Michigan’s Lame-Duck Republicans Waddle Away from Democracy
You’ve read about what Republicans are doing in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Michigan, where GOP-held legislatures are to varying degrees trying to undo things the voters did on Nov. 6 that don’t suit them. Wisconsin has attracted national attention because outgoing Governor Scott Walker is a man liberals love to hate, and North Carolina because the state’s Moral Monday protests have enjoyed national attention for two years now.
But what’s happening in Michigan may be the most egregious of the three. Consider: On one front, the Republicans in the state legislature there are essentially trying to tear up progressive wage legislation that the very same state legislature adopted earlier this fall. On a second front, they’re trying to chip away at two reforms to the electoral system that voters approved by margins of 61 and 67 percent. And on a third, they’re trying to change the way the state decides which lawsuits it will take up and defend.
The second front attacks the powers of the incoming secretary of state; the third does the same to the incoming attorney general. And whaddya know, both of those offices are flipping from Republican control to Democratic.