House Dems and Rep. Ball, "Constitution is too pro-citizens."
The Michigan House of Representatives concluded this week of session in a most unusual manner. While House Speaker Andy Dillon was vacationing in Mexico, the Secretary of State concluded the first phase of the process that certifies petitions forcing Dillon to face a recall election on August 5th.
House Democrats, along with some Republicans, scrambled to try to help Dillon avoid being the first Speaker in U.S. history to be recalled. When citizens target a tax-hiking politician for recall, what's a group of fellow politicians to do?
Well, an official resolution of the House - that's what they'll do! What's a House Resolution? It's a vote by the House which expresses their 'official' opinion. What is the official opinion of politicians in the House? According to House Resolution 358, introduced by Representative Dick Ball (R-Owosso), it is that the Michigan Constitution is unfair because it gives citizens too much power. These politicians also believe, according to HR 358, that elections are bad for our democracy. Oh, also, citizens having the right to fire politicians who they believe no longer represent them is "chilling" to politicians.
Lets take a look at HR 358. It starts with:
"A resolution to express the sense of the House that recalls should be based on specific misconduct, criminal activity, or abuse of office and should not be based on a single vote and to denounce the effort to recall Speaker Andy Dillon."
The problem with the first sentence of the resolution is that it contradicts the Constitution, which states very clearly that:
"The sufficiency of any statement of reasons or grounds procedurally required (for a recall election) shall be a political rather than a judicial question." Article II, Section 8.
In other words, criminal acts go to courts, recalls are for challenging the policy (political) decisions of politicians. But Representative Ball and House leaders don't like the Constitution giving citizens so much power over politicians.
HR 358 further states:
"The threat of recall for reasons other than some measure of misconduct undermines the foundation of our democratic republic."
What? Recall elections undermine democracy? A recall involves citizens collecting the highest percentage of registered voters' signatures of any petition process allowed under law, and then requires a vote of the people in a scheduled election. How the heck is that damaging to democracy?
One more gem from HR 358:
"Whereas, Michigan's experience with recall seems to be a model of the potential for abuse at all levels of government."
Really? Michigan has only two experiences with lawmakers being recalled - Senators Serotkin and Mastin back in 1983 who were recalled for raising the income tax. Their recalls did not lead to "abuse", but rather to the legislature quickly rescinding most of that tax hike. Well, perhaps having to give money back to citizens makes some politicians feel abused.
What happened to the vote on HR 358? It never happened. I'm told that some legislators were actually concerned about challenging the Constitution. The other rumor is that Democrats freaked out after hearing that a Republican legislator was planning to offer an amendment to the resolution addressing removal of another politician from office - someone named Kwame Kilpatrick. Democrats quickly removed HR 358 from the agenda.
I'll keep you posted.
Leon Drolet
Executive Director
Michigan Taxpayers Alliance
www.mitaxpayers.org
House Democrats, along with some Republicans, scrambled to try to help Dillon avoid being the first Speaker in U.S. history to be recalled. When citizens target a tax-hiking politician for recall, what's a group of fellow politicians to do?
Well, an official resolution of the House - that's what they'll do! What's a House Resolution? It's a vote by the House which expresses their 'official' opinion. What is the official opinion of politicians in the House? According to House Resolution 358, introduced by Representative Dick Ball (R-Owosso), it is that the Michigan Constitution is unfair because it gives citizens too much power. These politicians also believe, according to HR 358, that elections are bad for our democracy. Oh, also, citizens having the right to fire politicians who they believe no longer represent them is "chilling" to politicians.
Lets take a look at HR 358. It starts with:
"A resolution to express the sense of the House that recalls should be based on specific misconduct, criminal activity, or abuse of office and should not be based on a single vote and to denounce the effort to recall Speaker Andy Dillon."
The problem with the first sentence of the resolution is that it contradicts the Constitution, which states very clearly that:
"The sufficiency of any statement of reasons or grounds procedurally required (for a recall election) shall be a political rather than a judicial question." Article II, Section 8.
In other words, criminal acts go to courts, recalls are for challenging the policy (political) decisions of politicians. But Representative Ball and House leaders don't like the Constitution giving citizens so much power over politicians.
HR 358 further states:
"The threat of recall for reasons other than some measure of misconduct undermines the foundation of our democratic republic."
What? Recall elections undermine democracy? A recall involves citizens collecting the highest percentage of registered voters' signatures of any petition process allowed under law, and then requires a vote of the people in a scheduled election. How the heck is that damaging to democracy?
One more gem from HR 358:
"Whereas, Michigan's experience with recall seems to be a model of the potential for abuse at all levels of government."
Really? Michigan has only two experiences with lawmakers being recalled - Senators Serotkin and Mastin back in 1983 who were recalled for raising the income tax. Their recalls did not lead to "abuse", but rather to the legislature quickly rescinding most of that tax hike. Well, perhaps having to give money back to citizens makes some politicians feel abused.
What happened to the vote on HR 358? It never happened. I'm told that some legislators were actually concerned about challenging the Constitution. The other rumor is that Democrats freaked out after hearing that a Republican legislator was planning to offer an amendment to the resolution addressing removal of another politician from office - someone named Kwame Kilpatrick. Democrats quickly removed HR 358 from the agenda.
I'll keep you posted.
Leon Drolet
Executive Director
Michigan Taxpayers Alliance
www.mitaxpayers.org
posted by Leon Drolet at
12:49 PM
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