornburg, head attorney for Farmworkers Legal Services.

“It’s going to help by giving us updated information about where the farm workers are in the state and who they are. We’ll be able to redeploy our limited resources to seek them out and offer them assistance.”

Analysis:

This story is based upon a media release by Philip Morris. The tobacco company has a new ad campaign out asking Hollywood to not use its tobacco products in films. The story provides a summary of the ad campaign and then cites two sources who have a history of challenging methods used by tobacco companies that target youth. The first source is with Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the second is with the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education which hosts the web resource Smoke Free Movies. Why did the AP story not mention that the second source focuses on smoking in movies? There is also no historical context in regards to the tobacco company’s role in promoting smoking in films.

You can see that there is a section of original AP story that was omitted in the GR Press version. In this section the story refers to an actual source for the study they mention in the article. They also mention the Motion Picture Association of America in this story and that a spokesperson could not be reached.

Story:

RICHMOND, Va. — The nation’s largest cigarette maker is asking Hollywood not to put its products on the big screen, citing studies that have shown cinematic portrayals of tobacco use can entice children to smoke.

Richmond-based Philip Morris USA said Wednesday that it will run advertisements in Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and other trade publications imploring moviemakers: “Please Don’t Give Our Cigarette Brands a Part in Your Movie.”

The ad campaign begins this week and will last several months, Philip Morris spokesman David Sutton said. He said the initiative was conceived after meetings with entertainment industry representatives.

But Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the industry has been unmoved by previous appeals to shield children from smoking scenes.

“Hollywood has ignored the very serious problem that smoking in the movies contributes to youth tobacco use,” said Myers, adding that “the problem goes beyond which brands are shown.”

Sutton said Philip Morris has long denied all requests for permission to show its brands — including top-selling Marlboro cigarettes — in movies intended for general audiences. However, he acknowledged that moviemakers are not required to seek permission.

Stanton Glantz, head of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California at San Francisco, dismissed the ad campaign as a public relations ploy.

Glantz said that instead of threatening to sue over the use of their brands in movies, Philip Morris officials are saying, “`Aw, shucks, we really wish you wouldn’t show our products on screen.”‘

Glantz, a professor of medicine and leading critic of smoking in movies shown to children, said that even if Philip Morris brands are not shown, the company will benefit from smoking scenes because Marlboro is the leading brand among adolescents.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

A study published last year in the medical journal Pediatrics is one of several that have shown that children exposed to smoking in the movies are more likely than their peers to start using tobacco. Philip Morris cites that study and two others in its ads.

Attempts to reach Motion Picture Association of America spokesmen for comment were unsuccessful. However, industry representatives have said that while they don’t want to encourage youth smoking, filmmakers’ freedom of speech in storytelling must be preserved.

Myers and other anti-smoking activists believe the movie rating system should be amended to require an “R” rating for films that show a lot of tobacco use, which he contended is more damaging to children than scenes containing sex, violence and foul language.

“To the best of my knowledge, nobody’s ever died from hearing a four-letter word,” Myers said.

Analysis:

This Grand Rapids Press story ran the day after the White House announced that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was stepping down. The only sources cited in the story are Representatives Hoekstra and Ehlers, and Senator Carl Levin. Hoekstra and Ehlers respond directly to the resignation, with no commentary about Rumsfeld’s tenure at the DoD. Why did the Press omit any commentary from an independent sources? There is reference in Hoekstra’s comments that if Rumsfeld had resigned earlier the Republicans would have done better in the election. Is Hoekstra implying that voters were unhappy about the war in Iraq? If so, what about Rumsfeld’s position would voters have disagreed with? There is mention that Levin “sees no reason not to move forward with the process of confirming Gates as the next secretary of defense during the lame-duck congressional session.” This is the only comment about Gates, therefore the Press provides no background on the nominee to succeed Rumsfeld.

Story:

If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigned six months ago, it might have cushioned electoral losses among Republicans, said U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Holland.

But Hoekstra is glad President Bush didn’t oust the controversial architect of his Iraq war policy — a man who is “not very open to criticism,” Hoekstra said — immediately before Tuesday’s midterm election.

“Doing it shortly before an election, I think would have been inappropriate,” said Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee until a new Democratic majority takes control of that chamber in January.

