Earlier this summer Center for Michigan leaders came out against the Reform Michigan Government Now ballot proposal because it threatened to increase hyperpartisanship in Michigan, it was crafted anonymously and in secrecy, it threatened to disenfranchise many voters, and it would've set a bad precedent of Constitutional overahaul by ballot initiative. Here's the full text of the Center's opposition.

This week, the Michigan Court of Appeals thankfully stopped RMGN from appearing on the ballot.

Lansing attorney Peter Ellsworth, who fashioned the court fight against RMGN, summed it up well in the Detroit News...

"The decision was clear; it is unconstitutional to throw dozens of unrelated subjects into a single ballot proposal. The court unanimously rejected (the) proposal as a cynical attempt to rewrite the state constitution without following the proper process."

Overall, RMGN would have been bad for Michigan, but those who put the proposal together did develop several thoughtful reform ideas, raised the consciousness about the need to carefully consider changes to the Michigan Constitution, and intensified debate about whether Michigan voters should approve in 2010 a Constitutional convention to overhaul the state's 45-year-old governing document.