by Gongwer News Service
August 22, 2008

While supporters of the Reform Michigan Government Now! proposal have already appealed to a higher court, for now at least it appears the initiative won’t make it to voters after a flurry of activity this week with appellate judges proclaiming that the changes outlined in the measure may be fit for a constitutional conventional, but not for the ballot.

Prospects appear dim at best the measure will be cleared by state courts for consideration in November by voters, and proponents are keeping open the option of a federal appeal as well.

The proposal’s supporters started out the week on a high note on Tuesday when the Board of State Canvassers said they had gathered the requisite number of signatures to place the measure on the ballot.

But things quickly turned on Wednesday when the Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the proposal is actually a revision of the Constitution and does not meet the standards set by the Constitution for amendments and, therefore, cannot be placed on the November ballot.

Judges Bill Schuette, William Whitbeck and Patrick Meter issued an order granting the plaintiffs in the case, Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution, a writ of mandamus directing the Department of State to stop processing the amendment and “not to allow the proposal to be placed on the ballot.”

The court opinion was issued some 16 hours before the Board of State Canvassers was scheduled to meet on approving ballot language for the RMGN proposal.

Since the Court of Appeals as well as the Supreme Court were targets of the proposal (it would require cutting the membership of each court) and since all judges in the state would have been affected by a required pay cut in the proposal, there had been questions raised by supporters as to whether any court could fairly deal with the issue.

The judges directly addressed the issue in their opinion saying: “We offer no opinion on the merits of any or all of the substantive matters contained within the RMGN initiative petition. Also, let us be clear at the outset what our opinion today does not do. We do not act to prevent the citizens from voting on a proposal simply because that proposal is allegedly too complex or confusing….The broad range of public policy issues, and those items which involved politics and elections, are not the province of the judicial branch of government.”

Supporters of the wide-ranging proposal called the court decision a “travesty of justice.”

Dianne Byrum, spokesperson for RMGN, called the action unprecedented. She said even though the proposal had sufficient signatures and a proposed 100-word ballot description, the court has shown “it will do anything to protect the status quo and their perks. The losers are the taxpayers of Michigan.”

In addition to appealing the decision, supporters also said asked Supreme Court Justices Stephen Markman and Robert Young Jr. to recuse themselves, just as they asked the appellate judges they felt were the most affected by the proposal’s outcome to recuse themselves earlier in the month.

The two justices have an even more direct conflict than do most members of the judiciary, they said, because their seats would be eliminated in the slimmed down Supreme Court.

But, in a likely fruitless attempt to convince RMGN advocates to wave a white flag, Tom Shields, president of Marketing Resource Group and spokesperson for opponents, said RMGN backers have already wasted enough time and money and should not appeal.

Opponents to the proposal have said that any further challenge would likely not survive in the courts anyway, saying with a fair amount of certainty that voters will not see the issue before them this fall.

But proponents of RMGN are clearly not ready to admit defeat, saying on Thursday that the appellate decision is based on California law and therefore is soundly open to challenge. Further, they said, they have a case for voters’ rights violations, which would be the subject of a federal case, should they decide to file an appeal in that court.

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