June 10, 2002

Herman Hernandez

This year is the end of John Engler’s twelve years in office as Governor of the State of Michigan. A Lame Duck governor usually does not get many of the programs passed by the legislator and spends time pushing party issues not centrally tied to the governor’s office. This year and this governor is an exception. The Republican Party is holding together a very strong coalition among its various factions to push through some republican friendly legislation. The legislation ranges from eliminating straight party voting on the ballot, which is on hold via court order, changing the way some organizations raise money for a political candidates, and many other smaller local issues that affect pockets of the state. Most of these local issues affect the strongest democratic portion of the state, Wayne County and more specifically the city of Detroit.

Detroit has the distinction of having the most legislation as passed by the state legislator that only affects this city in the past twelve years. All other legislation has either been statewide that affected all local municipalities in Michigan or were items that were already handled by the state. The reasons are plain partisan politics, at its finest or meanest depending on your point of view. But the republican controlled state legislator is beginning to come under fire for the continuation of legislation that only targets the City of Detroit.

In the past the state legislator has passed legislation, which has removed the Detroit Public schools elected board and replaced it with a jointly appointed board from the mayor of Detroit and the governor. The state passed legislation eliminating Recorders Court, a city controlled court that had a higher than average participation of African Americans as jury members. The state passed legislation that forbade Detroit Public School administrators from continuing to participate in their union and from forming any future unions. Legislation was also passed that removed the residency requirements from the city’s contracts or other parameters, which affected any and all employees of the city of Detroit. The state is working on passing legislation which will remove jurisdiction of the city’s and county’s bus departments and combine them under a regional umbrella which still has the city operating the system but not allocating funds and not controlling the overall process from bargaining with employees to deciding on routes. Also there is legislation that will force the city’s voters to vote in August on whether to partition the city into districts of which the city council will be reconfigured to coincide within a district. There is legislation that will allow local communities to remove themselves from a community college district. This is not a Detroit based law because all community colleges are based on the county as a district. But the college under fire, Wayne County Community College, has its headquarters in Detroit and is associated with the city. There is also legislation pending that would strip the Detroit city council of its powers governing city owned land obtained via tax forfeitures. The mayor and governor would obtain oversight via an appointed authority that they would select. Somewhat related to the above is several legislative packages which will or has stripped the Wayne County Commissioners of their authority over Metropolitan Airport and their ability to control the taxes and to over see airport projects and contacts.

All of the above involve removing the authority of an elected body and replacing it with that of an appointed body. These bodies are not subject to the will of the voters, nor will they be forced to adhere to the current standards outlined for the elected bodies. Meaning information on the decisions and actions of the appointed bodies has been or will continue to be more difficult to obtain. This is also associated with a loss of rights as citizens. People would most liken this to taxation without representation. This mantra was routinely repeated when the Detroit Public School board was replaced with an appointed board, which now runs the school system. The people of Keep The Vote No Takeover are still fighting the law that created the appointed board and still believe in the benefits of electing those who spend their tax dollars.

A strongly Democratic region, such as metropolitan Detroit, might take these actions negatively. The state legislator initiated these actions where republicans control both the house and senate and the governors office. In an election year where Michigan will choose a new governor, it would seem that the republicans have given up any hope of obtaining any votes from the city of Detroit and the Detroit region. But they also run a great risk of looking more like dictators in the state and causing other communities to fear a continuing republican controlled state. Many other communities might not object to the above mentioned legislation but there has been legislation proposed that would have changed the rights of other local municipalities. Legislation on who controls local water boards was introduced but never voted on because of objections from non-Detroit cities in Michigan. So will it be harder for the republican to retain their authority or majority after November? It would seem that the top post of governor is already being lobbied for a loss in favor of current changes, which is making it harder for republicans to maintain control.