October, 14 2021, 05:37pm EDT
New Report: Republicans' Fight Against Fair Legislative Maps
Michigan’s right-wing has been fighting against a fair, nonpartisan redistricting process for decades, spending millions to spread lies.
WASHINGTON
A new report by Progress Michigan outlines how Michigan Republicans and right-wing groups have opposed independent redistricting, nonpartisan maps, and an equal voice for all voters. The report comes on the heels of a story by The Intercept showing DeVos influence on the anti-redistricting effort.
In addition to disclosing financial opposition to Proposal 2 in 2018, which created Michigan's Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, the report compiles misinformation and outright lies the right has been spreading and continues to spread about the former, discredited redistricting process, the new Commission and their process, and even the commissioners themselves.
"Republicans have gerrymandered their way to power behind closed doors for decades in Michigan," said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. "But voters had enough of their political power grabs and in 2018 overwhelmingly voted for an independent redistricting process. Now, rather than engage in the new redistricting process in good faith, Republicans and right-wing groups linked to the DeVos political machine have continued spreading lies to twist the process and undermine the public's faith in the Commission. Their critiques should be seen as exactly what they are: the tantrum a child throws when they don't get their way."
The full report is available here. Some highlights include:
- Republicans and right-wing groups spent over $3.5 million opposing Proposal 2 in 2018.
- FAIR Maps, a regular voice on the right about redistricting matters, is clearly linked to the DeVos family and the Freedom Fund, who opposed Proposal 2.
- County level party emails and social media posts show Republicans injecting partisan politics into redistricting and a complete disregard for the truth as they attempt to vilify the Commission.
Progress Michigan aims to provide a strong credible voice that holds public officials and government accountable, assists in the promotion of progressive ideas and uses state-of-the-art web based new media to creatively build grassroots support for progressive ideas.
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, the "former daytime television fixture" who U.S. President-elect Donald Trump picked to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reported "up to $56 million in investments in three companies" with direct CMS interests, the watchdog Accountable.US highlighted Friday.
The celebrity heart surgeon is already under fire for his record of peddling "baseless or wrong" health advice and pushing Medicare Advantage (MA)—an alternative to the government-run program administered by private health insurance companies—on The Dr. Oz Show, as well as his stake in UnitedHealth and CVS Health.
The new Accountable.US report—based on disclosures from Oz's unsuccessful 2022 run against U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)—adds to conflict of interest concerns and fears that Oz may thwart the Biden administration's new rule intended to rein in privatized Medicare Advantage plans.
"Dr. Oz's conflicts of interest pose a serious threat to seniors' health security."
"In 2022, Oz's 'single biggest healthcare holding' was up to $26 million in Sharecare, a digital health company Oz co-founded that became the 'exclusive in-home care supplemental benefit program' for 1.5 million MA enrollees across 400 MA plans through its CareLinx service in 2022," the watchdog detailed. "By 2023, CareLinx was available to over 2 million MA enrollees. Sharecare was taken private in a $518 million private equity deal in 2024, and it is unknown if Oz still holds a stake."
Nick Clemens, Oz's spokesperson on the Trump transition team, told USA TODAY—which first reported on the Accountable.US findings—that Oz sold his stake in Sharecare but did not address further questions.
The group noted that "in 2022, Oz disclosed holding up to $25 million in Amazon and up to $5 million in Microsoft, which CMS called its 'two primary cloud service providers' in its FY 2025 budget document, which requested over $3.3 billion in information technology funding for the year. Notably, Amazon Web Services hosted 74 million Medicaid records as early as 2017 and the company has been contracted to streamline Healthcare.gov, the federal health insurance portal run by CMS."
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When asked if Oz still owned the stocks in the two tech giants, Trump transition spokesperson Brian Hughes only said that "all nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies."
Given the nominee's TV and investment history, Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk declared Friday that "seniors deserve a CMS leader who will protect and strengthen Medicare—not someone like Dr. Oz who wants to privatize this vital and hugely popular program for great personal gain."
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While Trump has the power to pick the next CMS administrator, the selection requires Senate confirmation—unless the president-elect works around it to install his most controversial nominees.
On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and six colleagues wrote to Oz to express their concerns about his qualifications, "advocacy for the elimination of traditional Medicare," and "deep financial ties to private health insurers."
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In a first of its kind report, our Gaza based partner Community Training Centre for Crisis Management asked injured, separated and disabled children and their caregivers about the toll of the ongoing war on their lives. Their answers are devastating but sadly not a surprise. 1/5
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— War Child UK ( @warchilduk.bsky.social) December 12, 2024 at 3:31 AM
Israel's 434-day assault on Gaza—which is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case—has left tens of thousands of children dead, maimed, missing, or orphaned and hundreds of thousands more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened. Doctors and others including volunteers from the United States have documented many cases in which they've concluded Israeli snipers and other troops have deliberately shot children in the head and chest.
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The outlet reported that the former House speaker is "actively working to tank" the candidacy of Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), with whom she has had a rocky relationship at times as the progressive Democrat has pushed the party to embrace far-reaching reforms on climate, immigration, and other issues.
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