Savaged: Recalls! Recalls! Recalls!
By Chris Savage
Since spring, nearly one-third of Michigan legislators have been targeted for recall — 47 out of the total of 148 in office. It started when citizens, unhappy with what they saw as massive Republican overreach, launched recalls against 27 lawmakers. In retaliation, Republicans launched twenty recalls of their own, all against House members, including against former East Lansing mayor Mark Meadows and State Sen. Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer. This is nearly half of the Democrats in Michigan House. As of now, petition language for the recalls of six Democrats have been approved:
- Lisa Brown (West Bloomfield)
- Jim Townsend (Royal Oak)
- Dian Slavens (Canton)
- Phil Cavanagh (Redford Twp.)
- Tim Bledsoe (Grosse Pointe Farms)
- Brandon Dillon (Grand Rapids)
The Republican Party has been supporting these recall efforts and state Republican chairman Bobby Schostak said in August, “I’ll be so bold to say: Don’t be surprised if we increase our majority.” The Republican Party is in it to win it, as they say.
I contacted the offices of these six Democrats to ask why they think they have been targeted and what, if anything, they are doing to fight the efforts against them. I got only one response. It came from Jessica Tramontana, spokesperson for Rep. Lisa Brown (and wife of Michigan Democratic Party Communications Director, John Tramontana):
Hi, Chris.
I need to direct you to the Michigan Democratic Party to answer your questions. As much as I’d like to help you, we’re prevented from talking about recalls during state time by the House Business Office.You can email John Tramontana – who is my husband.
Of the original 26 attempts to get recall petition language approved, only 20 succeeded. Twelve are ongoing, the remainder failed to gather enough signatures.
- Brad Jacobsen (46th House District) – ongoing
- Nancy Jenkins (57th House District) – unsuccessful
- House Speaker Jase Bolger (63rd House District) – ongoing
- Mike Shirkey (65th House District) – ongoing
- Al Pscholka (79th House District) – unsuccessful
- Kurt Damrow (84th House District) – unsuccessful
- Joel Johnson (97th House District) – unsuccessful
- Kevin Cotter (99th House District) – ongoing
- Phil Potvin (101st House District) – ongoing
- Patrick Colbeck (7th Senate District) – ongoing
- John Pappageorge (13th Senate District) – ongoing
- Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (17th Senate District) – unsuccessful
- Mike Nofs (19th Senate District) – unsuccessful
- John Proos (21st Senate District) – unsuccessful
- Mike Green (31st Senate District) – ongoing
- Judy Emmons (33rd Senate District) – ongoing
- Darwin Booher (35th Senate District) – unsuccessful
- John Moolenaar (36th Senate District) – ongoing
- Howard Walker (37th Senate District) – ongoing
- Tom Casperson (38th Senate District) – ongoing
A 27th recall attempt, against Representative Paul Scott, was dealt a major blow this week when his appeal of approved petition language was successful. This was the only petition drive to gather enough signatures to get on the November ballot. The ruling this week means that all signatures are invalidated. This was a particularly high-profile recall because Scott’s anti-teachers union stance made him the highest priority target for the Michigan Education Association who contributed $25,000 to recall efforts around the state.
Perhaps the highest-profile recall of all was the one against Governor Rick Snyder. This, too, was unsuccessful.
While the Michigan Republican Party has supported the recalls against Democrats, the same has not been true of the Michigan Democratic Party. After hearing from his wife, I emailed John Tramontana. Although he didn’t answer the questions I asked the Democratic House members, he did answer another question that I asked him. “Given the MRP’s support of these apparently retaliatory recall efforts, will the MDP change its position regarding supporting the recall efforts against Republicans across the state?” I asked. “I’m thinking of both financial and nonfinancial support, neither of which has been given so far.”
His answer: No.
It should be noted that the MDP hasn’t been completely out of the picture with regard to recalls. In August, they solicited help with recalls in Wisconsin and this past week, they sent out a fundraising email to Michigan Democrats to help fight off the recalls against Democrats.
As I have written before, the MDP’s thumb-sitting stance on the recalls is in sharp contrast to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Indeed, this week, the DPW announced it was getting fully in the game.
This is it. This is history.
After weeks of discussion and positive collaboration with grassroots activists like you, today comes an historic announcement. In collaboration with United Wisconsin, the grassroots effort to recall Scott Walker will begin Nov. 15th.
