He stood firm in the Monroe Circuit Court and beat Sheriff Minzey after a protracted legal battle. Minzey later took a job with Wackenhut Security.

He went toe-to-toe with the circuit court judiciary when they whined about not having luxurious enough quarters and stood firm when they threatened legal action to enforce the statutory duty of a county to provide adequatequarters for its circuit judges; the judiciary backed down. Jeff Irwin also stepped in and reminded then-Chief Judge Archie Brown that the BOC, not Brown, controlled the county building when District Court Judge Ann Mattson had her courtroom taken over by Brown.

Jeff Irwin has shown the toughness and leadership necessary to be an effective elected official. He has cut some big shooters down to size in Washtenaw County.

Ann Arborites need his firebrand type of leadership in Lansing.

There are no accountability to the public as to the effectiveness of these programs and to keep from incarceration. H

Scratching, I agree that our out-of-control prison spending is a sapping our strength as a state and that we need to address the thorny issues that accompany any serious discussion of criminal justice. One specific program that I will advance as a State Rep. is an expansion of mental health diversion programs like J-PORT.

I have been putting my head in this vice since I was Chair of the Board and worked to improve the information on our jail demographics. I knew we had problems, but the details are alarming. I would urge you to check out the Chronicle coverage from Feb. 20, 2010: [link].

Here’s an excerpt (sorry about the length):

Jeff Irwin praised Clayton for his professionalism and hands-on approach and for his emphasis on gathering data and metrics to use as a basis for decision-making. He raised the question of recidivism, noting that 70% of people released from jail in the county are returned there within two years. What can the community do, he asked, to make an impact on changing that?

Clayton said it was important to accurately assess the risk of people coming through the criminal justice system, to determine who is really a serious threat to the community. For those who aren’t, there need to be alternatives, such as tethering and work release programs. These need to be programs in which the courts have confidence, he said.

But equally important, Clayton said, was the need to address root causes. Some folks are bad, he said, but a lot of people in jail have other issues – a lack of education, substance abuse or mental health problems. It’s a community issue, Clayton argued, and both ends of the spectrum need to be addressed: human services as well as public safety. Law enforcement officers can be an important partner, he said, working with human service agencies to help people in the community who might otherwise end up in jail. Irwin noted that the program known as JPORT (Justice Project Outreach Team) was an excellent example of that kind of collaboration.

Irwin then brought up the issue of race, noting that two-thirds of the jail population is African-American, while the overall population in the county is less than 20%. He told Clayton he was hoping to hear some “big ideas” about how to address this problem.

Clayton said that, again, it was a challenge for the entire criminal justice system – that kind of disparity was seen throughout the continuum. You start addressing it by having frank conversations, some that make people uncomfortable, he said. They’re uncomfortable for fear of saying the wrong thing and being accused of racism. Is it because African-Americans are more prone to crime? Clayton said he’d argue no. Are socio-economic factors at play? That’s part of it, he said. There are some very tough questions that need to be asked, Clayton said, and it’s a conversation they all need to have at some point.

After the BP disaster I am positive that the mining companies in Michigan are telling us and their lobbyist and their paid for legislators exactly want we want to hear about sulfide mining. As the Gulf of Mexico is now under attack by the recklessness of BP, let’s preserve our nickel and copper until the technology exists to extract it without polluting lake Superior, which takes 200 years to flush out.

The Smokey Mountain National Park and the towns on both sides of the range are faring very well. Yellowstone can’t keep up with the demand. Americans love the natural beauty of their country and will come to this new national park in droves for the scenery alone. I’ve been there and Lake Superior is a blue jewel extending to infinity while gazing upon it from a 1,000 foot mountain. From that height it looks like the Caribbean Sea.

The promise of high paying jobs from mining interests is seductive, but the costs of one mishap could scar the lands and waters for over 200 years. I live in the 54th District and I hope the candidates there get behind the Irwin idea and save these mountains, waterfalls, forests and views. These are the ideas that can call us to action and make Michigan the leader and best in the environment and a wonderful place to live.

The positive economic impact of a national park will last generations and Marquette and Baraga will see greatly improved economies. In 1957 the Huron Mountains were selected as the best site along the Great Lakes Shoreline to preserve, but the political elite who are members of the Huron Mountain club decided to keep this treasure for themselves, and prevented the legislation from going forward denying the People of Michigan some of the most beautiful land east of the Mississippi.

The nickel sulfide mining project in this area will denude and pollute this great part of wild Michigan and will not provide the People of Michigan the economic growth promised and will lose the great cultural and recreational asset of a national park. A few years ago Conde Nast magazine rated the upper peninsula as one of the top ten tourist destinations in the world and last year Liane Hansen of NPR raved about the beauty and food of the U.P. as she toured this vast and unspoiled land.

Jeff Irwin…this is the first original idea in many years about saving and preserving our Michigan environment. If elected I hope you pursue this development which should attract thousands each year from Chicago and Minneapolis to spend their money in Michigan admiring this unique world asset.