Senate Republicans use committee hearing as campaign event

There is little doubt that most of what Republicans do is to just to keep and regain power and has very little to do with actually improving things, usually using their favorite tactic of dividing and giving us other people to fear and demonize, and we saw a rare example of how the Michigan Senate Republicans do it on Tuesday in the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.
In her unsuccessful run to win the GOP nomination for Michigan Secretary of State, Sen. Michele McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, introduced two bills, Senate Bills 1371-1372, that would require public employers and personnel agencies to use the E-Verify system to make sure they're not hiring or referring illegal immigrants. In Republican’s mad dash to the right, they have demonized those of Hispanic heritage with the unconstitutional and racist show-me-your-papers law in Arizona.

Even Republican politicians in Michigan have used it to gain favor with primary voters, and McManus figured to take advantage of that demonization with the E-Verify bills. We saw some of the jockeying for the SOS race when McManus and fellow Senator and GOP SOS candidate Sen. Cameron Brown, R-Sturgis, publicly argued in committee this summer over whose identical campaign-like bills will be taken up by committee.

But now that McManus has lost the nomination to career politician Ruth Johnson, she no longer needs SBs 1371-1371, and she was angry when Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, had the committee take up her bills.

I have never heard of a Legislator being angry that their bills were being taken up, until now. In fact, subscription only MIRS that covers the Capitol said that “McManus sponsored the bills to boost her bid for Secretary of State, but she finished last at the GOP convention last month. Now sources say the senator wants to wash her hands of the issue.”

It appears that the Senate Republicans want to take advantage of some of the anger out there that illegals are taking Michigan jobs and take up this bill. McManus confirmed that when she told MIRS that was the only reason Bishop took up the bills.

"I had requested that they not be added to the committee's agenda, but it is my understanding that over my objections the Senate Majority Leader has personally instructed the Chair to hold a hearing on them,” McManus told MIRS. “I sympathize with the Chair," McManus said in her testimony. "These bills are not ready for consideration by the committee. They are being considered today due to a desire by the Majority Leader to cater to certain members of the public."

The bills were opposed by both the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), two organizations that are strong supporters of Republicans. Representatives from those organizations testified that E-Verify fails to detect 54 percent of illegal workers according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report, and that would add red tape for employers.

Charlie Owens of NFIB said that immigration needs to be handled by Congress instead of setting up a "patchwork system."

Weaver gives up on reform but helps break up the Gang of Four

Republican heads all over the state exploded yesterday with the news that Republican Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Weaver resigned and Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Michigan Appeals Judge Alton Davis from Grayling to the bench, giving Democrats a 4-3 majority on the court for the first time in nine years.

Weaver has been vilified by Republicans with names like evil, a traitor and names I can’t repeat, and even the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus joined in the chorus with a misguided editorial called “Weaver gamed a system that begs for reform.” Reform the system is what Weaver has been pushing for years. She has been a Justice for two terns serving for 16 years and nominated by the Michigan Republican Party for her two terms.

The party indicated that they were not going to nominate the incumbent Justice at their convention Saturday. And exactly what was Weaver’s crime that she was not going to be nominated for a third term? On occasion she exercised some actual independence and did not always vote with the former Republican “Gang of Four.”

The Gang of Four once consisted of the activist judges Cliff Taylor, Robert Young, Stephen Markman and Maura Corrigan. “Sleepy Cliff Taylor” was unseated by Justice Diane Marie Hathaway in 2008, becoming the first incumbent Justice to lose in 24 years.

During that dark time the Gang of Four held sway, no insurance company lost a case, it expanded government immunity so much that government can only be sued if a pot hole is so large you have to climb out of it and destroyed product liability in the state.

The paper calls Weaver a “Maverick,” and claims that Weaver engaged “after years of squabbling that belie the high-court's image of decorum.” I guess if a maverick is someone who doesn’t march in lock-step with the four Republicans then she is a maverick. I don’t know why the squabbling is only Weaver’s fault and not of the Gang of Four (3).

