Michigan’s tea party activists are suffering right to work envy while watching the Indiana governor march his Legislature relentlessly to the finish line on that issue. Our Republican governor recently said right to work is too divisive and he doesn’t want the Legislature to send a bill to his desk. And GOP Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville’s comments on the matter have wavered between highly skeptical to outright hostile. In retaliation, the activists have threatened to recall Richardville.
But they might want to read up on the Michigan Constitution, because mounting a recall challenge isn’t the only method for taking matters into their own hands, and it isn’t the best weapon they have. Article 2, section 9, provides citizens with the power to initiate laws and send them to the Legislature for approval. If both chambers vote by simple majority to approve the bill within 40 days, then it becomes law.
The governor has no role in the process and can neither sign nor veto the measure.
If lawmakers do not act within 40 days, or reject the proposal, then the proposal goes to the full electorate at the next general election. In either case, citizens have the direct power to force the issue and then time to pressure their lawmakers for approval while the 40 day clock is ticking.
And, while right to work activists would certainly prefer to avoid an election and have lawmakers ratify the proposal, there is a silver lining to having it sent to the polls. If the voters approve the measure, then it requires a ¾ supermajority of any future Legislature to undo it – or another vote of the people – the next best thing to a Constitutional amendment.
The Constitution stipulates that an initiated bill must be submitted with enough valid signatures to equal at least 8 percent of the total votes cast at the previous election for governor; or about 264,000 names. Unlike mounting a recall drive against Richardville, which would require sending bodies to his district to collect the signatures, activists can collect names from wherever they live on an initiated law petition. Every tea party activist in the state could chip in to help right in their own back yard.
Defeating a lawmaker in a recall election is not easy. It has been done just three times in state history, and Richardville’s constituency probably leans more pro-union than the state as a whole.
And, perhaps most importantly, there is no guarantee that the Republican senators who remain would pass the law in the wake of losing their leader.
Using the initiative process forces the right to work issue to the center of the debate in a way that a recall never could. It plays to the strength of a tea party activist base that is dispersed across the state. If they really want a right to work law, Michigan’s tea parties should go out and take it.
Randy Richardville can’t stop them.
Citizen Government at its best, with the 'cooling saucer' of both legislative bodies and time. I like it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ken,...I've forwarded your article to our Strategy Committee of Michigan Freedom to Work. I'll post their answer here too!!! Thanks, Trucker Randy
ReplyDeleteNo state since 1954 has approved Right to Work on the ballot without its having won legislative approval first, either in a direct up-and-down vote to enact the law or a supportive legislative vote to place it on the ballot for approval.
ReplyDeleteBased on polling in previous state ballot contests, the legislature's having approved it first will prove to be a major and likely determinative factor in voters' comfort level when deciding at the ballot whether to retain it. The process recommended has exactly the opposite effect on voter confidence, automatically sending it to the ballot after it has been REJECTED by the Legislature.
Suggest that first, we try an approach that has been talked about for nearly a year without any actual action:
Introduce a Right to Work bill and force Richardville to put up or shut up. See if he's telling the truth when his spokesmen claim he will not block introduction, committee hearings, and floor debate on the issue. Reportedly, he says exactly the opposite in private conversations. As long as no bill is introduced, he can continue to have it both ways.
If the current legislature fails to enact Right to Work as Indiana has, there will only be one group to blame: Republicans. With large majorities in both houses and a governor who's on video promising he will sign Right to Work if it gets to his desk, exactly when do they suggest is a better time to address this critical freedom and jobs issue, especially now that we'll have a Right to Work state on our southern border sucking even more jobs away from Michigan?
There will never be a "right time" for the skittish finger-in-the-wind types, and never an election in which they won't lament that the big, bad compulsory dues-funded bully might come after them. Obvious solution, if they can screw up the courage: take the bully's compulsory dues funding away.
Freedom, and doing the right thing, has always required moral courage. Let's see if the Republicans in Lansing have it.
Gary Glenn
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ReplyDeleteGary, you miss the point. This forces a vote in the Legislature, with the threat of a referendum hanging over their head if they don't do the right thing. And it negates the concern over an executive veto.
ReplyDeleteWorst case scenario is that it gives you your "up or down" vote and they show themselves cowards. Best case ... they pass it and it's a law, without any input from a reluctant governor.
And just because no state has ever passed RTW with a popular vote doesn't mean it cannot be done.
"No we can't" is always going to lose to "Yes we can!"
I see bumper stickers every day that drive this point home ..
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ReplyDeleteRandy: Happy to stir things up for you. Gimme a shout out if you're looking for more details on this.
ReplyDeleteNote that Brooks Patterson got Michigan's primary business tax abolished (the old SBT) with exactly this tactic. A reluctant skittish Legislature ended up approving his citizen petitions and Gov. Granholm had no choice but to sit and watch it happen.
The initial replacement for it was pretty ugly, Granholm's MBT, but Gov. Snyder eventually got that set right.
Citizens have a lot more power than they realize in this state if they want to rise up and take it from the politicians.
Ken,
ReplyDeleteI'm in lockstep with Gary Glenn on this one.
We handed the GOP a mandate just over a year ago, and with that majority- touchdowns are expected.
I much prefer your option as Plan B. I didn't help to get majorities in Lansing so that I could say I got them. I worked to make it reality so I could enjoy the consequences of those elections. Likewise, if we get the RTW and lose the majority in either chamber, I'll look on it as a small price to pay. That being said, you can bet that we're gonna back the legislators that gave us a huge RTW that we've longed for.
Tim - You handed a mandate to a governor who pointedly said it wasn't on his agenda and a Senate Majority Leader who has been cozy with labor unions for more than a dozen years.
DeleteIf you want a touchdown, then call a play. What this option does is bypass committees, compromises, amendments, and even the governor himself. They get one bill with the ideal language of YOUR choosing, and they must figure out whether your votes are more important than Big Labor.
If they fail, then you have built a petition gathering machine that can recall anybody you want - and you get an automatic trip to the ballot box for your RTW proposal.
I cannot imagine any other scenario that more clearly forces them to put up or shut up.