Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganRick Johnson and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board
Saturday , 4, February 2023 Medical Marijuana, Nerd Problems, Recreational Marijuana Leave a comment
Former State House Rep and one of Osceola County’s finest Rick Johnson (R – Lobbyists giving me money to get a spot on the next MMLB’s agenda isn’t a bribe, it’s a place-holder) has found himself in a spot of bother over his tenure as president of the disbanded Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board.
In 2008 the people of Michigan voted to legalize marijuana for medical use. Dispensaries popped up around the state, patients received their medical marijuana prescription cards, and things were fine.
Then Rick Snyder (R – Poisoned Flint with lead and got off scott-free!) was elected Governor. Suddenly, medical marijuana dispensaries were all operating illegally, and the Michigan State Police raided shops all over the state. The medical marijuana law was overhauled in 2016, and the new law created the Michigan Marijuana Licensing Board. Snyder’s appointments to this board included an MSP sergeant from Traverse City who loved busting people for weed, a former CEO, a pharmacist from Mattawan, an executive board member of the right-wing Police Officers’ Association of Michigan, and a former Speaker of the State House turned lobbyist Rick Johnson of Leroy. Johnson became the first, last, and only chair of the MMLB.
Right away, there were problems with the new board. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R – taking a lobbying job right after holding office is the sweetest gig in the state!), who nominated Johnson, was caught emailing the chair with a list of people he wanted fast-tracked onto the agenda in 2019. This was in direct violation of the 2016 law. Indeed, a former lobbyist wouldn’t help people and companies he worked for get preferential treatment.
He did more than that. Rick Johnson’s under investigation for using his seat on the MMLB to take bribes from businesses wanting medical marijuana licenses. This is not a recent development either, and it appears the investigation started while Johnson still chaired the board. The FBI raided the home of another lobbyist, Brian Pierce, in 2020, and Pierce lobbied for companies wanting medical marijuana licenses.
Thanks to a related lawsuit, this story has hit the news again. In 2021, Johnson hired a law firm, Secrest Wardle, and neglected to pay his legal fees.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer put the crime-ridden MMLB out of business and restored medical marijuana regulation to the state in 2019, where it should have been all along.
It seems as though the 2016 overhaul of the medical marijuana law was an excuse to help businesses get an inside track to obtaining licenses. Michigan ranks dead last in the country for government transparency, which is why scandals like this continue to surface in our state. Rick should have stuck with growing trees.
Over 50 Organizations Say No in Reopening Michigan For-Profit GEO Group Prison as an ICE Detention Center
Monday , 26, September 2022 COVID_19, GEO Group, Punk Prison 3 Comments
In four days, GEO Group’s North Lake Correctional Facility once again will close. The for-profit prison in search of a prison population lost its contract through President Biden’s January 2021 executive order to not use private prisons for federal detainees. US Congressmen John Moolenar and Bill Huizenga, in June of 2022, proposed to convert the prison into an ICE detention center.
In response to this proposal, No Detention Centers in Michigan drafted an open letter seeking signatures from other organizations asking that NLCF not be reopened as an ICE detention center. President Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, Governor Whitmer, and Senator Peters received copies of the letter. Over 50 organizations – more than 20 from Michigan and 30 from other national organizations (Full disclosure, Up North Progressive signed this letter).
“We are deeply troubled by this proposal because it follows a recent pattern of actions from the Biden administration contravening its stated goal of ending the use of private facilities for detention because we know that ICE operates a system of abusive and inhumane detention centers across the country and because the presence of this prison in Baldwin has been disastrous for decades.”
The letter details the tragic history of NLCF in Lake County, Michigan, the false promise of hundreds of local jobs, and the numerous reports of abuse of detainees at the prison, especially the inhumane confinement and medical treatment of detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
GEO Group already petitioned Lake County to have the prison property devalued to get a break on their tax bill. Reopening the facility would require another prison activation, more job fairs offering the lowest paying jobs, and importing people from other GEO Group prisons around the country to put more strain on the housing crisis that is part of the northern Michigan landscape.
The letter calls for President Biden to extend his executive order to include ICE detention centers operating in for-profit prisons. Oscar Castañeda, a member of No Detention Centers in Michigan, had this to add to the letter:
“This prison has already caused enormous suffering and has never fulfilled GEO’s promises to the people of Lake County. Now the federal prison contract is finally ending, but we’ve seen that GEO will exploit any opportunity to make a profit. When it comes to the immigrant detention system, the Biden administration has not kept its word. We’re not going to let ICE expand here without a fight. We want to make sure that the loopholes allowing for the expansion of detention are closed and that this time, North Lake stays shut down for good.”
Wackenhut/ GEO Group should have never built North Lake Correctional Facility. May this be the last time it closes and stays closed for good.
Tomorrow Michigan goes to the polls to vote in the state primary election. Many Michiganders already voted, thanks to no-reason absentee voting.
Donations, endorsements, and campaign events showing support for candidates are critical in informing voters who are running for office. Candidates need this support to win enough votes at the polls. Now that we are less than a day away from the primary election, it’s time to participate in that election’s most critical, essential stage.
YOU MUST VOTE.
And you’re wondering why even bring this up?
Because midterm elections are habitually low turnout events and the primary even more, the midterms are crucial, and the 2022 midterms are critical. Who gets elected in November will have sway in the presidential race of 2024. And we already know who will be back for another chance to sit in the White House and grift billions out of the federal government at taxpayer expense.
And now you’re thinking, “We already know this.”
Do we?
People listen to the media and think, “They say my candidate is doing great; I can stay home on election night.”
People read a poll and think, “Look, my candidate is ahead +5. They’re going to win whether I vote or not.”