“I’ve met with our men and women overseas. The last thing you want to do is give them any indication they’re part of a political football.”

Bush announced Wednesday he would accept Rumsfeld’s resignation and nominate former CIA Director Robert Gates to the post. Rumsfeld has held the job six years. The announcement came after Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin said Wednesday that as long as all the “groundwork has been laid,” he sees no reason not to move forward with the process of confirming Gates as the next secretary of defense during the lame-duck congressional session.

Levin is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will conduct Gates’ confirmation hearing. If the committee approves Gates, the final confirmation vote would go to the full Senate.

Rumsfeld’s resignation signals a retreat from Bush’s position — restated just a week before the election — that the defense secretary was a “smart, tough, capable administrator” and would remain. Rumsfeld has been criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for mistakes in handling the Iraq war, especially for not sending in enough troops to quell a growing insurgency.

U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers believes “it’s time for a change” in the important post.

“It was more than time to get new perspectives in there,” said Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids. “That’s not saying anything against Rumsfeld. He’s a very capable guy. Six years is a long time in a job like that and it really can wear on you.”

Ehlers said he doesn’t know much about Gates, but would be surprised “if Gates did not take a different direction. I think clearly he will come forward with some new ideas.”

The resignation took Republicans by surprise, said Hoekstra, especially since the president had so recently affirmed his support for Rumsfeld.

“A lot of members weren’t all that excited” to hear the president support Rumsfeld, Hoekstra said.

“Why are you injecting Donald Rumsfeld into the campaign five to 10 days before an election?”

Analysis:

This story is basically a form of stenography, with channel 13 providing comments from Bush on what Rumsfeld has achieved as Defense Secretary. Why did WZZM 13 not provide another perspective on Rumsfeld’s time at the DoD? Why did they not verify the claims of the President? If “50 million people” were liberated would it be good journalism to hear that from those liberated?

There is mention that Robert Gates has been nominated as the new Secretary of Defense, but no background information has been provided other than the fact that he is a former CIA Director. The only other source cited in the story is Congressman Hoekstra. What does he mean when he says “radical Islam?”

Story:

Newsreader – President Bush has announced that Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down from his post. He has been Defense Secretary since President Bush took office 6 years ago. This afternoon, the President praised Rumsfeld’s service.

Bush – History will record on Don Rumsfeld’s watch that the men and women of our military overthrew two terrorist regimes, liberated some 50 million people, brought justice to the terrorist Zarqawi, and scores of senior Al Qeada operatives and helped stop new terrorist attacks on our people.

Newsreader – Former CIA chief Bob Gates will take over Rumsfeld’s place as Secretary of Defense if he is confirmed by the Senate.

Newsreader two – Local Congressman Pete Hoekstra among those wishing the Secretary of Defense well.

Hoekstra – Donald Rumsfeld served the country for six years. I wish him well. Obviously there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. This does now provide us with an opportunity to put a fresh set of eyes on to the situation in Iraq and also more importantly a set of eyes on radical Islam.

Total Time: 1 minute and 2 seconds

Analysis:

This article is based upon a visit to Taylor Michigan by former President Clinton to rally Democrats to support the re-election of Gov. Granholm and Senator Stabenow. Clinton is cited in the story and uses words like “opportunity,” “responsible” and “go forward together.” What do you think he meant by those terms? The only issue raised was jobs, but no qualifiers were presented other than a statement by Senator Stabenow when she “told the crowd that she and fellow Democrats will continue to fight for the middle class.” Does that mean the Democrats are not going to fight for the poor? The only other source cited in the story was Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis who made claims about jobs and the economy being bad under Granholm. The reporter provides no verification of these claims.

Story:

TAYLOR, Mich. – Former President Clinton told a crowd of Democrats on Tuesday that they must fight to re-elect Gov. Jennifer Granholm to keep efforts to turn around the state’s troubled economy on track.

Clinton headlined a rally outside City Hall in this Detroit suburb with Granholm and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, fellow Democrats who face tough challenges from Republicans in the November election.

“If you believe that Michigan ought to be a place where everybody has an opportunity, where everybody’s expected to be responsible, where we go forward together, you need to vote for the governor and senator,” Clinton told the crowd, which a Michigan Democratic Party spokesman estimated at about 1,000 people.

