UPDATE: The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a proposal to expand the number of casinos in Michigan should not appear on the ballot in November. However, the high court approved three other ballot questions. If approved, they would write collective bargaining rights into the state constitution, require "super majorities" in the legislature to approve tax increases, and require voter approval before any new bridges between Michigan and Canada are built.
The Michigan Supreme Court is expected to rule sometime this week on the ballot status of four different proposals. The state’s highest court heard oral arguments on August 30th on whether the questions should go before voters. One would allow eight new casinos in Michigan, another would enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state Constitution. The court will also rule on whether voters should get to decide if a two-thirds vote of the Legislature should be required to approve any tax increase and if a statewide should vote should be needed before a new international bridge crossing could be built between Detroit and Canada.
WMUK’s Gordon Evans spoke with Michigan Campaign Finance Network Director Rich Robinson about how political donations shape the ballot questions and the legal battles over what gets on the ballot.
Robinson says there’s an enormous amount of money being spent by supporters and opponents of these ballot questions. Television advertising has already begun, even with the question of ballot status unsettled. And he says legal fees are also adding up to determine whether those questions get on the ballot.
Robinson says these ballot questions will likely end up costing more than any Attorney General campaign or Secretary of State campaign in Michigan history. He says they’ll be comparable to the most expensive State Supreme Court races ever. Robinson says the spending won’t reach the level of the most expensive gubernatorial campaigns in Michigan. But he says they are questions which are likely to draw large contributions for people trying to pass and defeat the ballot proposals.
But Robinson says state law makes it tough to find out who is contributing to the campaigns for and against the ballot questions. He says the campaigns have found very creative ways to conceal the identities of donors. Robinson says in some cases shell corporations are being used to hide the identities of contributors. “This is kind of a Russian doll situation where the identities are concealed inside layers of corporate identities on top of the donors.”
Robinson says some of that information may come to light in subsequent campaign finance reports. But he says many names of contributors will remain secret. Robinson says regardless of how people feel about an issue, they should want to know the source of contributions to campaigns for and against ballot questions. Robinson says most ballot campaigns are not started at the grassroots level. He says well-funded interests usually pay for gathering petition signatures. Then expensive campaigns are run before voters decide whether or not to approve those questions
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network has tracked the rise in spending on State Supreme Court race in recent election cycles. Robinson says the court fight over the ballot proposals shows why there is greater political interest in the state’s highest court. Robinson says if some of the ballot questions are thrown off the ballot, he would expect some of the money raised for those questions to be spent on the state Supreme Court races instead.