Atty. Mark Fancher of the ACLU addresses the rally outside the courtroom where the disqualification of a ballot initiative by the state canvass board was being challenged. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
August 8, 2012
Board puts EM repeal on Nov. ballot, reappoints managers under old law
By KAREN BOUFFARD AND CHAD LIVENGOOD / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing— Michigan voters will decide on a repeal of the emergency manager law in November after the Board of State Canvassers unanimously certified petitions for a referendum Wednesday.
The board's actions put Public Act 4, the controversial emergency manager law, in the penalty box until voters decide its fate in the Nov. 6 election.
In April, the panel of two Democrats and two Republicans deadlocked on a 2-2 vote on whether to certify the referendum for the ballot after a group challenged the type size of the petitions used to gather more than 200,000 valid voter signatures.
On Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the board to place petitions circulated by the group Stand Up for Democracy on the ballot. Public Act 4 was be immediately suspended when the referendum was certified by the canvassers.
"Though justice was delayed, we now are on our way to returning Michigan to a democratic process," said Herbert Sanders, Detroit attorney representing Stand Up for Democracy.
Immediately following the suspension of Public Act 4, the state's Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board met in Lansing to reappoint emergency managers under an older law, Public Act 72 of 1990, which grants fewer powers to emergency financial managers.
The Loan Board swiftly reappointed emergency financial managers in Benton Harbor, Ecorse and Pontiac.
Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown could not be reappointed because he formerly served as temporary mayor, and Public Act 72 bars appointment of anyone who has served as mayor of the same city in the previous five years.
The Loan Board picked former Flint emergency financial manager Ed Kurtz to run the city. Kurtz served as emergency financial manager from 2002-04 during a previous state intervention of Flint's finances. Brown has said he'll serve as an advisor under the new emergency financial manager during the transition.
The Loan Board consists of state Budget Director John Nixon, State Treasurer Andy Dillon and Steve Hilfinger, director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs — all appointees of Gov. Rick Snyder. Deputy State Treasurer Roger Fraser attended the 3 p.m. meeting in Dillon's absence.
In an official opinion issued Monday, Attorney General Bill Schuette said Public Act 72 is reinstated once the Board of State Canvassers certified the petitions and Public Act 4 was suspended.
Opponents of emergency managers disagree with the Republican attorney general's legal opinion and are contemplating additional lawsuits to block emergency managers from still having control of four cities and three school districts under state management.
"The Michigan Compiled Laws is clear that when something is repealed, it's repealed," Sanders said after the canvassers meeting at the state Capitol.
On behalf of the Snyder administration, Dillon has asked lawmakers to consider passing a replacement law for Public Act 4 when the Legislature reconvenes Aug. 15 for its lone work day this month.
House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said Wednesday he doesn't plan to send Snyder a new emergency manager bill.
"The voters will have their say, and we'll operate within P.A. 72 until the voters have their say," Bolger told reporters at a post-primary Republican Party unity event.
Dillon is expected to recommend a replacement for Brown to be appointed by the Loan Board, which will meet in the State Treasurer's Board Room in the Richard H. Austin Building in Lansing.
Under P.A. 72, emergency financial managers for school districts are recommended by State School Superintendent Mike Flanagan and appointed by the governor.
Flanagan said Friday he will recommend Gov. Rick Snyder re-appoint the emergency managers already in place for the Detroit, Highland Park and Muskegon Heights school districts.
Republican-backed Justice Mary Beth Kelly sided with the Supreme Court's three Democrat-backed justices who voted to place the petition on the ballot. She also sided with three other Republican-backed justices to rule "substantial compliance" was the proper standard for reviewing such cases.
kbouffard@detnews.com
(517) 371-3660
Referendum on Michigan's emergency manager law approved for Nov. 6 ballot
3:54 PM, August 8, 2012
By Dawson Bell and Chastity Pratt
Detroit Free Press Staff Writers
LANSING – A referendum on Michigan’s controversial emergency manager law was approved for the Nov. 6 ballot this afternoon by a state elections panel, which had no choice after being ordered to act last week by the Supreme Court.
Approval by the Board of State Canvassers, which had previously rejected the proposal, suspends the law until the popular vote is taken.
Supporters of repealing the law, who collected petition signatures to force the vote then sued when denied by the canvassers the first time around, broke out in cheers after the measure was approved during a brief session of the board at the state Capitol.
The immediate effect of the suspension remains unclear, however.
Outside the hearing, representatives of the group Stand Up For Democracy said they adamantly disagree with Attorney General Bill Schuette that an earlier version of the emergency manager law is automatically reinstated. Officials in the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder said they plan to use the old law to re-appoint managers in Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Pontiac and the Detroit and Highland Park schools who have been acting under the suspended law.
In Flint, a new manager is expected to be named, also under the older version of the law.
But Herb Sanders, an attorney for Stand Up, said the governor has no authority to appoint emergency managers under the old law because it was repealed by the (now suspended) new law.
“Michigan law is clear. When something is repealed it’s repealed,” Sanders said.
Robert Davis, an employee of the public sector union AFSCME and Highland Park School Board member, attended today’s meeting and said he has sent a letter to Highland Park Emergency Manager Joyce Parker asking her to relinquish the seat by midnight. If Parker declines, Davis said he may file a new lawsuit.
Following the certification of the referendum, the Detroit Federation of Teachers, Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees, and Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals delivered formal demands that Roy Roberts negotiate contracts.
Roberts was appointed emergency manager for DPS but now becomes emergency financial manager until the voters decide on the law, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Roberts imposed a contract on the teachers on July 1 and imposed 10% wage cuts on other employees. The decisions by emergency managers to date should stand, the state says. However, the attorney general’s opinions are not binding over local districts.
The unions maintain that until voters decide, Roberts is an emergency financial manager and as such cannot impose contracts, and therefore Roberts must negotiate.
School is supposed to begin on Sept. 4, and teachers union members have not ruled out a strike.
“The Supreme Court and Board of Canvassers have spoken,” said Keith Johnson, President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. “We’re prepared to sit down with Roy S. Roberts tomorrow morning to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. School starts in less than a month, it’s time to get to work.”
Contact Dawson Bell: 517-372-8661 or dbell@freepress.com
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