DATE: 6 p.m., Feb. 6, 2012

EVENT: “A Debate on the Emergency Financial Manager Law: Democracy, Expertise, and the Public Good in Financially Troubled Cities.”

We often hear in public discourse that government ought to be run more like a business, with streamlined decision-making by expert managers being preferred over the more cumbersome ways of making decisions that are associated with democratic institutions. The Emergency Financial Manager Law can be viewed as cutting to the heart of this tension between expertise and democracy. State and local government leaders will address the issue during a panel discussion. They include:

• State Rep. Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor
• State Rep. Mark Oiumet of Ann Arbor
• Howard Ryan, director of legislative affairs, Michigan Department of Treasury
• Conan Smith, Washtenaw County Commissioner
• Dayne Walling, Mayor of Flint

LOCATION: Eldersveld Room, 5th Floor (5670), Haven Hall. Central Campus map: http://www.umich.edu/~info/mapsAndDirections.html#anchor_centralCampus

SPONSOR: Undergraduate Political Science Association

WEB LINK: Department of Political Science