It has become clearer than ever that the people of Wisconsin – the traditions and institutions of our great state – cannot endure any more of Scott Walker’s abuses. To preserve Wisconsin, we must begin the recall of Walker as soon as possible.
We will never know if support from the MDP would have changed the tide in any of these recalls. What can be said is this: recalls in Michigan are difficult at best. Tremendous numbers of signatures must be gathered in an incredibly short period of time. Without the support, both financial and in terms of visibility, of the MDP or another large organization (labor unions, e.g.), their failure is nearly guaranteed. The MDP chose to keep its powder dry for the 2012 election, missing an enormous opportunity to be seen as active and aggressive at a time when Democrats across the state view them increasingly as anything but. Building some good will among Michigan Democrats a year before the elections would seem smart by most measures. But, for the Michigan Democratic Party, not so much.
For more of Chris Savage’s writing, visit Eclectablog.
[…] I wrote about in my piece for A2Politico this week, the organizers of the recall effort against Republican state Representative Paul Scott was dealt a […]
[…] Paul Scott is the kind of politician we all wish we could remove from office: Ambitious, ideological, and a outspoken opponent of his state’s teachers and teachers’ union. His attacks on education as the Chair the House Education Committee lead to a grassroots campaign to unseat him. Of the 47 attempts to recall Michigan legislators this year, only Paul Scott’s succeeded. […]
[…] Paul Scott is the kind of politician we all wish we could remove from office: Ambitious, ideological, and a outspoken opponent of his state’s teachers and teachers’ union. His attacks on education as the Chair the House Education Committee lead to a grassroots campaign to unseat him. Of the 47 attempts to recall Michigan legislators this year, only Paul Scott’s succeeded. […]
[…] reported that efforts were launched to recall almost one third of the state’s legislators – 47 out of 148. Only one recall drive has made it to the November ballot – that of Representative Paul Scott […]
@A2Politico:
Recall proceedings against Senator Warren would put the spotlight on her left-wing positions and force her to be on the defensive. Scores of GOP and Democrats in 2010 tried to get the more moderate Pam Byrnes elected to the Michigan Senate seat now held by Warren.
I personally believe that none of these recalls will be successful in removing anyone from office, however Andy Dillon was politically sullied due to adverse media publicity as the result of a failed recall effort in Redford Township that helped Redford Township Supervisor Miles Handy lose his re-election bid.
A recall effort against Warren could bring her plenty of unwanted publicity.
@Mark I suppose my main concern about Senator Warren (all of our representatives, really) has to do with what, exactly, she’s doing in Lansing for her constituents.
@Scott the MDP had a very successful 2010, getting oodles of Republican legislators elected by running a half-hearted campaign on behalf of Virg Bernero. I have every confidence the MDP will perform just as well in 2012. The more I understand how the MDP works and see the results of having a chair who is more interested in playing politics than anything else, I have less and less hope that the MDP will ever be able to enact significant political change in our state.
@Mark why do you think Sen. Warren deserves to be recalled?
I was actually contacted by GOP activists to attend a rally in support of Rep. Paul Scott since he was a recall target. At the last minute e-mails were sent out cancelling the rally due to a court victory by Scott.
The Lisa Brown recall effort of the GOP is interesting. As an incumbent in 2010 she narrowly beat GOP nominee Lois Shulman of West Bloomield Township, the wife of former State Representative Marc Shulman. The GOP recall attempt against Brown, a Birmingham resident, could conceivably be successful.
I would like to see the Willow Run Tea Party Caucus continue their attempts to get Se. rebekah Warren recalled. She retained legal counsel to show up at the hearing by the election commission panel and argue against the wording of the recall petition. That panel dismissed the recall petition language by a 2-1 vote.
I posted this elsewhere, and I’ll repost it here:
Frankly, I remain unconvinced that the MDP should be spending – rather, wasting – members’ hard-earned dollars on the remote possibility of electing Democrats just months before the entire State House will be up for election anyway.
There will be something in November 2012 called a ‘general election.’ If a Republican can’t be ousted in November 2012, they probably couldn’t be ousted in a recall election either.
