A third choice at the polls in November?

Tuesday morning the House Redistricting and Elections Committee will meet to take up a host of bills on campaign finance, ballots and post-election audits. But also on the agenda is House Bill 5059, which makes a number of provisions for filing deadlines and campaign finance in qualifying a new political party.

Last year, a new political party, Americans Elect, certified to appear on the November 2012 presidential ballot.

The party appears to be gaining support of people fed up with candidates beholden to a party line, and partisan deadlock in Washington.

Oakland prosecutor race: Bishop vs. Cooper in November

Former Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop has set his sights on elective office again.

Bishop has filed as a candidate for the Oakland County prosecutor’s office, according to The Associated Press.

The Rochester Republican looks to unseat Democrat Jessica Cooper, the current county prosecutor.

Bishop, who was term-limited from seeking re-election to the Senate, mounted an unsuccessful campaign for state attorney general in 2010. He lost the GOP nomination in a squeaker to Bill Schuette, who won the November general election.

Bishop is currently working at Clark Hill PLC.

$9.2M: Michigan tops nation in supreme court campaign spending

Michigan led the nation in campaign spending for 2009-2010 on state high-court elections, according to a report prepared by the Justice at Stake Campaign and two of its partners, the Brennan Center for Justice and the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

“The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2009–10” compiled figures that showed high-court spending in Michigan was nearly $4 million more than in Pennsylvania, the next state on the list:

Michigan: $9,243,914
Pennsylvania: $5,424,210
Ohio: $4,437,302
Alabama: $3,538,805
Illinois: $3,477,649
Texas: $2,951,719

The report had this to say about the election cycle:

In Michigan … interest groups and political parties dominated the airwaves, estimates of campaign spending ranged from $9.1 million to $11.1 million (with $6.8 million to $8.8 million in non-candidate spending). Regardless of the precise figure, Michigan’s judicial election spending was easily the nation’s highest in 2009-10. …

So great was the independent spending in Michigan that the four supreme court candidates [Young, Kelly, Justice Alton Davis and Judge Denise Langford-Morris], who raised a total of $2.3 million, at times seemed like bystanders in their own elections.

The state Republican Party single handedly outspent all four candidates, investing more than $4 million in electoral support. Kicking in more than $1.5 million was the state Democratic Party, while the Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA), a Virginia-based group with ties to the National Rifle Association, also made a major TV splash.

Most of the special-interest spending in Michigan was concealed from the public, a fact that accounts for the variation in estimates of total spending. Although ads by both parties and the LEAA were blatant attempts to sway votes, Michigan’s outdated disclosure law treated them as apolitical “issue ads,” and required no campaign finance filings disclosing the amounts spent. Estimates of total spending therefore were largely based on the volume of TV ads each group ran, and estimates of what that airtime cost. It also was impossible to decipher who ultimately bankrolled independent efforts in Michigan.

After being the preeminent player in the previous five supreme court campaigns, the state Chamber of Commerce sponsored no television advertisements in 2010. But it did give $5.4 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), a national campaign organization. The RGA ultimately transferred $5.2 million back to Michigan’s Republican Party, which was the leading television sponsor in this year’s high court campaign. Accountability was lost in the face of the RGA’s massive national shell game.

The report also slammed the Michigan Democratic Party’s campaign against Young:

The Democrats anti-Young campaign reached rock-bottom … when they ran an ad that said Young “used the word ‘Slut!’ and ‘The “N” Word!’ in deliberations with other justices” and urged voters to call Young and “tell him we don’t need a racist or a sexist on the Michigan Supreme Court.”

Michigan tops nation for supreme court TV election ad spending

From the Brennan Center for Justice comes the not-surprising news that Michigan topped the nation in campaign cash spent for television ads on behalf of state supreme court candidates.

Michigan saw the highest overall spending on supreme court TV ads, with about $5.1 million spent on airtime, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG; Ohio is second with more than $1.9 million in airtime spending. In both of these states, four candidates competed for two Supreme Court seats. …

The highest level of spending in a single-candidate retention race was in Illinois, where incumbent Justice Thomas Kilbride spent more than $1.6 million on TV airtime through Nov. 1. …

Four of the top five spenders on TV airtime in supreme court elections are non-candidate groups. The Michigan Republican Party ranked first overall in TV spending (just over $2 million).Kilbride ranked second ($1.6 million); the Michigan State Democratic Party ranked third ($1.4 million); the Partnership for Ohio’s Future ranked fourth (about $846,000); and the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, which spent more than $780,000 in support of two Republican candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court, ranked fifth.

The Brennan Center’s report noted that in Michigan

non-candidate groups, led by the state Republican and Democratic parties and the Virginia-based Law Enforcement Alliance of America, accounted for more than 80 percent of all TV spending.

Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the center’s Justice at Stake Campaign, asserted, “Political parties and independent groups hijacked this election, heavily outspending the candidates, and ads on both sides were riddled with questionable claims.