Clinton has proved popular with Michigan voters, winning the state in 1992 and 1996. After the rally in Taylor, he planned to attend a fundraiser for Stabenow in Romulus and energize Democratic activists to work hard to re-elect her and Granholm.

Although Michigan was the only state in the country not hit by a hurricane to lose jobs last year, Clinton told the audience that Granholm and Stabenow are fighting hard to keep jobs in Michigan and noted that a turnaround takes time – especially with a Republican controlled government in Washington and GOP led House and Senate in Michigan.

“These women have done a good job under exceedingly difficult circumstances,” Clinton said. “They have carried the burden of deficits they did not create, they showed responsibility that others didn’t show to point a path to a future that’s better.”

But Republicans say that if Michigan wants a better economy, it needs to replace the first-term governor and senator.
Polls have shown Stabenow with a double-digit lead over her Republican challenger, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee considers her to be one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents.

Stabenow told the crowd that she and fellow Democrats will continue to fight for the middle class.

“We’re in a fight for a way of life and it’s a fight we’ve got to win,” Stabenow said.

The committee says she has been ineffective and is trying to make up for that by appearing with Clinton.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, a businessman from of Ada in western Michigan, has stressed the need to turn around Michigan’s struggling economy and begin adding jobs rather than continuing to lose them.

“Stabenow and Granholm have put Michigan first in every category where we want to be last,” Michigan Republican Chairman Saul Anuzis said. “We are first in unemployment, people moving out of the state, and personal bankruptcies.

Granholm points to successes such as new ethanol plants and Google Inc.’s decision to move 1,000 jobs to the Ann Arbor area.

Analysis:

This story is about a new business venture by a company called Freeload Press who sells ad space in college text books in order to provide them at low cost or no cost to students. The story frames the issue as such “Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn’t spread to college textbooks.” Making the issue as just another natural market response to a need, the article never questions the commercialization of education. The article cites the CEO of Freeload Press and a professor who helped found the company. The quotes attributed to them all have to do with concern for the cost of college textbooks that students have to pay. The article states that the average cost for students for textbooks is now about $900 a year, according to “various studies,” even though none of the studies are cited.

There is one statement by the Freeload Press CEO Tom Doran who says ‘Current customers “are primarily business instructors, so they understand there’s a quid pro quo here. When we walk over to the social sciences and humanities, I expect there will be more push back.’” Beyond that no other critical comments are provided in the GR Press version of this AP story. There are other comments provided in the original AP story, but these are also from Doran. There is substantial concern that exists around this issue, since advertising in school curriculum and textbooks is not new in the K-12 level. Some schools have even adopted policies about advertising at any level, whether in the education materials or the school facility itself.

Story:

Textbook prices are soaring into the hundreds of dollars, but in some courses this fall, students won’t pay a dime. The catch: Their textbooks will have ads for companies including FedEx Kinko’s and Pura Vida coffee.

Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn’t spread to college textbooks — partly for fear that faculty would consider ads undignified. The upshot is that textbooks now cost students, according to various studies, about $900 per year.

Now, a small Minnesota startup is trying to shake up the status quo in the $6 billion college textbook industry. Freeload Press will offer more than 100 titles this fall — mostly for business courses — completely free. Students, or anyone else who fills out a five-minute survey, can download a PDF file of the book, which they can store on their hard drive and print.

The model faces big obstacles. Freeload doesn’t yet have a stable of well-known textbook authors across a range of subjects, and it lacks the editorial and marketing muscle of the “Big 3” textbook publishers (Thomson, Pearson, and McGraw-Hill). Its textbooks don’t come with bells and whistles such as online study guides that bigger publishers have spent millions developing in order to lure professors — who assign textbooks and are the industry’s real customers.

St. Paul-based Freeload’s numbers are modest so far: 25,000 users have registered and 50,000 books have been downloaded, for courses at schools ranging from community colleges to the University of Michigan. But the company says it is rapidly adding titles and will have 250,000 textbooks and study aids in circulation by next year. It has also signed agreements with three small, specialty publishers to make their textbooks available the same way, and is in negotiations with others.

What Freeload has going for it is its arrival on the scene at a time when textbook publishers are under immense pressure to moderate prices. A recent government study found prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation since 1986.

