Michigan Politics
Broad Lessons From Local Votes
By George Weeks

Much of the media focus on Michigan politics of late has been on the muddle of whether there will be an early 2008 presidential primary or other means of challenging Iowa's and New Hampshire's excessive clout in determining nominees.

The focus here is on Michigan's local politics - elections last week that:

• Once again highlighted the importance of every vote. Tie votes in Mount Clemens and Grosse Pointe were decided by tosses of a coin, then a drawing. One candidate would have won outright if his son had not been late in turning in an absentee ballot.

• Produced in Ferndale, a man described by Detroit News columnist Laura Berman as "keen on the titular ring of 'the first openly gay mayor in Michigan.'" While not as open, it's not without precedent among officeholders in Lansing and Washington.

• Underscored that local power brokers don't always deliver. In Lansing, three of four commission candidates endorsed by Lansing Mayor Verg Bernero lost.

• Ousted incumbents across both peninsulas. Nothing unique about that. Two years ago in Sault Ste. Marie, voters nixed three incumbent commissioners; last week, they evicted two. As noted there by the Evening News: "Out with the old and in with the new" is not just a New Year's thing in the Soo, where Commissioner William Munsell is the only incumbent to make a successful re-election bid in the last two elections.

In Traverse City, ex-Police Chief Ralph Soffredine was the lone challenged incumbent returned to the city commission. Two challengers ousted incumbents who supported a proposed controversial parking deck. The Traverse City Record-Eagle headlined: "Incumbents Decked."

With 65% of the vote, challenger Michael Estes trounced Mayor Linda Smyka, who had been on the commission 10 years and supported the deck. Last year, voters overwhelmingly rejected bonding for the project.

Estes is a former local GOP leader who became disenchanted with the grip that conservatives have on the party. In 2002, he was the Democratic nominee for the open seat to represent the 37th Senate District that covers eight counties, including Chippewa and Mackinac in the Upper Peninsula. He lost to Jason Allen (R-Traverse City), 53,490 to 35,852.

Estes predicts more districts "are going to go Democratic" in the Legislature, where Democrats won House control in 2006. Meanwhile, mayors and other local officials throughout Michigan have big problems to deal with, including the ripple effect of the state's budget woes.

Rare United Front

When it comes to issues involving President George W. Bush, seldom do northern Michigan's three congressmen vote in unison. But Representatives Bart Stupak (D-Menominee), Dave Camp (R-Midland), and Pete Hoekstra (RHolland) did that in voting for the successful override of Bush's veto of a bill crucial to the Great Lakes.

Said Camp: "There are many areas on which we spend too much as a federal government; protecting the Great Lakes is not one of them."

At the southern end of the Great Lakes, the Water Resources Development Act tells the Army Corps of Engineers to complete construction of a permanent barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent Asian Carp and other invasive species from entering Lake Michigan.

Said Hoekstra of the barrier and dredging projects in the bill: "Stopping invasive species from entering the Great Lakes and preventing boats from running aground in local harbors are among my highest priorities in Congress."

To the far north, the bill tells the Corps to build a new super lock at the Soo. Said Stupak: "The time for studies is over."

Undoubtedly, there was some unjustified pork in the bill. Certainly not the Soo lock or the carp barrier.

All the more reason to give the president the kind of line item veto that Michigan and other governors have.

Stupak on Primary

Stupak tells me he has been talking with members from several other states about pushing the Democratic National Committee to adopt a presidential nominating process that divides the nation into regions that would alternate with each cycle which region votes first. While he favors breaking "the stranglehold" that New Hampshire and Iowa have had on the process, he said the way that the Michigan party is trying to do it for the 2008 cycle "is insane, considering the way other states are moving up."

His remarks came at a time of muddle over whether Michigan well stick with a January 15 primary. Stupak said given Michigan's budget problems, "it would be fiscally irresponsible" to use taxpayer funds for a primary that "will be meaningless" because Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the only top tier contender on the Democratic ballot. Ex- Senator John Edwards, who is supported by Stupak, and Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, withdrew from the Michigan ballot last month to honor party rules. Stupak said he has talked with members from Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New Jersey about urging a regional system for future elections.

George Weeks retired last year after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.