Look Out for Dirty Tricks

What would you say if the Michigan legislature passed and Governor Granholm signed into law a measure that:

• Authorized the state to pay up to $10 million to hold Republican and Democratic primary elections in January.
• Ordered the Michigan Secretary of State to develop, again at public expense, a list of voters’ party preferences, including names and addresses.
• Required this list to be kept absolutely secret, but also turned it over for free only to the chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties for use in “supporting political party activities”.
• Provided that any other use of these records – political, commercial, journalistic, academic, historical or scientific – by anyone else other than the duopoly of the two major political parties is a criminal violation of the law, subject to a $1,000 fine and not more than 93 days in jail.

First of all – after got your breath back – you’d say this was a plot right of George Orwell’s famous and terrifying novel, 1984, which described the ultimate subversion and destruction of democracy.

Second, you’d ask – loudly – who in their right mind would ever imagine such a thing?

Turns out (I’m not making this up!) exactly this was dreamed up by and negotiated between Mark Brewer, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party and Saulius Anuzis, his GOP counterpart. Senator Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) introduced the deal as Senate Bill 624 on July 6, 2007. After passage by both houses of the legislature and signature by the governor, the bill amended part of Michigan’s Election Law, MCL 168.1, et seq.

This exercise in politburo politics was concocted by Michigan’s hyper-partisan political parties in order to hold primary elections in January 2008 to pick their respective nominees for President. It’s a perfect example of the kind of unthinking partisan arrogance that over the last several months of tumultuous and embarrassing thrash in Lansing has held the interests of 10 million Michigan citizens hostage to the partisan agendas of both political parties.

Fortunately, a group of citizens including Mark Grebner, an East Lansing political consultant who uses public records to compile and sell detailed voter lists, sued. They argued that the law would result in publicly-funded resources being given away for free exclusively to the political parties for their private use and profit

This Wednesday, Ingham County Circuit Judge William Colette struck down the law because it made voter lists the secret and exclusive possession of both political parties. Collette ruled there was “clear injury” to the public and that turning over the voter lists to the parties was unconstitutional.

Unthinking partisan arrogance was not confined to drafting and passing the offending law. Eric Doster, a lawyer for the state Republican Party, argued in open court that primary elections are essentially private events, even if paid for by public money. Presidential primary voter records are “not the state of Michigan’s property. This is the party’s property. These are our members,” Doster said.

Right. You get it. Public voter records are the party’s property. Our voters, our votes, our members.

No doubt Judge Collette’s decision will be appealed, maybe all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. GOP chair Anuzis called the ruling a “hiccup” on the way to a January, 2008 primary. Repeated calls requesting comment to Democratic chair Brewer and Sen. McManus were unanswered.

In addition to demonstrating in stark clarity the ways our major political parties hold the public in contempt, story means a lot to ordinary folks.

Suppose you you’re a crossover voter, sometimes voting for the Democrat, sometimes for the Republican. Under the new law, you’d be labeled as one or the other depending on which primary you voted in. Your vote would be accessible only to the political parties who could then target or ignore you at their leisure without you being able to do anything about it.

Or suppose you want to run for the legislature, but you’re independent-minded, not always in lock-step with your party. If you want to reach the voters, the voter lists are a very useful tool. But under the new law, you’d never get to use them if the parties decided you were too much a troublemaker.

If you are concerned about the impact of belligerent, intense and self-absorbed political partisanship on Lansing’s ability to lead Michigan out of the morass we’re in, I’d urge you to watch this case like a hawk.

And maybe raise holy hell.

Editor’s Note: Former newspaper publisher and University of Michigan Regent Phil Power is a longtime observer of Michigan politics and economics. He is also the founder and president of The Center for Michigan, a centrist think-and-do tank. The opinions expressed here are Power’s own and do not represent the official views of The Center. Power welcomes your comments at ppower@thecenterformichigan.net.