Bur Weaver does agree with the Republican editorial board that the court needs to be reformed, and in fact, she has pushed for a less partisan way to choose Justices for years, including such things as term limits and other reforms. But to say she “gamed the system” is ridiculous, and smacks of sour grapes.

For on example of her attempt at reform, last October Weaver testified in front of the Senate Campaign and Election Oversight Committee in favor of Senate Bill 745 that would elect the state's seven Supreme Court justices from districts instead of on a statewide basis. Currently, most of the Justices are from southeast Michigan, and only Davis from the UP is an exception.

To show you how difficult it is to reform the court, the bill was introduced by a Republican candidate for Secretary of State, Sen. Michele McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, and supported by GOP boosters the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, but it still did not get more than a hearing in committee controlled by Republicans and remains there.

Elizabeth Weaver is my new hero.

McManus wants Benson to endorse her as the GOP SOS nominee

Wayne State University law Professor and the Democratic nominee for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued her six priorities for comprehensive campaign finance reform today, continuing her longstanding call for legislation that promotes greater disclosure and transparency requirements.

Benson’s priorities also include more consistent and non-partisan enforcement of campaign finance violations, shareholders bill of rights, prohibiting foreign money in Michigan’s elections and eliminating potential for quid pro quo corruption.

“In the wake of the changing landscape of campaign finance requirements that followed United States Supreme Court Decision in Citizens United, our state must enact needed reforms to ensure that the voices of everyday people are not drowned out by millions of dollars of unaccountable spending by large corporations,“ she said. “Citizens need to know their elected officials work for them, and not powerful special interests.”

Benson supports a package of bills aimed at restoring accountability to the flood of secret corporate money that will pour into elections following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last January in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case that passed out of the House in the spring. It, like many other voting and campaign finance bills, was not taken up by the Republicans controlled Senate.

Ironically, one of the many GOP hopefuls for SOS among a weak field of career politicians is Sen. Michele McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, who just happens to be the chair of the Senate Campaign and Election Oversight Committee. McManus and the Republicans have stalled or voted against every single measure to make it easier to vote and to introduce transparency in campaign finance.
Her predictable response was to try ad smear Benson with a GOP boogieman: evil, despicable George Soros. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Republicans are very afraid of Benson, and very early on they launched a number of false smears against her, such as she is backed by communists and the other GOP boogieman: ACORN. ACORN’s crime has been to help poor people.

I know to Republicans a humanitarian like George Soros is evil, but that means nothing outside of a GOP primary. I’m always amazed at the GOP hatred of Soros. This is a man that if you believe in the GOP hype about their alleged “ideals” they should love and place on a pedestal like they do for Reagan.

This is a man who pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He escaped Nazi-occupied Hungary as a teen with nothing but the clothes on his back, and he managed to become a billionaire with his wits and hard work. He gives millions to charity, he helped end apartheid in South Africa by giving money for scholarships to black students there and he helped end Communism by funding dissident movements behind the iron curtain.

The GOP SOS candidate have tried everything possible to crawl out ahead of the pack. In fact, McManus and fellow Senator and GOP SOS candidate Sen. Cameron Brown, R-Sturgis, have publicly argued in committee over whose identical campaign-like bills will be taken up by committee.

Apparently, McManus has come up with a plan to separate her from the pack and try and make Benson look bad. According to the Michigan Messenger, McManus has challenged Benson to a debate.

So in effect, McManus is asking Benson to endorse her for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State. If McManus wins the GOP nomination at the convention next month, then make the offer. Until them, Benson should ignore her.

SOS candidate Benson reiterates her support for early voting in Michigan

The Democratic candidate for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced today her intentions to take an “Oath of Nonpartisanship” win she is elected as the next Secretary of State and takes office in January 2011.

“I firmly believe that our Secretary of State must operate the office in a nonpartisan manner,” Benson said at the annual meeting of the Oakland County Women Officials’ Network on Friday. “That's why upon taking office I will take an Oath of Nonpartisanship, pledging to the citizens of Michigan that I will operate the office in a neutral and nonpartisan fashion.

