The Wayne County Board of Electors (consisting of three Democrats) rejected citizens recall language against House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) and State Representatives Marc Corriveau (D-Northville) and Ed Gaffney (R-Grosse Pointe) this morning in Wayne County. The Wayne County Board's action follows Monday's rejection by the Macomb County Board of Electors of petition language in the effort to recall Steve Bieda (D-Warren).

Both elector boards ruled that the petition language was "unclear," despite the very simple and direct sentence on the petition which cites the bill number of the income tax increase and states that the Representative in question supported legislation that raised the state income tax to 4.35%.

Friends, the petition language filed with the Macomb Board of Electors could not have been more ‘clear’ if it had been written by Merriam Webster and the Supreme Court! Election Boards consist of elected politicians and judges who generally seek to protect the government class from being held accountable by citizens. Expect more petition language rejections followed by certain court victories for the recall committees. The law IS on the side of citizens attempting the recalls.

Michigan Recalls will be filing appeals to the circuit court starting tomorrow in Macomb County and next week in Wayne County.

Rejection by boards of electors is only the first part of the tax-hikers’ strategy to beat the recalls. So far, these taxspender defenders have revealed a few other clues to their defense tactics. Their strategy? Lawyers, guns and money.

First, the lawyers. The following is from October 19 edition of MIRS News, an Lansing-based political newsletter:

It turns out the strategy is to make sure none of the legislators get on the recall ballot in the first place, said Rep. Tim MELTON (D-Auburn Hills) on this week's edition of Off the Record. He told reporters, ‘The fight is to keep them off the ballot’ and that means hiring lawyers to fight the recall process before, during and after the names are collected.

Melton conceded if and when the names of lawmakers get on the recall ballot the effort to save them will be harder. So rather than build a defense fund for that phase of the campaign he said money will be raised to cover the lawyer's fees.

One area the lawyers will look at is making sure the recall petition circulators are residents of each district. Outsiders, by law, cannot collect the names, which is often done in other petition drives. The gathered signatures will also be fly specked by recall opponents in hopes of proving that not enough legal names were collected.

This tie-em-up-in-court tactic was used with some success in the recalls of 1983. The goal is to stretch the limited financial resources of citizen recall groups, and to use the courts to delay approval of petitions until deep into the winter.

Second, the guns. Not real guns, thankfully, but hired guns who will be used to stalk and harass signature gatherers. These hired guns are commonly called “blockers,” who follow petitioners around and attempt to interfere with signature gathering efforts. The text below is from the October 22 edition of MIRS News:

House Democrats are serious about nipping potential recall campaigns before they ever get off the ground, figuring that blocking the question from ever reaching a voter is the best way to protect vulnerable members.

A likely strategy the House Dems will use is one where a Democrat surrogate will "shadow" recall petition circulators as they attempt to gather names.

"We will follow the petition circulators and have a debate with each potential signer in an attempt to convince them not to sign the recalls," said one Democrat, who has been part of the private and internal strategy talks.

Rep. Aldo VAGNOZZI (D-Farmington Hills) is credited with bringing this idea to the caucus. He reported that he used the method to beat back several recall efforts in his Farmington Hills district over the years.

House Democrats are also gearing up to monitor the gathering of petition signatures at the polling places during the November and January statewide elections. Those sights are considered prime locations since the folks voting are registered and live in the district. The anti-recallers hope to slow down the petition process by providing the opposing view before anyone signs.

If anti-recallers engage each person who is thinking about signing a petition, it would take longer to gather names and there's a chance they might change the person's mind about the recall.

Asked if Democrats can find enough people to shadow the recallers, this source tells MIRS, "The groups that have the most at stake will be supportive" of this strategy.

In past petition drives where blockers were employed, these blockers have often screamed at citizens attempting to sign petitions, or argued with petitioners every time a citizen approaches to sign the petition. Opponents of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative petition drive went as far as to approach tables set up by petition gatherers and pour water over the signed petitions.

Finally, the money. In 1983, the two state senators whom citizens successfully recalled from office spent over ten times what citizens spent to recall them. Recall opponents remember that, and know that if citizens collect enough signatures, the odds of a tax-hiking politician surviving an election are slim. So they will likely spend as much money as they can trying to prevent a successful citizen-effort from collecting enough signatures. Teacher’s unions, government employee unions and other spending interests will open their coffers to stop the signature gathering. Expect new, well-funded, and as-yet unknown tactics (besides the lawyers and blockers) to be in abundance in opposing citizen recall efforts.

What does this all mean? The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA) can help by educating citizens about their rights to recall by holding ‘recall boot camps,’ and can also provide information to citizens on how a recall must proceed legally. The MTA can, and has, engaged in grass roots activism and public awareness campaigns in opposition to any increased taxes, with radio ads and voter contacts which resulted in tens of thousands of phone calls to lawmakers. But the MTA is a 501(c)4 organization; once the actual recall campaigns started, the MTA cannot be directly involved in a recall campaign’s political activity.

But direct political action (spending) is required, and I have therefore started a volunteer political committee to raise and spend actual campaign money from individuals.

Michigan Recalls, the political action committee quarterbacking the citizen recalls, MUST step up with funding. Michigan Recalls (www.michiganrecalls.com) is a newly established political action committee created expressly for the purpose of directly assisting citizens with the recall of state legislators who voted to hike your taxes. Michigan Recalls can do the direct political work that the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance (MTA) cannot. Michigan Recalls can do more then just anti-tax issue advocacy, education and training. We must directly assist citizens with recall campaign flyers, legal help, printing costs for petitions, recall supplies, robo-calls and full-blown recall campaign help.

Please help by donating online or send a check to Michigan Recalls, 46116 Lookout Drive, Macomb, MI 48044. Checks are NOT tax deductible and state law requires us to ask you to disclose the name and address of your employer if you donate more than $100.

The politicians have already made YOU pay with higher taxes. Time to turn the tables and make THEM pay!

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