by Tim Skubick
Sept 11, 2009

What’s the sense of having power if you can’t abuse it — and House Democrats definitely have the power and are abusing it.

There’s a time-honored tradition that the party in power gets to lord over the party that is not. The Dems are upholding that tradition, perhaps to the detriment of reaching agreement on a new state budget.

All this power-lording is reaching critical mass at a time when there should be the ultimate in bipartisan cooperation on the budget. But the recent shenanigans on the House floor portend to anything but.

To set the scene: the House had before it a tax-credit bill to help create thousands of jobs at the abandoned Ford Wixom plant in Oakland County, because two renewable energy manufacturers want in.

Rep. Hugh Crawford (R-Novi) lives within earshot of the plant and wanted to speak on the House floor. Rep. Tom McMillan (R-Rochester Hills) was chomping at the bit to oppose it and wanted to give a floor speech, too.

They were told to sit down and shut up. House Democratic Floor Leader Rep. Kathy Angerer (D-Dundee) didn’t use those words, but she delivered the muzzling message to House GOP leader Kevin Elsenheimer, who was livid. (Angerer apparently has issues with McMillen taking too much time to spout off about his right-wing agenda.)

Elsenheimer has been a model of cooperation since he took over the reigns from former GOP leader Rep. Craig DeRoche (R-Bomb Thrower). The new leader met with Speaker Dillon early on and the two pledged to work together, knowing that there would be philosophical differences along the way. Elsenheimer came away thinking his side would be treated fairly and with respect.

Increasingly, as the Democrats imposed one gag order after another on Republicans, the GOP troops have been getting restless, and Elsenheimer confesses: “We’ve had an issue throughout the year…We’ve had difficulty getting that voice heard…Every member is entitled to have his day on the floor.”

Finally, Angerer and company demurred and allowed one Republican to speak. After he was done, they ran the vote and the tax credit passed 90-17.

One has to wonder, why not let everyone talk? That’s what these folks get paid to do.

Did the Ds think McMillan would change everyone’s mind? Hardly. This thing was greased with so many jobs at stake.

Crawford was miffed that he was not invited to a news conference to announce the impending vote on the bill. He also wanted to be a co-sponsor and got shut out on that, too. And what fumed him even more was that the Democrats gave the bill to a Democrat who needed a boost to hold onto her seat next year, but was basically MIA during meetings with the company leaders.

That representative, Lisa Brown, says she doesn’t care if her name is on the bill. She just wants the jobs. She did concede she met the company folks only once. Plus she says Crawford got a chance to co-sponsor the measure.

And so the unnecessary back and forth drags on, with Elsenheimer warning “these petty issues” could get in the way of reaching a deal on the budget deficit.

Crawford says, “I want to sing Kumbiya and roast marshmallows” with the other side, but their definition of bipartisanship means they get everything and we get nothing.

Dillon, who has taken his eye off the ball while working on unrelated issues, apparently will extend an olive branch to the GOP before this lording over thing gets out of hand.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972. He also covers the Capitol and politics for WLNS-TV6 in Lansing.

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RUA Texting Driver?
To text while driving or not to text while driving.

Let’s be blunt, that should not be the question. There is no choice.

Later this month, a House committee will consider legislation to ban texting while driving. The sponsor wants to slap a $100 fine on the practice, which is really chump change. But here is the killer: Rep. Gino Polidori also wants two points added to your driving record if you get nabbed.

Now he has everyone’s attention, including the committee chair who is not so sure what she will support…and where she lands will be critical to the outcome of this life-saving debate.

Polidori wants to make this a primary offense, meaning the cops can haul you over for fiddling with your BlackBerry while you should be concentrating on the road.

Committee Chair Pam Byrnes favors making it a secondary offense, e.g. you have to run a red light or violate some other traffic law before you get ticketed for texting.

The Chelsea Democrat is also leery about the two-point penalty. Without that and the primary offense status the texting ban will be next to useless..

Years ago when they passed the seat belt law, it was a secondary offense and about 70 percent of motorists obeyed the law. As soon as they slapped on the primary offense, usage skyrocketed to over 95 percent.

Doesn’t everyone agree that seat belts save lives?

Doesn’t everyone agree that texting while driving can save the life of the texter — and maybe even your life if he or she slams into your car?

Byrnes says she is not sure the ban is enforceable, and some law enforcement types have shared the same concern with Polidori.

He says this is simple: if the cops see somebody with a hand off the wheel and head looking down, pull that driver over.

Somebody Save the Fair
At 10 p.m. on Monday night the carnival trucks hauled away the rides, the farmers packed up their livestock and headed for greener pastures, and a tradition that began in 1849 came to an unceremonious end.

Or will they really kill the Michigan State Fair?

All the published reports over the Labor Day weekend did everything but kick some dirt on the grave, declaring it dead, caput, history.

Not so fast.

Sure, it does not look good as an October 1 date for boarding up the joint draws nigh, but what the papers missed was the llth hour behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

“I’m optimistic,” beams labor leader Mark Gaffney, who chairs what will soon be the mothballed Michigan State Fair Commission unless he can pull this one off.

Seems Gaffney and other fair enthusiasts have quietly been talking to the Palace of Auburn Hills and Mike Ilitch of Pizza Pizza fame.

“No one is coming to the table yet,” Gaffney reports, but he is not tossing in the towel.

Gaffney is begging the governor to give him just a little more time, but Gov. “I-have-to-shut-the-fair-’cause-I-have-no-money” won’t budge.

“It’s a chicken and the egg,” Gaffney laments, expressing major frustration with his governor. She wants a deal before she grants a stay of execution, but Gaffney needs more time to get the deal.

His hope is to convert the 164-acre fairgrounds into a year-round venue, with the revenue from that used to reassemble the fair next year.

Here’s the irony. It will cost the state about $300,000 to maintain the status quo while the search for a savior continues. It would cost $700,000 to shut the place, so some say why not take a gamble.

The governor appears to be in no gambling mood, even though she has professed to be very pro-Detroit, which, of course, is where the fairgrounds are.