Not partisan? Snyder plays the political patronage game
LANSING — Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Donald Owens is to resign New Years Day, four hours before the official end of his term.
The early retirement allows Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to name a politically appointed attorney to a judicial seat that was supposed to be eliminated as part of a plan to reduce the Michigan Court of Appeals by four judges and save taxpayers money.
Snyder is appointing Brock Swartzle, who was chief counsel to the House GOP caucus but has no judicial experience, by exploiting a loophole in a 2012 law that reduces the size of the judiciary, which Snyder himself pushed for and signed.
Democrats are calling Snyder's appointment bald-faced patronage.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/12/31/rick-snyder-judge-donald-owens/95909228/
