Tim Skubick

It’s unclear if they taught this in those high school government courses that everybody slept through. But if somebody asked you what was the most important element in the legislative process, could you fake an answer to get a passing grade?

The list of potential answers is far reaching.

Could it be, you have to have somebody read the bills before you vote on them assuming you don’t have the time to consume all of them.

Or how about in a majority of cases if the majority of citizens you represent favor something you should reflect those local wishes in your voting.

And you should not hang around for twenty or more years so that “new blood” can be infused into the legislative process?

Well boys and girls, it’s none of those. In fact the answer is so simple. It’s just one word.

TRUST.

Without that nothing get’s done. Because when legislative agreements (deals) are attempted, nobody would shake hands if the other hand in yours did now come with the understanding that him or she would not renege once the rubber hit the road.

In other words when a politician says, “I give you my word, you can trust me”, does anybody believe it?

Prior to term limits, the building of trust was accomplished through years of working together. As in any solid relationship it does not happen over night and is restricted to growing in real time.

It was rewarding to watch lawmakers who had been in the trenches together for years to fiercely argue over this issue or that and then once all the obligatory partisan statements were on the record, they would hole up a room. They would chuck the grand standing and do the people’s business knowing that in the end, the trust would produce an affirmative vote..

Which brings us to the current unfolding debate over granting you a whopping $5 billion property tax relief measure authored by the House GOP Speaker Matt Hall.

He wants to pay for the thing by slapping the state 6% sales tax on luxury items which for years Democrats have wanted to do but faced stiff push back from the R’s.

So now it is on the table and one Democrat with liberal leanings loves the idea of finally getting a whack at taxing “Dick and Betsey DeVos on their luxury yacht. I will help the speaker do that,” he asserts.

Story over?

Not quite.

Rep. Alabas Farhat (D-Dearborn) has some qualifiers such as, “if that’s truly what he wants to do (and) if it’s not a shell game whereby we give those big guys a tax beak at the cost of the working people.”

His point is, the speaker’s plan includes everybody. So if you reside in a 5.5 million dollar mansion on Lake Michigan or Lake Huron, your property tax break is huge compared to the little guy in a $55,000 abode in a post World War II subdivision.

“I would give the Speaker of the House Matt Hall lots of credit for saying he wants to tax the wealthiest Michiganders” and Mr. F. can see that getting through with Democratic support, if the trust is there.

His current attitude is a page from the former President Ronald Reagan playbook, “Trust but verify.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has a self-described good working relationship with the House GOP leader, is also not ready to sign off until she sees it in writing. Note that she says nada regarding the trust factor in her comments, but underneath it all she is not about to sign off, sight unseen. She’s a lame duck but not that lame.

Building this trust is not a walk through the park in a legislative body that is “one of the most dysfunctional places in America. 100%,” Mr. Farhat observes.

Yet both sides have proven that when all the gamesmanship and political points are on the board, the two parties can set that aside to get yes votes up on the board. Best example was the recent bi-partisan agreement to keep in the state over 3,500 doctors who came to Michigan under a 2017 inter-state compact that was in danger of lapsing if lawmakers did zippo. Minus that the docs would have had to leave the state.

True, they came dangerously close to missing the March 28th deadline, but last week before the house went on Spring break, they passed the deal and the Democratically controlled senate had a promise from it’s leader Sen. Winnie Brinks, that she would pass it and the Speaker even gave her a shout out for coming through…which he rarely does.

And based on that he offered, “I’m feeling optimistic about the future.”

The poignant question? Do enough Democrats trust that he is telling the truth or is it just part of a hidden agenda to help the rich and stick it to the poor? as the D’s would put it.