Of course, many of us believe that in those rare cases in which a recall SHOULD be attempted, the petition-gathering stage of such an effort should be done on as grassroots a level as possible. Whatever your views on that, let’s be practical here: Is it worth it for the MDP to spend our (members’) money on getting petition signatures just for the ever-so-slight possibility that someone might be recalled in a couple months and possibly – just possibly – be replaced by a Democrat six whole months (i.e. 1/4 of a state House term) later, and just before the term is to expire anyway? Especially when it would take eight successful recalls just to bring Republicans down to 55 House seats?
Now if we had a recall system like they do in Wisconsin, I would be more likely to support MDP involvement in the petition-gathering stage. Consider the differences between Michigan and Wisconsin: There, once the petition is filed, the countdown is on for a general election to be held between the two major-party nominees (and if needed, a primary takes place beforehand). And that election can take place within a couple months. Here, OTOH, after petitions are filed, the next step is for an election to determine whether the person should actually be recalled in the first place. THEN there’s a primary, THEN a general election after that which would take place six months after the original recall vote (and about nine months after petitions are turned in).
Suppose petitions to recall a Republican lawmaker were turned in tomorrow. The recall vote would happen in February, which is not an ideal time for Democrats, since that is the date of the Presidential primary (in which most voters will be Republicans, thus likely shellacking a recall attempt against a Republican by a wide margin). In the highly unlikely event that the lawmaker IS recalled, the primary to succeed him/her would be May 8. The general election would be August 7 – also not ideal since Republicans will have another statewide primary that day, this time for US Senate. Whether or not many Democrats vote will depend on whether or not Democrats have competitive primaries for different races in that state House district. Not to mention how confusing the ballot would be for those unfamiliar with the primary process – “Okay, so I could only vote for Republicans in that section of the ballot, so I guess I’ll have to vote for the Republican in this state House race too.” In the unlikely event that a Democrat is elected in August, guess what will happen just three months later? The general election.
Oh, but the MDP doesn’t have the money to keep them in office or to help carry Michigan for Obama. Thus they who were elected in August lose just three months later. Plus we’re stuck with President Perry, Senator Durant, and the scorn of Michigan once again being the scapegoat in the Democratic Party. All because the MDP was spending money trying to get people recalled so others could replace them for three months.
Suddenly, it seems pointless for the MDP to be spending all that money, doesn’t it?
Now if the MDP had enough money to throw around, maybe it would make more sense for MDP leaders to support the petition-gathering stage. But as we all know very well, the DeVoses are not Democrats, and the MDP is not the richest entity known to humankind.
As to fighting Republican attempts at recalling Democratic lawmakers? Republicans are infamous for using every dirty trick in the book to get Democrats recalled. Witness (1) the 2007-2008 recall campaigns against lawmakers who voted to raise the income tax; (2) the tricks used to get Wisconsin Democrats recalled; and (3) the effort to get the affirmative action ban on the ballot in 2006. In all of these cases, deception was used to get signatures from people who wouldn’t otherwise support their efforts.
If any of these campaigns against Democratic lawmakers are able to get the necessary petition signatures, guess when the recall election would be? February 28. I already mentioned above that most of those who vote on February 28 will be Republicans, who would be much more likely to vote ‘yes’ on a recall question against a Democrat. Result? These Democrats would be VERY likely to get thrown out of office. In other words, this (the petition-gathering stage) IS the election, so to speak. Whether or not folks like Brandon Dillon stay in office for the rest of their terms could very well be decided more by the success or failure of the Republicans’ petition-gathering efforts, with the February 28 election being a formality.
That’s why this needs to be fought NOW.
As an MDP member, I expect Party leadership to act in ways that will help us elect Democrats and keep current Democratic elected officials in office. Every dollar that is spent on an effort that is highly unlikely to succeed is a dollar that cannot be spent helping to re-elect our President, re-elect Senator Stabenow, and take back the US House, the State Supreme Court – and, by the way, the State House.
[…] don’t want Kurt Damrow around, it seems. Damrow, a Republican who, as I reported today in an A2Politico piece was the target of a failed recall attempt, has been unceremoniously tossed out of the Huron County […]
[…] of Michigan recalls Eclectablog posted this on October 18th, 2011 I have a new post up at A2Politico that talks about the recalls going on around the state of Michigan. I won’t spoil the fun by […]