CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND PUBLIC ACT 4

By Brandon Jessup, Repeal Public Act 4

December 22, 2011 

Brandon Jessup, leader of Michigan Forward and campaign to Repeal Public Act 4

On December 22, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow PUSH and allies met at Bethany Baptist Church in Detroit for a community meeting and later press conference regarding Public Act 4. These allies included Michigan members of the Occupy Movement, faith and community leaders. 

What’s been swirling around the local conservative talk crowd is “civil disobedience” and what that means in regards to the campaign against dictatorship in Michigan. The term itself leans towards some type of abnormal behavior normally frowned upon by mainstream society. 

Yet, what’s abnormal about demanding my right to vote and defending not those who were elected to office, but in essence the office itself. I guess that’s the problem: the Repeal effort isn’t an attack on any one elected official so it’s not personal, this is business. Petitions, laws, legislation, recall, election and voting are the tools of our government and how we govern ourselves. This campaign engages and uses democracy to fight this odious and unconstitutional law. This state-wide movement is touching every corner of Michigan. For the record, civil disobedience began when the Michigan Legislature passed and Governor Snyder signed into law Public Act 4, March 26, 2011. 

Young woman rallies against Snyder in Benton Harbor earlier this year

Over 163,000 voters in Michigan see our petition as an effort to see Democracy work again. Some signers have said to me, “I didn’t know Gov. Snyder would do this.” I understand what they mean, so I won’t draw opinions from that statement. Michigan’s Dictator Law is a reflection of the ultra conservative stand the Michigan Legislature, Attorney General, Secretary of State and Governor have taken against the majority of Michigan voters. 

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has pursued a state lawsuit against the Affordable Health Care Act. President Obama’s efforts to reform health care were met with a ferocity that many think crossed the line between politics and personal. Tea Party members threatened the lives of members of Congress, hurled racial, homophobic and other derogatory slurs like beads at Mardi Gras towards our national leadership. This activity was supported with 20 states filing lawsuits against the constitutionality of health care reform, another example of civil disobedience. 

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette

On January 5, Bill Schuette renewed the state’s challenge to health care reform. Who loses while Schuette takes this crusade against “constitutional overreach?” Michigan’s 134,000 small businesses, 32,800 young adults and 6 million residents with private insurance coverage. Michigan’s cities and school districts lose options in restructuring health care plans for their growing number of retirees and aging workforce. The state of Michigan loses billions in premium and cost-sharing tax credits designed to make health insurance more affordable. Schuette chooses to block Michigan’s access to affordable health care options citing constitutional overreach but remains silent on the clear constitutional overreach outlined in Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law. 

Elsewhere in Michigan’s Executive Branch, you’ll find newly elected Secretary of State, Ruth Johnson. Our state’s top election official has begun legislation in conjunction with State Sen. Dave Robertson of Grand Blanc Township and State Rep. Sharon Tyler of Niles, Michigan’s Secure and Fair Elections Initiative. This legislative initiative would “…secure the integrity of the elections process in Michigan” said Ottawa County Clerk Dan Krueger, in an October 12 press conference. 

Sixteen days later on October 28, 2011 Pontiac Emergency Manager Lou  Schimmel fired Pontiac City Clerk Yvette Talley, an elected official, from the very office and system Secretary Johnson vows her support for. 

“Michigan has a strong elections system with dedicated, committed clerks and election workers…But there is always room for improvement. Our plan provides new tools to make our elections even more fair by closing loopholes and requiring more transparency and accountability,”

Michigan Secretary of State, Ruth Johnson,  October 12, 2011 

Pontiac EM Lou Schimmel, from the right-wing Mackinac Public Policy Center

Does Schimmel  want to bring in his own “qualified team of experts” to justify his firing of an elected official? Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law runs far amok of transparency and accountability, towards dictatorship. Johnson has been silent on the firing of Pontiac’s City Clerk and Schimmel’s radical action. Johnson also did not consult state legislators on the implied powers of emergency managers over local elections and elected officials, which includes county and municipal clerks. 

 Johnson held office as Oakland County Clerk for over 20 years before being elected to Secretary of State in 2010. A biography of Johnson was not available on the Michigan Secretary of State website, instead we were redirected to the biography of Candice S. Miller, former Secretary of State who was elected to Congress in 2002. 

Democracy works well in Michigan. Michigan’s elections have been “tamper-free” for the last 30 years. Unfortunately, our state and local economy hasn’t fared the same in the last decade. The state has lost over 865,000 jobs since 2002.  At the beginning of 2011 cuts instead of investment have cost Michigan core communities hundreds of millions in state revenue sharing that would secure public safety operations and core services. As members of these communities protest via ballot initiative, our legislature works to circumvent our efforts with back door legislation such as Senate Bill 865 or Johnson’s SAFE Initiative. Hopefully our Governor won’t respond to nonviolent direct action the way campus police did at UC Davis.

http://michiganforward.org/?p=1674