Update: Tea-Publican tyranny in Michigan – measure to repeal Michigan martial law in court on Thursday

Posted by AzBliueMeanie:

A couple of weeks ago I posted an Update: Tea-Publican tyranny in Michigan – The slow death of democracy:

 Laura Conaway posted at the Maddow Blog, Michigan, this is your democracy:

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers today rejected a petition drive that would have put the state's emergency manager law on the November ballot. The board's staff had reported (.pdf) that the petitioners had collected enough signatures, and recommended (.pdf) that the board deny a challenge on the basis that the petition's type size might be too small.

I found the Memorandum from the Michigan Board of State Canvassers referenced in the above document, which advises that Michigan, like almost every other state, follows the "Subtantial Compliance Doctrine (.pdf), which holds that:

"It is well established by both statute and case law that petitions need only substantially conform to the statutory requirements," and that “constitutional and statutory initiative and referendum provisions should be liberally construed to effectuate their purposes, to facilitate rather than hamper the exercise by the people of these reserved rights.” The general rule is that “all doubts as to technical deficiencies or failure to comply with the exact letter of procedural requirements in petitions . . . are resolved in favor of permitting the people to vote and express a choice on any proposal subject to election.”

Despite the fact that Michigan, like almost every other state, follows the "Substantial Compliance Doctrine," and the petition format had received the recommendation of the staff to deny the challenge to the petitions based upon a hyper-technical compliance with the statute, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers upheld the challenge on a partisan 2-2 vote.

The Republican front group "Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility" that brought the challenge conveniently also had a Board member on the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. As Rachel Maddow explain[ed], this obvious conflict of interest should have resulted in his recusal. Instead, this Board member was both pitching and umpiring, rigging the vote in his group's favor.

Stand Up for Democracy which gathered the signatures filed an appeal from this vote-rigged decision of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers. The case is now in court. Unfortunately, in Michigan judges are elected by partisan elections so anything is possible. Justice may not be served.

Voice of Detroit reports MICHIGAN’S EMERGENCY MANAGER OPPONENTS TRY TO REVIVE THEIR EFFORT IN COURT MAY 17 | VOICE OF DETROIT:

A coalition that wants to repeal Michigan’s law giving more power to state-appointed emergency managers is headed to court to try and revive its stalled effort.

Stand Up for Democracy is scheduled to make oral arguments before the Michigan Court of Appeals on May 17 [at 10 a.m. before a panel consisting of Appeals Court Judges Kurtis T. Wilder (presiding), Kirsten Frank Kelly, and Michael Riordan. It will take place in the Detroit office of the Court of Appeals at in the Cadillac Place Building (old GM building), on West Grand Blvd. at Second.]

[Stand Up for Democracy filed the case, with amicus curiae briefs filed by the Michigan ACLU, Michigan AFSCME, and others.]

The union-supported coalition is fighting a recent action by the Board of State Canvassers that prevented its proposal from appearing on the November ballot because some of the lettering on its petitions was deemed smaller than required by state law.

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The coalition says it collected more than 225,000 signatures, which would be more than enough to make the ballot.

Stand Up for Democracy supporters say the election board’s vote was politically motivated, with Republicans opposing their effort to repeal the law.

“It was just crazy,” said Greg Bowens, a Stand Up for Democracy spokesman. “There’s really no other way to put it.”

Opponents of the Stand Up for Democracy effort plan to defend their stance when the Court of Appeals holds oral arguments on the issue.

Stand Up for Democracy considers Public Act 4 of 2011 undemocratic because it allows emergency managers to toss out union contracts and strip power from locally elected leaders. But supporters of the Michigan law, including Gov. Rick Snyder, say it provides the tools necessary to help financially struggling cities and schools fix their finances more quickly and effectively.

If the canvassers had certified the Stand Up for Democracy petitions, the law would have been suspended pending the outcome of a November vote. But as of now, the law remains in effect.

The state of Michigan has appointed emergency managers to run the cities of Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint and Pontiac. Emergency managers run school districts in Detroit, Highland Park and Muskegon Heights.

I fully expect the Rachel Maddow Show to air a segment on the court hearing this Thursday or Friday.