Michigan residents are set to vote on a proposal to amend the State’s Constitution with the goal of streamlining the State Government. The ballot measure proposed by Reform Michigan Government Now is championed as a non-partisan proposal designed to reduce the members of the legislative branch, reduce the number of judges on both the appellate and supreme courts, as well as reducing the benefits paid to government officials.
This proposal has overwhelming public support with a recent poll indicating that 70 percent of Michigan voters are in favor of it, with Republicans showing moderately more support than Democrats. On the surface this would seem to make sense as Republicans are generally more likely to support the downsizing of government. Unfortunately for the residents of Michigan, this measure was not adopted for that purpose, as the Detroit Free Press recently uncovered a power point presentation shows the ballot measure was actually designed for the purpose of allowing Democrats to control all branches of the State Government, as well as the redistricting process.
The overhaul of Michigan's political structure contained in a proposed constitutional amendment targeted for the November election was designed to allow Democrats control of all branches of state government and the redistricting process, according to a presentation that surfaced today
The documents contained in a PowerPoint document outline the difficulties state Democrats have experienced for decades in gaining control of the legislative, judicial and executive branches simultaneously and promotes a "government reform" ballot proposal as the best means to "changing the structural obstacles to Democratic control."
The very first page of this presentation has a heading which reads “Changing the rules of politics in Michigan to help Democrats”. It goes on from there to describe exactly what is necessary to ensure Democratic control of the branches by means of amending the State Constitution in their favor. It lists the redistricting process as crucial to allowing Democrats to gain control of the legislative branch, citing the Supreme Courts ability to overturn redistricting proposals passed by the House, Senate and Governor. The group notes that it is very unlikely Democrats would be able win a majority in any of the three branches of government via the election process, so their solution would be to simply remove the Republican majority via “reform”.
As is noted in the proposal, “Redistricting reform by itself will not be approved by the voters”. “To succeed, redistricting reform must be part of a larger, popular state government reform proposal”. Under the heading of “Reforming the Judicial Branch”, the group details why it is necessary to reduce the number of Judges on both the appellate as well as the Supreme Court. It states:
- Reducing the number of Supreme Court Justices from seven to five; two GOP Justices eliminated
- Reduce the Court of Appeals from 28 to 20 judges, most of them Engler appointees.
Towards the end the group outlines the cost associated with pushing the ballot initiative and having it pass in November. It concludes “If the proposal passes, it will reduce the cost and increase the prospects of winning the State Legislature every cycle”.
The entire ballot initiative is presented to the people under false pretenses, with Michigan voters believing they are actually voting to reform and streamline their State Government. The expressed purpose of the ballot measure however is simply a power grab by Democrats hoping to take over the State Government through deception.
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Comments: 11
How can you say that it is designed to give Democrats added power. The Democratic Governor said she knew nothing about it? It can't be because the Michigan Democratic Party Leaders and the UAW wrote it. We know they are only out for the betterment of the state, which they have been in their control of for the past 6 years.
Btw, myths aside, when was the last time any republican made any effort whatsoever to make government smaller?
I didn't mean to even suggest that you were implying that the Democrats had anything to do with the reform. Howevr, in Michigan papers it has been mentioined that the PowerPoint you linked to was first found on a UAW web site and then quickly removed, the spkesperson for the ballot proposal group is a former Demoncratic staffer, that there have been specific references to Democtraic chairpwerson andother state officials in conjunction with this ballot proposal.
Charles T.,
You have it backwards, in Michigan the state Democratic PArty is an arm of the UAW. Even former Michigan Governor Blanchard staffers admit to the agressive shunning of the Japanese auto manufactures when they came looking to build cars in the US, that was a time when the UAW was notoriously anti Japanese cars.
Based on the powerpoint, assuming it's actually real and not a fake like so much of what is posted, the rationale seems to be that the Republicans have held power for so long and redistricted so often in their favor that the people don't feel like they are being appropriately represented. This is in line with the Rovian principle of divide and conquer in which all branches of government controlled by Republicans are required to "govern" to enhance their party's political gain.
I can see why 70% of the voters would be interested in reforming Michigan politics. And also why a non-partisan group consistenting of all parties would be interested in reestablishing integrity to the process.
Having said that, I would be in favor of a government overhaul that is transparent to the public. After all, isn't it the Republicans who are always talking about reducing the size of government (not they ever really do that, but they do talk about it a lot). So the GOP should be in favor of such a proposal on its face, right?