Skubick

What follows has all the potential to be a wonderful insider look at how the legislative process “really” works. Not the one they taught you in your high school government/civic class.

Our story begins with the launch this week with a call to revise the method for picking candidates for two of the top three executive positions in state government namely state attorney general and secretary of state hence forth to be known as simply “A.G.” and “S.O.S.”

You get extra credit if you already know that the two major political parties are assigned this task. They do so by inviting avid party members. better known as delegates, into a one or two day state convention where the candidates for those two slots at the top of the ticket sell their political wares and the one with the most buyers gets the nominations.

Now if you are just learning this, you are smart enough to be wondering, why the heck don’t the citizens of the entire state get to do this? After all that’s the process in selecting governor candidates so why are these two very important assignment, less than?

Good question.

Which is exactly why a handful of savvy political players have formed the group “Voters Not Insiders” to do that and they claim to have 80% support. Veteran Pollster Richard Czuba sifts his poll data and finds a serious thirst among lots of citizens to get in this game even though the framers of the 1963 state constitution thought other wise and installed the party system instead.

So far all of this sounds pretty pedestrian. All you have to do is put the question on the statewide ballot in November and let the voters have at it.

Not so fast boys and girls. This is where the fun commences.

To get a slot on that ballot both the Michigan House and Senate have to cough up a two-thirds vote not a simple majority.

Some are quick to point at that can’t be that tough since both houses cooperated a couple of years ago and put Proposal 1 before the voters and it got 66% approval.

Ah but, there is always an ah but.

That was so easy because it was self-serving. The very writers of the proposal were subject to a harsh term limit law already on the books. Six years in the House and eight in the senate and everyone is escorted to the exit on the ground floor of the capitol. Adios.

Proposal one extended term limits to 12 years in one chamber or the other or a combo of both. In retro-spect, it’s amazing it was not a 100% vote.

But we digress.

Backers of this new plan could do a petition drive to end run the legislature but there is neither the time, the money or the elbow grease to push that puppy so it’s all or nothing at all via the legislative process unless they wait a couple of years to do the petition thing.

The “VNI” brain trust must win the support of House GOP Speaker Matt Hall and his senate counterpart Democrat Sen Winnie Brinks to even have a shot at a two-thirds vote.

You would think they could simply go to the pair, who are not the best of buds, and plead the “good government” argument that is nothing more American than giving the citizens the power to make critical decisions?

And both leaders would probably nod in agreement but one of them might be so bold as to add, “What’s in this for me?”

Naw.

The crafty and consummate legislative chess wizard Matt Hall would never do that.

Or would he be like his name sake, Monty Hall, and shout out, “Let’s make a deal!”

He has not checked in on this but just for the sake of our little civic’s course here, let’s assume that he wants to horse trade.

Lon Johnson, the former state Democratic Party chair, is in on the ground floor on all this and the Speaker could turn to him with this “ask.”.

“Lon, I need some votes from your party to pass my property tax relief plan. Can you help get some on the voting board?

Pass the back scratcher please.

Turns out Mr. Johnson was asked that exact question during his cross examination on Off the Record recently and he turned himself into a human pretzel as he went every which way around the question befor finally conceding he was not going to indulge in the legislation process like that. So there.

Truth be known at least one of the reporters was not buying that for a second.

And if there had been a small dose of truth serum on the set, and he was willing to gulp, betya he too would have admitted a give and take might be needed.

Ultimately however, if Mr. Hall attempts to block this effort, Mr. Johnson could argue, and he most certainly has not even hinted at this, the speaker is trying to keep you from having a vote and could that hurt Republicans in the fall election for control of the house? Lots of questions as we watch how the process really works.