BENTON HARBOR, MI — The USA proclaims itself the “land of freedom,” but the reality is we live under the world’s most corrupt legal system. It has rigged courts, bribed judges, phony trials, extortion by lawyers, and over two million prisoners. You can be sent to prison and even put to death with absolutely no evidence. The truth is hidden by America’s corporate owned media, and by Berrien County’s media. They are afraid to tell the truth about Michigan’s Emergency Manager system where rule is without the consent of the governed.
Benton Harbor now has four Emergency Mangers. They are called a transitional team. Appointed by the governor, they are the direct representatives of the corporate giant, Whirlpool, that runs Benton Harbor. This “team” can overrule decisions from the democratically elected city council. They can sell off public assets to private interests. The team includes two former Whirlpool employees, one county treasurer, and a member of the State Treasury Department. This is what fascism in Michigan looks like—the merger of government and the corporations.
Within this dictatorial political environment, the Benton Harbor community exercised their democratic right to recall a corporate (Whirlpool) allied mayor. With absolutely no evidence, I was charged with voter fraud and bound over for trial. This attack was intended to stop the community’s recall election from going forward. In a hearing to determine if there was evidence to take me to trial, Mark Goff, a forensic document examiner with the Michigan State Police, (who is nothing but a hired gun,) testified that changes to the election petitions were made with different ink. But he could not determine who made the changes, when they were made, or whether the person who signed the petition changed it. His testimony provided no evidence against me. However, Judge Sterling Schrock, Judge Charlie LaSata and Prosecutor Mike Sepic all stated that you do not need evidence to go to trial. The government is counting on an all white jury that may be motivated by something other than the truth to convict.
Soon after, in a momentary victory for the people, Judge John DeWane ruled that the contested mayoral recall election should be placed on the November ballot based upon the First Amendment’s political core Freedom of Speech. The issue boiled down to admitting 21 duplicate signatures that had been invalidated based upon a faulty practice by the Berrien County Clerk’s Office. Attorney John LePetrie said, the Berrien County clerk, “armed with $20,000 in funding from the County Board, appealed (that ruling) with support from two major law firms and the Attorney General’s office, representing the Secretary of State and the Bureau of Elections.” The Court of Appeals reversed Judge Dewane’s favorable ruling, and it was essentially upheld by the state’s Supreme Court. This scenario once again shows the unity of the government and the corporations.
Democracy has been stolen from the people. Water rights have been stolen. Poverty is growing. We, the people have nothing in common with the billionaires, their corporations and government. We must stand together for a new America.
