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Ben Solis Profile picture
Ben Solis
@bensolis1
Husband to @boolificent | @GongwerMichigan covering @MISupremeCourt @MIAttyGen @MichStatePolice & @RedistrictingMI | Geek for Comics💥Music🎸Movies🍿Games🎮
Jan 22 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Tuning in a bit late due to morning meetings, but @RedistrictingMI is mapping today in Detroit with some in-person and others still on Zoom. Juanita Curry is drawing and a lot is being rearranged. Curry quipped about how many maps they needed, noting that they were all going back and changing things that were completed last week. Example below:

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Jan 10, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
NEW: The progressive Justice Caucus has asked that Pete Martel be rehired as Justice Kyra Harris Bolden's clerk following widely-panned criticism from Justice Richard Bernstein. It also urged Bernstein to make fuller amends than his apology issued Monday. "As someone who was born with a disability, Justice Bernstein is all too familiar with life challenges. Mr. Martel obviously made seriously bad choices as a teenager. A significant lapse in judgment," the statement said.
Jan 10, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
One thing I was dying to ask CJ Clement when I did this interview was a question about MI's system of parties nominating candidates for the Supreme Court. She candidly said she believed the system was flawed and unfair to voters. This was of particular interest to me given that she was appointed by Snyder, nominated by the MIGOP but also faced bullying and political pressure to rule against the 2018 redistricting prop that created @RedistrictingMI. She didn't cave, but got snubbed by the party that year.
Jan 10, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
NEW: Justice Richard Bernstein apologizes to Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, said he regrets "overstepping Justice Bolden’s hiring process and should not have disturbed her ability to lead her Chambers." He also apologized to Pete Martel, who resigned as Bolden's clerk. "Mr. Martel is not an elected official and my actions invited people into his life in a way that he had not signed up for and he deserved more consideration. I am committed to working with (Bolden) in the coming years to advance our many shared values, including immediately..."
Aug 28, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
.@TudorDixon's speech at the @MIGOP Red Wave party 🧵👇🏽
Aug 27, 2022 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
Lots of boos and discontent over Weiser wanting to waive the reading of call to convention. An appeal may have been raised but he was this close to waiving before delegates and guests erupted with "nays." What was at once a rolling convention has been halted as they work to post the call to convention on the projector screens.
Aug 27, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Bustling crowd here at the Lansing Center for the @MIGOP 2022 nominating convention. I'll have coverage later in a special edition of the @GongwerMichigan Report and tidbits of information here throughout the day. #Election2022 Had an interview planned with @deperno4mi but that might get bumped until later. Did some talking with delegates and people in the know and they are not expecting smooth sailing, however, they seem fairly united around @TudorDixon despite some seething animosities from g-roots
Mar 10, 2022 • 56 tweets • 9 min read
Day 3 of the Whitmer kidnap plot trial. Prosecution's first witness is still giving testimony, laying out the remainder of the alleged plot & showing how the defendants communicated and recruited to enact that plot. We'll likely hear cross exam from def attys later Adam Fox's atty cross exam now. Showing video of the April 3, 2020, rally at the Capitol in Lansing. Trying to establish that his attendance there was protected by 1A, it was in a public space and he did not trespass. He also wasn't associated with Wolverine Watchmen at this time
Mar 9, 2022 • 69 tweets • 11 min read
We are back on the record. Fox atty wants to proceed with entrapment. Harris atty about limits in cross, going with entrapment too. Caserta concerned about limits in cross as well, assert entrapment if can't use that evidence. Croft atty still concerned about doing so. Wanted to show there was an alternate explanation of agreement, but must go with entrapment.
Mar 9, 2022 • 62 tweets • 10 min read
Day 2 of the trial for four men accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer beginning shortly. A full jury was seated yesterday and opening statements are to begin today. I'll be listening in and will have a dispatch later today in the @GongwerMichigan Report. US District Judge Robert Jonker giving instruction to jury. Reiterating charges: against all four is conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer; against three (Adam Fox, Barry Croft and Daniel Harris) is conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction ...
Mar 8, 2022 • 76 tweets • 12 min read
The trial for four men accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer has begun. Jury selection starts today and the trial is slated to last four to six weeks. US District Judge Robert Jonker is calling for a 30 min break before jury pool is brought in. Back at 9:15. Ahead of the trial, I spoke to two former U.S. attorneys -- @M1Schneider and @PatMilesJr -- about the government's case and what the defense might raise as proceedings move forward: gongwer.com/news/index.cfm…
Oct 28, 2021 • 31 tweets • 6 min read
Following a strange meeting yesterday in which @RedistrictingMI went into a closed session to discuss legal memos and had a mini-lockdown after it received an emailed threat, the commission is back this morning to begin mapping deliberations. You can follow along here:

Oct 27, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
After a harrowing start, @RedistrictingMI is back at it and the meeting is a go. A motion was adopted to amend today's agenda to add a discussion about a potential closed session following public comment. It was put forward by Doug Clark, seconded by Steve Lett. No word on what that closed session would entail just yet.
Oct 27, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Following a slate of public hearings that saw MI residents lambaste the commission over its mapping decisions, @RedistrictingMI is back today with its first deliberative meeting looking toward the path ahead. Some commissions have said that public comments -- particularly comments fielded in Detroit -- show there is much work to be done and that they must amend some of their choices. But several unknowns remain.
Oct 20, 2021 • 16 tweets • 6 min read
.@RedistrictingMI is back and one of the first commenters noted that the sheer number of maps put forward was untenable and that, in his opinion, each one is worse than the last. Said partisan fairness is a near-zero efficiency gap and is the best metric to use. The same commenter added, "without a low efficiency gap, we don't have a democracy." The commenter following this one said that while these maps weren't intentional GOP gerrymanders, they only do slightly better on partisan fairness compared to the 2011 reapportionment.
Oct 20, 2021 • 29 tweets • 11 min read
We're minutes away from the start of @RedistrictingMI's first public hearing on its draft proposed maps in Detroit. Expect a glut of comments on the state of the city's districts, which have been a source of scrutiny since mapping began and more so after mapping wrapped. As a refresher, there are 10 collaborative map plans up for public comment, about as many individual commissioner-created maps and several more community submitted map plans: bit.ly/3vtuPS5
Oct 19, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
The early '90s, when @Marvel and @NFL teamed up to create SuperPro. #Marvel #VintageComics And shout out to @GailSimone's Batgirl No. 1. This was a good run!