“Michigan remains a ground zero for negative, costly court elections.”

Mary Beth Kelly, Robert Young win MSC election

Voters returned incumbent Justice Robert P. Young Jr. and elected Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Mary Beth Kelly to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Come January, the political power on the MSC shifts from the current 4-3 Democratic majority to a 4-3 Republican majority.

Kelly was the top vote-getter, according to The Detroit Free Press.

It was a Republican sweep for other state-wide offices as well. Businessman Rick Snyder cruised to an easy victory over Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero for the governor’s office. Bill Schuette bested David Layton for attorney general, and Ruth Johnson topped Jocelyn Benson for secretary of state.

Post-Citizens United cash flowing into Michigan elections

One of the candidates for Michigan Supreme Court has aired television ads in which he says he’s got something in common with the rest of Michigan residents; he’s tired of the negative political advertising (ironically, the ad is often running immediately following a negative ad aimed at one of his opponents). And he’s right. It does seem that the number of advertisements – negative and otherwise – has sort of exploded in a way that it hasn’t before, even during the 2008 presidential election season.

There’s a good reason for that: There’s a lot more money flowing into the political pipeline this year, after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC. The decision opened the door for PAC-funded elections here and around the country, reports Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

According to an MCFN press release:

The Michigan Association of Realtors has established an eponymously named second political action committee with a $200,000 contribution from the National Association of Realtors and $250,000 from its own issue fund. The new corporate PAC made $450,000 worth of independent expenditures for media buys supporting Republican Supreme Court nominees Robert Young and Mary Beth Kelly.

Corporate PACs are limited to making independent expenditures. They are not allowed to contribute directly to candidates.

The second new corporate PAC is Business Leaders for Michigan II. The new corporate PAC received $20,000 from Meijer, Inc. and $5,000 each from an assortment of Michigan-based businesses. Its independent expenditures so far supported the senate campaigns of David Hildenbrand ($62,569) and Tonya Schuitmake ($23,741).

The biggest PAC in Michigan this election cycle is RGA Michigan PAC. RGA MI PAC is a creation of the Republican Governors Association and a piece of a national effort by the RGA. It was established this year.

Michigan connections to the RGA include the following:
• The Michigan Chamber of Commerce gave $5.4 million from its corporate treasury to RGA this year.
• Various individuals from around the country have given RGA MI PAC $8.4 million. Only $175,000 came from persons with Michigan addresses.
• RGA MI PAC sent $3 million to the campaign committee of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
• Of the remaining $5.4 million, RGA MI PAC gave more than $4 million to the Michigan Republican Party. It appears to have retained $1.3 million.
• Despite the fact that the RGA has paid for more than $3 million worth of television advertisements characterizing Virg Bernero as an unsuitable gubernatorial candidate, RGA MI PAC reports no expenditures for television advertising.

Beyond the development of the new corporate PACs, much looks familiar in the world of Michigan PACs. The legislative majority caucuses, House Democrats and Senate Republicans, follow RGA MI PAC at the top of the list, and established interest groups maintain their leading positions.

Leadership PACs reflect the changing of the guard in Lansing. The top leadership PAC is that of Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, followed by Mitt Romney’s Free & Strong America PAC. The top leadership PACs under the control of officeholders who are presumed to be returning to Lansing in elective office in January are those of Sen. Mark Jansen and Rep. Richard Hammel.

Check the astounding amount of money being spent by Michigan’s top PAC’s here.

Halloween and elections: As tasty as a razor blade-filled Milky Way

You’ve got to love an online article teaser graphic that states: “The call is coming from inside the courthouse!”

Today at Slate.com, you can find “Evil Men in Black Robes: Slate’s judicial election campaign ad spooktacular,” which proclaims:

If you’re a fan of “The Exorcist” and “Carrie,” if you like sex and violence and ominous music, you’ve come to the right place. Because we have gathered some of the most spine-chilling Halloween footage you will ever see — all produced in an effort to influence state judicial elections.

And, keeping in the spirit of slasher movies:

If judicial campaigns become just like other political campaigns, these ads will have sequels. And those sequels will be even scarier still.

Want a good reason to watch? One of the six featured ads has to do with the Michigan Supreme Court race. Why haven’t you seen it on TV? Because it’s an Internet exclusive. That means they can make it as scary as they want. Pshaw to FCC standards!

It was only a matter of time before Weaver/Young bickering resumed

“You’ve got plenty of material,” Weaver says near the end of this story. But something tells us there’s still more to come.

LANSING (AP) – A Michigan Supreme Court justice running for re-election acknowledged Friday that he used the N-word during a private conference with other justices in 2006.

Robert Young Jr. responded after former Justice Elizabeth Weaver gave a speech this week saying he used the racial slur and that it shows why he doesn’t deserve another eight-year term on the court.

Young, who is black, told the Associated Press that he used the word during an “impassioned plea” to emphasize how someone was being treated “without rights, without dignity.”

