Three observations from Tuesday’s poll results:
1. LEGISLATORS CAN’T HIDE BEHIND THE BOGEYMAN OF VOTER IRE. Remember a year ago when Leon Drolet and his big pink pig threatened to turn out more than a dozen state legislators (Dems and GOP alike) who voted for tax increases? Well, voters didn’t remember the pink pig on Tuesday. Seventeen out of 18 House incumbents won their primaries Tuesday. House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, the main target off the ultra-Right-Wing recall efforts that fizzled several months ago, won by a two-thirds margin. The main takeaway here isn’t about taxes. It’s about how legislators can have the courage to take tough stands and make tough votes and still earn voters’ respect.
2. EVEN IN TOUGH TIMES, VOTERS WILL SUPPORT WELL-REASONED QUALITY OF LIFE MEASURES. Voters throughout Metro Detroit enthusiastically approved a tax increase to support operations at the Detroit Zoo. The zoo vote will cost the average homeowner about ten bucks a year. Up the road in Lansing, voters stomped on a $96 million plan to build five new libraries throughout Ingham County. As the Lansing State Journal reported, “Library officials have allowed from the beginning that such a massive project wouldn’t be an easy sell to voters, especially in a down economy.” The libraries would’ve cost the average homeowner $48 annually — too hefty a book fine, voters concluded.
3. IT TAKES MORE THAN NAME RECOGNITION. Discriminating voters passed over familiar names in several state House seats. In the Grand Rapids area, Linda Steil, wife of Rep. Glenn Steil (R-Cascade Twp.) failed in her effort to keep the seat in the family. In Traverse City, Mike McManus, father of State Sen. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) wasn’t able to join his daughter in the capitol.