A new Connecticut law requires that textbook sellers tell professors what their books will cost students, and other states are considering similar measures. Cost complaints come not just from students and parents but also teachers. A 2005 study by the National Association of College Stores Foundation found 65 percent of students don’t buy all the required course materials — which means many probably aren’t learning the material, either.

Students “are saying, ‘to heck with it, we’ll try to wing it,'” said Jack Ivancevich, a longtime University of Houston professor who helped found Freeload.

Publishers answer criticism by saying textbooks are expensive to produce, and note they are clobbered by the rapidly expanding secondary market for re-sales in bookstores and on the Internet. Publishers get nothing from those sales, so they essentially have to recoup their investment in one year’s worth of sales.

The industry also is exploring ways to use technology to cut distribution costs and prices. Thomson, for instance, is making “ichapters” of textbooks available, similar to the iTunes model for music. But so far, publishers have resisted selling ads.

A Canadian subsidiary of McGraw-Hill briefly rolled out an ad-based model, but dropped the plan last year. Susan Badger, CEO of Thomson Higher Education, said her company tested the idea with focus groups, in biology, but the professors were adamantly opposed.

Tom Doran, Freeload’s CEO, says McGraw-Hill’s experiment failed because it didn’t use the ad revenue to reduce prices enough to get students’ attention. As for faculty, Doran says he realizes not everyone will go for it.

Current customers “are primarily business instructors, so they understand there’s a quid pro quo here,” Doran said. “When we walk over to the social sciences and humanities, I expect there will be more push back.”

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

As to objections that textbooks shouldn’t have ads, Doran notes ads already appear in academic journals. He says Freeload’s ads won’t be distracting; they will be placed only at natural breaks in the material, and won’t push products like alcohol or tobacco. Schools with other concerns could customize their standards; for instance Brigham Young University, founded by Mormons, could nix ads for caffeine products.

Ultimately, whether Freeload changes the industry or fades away will likely depend on its ability to attract popular textbook authors. Fordham University professors Frank Werner and James Stoner had each written several finance textbooks for traditional publishers, but after their latest was dropped by one company following a merger, they took it to Freeload.

“I was pretty disgusted with the basic textbook model,” Werner said. Textbook authors, he says, often waste time making pointless revisions just so publishers can justify putting out new editions.

“That didn’t seem like an ethical thing to do and it seemed like a hell of a waste of time,” he said, adding there’s no need to do that with Freeload.

The professors assigned the Freeload book to their class last year and said it was a hit. The students include “lots of working-class kids trying to get through college,” Werner said. “To ask them to go to the bookstore and spend $150 is pretty wasteful.”

Shannon Langston, a rising sophomore at Georgia Tech taking classes this summer while also juggling two jobs, said she often won’t buy textbooks unless she hears from other students that it’s absolutely essential.

But when her accounting professor assigned a Freeload book, she was glad not to have to make that call — and worry that she wouldn’t be able to sell back a new book because the publisher had already rushed out a new edition.

“I definitely don’t mind ads,” she said, “if it helps with the price.”

Analysis:

This article is basically an announcement of Dick DeVos’ choice for Attorney General in his race for Governor of Michigan. The article does provide some information on Ruth Johnson, that she was a former state legislator, and worked on education reforms. There is no real assessment of her voting record while in office from 1998 to 2004, nor any mention that she was a County Commissioner prior to that. There are no opposition or independent perspectives provided, even though the state Democrats sent out their own media release on the announcement.

Story:

LANSING — Republican candidate for governor Dick DeVos today chose Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson as his running mate.

The pick provides DeVos, an Ada businessman, with gender and geographical balance on the ticket. Oakland County is filled with moderate Republicans, who the conservative DeVos must persuade if he is to win.

Johnson will be formally nominated for lieutenant governor at the Republican convention in Novi Aug. 25-26.

Johnson, 52, spent six years the state House of Representatives. She left in 2004 because of term limits.

During her time in the Legislature, Johnson spearheaded a series of reforms aimed at intermediate school districts after financial abuses at the Oakland Intermediate School District were revealed, including extensive travel and the construction of a lavish headquarters.

Gov. Granholm signed a series of laws in 2004 that required districts to make public information about travel expenses, contracts of more than $100,000 — less than $25,000 if not competitively bid — and salaries of top employees.