“I’m sorry that I used the term. … Obviously I was very hot about this. That’s why I used the word,” Young said. “I remember the heat and the purpose for using it.”

When pressed for details, he couldn’t recall the case.

Young said Weaver’s actions were an “outrage.”

“This is despicable. Justice Weaver hasn’t been called (the N-word) or been treated like one, but she finds it politically expedient to use it politically,” Young said. “All of my family has experienced it including me.”

In her speech in Traverse City, Weaver said Young used the slur in the plural form and was referring to a judicial candidate. She read from a May 2006 memo that she wrote and sent to all justices expressing disgust at Young’s remarks and other “unprofessional” incidents.

“Perhaps everyone should imagine that the court’s conferences are being televised,” Weaver said. “The public would be appalled at how the court’s business is often conducted.”

She also said that in April 2006 Young suggested to another justice that he use the phrase, “you ignorant slut,” when addressing the State Appellate Defender Commission. It was a phrase used years ago in a popular “Saturday Night Live” skit.

Young told the AP he couldn’t recall saying that.

Weaver, a moderate Republican, and Young, a conservative Republican, regularly clashed on the court. She quit in August, allowing Gov. Jennifer Granholm to appoint a replacement that put the court in a solid 4-3 Democratic majority.

Weaver’s speech and memo were posted on http://www.delayedjustice.com. Reached by phone Friday, she said she was golfing and couldn’t comment further.

“They’re waiting for me,” she said of other golfers. “You’ve got plenty of material.”

Young said Weaver’s “rant” broke a rule that forbids disclosure of the Supreme Court’s private discussions.

“Justice Weaver never respected the conference privilege and that’s why we had to promulgate a rule,” he said.

 

A lamentable state of affairs (take two)

If you want to operate a complex piece of equipment, you should at least have a passing familiarity of what’s in the instruction manual. Otherwise, you could get hurt.

Consider the Constitution as part of the operating manual for running the government. Now, check out CNN’s account of a debate at a Delaware law school between Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, who is also backed by the Tea Party, and Democrat Chris Coons.

A lamentable state of affairs

When it comes to the workings and personnel of the third branch of government, the Michigan Supreme Court in particular, people who should have at least a rudimentary grasp of the subject don’t. And folks who attempt to keep up are frequently confused.

Three vignettes for your consideration:

Jack Lessenberry, a commentator for Michigan Public Radio, recounted this story last Friday:

Rick Snyder, the Republican nominee for governor, was asked on television if he knew who the chief justice [of the Michigan Supreme Court] was. He said he didn’t know how to pronounce their name.

Their name happens to be, by the way, Marilyn Kelly.

Absolutely unpronounceable.

***
Friday evening, I was at a neighborhood party. I was introduced to a Lansing City Council member. We exchanged pleasantries and discussed a recent brownfield development potboiler that’s received some play in the local media.

I was asked what I do. I explained in general and commented about the upcoming Michigan Supreme Court election and the irony of a constitutionally mandated nonpartisan judicial ballot and the highly charged political atmosphere that goes along with it.

My comment drew this response: “Election? Aren’t they [the MSC justices] appointed for life?” I explained that federal judges are appointed for life and that in Michigan, many judges start their judicial careers via gubernatorial appointment but then face election if they want to keep their seat on the bench.

“Oh, of course. Of course,” was the muted reply.

Of course.

***
Saturday afternoon, I and a family member took a break from household chores to catch some collegiate football on the tube. (How ’bout those 7-0 Spartans?)

During a break in the action, on came an ad touting Robert Young and Mary Beth Kelly for the Michigan Supreme Court. It featured sound bites from ordinary-looking folks explaining why the two will be getting their votes.

When it was over, I said, “We’ll be seeing a lot of that for the next two weeks.”

“Wait a minute. What’s she doing running with him?”

“What do you mean?” I replied.

“Well, Kelly’s a Democrat and Young’s a Republican. What’s going on here?”

“Marilyn Kelly is a Democrat, and she’s already on the court. She’s the chief justice. She’s not up for election this time around. Mary Beth Kelly is a Wayne County judge. The Republicans nominated her.”

“Well, that’s pretty confusing.”

Just as intended.

***
Some years back when Michael Cavanagh was the MSC’s chief justice, he was fielding reporters’ questions following a budget presentation to the Legislature. Asked to justify his funding request, he replied with just the slightest tone of exasperation, “Look, we’re not talking about garbage collection. We’re talking about the third branch of government.”

It’s tough to fault someone for not knowing the names of the guys who pick up the trash, or exactly how the refuse truck works or where the landfill is located.

It’s less easy to forgive those in the political arena for not having at least a high school civics class understanding about the judiciary and who populates it at the highest level.

And pity the poor voter. Except for the most motivated, the average voter makes choices on the judicial ballot, if at all, armed with a fund of information gleaned from the media.

And, for the most part, what’s available are ads, commentary and editorials chock-full of banalities, sound bites and half-truths.

It’s tough to know whether to laugh or cry.