BREAKING: Michigan Supreme Court rules 4-3 to keep redistricting proposal on the November ballot.

Republican Supreme Court justices have ties to Michigan gerrymandering group

Michigan Republican Supreme Court justices weighing a ballot proposal to end gerrymandering in the state have ties to a group founded to perfect the practice.

The link: Mary Doster, a GOP insider who is treasurer of the nonprofit Michigan Redistricting Resource Institute. The group, which is tied to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, paid nearly $1 million to GOP consultants and lawyers in 2011 and 2012 to draw political districts that favor Republicans, according to IRS records obtained by Bridge Magazine.

Doster is listed or has served as campaign treasurer or designated record keeper for all five Republican-backed Supreme Court justices, state records show. Those justices are now weighing whether an initiative to appoint an independent commission (rather than politicians) to oversee redistricting can appear on the November ballot.

“Wow. That breaks my heart a little bit,” Katie Fahey, director of the Voters Not Politicians group behind the initiative, said when told by Bridge of Doster’s ties to the Republican-redistricting group.


https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/republican-supreme-court-justices-have-ties-michigan-gerrymandering-group

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