Flint Profiles: John Auchter

If you love politics and cartoons, often with a Michigan angle, check out Auchtoon! It features the work of Powers High School grad John Auchter, who draws for the MLive Media Group. It also has cartoons he has drawn for the Grand Rapids Press, the Grand Rapids Business Journal, and the Grand Rapids Family magazine.

John writes: 

My cartoons have been stuck on refrigerators, office cubicles, and bulletin boards — the highest award a cartoonist can hope for. I have drawn comics for various newspapers, magazines, companies, and websites. My editorial cartoons have appeared in the “Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year” compilations by Pelican Publishing Company Inc. I am a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in South Carolina and Michigan, I started drawing comics when I was eight-years-old. I’m married now (to my high-school sweetheart), have three beautiful children, two needy cats, and work as a technical communications specialist for Johnson Controls, Inc. , but can still be found more often than not hunched over my drawing table.

Everybody can draw. I am living proof of this. Through practice and a willingness to take chances, I have taken a seed of meager artistic talent and grown it into a flourishing hibiscus of meager artistic talent.

Flint Artifacts: Ray Brownell For Mayor Button

Ray Brownell was mayor of Flint from 1929-1930 and 1933-1934.

Buyer's Remorse

Michigan, where Democratic and Republican governors alike appear to be equally unpopular.

John Terbush of Talking Points Memo reports:

In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder (R) is facing a backlash of his own.

Last November, Snyder beat Democrat Virg Bernero by a huge 18-point margin. But in a PPP poll released yesterday, registered voters suggested they wish they'd elected Bernero -- who won a hypothetical do over, 47% to 45%.

Since taking office, Snyder has pursued a number of controversial proposals, such as one that would grant him the power to declare a financial emergency in a given city and appoint an emergency manager to modify or void union contracts, and even dissolve a city government -- a proposal one supporter likened to "financial martial law."

In PPP's latest poll, 50% of respondents said they opposed that proposal, versus 32% who said they supported it.

The also poll found that a majority of registered voters in Michigan disapprove of Snyder's job performance. Fifty percent of respondents said they disapproved of the job Snyder was doing, while just 33% said they approved.