People drive through the neighborhood and see campaign signs in people’s yards supporting their candidate. “Everyone is voting for the same candidate as me!”
And then, the day after the election, the candidate loses despite the media hype and promising polls and campaign swag.
People don’t realize the talking heads, polls within the margin of error, and campaign signs don’t elect candidates. Votes do.
One more thing about voting: If you have a candidate running for office as a candidate for your party and you financially support them and endorse them, please make sure you vote for them too. Nothing makes you look more like a person with an I D ten T problem than bragging to a United States Senator staff member that you think the candidate that ran against your candidate is the most incredible person ever, and they got more votes than Trump! Yet you neglect to mention that you had a candidate running for that same office, and they were a member of your party. Keep your brain with you at all times.
Please make the time during your day tomorrow, August 2, 2022, and vote.
Up North Progressive Mail Bag
Saturday , 16, July 2022 Community, GEO Group, LGBT Rights, MAGA, Punk Prison, Tea Party Charter School Leave a comment
Hello and welcome back.
Up North Progressive went on hiatus after a six-month secret project that caused more mental and emotional damage than anticipated. What was the project? Six months working at a charter school. After years of writing about the deplorable state of for-profit charter schools, the opportunity came to find out what it’s like working at one. It’s worse than imagined. Up North Progressive will fully disclose the experience when the time is right.
While on hiatus, the inbox at Up North Progressive collected some exciting messages from readers. Let’s take a look, shall we? 
Incredible how some stories on Up North Progressive still get hits seven years later. John Conely sits on the school board for Brighton Area Schools, and a quick search into his behavior and words since 2015 show he is hostile to public education. Ironic it may seem, but these public school haters love to get elected to school boards and sabotage from within. The recall drive to get him out of office at BAS is ongoing. 
Up North Progressive channeled the Onion when a visually-challenged charter school linked to an article on their website because they thought Up North Progressive said nice things about them. Up North Progressive writes about the Barney Charter School Initiative because they promote using public funds to pay for their Christian private academy’s curriculum and philosophy taught in for-profit charter schools. Some Barney Charter Schools in other states are massive franchises raking in millions of taxpayers’ dollars as “profit.”
A protonmail account … no kidding …
Maybe it’s a good thing Up North Progressive went on hiatus. Northern Michigan has a “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice (or four times now), and you know the rest” relationship with GEO Group and North Lake Correctional Facility. The good news is the prison has a closed-by date of September 30, 2022. The bad news is seditious pricks Bill Huizenga (R-I pay for Disney trips with campaign funds) and John Moolenaar (R-Bergman 2: Carpetbag Harder) want to turn NLCF into a full-blown ICE detention center.
When one of these cowards drops garbage at the door, the only thing to do is wish them on themselves.
Up North Progressive receives many messages through this website and affiliated social media, so you’re not the first nasty name-calling, bigoted jerk to leave a cowardly anonymous love letter. Regrettably, the extent of conservative talking points has sunk to name calling like communist and groomer rather than discussing issues and possibly finding common ground. Your attack on LBGTQ folks is pure projection.
Last one: 
Here’s one way to find out. Michigan isn’t the only state afflicted with for-profit charter school cancer. Unfortunately.
So yeah, keep the comments and messages coming. Love reading them all and, as you can see, even responding to them. Good to be back!
What we celebrate this Independence day is a good question. Make yours count.
Why fighting for voting rights on Martin Luther King Day is so important
Monday , 17, January 2022 2022 Election, COVID_19, Gerrymandering The Vote, Vote by Mail Leave a comment
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day 2022 should be a day to remember and celebrate the legacy of Dr. King and the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement. However, on this holiday, we’re reminded that any achievement fought for will have to be defended against those who insist there isn’t enough democracy to go around for everyone.
The election of 2020 gave polling officials in the United States significant problems to solve to ensure people could vote and remain safe during a global pandemic. States with expanded access to voting through a vote by mail, early voting, voting day registration, and absentee voting for any reason proved that when people have access to the polls, they will vote.
Election officials did such a good job providing access to voting; states won by Trump in 2016 flipped for President Biden in 2020. Republicans know more than anyone. When more people vote, Republicans lose. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton even admitted he had to stop counties from mailing absentee ballot applications, or Texas would have turned blue in 2020.
The Up North Progressive was reminded of this fact during a mild October day in 2017 while circulating the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission petition. Proudly wearing the Voters Not Politicians volunteer button and clipboards in hand, people learned about gerrymandering in the state of Michigan and the effort to change that so everyone’s vote counted. Many enthusiastically signed. Some declined.
One older gentleman approached and asked about the petition. While cheerfully pitching the speech about ending gerrymandering in the state of Michigan with a new commission to redraw our voting districts, the pensioner’s face became alarmed, and he exclaimed:
“Oh no! I can’t sign that! We need that gerrymandering. We need that gerrymandering to keep the n*****s from voting. Without that, they will take over and you know that is what they want.”
The man wandered off after his racist lecture. The Up North Progressive decided to triple efforts to collect signatures and do everything possible to make sure this ballot initiative made it on the 2018 ballot.
That racist jerk is now in the same congressional district as Up North Progressive.
This Dr. Martin Luther King Day reminds us that defending democracy in the United States is an ongoing struggle. Republicans push through new voting restrictions because that is the only way they can stay in power. Republicans gerrymander voting districts to disenfranchise minority voters because that is the only way they can stay in control. The fight to apportion Electoral College votes is in many states’ futures, including Michigan.
We need the Freedom to Vote Act: The John Lewis Voting Rights Bill passed by Congress to protect democracy in the United States. Preserving democracy is the struggle to keep Dr. King’s legacy strong.