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[[Image:RickSnyderStella-artois.jpg|left|frame|Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder200px]]<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/11217 Michigan Senate Works to Thwart Effort to Suspend Financial Martial Law11228 Lobbying Firm Caught Editing Wikipedia Article on Beer Brand]</h3>by [[Anne Landman]]<br> A group called Michigan Forward is [http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111207/METRO01/112070349/Drive[Anheuser-Busch]]'s United Kingdom division, InBev, employed a lobbying firm to edit the Wikipedia entry about its Stella Artois brand of lager to-reverse-emergency-manager-law-gears-up working] delete a negative reference to gather nearly 200the brand. Portland Communications,000 signatures between now and March a lobbying firm run by a former adviser to get a measure on Tony Blair, deleted the term "wife-beater" from the ballot Wikipedia article about Stella Artois, reportedly to repeal Michigan's new strict emergency financial manager (EFM) law"challenge any connections between the brand and domestic violence. The current law" Stella Artois, passed one of the biggest brands of lager in Marchthe UK, 2011, lets in recent years has earned the governor appoint emergency managers who are then given unilateral power over financially-troubled municipalities nickname "wife beater" because of its high alcohol content and school districtsapparent popularity among rowdy soccer players. The state-appointed EFMs can dismiss duly elected local officialschanges on Wikipedia were made by a user named Portlander10, break municipal contracts who had an IP address traceable to Portland Communications. Portland maintains that the changes were made openly and sell off the townwithin Wikipedia's public utilitiesrules. If activists succeed in gathering In the required number wake of signaturesthis revelation, though, a meeting has been scheduled between the new EFM law could be suspended while the matter waits Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Wikipedia to be decided at the ballot box in November. Michigan Forward reportedly already has 155,000 valid signaturesgive PR professionals guidance for working on Wikipedia, and needs 161,304 to get the law suspended. But the Republican-led legislature is working develop a code of conduct for PR professionals to thwart the effort help minimize attempts to suspend mask the law. The State Senate passed SB 865, an interim law which would allow emergency managers true identity of PR pros seeking to [http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/12/mirs_gov_rick_snyder_administr.html stay in place] even if petition gatherers succeed in getting enough valid signatures to suspend edit the current law. Read the rest of this item [http://www.prwatch.org/node/11217 here]site.