Mackinac Center Explains Why It FOIA'd Emails About Rachel Maddow

[CrownPrinceBandar]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/mackinac-center-explains-why-it-foiad-profs-emails-about-rachel-maddow.php

Saw this on Maddow just now. Its pretty chilling.

"Last week when news of their Freedom Of Information Act requests aimed at labor studies professors from state-run universities in Michigan broke, the conservative-leaning Mackinac Center For Public Policy think tank declined to talk about them. But on Monday night, in a long post on the center's own website, the Mackinac staffer behind the FOIA requests offered a long explanation of why the center wants to know what Michigan labor studies professors were hearing and saying about Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow."

*snip*

"From Mackinac's Ken Braun, who called for the FOIAs to be sent and then declined to discuss them with TPM, the Detroit Free Press or the New York Times:

"We typically do not comment on the purpose of these FOIAs until we see the results, but in the case of the FOIA we submitted last week to three public university labor departments, we have decided to respond to what has become a national debate over whether we -- or anyone -- should be asking for such information at all. Our answer is that we should, and that these requests are not only proper, but also respectful of the privacy of the labor professors involved."

*snip*

"When Wisconsin came along, Braun says Mackinac saw a way to take on its old rivals:

The unfolding of the Wisconsin turmoil and the pitched debate over the Michigan legislation provided us an opportunity to chase an old story with a FOIA. Specifically, we were interested in determining whether the LSC and the labor faculty at Michigan's other two large public universities had actively employed university resources to enter the political debates. At a minimum, we thought a FOIA investigating professors' emails on these subjects might demonstrate whether state officials should ask questions about this use of tax dollars for public universities. In the worst-case scenario, we knew these emails might suggest that the faculty had acted illegally, because certain political uses of university resources are prohibited by Michigan law." emphasis mine

So now even mentioning Maddow's name in a public email will get you looked at by a Repub think-tank? Pretty scary.

[aquart]

1. Therefore all university emails should use the word Maddow.

Don't get scared, get mean.

[mattvermont]

2. Yes!

[CrownPrinceBandar]

3. You mean saying MADDOW will make make me an enemy of the state?....

Wow, I MADDOW didn't know MADDOW that.

edit: MADDOW

[zazen]

4. "labor professors?" have I been in the South too long?

There are econ depts and sociology depts and history depts and poli sci depts but there isn't a discipline or department of "labor." That's like saying there's a department of capital.

[ThomCat]

5. I bet they're intending to slandering liberal economics faculty

because their work actually, gasp, recognizes that labor exists and has some importance. :P

[zazen]

6. "liberal economics" faculty?

I'm glad to know some exist. Most got drummed out over the past 30 years or seduced by consulting for neoliberal interests and all of the keynotes and international travel that engendered. I have an ex-boyfriend with a PhD in Econ who went from being a 1970s U Cal Berkeley Marxist to a major proponent of econ growth, who flies all over the world advising governments on industry/university partnerships, earns a shitload of money, and heads up an internationally prominent business school. He was like, "yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, but really. I need the money."

[formercia]

7. Everyone has their price

A lot will sell themselves at a steep discount for money up-front. Their argument is: If I won't do it, someone else will.