“To Michigan voters that means you won't find me co-chairing any campaigns or endorsing any candidates in elections over which I will serve as the final certifier of election results,” Benson said. “Michigan citizens deserve to have full confidence that their elections are clean, honest and fair.”

Benson also took the opportunity on Friday morning to reiterate her support for Early Voting in Michigan.

“A citizen casting a vote is the lifeblood of our democracy,” she said. “In these tough economic times, when some families are having to work more than one job to make ends meet, early voting options help them to still be able to vote and be heard.”

Citing a recent Michigan League of Women Voters poll that showed 70 percent of Michigan voters support efforts to make voting more convenient, supporting early voting and no reason absentee voting. Benson said she wanted to make sure that Michigan citizens enjoy the same types of access to voting that citizens enjoy neighboring states.

That’s in sharp contrast to the Republican SOS candidates. Cameron Brown and Michele McManus voted against an amendment on no reason absentee voting after Senate Democrats forced a vote in March. GOP Secretary of State candidate Ruth Johnson wants to make it more difficult for voters to cast their ballots, and she is calling on county clerks and state leaders to withdraw an early voting proposal.

As one of Michigan’s leading election law experts, Benson has worked to eliminate barriers to voting and preserve the integrity of our elections throughout the state. In 2007 she successfully led an effort to block the closing of a Secretary of State branch office in Buena Vista Township, convincing the United State Justice Department that the closure violated the Voting Rights Act. During the 2008 election, she was called to testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, where she called on Michigan Secretary of Secretary Terri Land to ban the use of foreclosure lists to challenge voters’ eligibility on Election Day.

After earning her B.A. at Wellesley College, she began her career at the Southern Poverty Law Center, investigating hate groups and hate crimes throughout the country. She earned an M.Phil as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and subsequently earned her law degree from Harvard Law School.

Benson is currently a law professor at Wayne State University Law School, she not only teaches Election law, she has also published the first major book on the role of the Secretary of State in enforcing election and campaign finance laws. Benson's book, "State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process," highlights best practices of Secretaries from throughout the country and seeks to inform voters about how Secretaries of State from either side of the political spectrum can work to advance democracy and election reform.

SOS candidate wants to make it harder for people to vote

Common sense says the primary job and responsibility of the Michigan Secretary of State is to ensure the ease and security of elections. Somebody better tell that to Sen. Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, one of the GOP candidates for Secretary of State.

In a mass email touting her endorsement by RNC committee person Holly Hughes, McManus says she “has stood up against proposals like no-reason absentee voting, pre-registration of 16-year-olds and early voting.” In other words, she opposes every measure to make it easier to vote and increase voter turnout.

Those commons sense measures were approved by the House this year, but the GOP-controlled Senate refuses to take them up. However, current Republican Secretary of State Terri Land supports those measures. In fact, Land – who is also a Republican caudate for Lt. Governor in 2010 - told the House Committee on Ethics and Elections in June that she would help move the bills to the Senate floor for a vote.

No-reason absentee voting has widespread support, and those supporting it include The Michigan Election Reform Alliance, The Michigan Election Coalition, The League of Women Voters, The Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, The Michigan Municipal League, The Michigan Campaign Finance Network, The Michigan Association of County Clerks, The Michigan Townships Association, Common Cause Michigan and The Michigan Nonprofit Association.

I guess McManus is not concerned about getting the endorsement of groups like The Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks or The Michigan Association of County Clerks.

Because the nomination for SOS comes at the party convention, McManus has to play to the GOP base, which has taken an extreme right turn, and she threw them some red meat with this ditty: “As a state Senator, Michelle has been the firewall against legislation tailor-made to make it easier for groups like ACORN and Moveon.org to manipulate our elections.”

First, when has ACORN and Moveon.org ever manipulated any election? I know ACORN is the biggest boogyman for right-wingers, and they have been accused of every crime under the sun. But what they are really guilty of and why the right hates them so much is because they register poor people to vote.

It’s funny that the reason Land gives for registering 16-year-olds: because she says it’s much better than registering them to vote when age 18 by outside groups, but in her endorsement, Hughes claims McManus has the “right experience to build on the success of the Land and Miller legacies.”

Apparently not.

Democrats poised to take back traditional Democratic statewide offices

A poll conducted by Marketing Resource Group for Bill Ballanger’s Inside Michigan Politics of possible match-ups in the 2010 races for Michigan Secretary of State and Attorney General show Republican candidates having a slight lead over Democrats.

For secretary of state the poll showed Sen. Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, at 33 percent to 28 percent for House Majority Floor Leader Rep. Kathy Angerer, D-Dundee. There are three other GOP candidates for the position, and until I heard Angerer’s name mentioned, I thought Wayne State University law Professor Jocelyn Benson was the only Democratic candidate.

Benson has an excellent and impressive resume, and I think she would be a top-notch SOS, especially after six years of the most partisan SOS in Michigan history. That’s until I heard about Angerer possibly running. With zero publicity and not even a mention of her running, Angerer is just 5 percentage points behind with 37 percent undecided.

There are at least three other potential candidates for the GOP nomination, but none of them compare to Angerer or Benson. I wanted Angerer to run for Senate in the 17th District in 2010. My hometown should not have a Republicans representing it. Angerer unseated a Republican incumbent in 2004, and she can do it again.

I worked in Angerer’s House office as the world’s oldest intern. You can’t find anyone in Lansing who doesn’t respect her.

After Angerer unseated the incumbent Republican, she was a target of the Republicans in the GOP-controlled House for tow years, and Republicans refused to let her even get the simplest of resolutions passed. She spent those two years building the best constituent operation in the state and really learning the issues. In the meantime, the person she unseated spent those two years in the district campaigning and raising money. She won even bigger in 2006, along with the Democrats who took control of the House.

She has earned the respect of colleagues, opponents, staff on both sides of the aisle and House employees down to the janitorial staff. With her seat safe last November, Angerer campaigned for other House candidates, helping Democrats increase their lead by nine seats to give them 67 seats.

The same numbers played out in the poll for attorney general. Republican Bill Schuette edged out Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, 33 percent to 28 percent with 39 percent undecided. Whitmer, like Angerer, has not announced she is running. The poll did not include the other two Republicans; Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop and Sen. Bruce Patterson. Bishop has been campaigning in the Senate by pandering and irresponsibly blowing a hole in the budget.

GOP SOS candidates keep up roadblock to voters

LANSING – You would think the job of the Michigan Secretary of State is to increase vote turnout and make it easier for people to vote, but not Republican SOS candidates Cameron Brown and Michele McManus.

On Wednesday, the Senate Democratic Caucus forced a vote on a tie-bar of no reason absentee voting to a bill by Sen. Tony Stamas, R- Midland, intended to provide relief for incorrect nominating petition info from SOS. The bill was defeated along party lines, including Brown and McManus. Apparently, McManus’s only objection to the bill is that Democrats favor it; telling the official mouthpiece of the state GOP, “rightMichigan,”
“Anything the Democrats want so badly, I am naturally suspicious of and almost always opposed to. I get a little nervous when I hear people start talking about some of these "voter convenience" issues, like no-reason absentee voting.”

The Senate Republicans have pulled out all the stops to defeat it in the past. The House approved it last session.

No-reason absentee voting has widespread support, including from the Michigan Municipal Clerks Association (MMCA) and numerous other groups. Twenty-eight states currently have no reason absentee voting legislation, with three additional states permitting in person voting prior to Election Day. Among the many groups and people in support of his common sense measure is Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, perhaps the most partisan SOS in Michigan history.

“Democracy is not a partisan issue, and any discussion of election reform or voting equity should include No Reason Absentee Voting,” said Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, the sponsor of Senate Bill 97 that enacts no reason A/B. “If we’re willing to amend the Michigan Election Law as it relates to certain candidates for judicial offices, why wouldn’t we also undertake efforts to make voting more accessible for all residents.”

Current Michigan law says the are only six reasons for absentee ballot voting: age 60 years old or older, unable to vote without assistance at the polls, expecting to be out of town on election day, in jail awaiting arraignment or trial, unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons or are appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence.