by Gongwer News Service
July 25, 2008
If the Reform Michigan Government Now! ballot proposal was supposed to help Democrats in Michigan, somebody better tell the Democrats that.

Events over the last week have made it clear that the ballot proposal, which critics charge Democrats devised to gain influence over the political sphere, is splintering the party. It has already led to talk of replacing Party Chair Mark Brewer, been responsible for knocking out their top-choice candidate to challenge the incumbent Supreme Court chief justice, and is actually drawing some worries that it could harm the party’s chances of holding onto the House.

If Democrats have declared war and The Reform Michigan Government Now! proposal is their weapon of choice, it certainly has left a lot of collateral damage.

The broad measure, backed by Mr. Brewer, would dramatically reform legislative redistricting, cut the number of legislators and Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges, and require financial disclosure — and that’s just a start to all the changes it would enact.

Supporters tout the proposal as a grassroots effort to reform government. It has been reported that the effort was actually an effort by Democrats to rewrite the redistricting rules, an allegation essentially proven when a PowerPoint presentation making that very claim was discovered and released by the Midland-based conservative think-tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

While the Democratic top echelon was involved in the drafting and strategy to get the proposal to the November ballot, other Democrats felt they had been thrown under a bus because of the provisions to reduce the legislature, cut pay and benefits and put stringent limits on contacts with the legislature after one leaves office.

Until this week, most of the fulminating against Democratic leaders was limited to closed-door meetings with officials. But the doors were blown wide open this past week.

First comes Sen. Tupac Hunter (D-Detroit), co-chair of the Michigan campaign for presidential candidate Barack Obama, who said on Detroit radio station WJR he is embarrassed by the party’s tactics in planning for the proposal. Worse, he said he feels ashamed to be a member of his party.

“We see a stealth campaign that is starting to unravel and we see what the agenda is,” he said.

Then comes Rep. Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing), who is sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would cut legislative pay and retirement health care benefits as well as end term limits. He said on public television that conversations between legislators and the party chair over the proposal have been “heated.”

He lamented Mr. Brewer’s failure to engage legislators in the conversation over the measure at the grassroots level and said that even though he supports some of the aspects of the proposal, he thinks it is poorly written.

And Mr. Meadows said pointedly that if the vote came today, he wouldn’t back Mr. Brewer for another term as chair.

Then comes a lawsuit to keep the proposal off the ballot, with two Democratic officials among the named plaintiffs. Rep. Virgil Smith III (D-Detroit) and Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton joined a bipartisan group of plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed on Thursday in the Court of Appeals. It alleges the proposal is in itself unconstitutional because it exceeds the intent that amendments should be limited in scope and would violate federal constitutional rights of state elected officials.

The cherry on the fallen cake of all this depressing news for Democrats was the confirmed decision by Detroit attorney Marietta Robinson that she will not be taking the party up on its offer to run against Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, largely because the state Democratic Party is backing the proposal to which she is “very opposed.”

She said the ballot proposal would be a distraction from the core issues of the campaign, eliminating the possibility of the focused race that’s necessary in order to accomplish the difficult task of ousting an incumbent justice.

That decision has to be as much a personal blow to Mr. Brewer, who is driven to unseat Mr. Taylor.

The blows came hard and fast for the party this week, and members took notice, as whispers about whether Mr. Brewer should remain head of the Democratic Party grew loud enough that the governor attempted to quash the idea.

Governor Jennifer Granholm finds herself in a quandary: as head of the party she can hardly punt on her chair (though Mr. Brewer along with labor successfully fought her efforts to replace him as chair when she was first elected), though neither can she rip her stalwarts who are furious over the proposal.

She told reporters this week she understands some in the party are upset with leaders over their actions regarding the proposal, but added that does not mean that Mr. Brewer should step down as party chair. “We need all hands on deck,” she said, alluding to the dozens of open seats at stake in the fall elections. Nor, she said, does she expect the tussle will harm the party’s presidential prospects.

Ms. Granholm’s peacekeeping statement is of a piece with the neutral stance she has taken throughout much of the ballot campaign. She has yet to take a strong position on the proposal, saying she likes some of the measures within, but would rather make the changes during a constitutional convention.

Most recently, she said the issue might be moot because the measure may not survive court challenges to make it on the ballot.

Silent through this week’s soap opera were Michigan Republicans. But Democrats surely know the undisguised glee the GOP is enjoying watching the fight, and probably worrying how much of a role the controversy could play going into November even if the proposal stays off the ballot.

For nearly 50 years in Michigan, Gongwer News Service has provided independent, comprehensive, accurate and timely coverage of issues in and around Michigan’s government and political systems. For subscription information, including a free trial, visit Gongwer online.