Senate Republicans give Snyder appointees a free pass

LANSING – Michigan Senate Republicans completely neglected their statutory duty of advise and consent, and none of Gov. Rick Snyder’s department heads will face a confirmation hearing.

The 60-day window expired on Monday, and not a single Snyder appointee had to face a Senate hearing. It’s even worse when you consider Snyder wants to give more power to the Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) who can suspend union contracts and fire elected officials. That EFM, which can also be a corporation, is appointed by the State Treasurer, and the EFM has almost zero oversight.

That advise and consent duty was not ignored by the Republican controlled Senate when we had a Democratic Governor. In fact, Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s appointees had a full public hearing, and at times faced some uncomfortable questions.

The Republican Senate did basically the same thing when Republican John Engler was the Governor, but they at least made an attempt, holding hearings in the first two years of his 12-year tenure. This Senate is not even pretending it’s being fair and doing their job.

Bob McCann, Senate Democratic communications director told subscription only Gongwer that the Senate's handling of the advice and consent hearing during Ms. Granholm's tenure was thorough and quick.

"It's disappointing that they would break with that tradition and essentially ignore one of the most basic components of a system of checks and balances that we have," McCann said in Gongwer. "Certainly background checks can give you cursory information about an individual. ... We need to be able to hear what their qualifications are and what direction they're looking to go in."

Editorial board reluctantly criticizes GOP

It’s rare when the rightwing editorial board of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus comes out with an editorial critical of a Republican, but it’s hard to ignore the blatant partisan, political games played by Senate Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop in unilaterally rejecting appointments Gov. Jennifer Granholm made to six university boards for terms that begin the day she leaves office with no hearings.

Newspapers all over the state have seen through the vindictiveness and pettiness of the action and spoke out, so again, it was hard for the paper to ignore it. Still, the editorial board used it to take shots at the Legislature in general while ignoring the real problem.

You will recall last month that in the middle of budget negotiations, the Senate Republican used two session days to ping the Governor. Granholm made the bipartisan appointments on April 7, and she followed previous precedent set by former Republican Gov. John Engler in making the same type of appointments. But on April 29, the Senate rejected them in mass with no advise and consent hearings along party lines.

Of course, the paper defended the action, at least at first.

“On the very thin veneer of the surface is this issue: Bishop might have a point. He says the governor, who cannot run for re-election because of term limits, is making appointments that go into effect next January when a new governor — quite likely a Republican — will be in office.”

But in the end, they could not ignore the political games of the GOP, but they managed to dam the entire Legislature for the actions of the Republicans.

“But it doesn’t take much digging to uncover a widespread belief that Bishop’s ploy has less to do with good government and more to do with another chance to stick it to the other party. Sometimes it appears as though political gamesmanship is the only skill to be found in Lansing politicians.”

Senate Republicans get outplayed in political game

LANSING -- Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop’s attempt to unilaterally reject appointments Gov. Jennifer Granholm made to six university boards for terms that begin the day she leaves office with no hearings failed Thursday with a procedure move by Democrats and some desertions by a GOP caucus that usually marches in lockstep.

Granholm made the bipartisan appointments on April 7, and she followed previous precedent set by former Republican Gov. John Engler in making the same type of appointments. The attempt to reject the appointments without the normal advise and consent hearings upset Democrats and touched off a long debate.

“Article I, Section 17 of our Constitution allows these people the right to a hearing in front of a committee to determine whether or not they are qualified to serve the appointments that the Governor has sought to make,” said Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming. “The Michigan Constitution does not limit the time period to which the Governor may make an appointment to the office. Because the appointment power is vested in the Governor, the timing of these appointments is within the Governor’s discretion; not just this Governor but every single Governor of the state of Michigan since we approved this Constitution back in 1964.”

The normally organized Republicans were simply outmaneuvered by the minority Democrats.

After all of the agenda had taken care of, the Senate discharged the 14 university appointments in question from the Government Operations Committee, bringing them to the floor. Then the wheels fell off the Republicans‘ bus and their carefully laid plans.

Democrats sought to vote separately on each appointment instead of voting them up or down with just one vote. Normally, those types procedural motions usually go along strictly party lines, but two Republicans sided with the Democrats while another Republican did not vote. The effort failed 18-19.

“I ask you either approve these appointments, or remove this item of business, and let’s get on with what we are supposed to be here doing, not playing partisan, political games,” Prusi said.

As the debate continued and about a dozen senators having requested to speak, Republicans tried to end the debate, but that motion failed with five Republicans breaking ranks to oppose ending debate.

Right after that vote ended, Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, made a motion to adjourn and Lt. Governor John Cherry Jr., the Senate's presiding officer, granted it - in accordance with Senate rules - over the objection of Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt.

“We can debate the process of gubernatorial appointments and equity all day, and the fairness of this action is definitely questionable, but this is not what the Senate should be focused on in the first place,” Whitmer said. “As leader of the Senate and someone vying to be the top lawyer in the state, you would think that Mike Bishop would have more respect for the state constitution, but his latest emphasis on politics over progress only continues to show how out of touch he is with the people of Michigan.”

