by: Grebner
Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 06:13:21 AM EDT
According to the Detroit News, the current scheme for salvaging Michigan’s representation in Denver calls upon the legislature to immediately adopt legislation (not yet written) to hold a June 3 presidential primary. Apparently, the MDP’s task farce, consisting of Sen. Levin, Debbie Dingell, Cong. Kilpatrick and Ron Gettelfinger, has given up, and decided to wrap things up by passing their responsibility off to a political body not under their control. This is roughly like transferring somebody from the oncology ward to hospice.
Is it necessary to explain why this new approach won’t work? I’m sure everybody understands this project is simply doomed, but we can encourage interaction and discussion by trying to create a list of all the fatal defects.
I’ll start. Please add your own.
First, there’s the fact the bill hasn’t been drafted yet, so all the ugly choices that would need to be made haven’t surfaced. All the niggling over money and control of the election. Whether local issues can be included. Exactly which costs borne by local officials will have to be reimbursed. Access to the list of people who vote in it. The exact declaration of support for the Democratic Party that will be required. Whether a person who voted Republican on Jan. 15 will be permitted to vote. Lots of little points that could be resolved if there were adequate time, and pressure on everybody to reach an agreement.
Then there’s the fact many schools are conducting an election May 6, which will mean there will be two elections being conducted simultaneously, with absentee ballot mailings crossing each other. That some equipment needed in the first election may not be available in time for the second one, because of the requirement to seal it until a recount could be completed.
There’s the fact the money hasn’t been raised yet, so the Legislature would have to write a bill that makes the election contingent upon receipt of a sum that can’t be calculated at this time. And of course, with Republicans doing the calculation of how much money the Democrats will have to contribute, the only question is how shocking the final bill will be.
The idea itself is so hare-brained that it’s bound to be extremely unpopular with the already-irate public, further encouraging grandstanding and sniping.
The election would be conducted by Teri Land, who is completely unsympathetic to it, and has every reason to discover or invent obstacles.
That every association of County Clerks, Township Clerks, City Clerks, and School District officials will loudly oppose it, lobby against it, and warn everybody that it’s unworkable, stupid, cancer-causing, and a bad idea.
Mike Cox, who isn’t getting along with anybody, will have a chance to throw his monkey-wrench into the works. Any chance to embarrass Land would be impossible to pass up.
There are any number of legal challenges which might be launched – once the bill is actually written, let alone signed into law – which could threaten a fatal delay. It’s hard to imagine an election so unprecedented could be created under such time-pressure without creating a legal question or two.
Adoption requires not just instantly assembling a majority in both houses, but two-thirds, because it will need “immediate effect”, arming Republicans in each House with a tool to demand a quid pro quo – which will certainly be chosen from the list of “reforms” the Democrats have refused until now to consider.
This proposal – like Blanche Dubois – stakes all its hope “upon the kindness of strangers”. Pathetic.
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