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I’m Looking for a Lawyer

by Richard Cole
March 16, 2010

I’m looking for a lawyer. Here’s my case.

I need help stopping the oath of office from being administered to a future Michigan governor who has taken a conflicting oath. Take, for example, someone who has pledged loyalty to a group called Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). How can a governor serving this master be reasonably expected to faithfully discharge the duties he or she gets elected to discharge?

Article XI, paragraph 1, of the Michigan Constitution requires state office holders to take the following pledge:

“…that I will support the…constitution of this state, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of _____ according to the best of my ability.”

I’m not a constitutional lawyer. I don’t even play one on TV. But I’d sure hate to think that my governor is operating without all the tools the constitution provides. As far as I can tell, the ATR pledge is designed to take the tax tool away from the governor, thereby limiting, if not overriding, her or his powers under the state constitution.

If this is not a violation of my rights as a resident of Michigan, what is?

I have been following a little donnybrook playing itself out in Arizona’s Capitol. It may be resolved by now, but as I write it isn’t. It seems that the state has a provision in its constitution similar to the one in ours that requires a balanced budget. The 15 ATR members of the Arizona legislature now find themselves in the predictable predicament of having to decide: “Do I honor the pledge I took as a state official, or does the oath I took from Americans for Tax Reform take precedence? Do I vote to place a temporary sales tax increase on the ballot as my conscience suggests, or do I stay true to the private anti-tax oath that helped get me elected to office?”

I Googled into the ATR website to see what advice it might give such a conflicted public official. I thought ATR might say something like: “While we appreciate the sincerity with which you signed your pledge, we understand that you have taken an oath of office that may be in conflict with our pledge. Unlike our pledge, the government oath you took likely was taken on a Bible. So, let your conscience be your guide.”

That’s what I thought. Instead, I found this: “ATR works with state taxpayer coalitions in all 50 states to ask candidates for state legislature and constitutional office to sign the State Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which reads:

“I, __________ , pledge to the taxpayers of the _____ district of the state of __________ , and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

I found no “out” clause. But I did find this with a June 30, 2009, dateline: “Michigan ‘Mikes’ become First Pledge Signers in 2010 Gubernatorial Race!”

It continued, “Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard have become the first candidates in Michigan’s 2010 gubernatorial race to sign the ATR Gubernatorial Pledge.” The article proceeded to identify these two officials — one already a seated state official — as having taken this private, anti-tax pledge.

Just in case you might be wondering what, exactly, the Gubernatorial Pledge says, here it is:

“I, __________ , pledge to the taxpayers of the State of __________ , that I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

Here, then, is the pledge I have made in the event that anyone from either political party has taken such an irresponsible oath and gets elected as governor of Michigan:

I, Richard Cole, pledge to the taxpayers of the State of Michigan that I will promote a class action lawsuit to prevent anyone, from any political party, who has taken the ATR pledge, or any similar private pledge, from taking the oath necessary to assume the Office of Governor, unless and until such time as he or she recants the conflicting pledge.

In addition to serving as professor and chairperson of the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing at Michigan State University, Richard Cole is co-founder of Michigan’s Next Governor Project (see August Dome feature).The opinions expressed reflect his individual viewpoint and not that of the university.