Subscription only Gongwer reported that “ Bishop was livid at the Thursday defection,” and “Mr. Bishop left the Senate chamber without speaking to reporters.”

It’s unclear if the issue will be taken up on Tuesday, but clearly some Republicans are impressed with some of the nominees.

Here are the nominees:

FERRIS STATE
Edward Haynor
Larry Leatherwood

CENTERAL MICHIGAN
Ronald Edmonds
Kevin Kelley

WESTERN MICHIGAN
John Cakmakci
George Franklin

MICHIGAN TECH
Russell Gronevelt
Terry Woychowski

GRAND VALLEY STATE
Douglas Crim
Matthew Tomasiewicz

EASTERN MICHIGAN
Michael Hawks
Erane Washington-Kendrick

NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Larry Inman
Douglas Roberts

Republican hypocrisy is confirmed

With the news that Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, will unilaterally reject appointments Gov. Jennifer Granholm made to six university boards for terms that begin the day she leaves office you get an idea of the unprecedented crap she has had to put up with from the Senate.

Granholm made the appointments on April 7, and she followed previous precedent set by former Republican Gov. John Engler in making the same type of appointments. Engler made a number of appointments for board positions, including a number of cronies – including current and former department directors and closest advisers such as Community Health Director James Haveman, former Corrections Director Bill Martin, Treasurer Doug Roberts and legal counsel Lucille Taylor - right before he left office.

But the Senate Republicans completely neglected their duty of advise and consent during the Engler administration, and any Engler appointment was automatic. Not so with Granholm appointees, and each appointee had to go before the appropriate committee and then the full Senate for a vote.

Bishop said back on April 7 that he did not “really like the idea of this governor making appointments for the next governor,” but on Wednesday he officially affirmed that ridiculous position, and he wrote Granholm a letter to inform her of the “Republican caucus' decision to reject those appointments,” according to subscription only Gongwer. It's unclear when a vote will be held. That’s a vote, not the normal advise and consent hearings.

Not only that, but Bishop took it even farther and said that the Senate would reject any gubernatorial appointments made after September 3, as well as any appointments made prior to that date for terms that begin after September 3. Her term does not end until noon on Jan. 1. They will be rejected without a hearing.

Many of the appointees are Republicans, including Roberts, who Engler appointed to the Northern Michigan University board in the same procedure Bishop is rejecting out of hand.

The hypocrisy is just overwhelming, and Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd called them out on it.

“The governor's appointees are qualified, they have bipartisan support and they are entitled to a fair hearing on the merits that the Senate Republicans have promised from the beginning of the Granholm administration," Boyd told Gongwer. "They have assured us that they would not reject qualified candidates. ... This is about Senator Bishop using qualified appointees as partisan political pawns."

GOP hypocrisy trickles down to Michigan Senate Republicans

The hypocrisy of Republicans on display during the health insurance reform debate was stunning, and it now appears it is trickling down to the Michigan Senate Republicans.

Republicans were horrified that the Democrats were going to use reconciliation to get a bill passed that will reduce the budget deficit $130 billion in the first 10 years, but it was OK that former President Bush used reconciliation numerous times, including to give tax cuts to the richest 1 percent that helped create the current budget deficit. Republicans are also upset that President Obama recently bypassed the vacationing Senate and directly appointed 15 nominees that have been held up, but they forgot that Bush had already made 10 recess appointments by this point in his presidency and he made another five over the spring recess, including the disaster John Bolton.

Now, Senate Republicans are getting into the act, and they are upset that Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently made appointments to six public university boards that will take effect the day she leaves office, according to subscription only Gongwer.

"I don't really like the idea of this governor making appointments for the next governor," Gongwer reported Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop as saying. "It's not fair to the next administration, whoever that might be. I'm sure that our members are going to have that same concern about fairness."

Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd told Gongwer that the Governor has followed previous precedent in making the appointments and wants to ensure the university boards don't lack members after a new governor takes office. And what exactly is that previous precedent?

Former Republican Gov. John Engler made a number of appointments for board positions, including a number of cronies – including current and former department directors and closest advisers such as Community Health Director James Haveman, former Corrections Director Bill Martin, Treasurer Doug Roberts and legal counsel Lucille Taylor - right before he left office.

Understandably, Senate Democrats were upset, but being in the minority there was little they could do about it. According to a 2002 edition of Gongwer they called the appointments “inappropriate and said the subject was being researched.”

Engler claimed that the appointments were legal because under the constitution his term expires at noon January 1 while under statute the university board terms expire December 31, giving him a 12-hour window.

The Senate Democrats could not even speak out about it during the confirmation hearings or on the Senate floor because the Senate Republican had given up on its duty of "advise and consent" over gubernatorial appointments under Engler. In fact, the Republican-led body did not take a vote on appointees during the 12 years Engler was in office. Appointments are effective if not rejected by the Senate within 60 days.

Only after Granhom took office did the Senate resume its duty of advise and consent. The hypocrisy of Senate Republicans is stunning.

The 60 day clock is running, and it appears the Senate has until late May to decide whether to reject the appointments. Bishop told Gongwer he would refer the appointments to the Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee.