Is Voters Not Politicians Wasting Their Time?

They seem to be fighting for a ballot proposal that's unconstitutional

I can’t think of a good government group I admire more than Voters Not Politicians (VNP) which burst out of nowhere in 2018, used only volunteers to collect signatures, and managed to get a state constitutional amendment passed that ended partisan gerrymandering in Michigan. They used only free volunteers to collect the hundreds of thousands of valid signatures required to get their amendment on the ballot, something that I would have thought impossible.

They were up against a Republican establishment that spent heavily, first to try and keep it off the ballot and then to try to defeat it at the polls. Then, after the voters overwhelmingly passed the amendment, they fought it in the courts.

All these efforts failed. Voters Not Politicians won, and that’s why today gerrymandering has been outlawed, and we have far better districts and more competitive elections for the legislature and Congress.

Now VNP is back, gearing up to collect signatures for a new state constitutional amendment designed to get at least some corrupt money out of state politics by banning the state’s major utilities and contractors from giving money to political leaders, and, as a post on VNP’s website says, “could also test the public’s desire to rein in energy and health care companies that have become major forces in state politics and poured millions of dollars into nonprofit organizations connected to elected leaders.”

Well, I totally agree that would be absolutely wonderful if that happened, especially since Michigan has about the weakest government ethics laws in the country, something neither party has done much to fix.

Except …. it would seem that this is all a gigantic waste of time and energy, since in 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States apparently ruled that there would be no restrictions on campaign spending by corporations or unions. That was a 5-4 decision called Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, which said that money was a form of free speech and could not be limited.

I think that was an extremely bad decision, but that doesn’t matter; they call the nation’s highest court supreme for a reason. Citizens United was a 5-4 decision, but if the court decided that case today, it would be 6-3.

When I learned that VNP was attempting to go for a ballot proposal that limited campaign spending, I was puzzled and wondered what I was missing. So I contacted perhaps the best source around: Eric Lupher, president of the highly respected and utterly non-partisan Citizens’ Research Council of Michigan and asked what I was missing. He seemed to be as puzzled as I. “I don’t know why VNP and others in their coalition thinks they can limit the voice of utilities and state contractors.

“As you suggest, Citizens United said limits on corporate and political spending violate their First Amendment rights. I guess the thinking is that if the utilites want to continue operating, they can play by the state’s rules. And if the contractors want to continue to do business with the state, they can play by the state’s rules.”

And he added, “We’ll have to see if the courts agree.”

We all know, of course, what the Supreme Court has become. My fear is that this drive may energize and inspire a lot of young people who will then turn into bitter cynics when their hopes are dashed by a band of unelected right-wing ideologues who have been appointed our nation’s highest judges, for life.