News Story

Two GOP Reps Help Dems Dump Right-to-Work

Two Republicans joined a united Democrat caucus in the Michigan House to oppose a recent vote on whether local governments in Michigan should be permitted to create "right-to-work zones." Within these proposed zones, employers would be prohibited from compelling an employee to join a union under threat of either being fired or never hired in the first place. Free-market labor analysts have repeatedly noted that there is a strong correlation between a state's economic growth and whether it provides right-to-work protections to its workers. And polling data has indicated strong public support for Michigan becoming a right-to-work state.

Senate Bill 945, sponsored by Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, is the legislation that would allow local governments to create the right-to-work zones. Though it has not yet received a vote in the Michigan Senate, that didn't stop state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, from forcing the Michigan House of Representatives to pass judgment on the bill.

On March 2, the Democrat majority that controls the Michigan House took up for consideration House Bill 5808, legislation that would expand the number of businesses getting money from Lansing. McMillin is a strong critic of Michigan government engaging in central planning of this sort, noting that the free market — rather than state bureaucrats — should be deciding who the success stories are in the Michigan economy.

He is also a strong supporter of making Michigan into a right-to-work state.

Because a Democrat-run House is not likely to consider a right-to-work measure voluntarily, due to what is generally understood as a closer affiliation with Michigan's labor union bosses, McMillin offered up a "tie-bar" amendment, linking HB 5808 to SB 945. If his amendment had been adopted, it would have placed a condition on HB 5808, preventing it from becoming law unless SB 945 was also enacted. (McMillin has developed into something of a guerrilla fighter when it comes to opposing legislation with the amendment process. See also: www.MichCapCon.com/11222.) 

The Democrat majority held together and voted down McMillin's right-to-work tie-bar on a vote of 65-41.

And the Democrats were joined by Republicans Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, and Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth.

This is not the first attempt by Republicans in the House to tie-bar a right-to-work proposal to a bill favored by the Democrat majority running the Michigan House. In the fall of 2008, Rep. Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, offered up a similar amendment. It too was defeated, 69-35. That day as well, Rocca and Horn were amongst 14 Republicans voting with the Democrat majority against the Republican-sponsored right-to-work tie-bar. (See also: www.MichCapCon.com/10312.)

Supporters of bringing right-to-work to Michigan may be able to draw some encouragement from the latest vote in the House, as fewer Republicans are now voting against the policy. The Meekhof tie-bar in 2008 was to a bill that would have made all of Michigan a right-to-work state, rather than just allowed any local government to create a specified right-to-work zone. Six of the Republicans who voted against the Meekhof right-to-work tie-bar in 2008 decided instead to vote in favor of the McMillin version in March. The other six Republicans voting against the Meekhof tie-bar left office after the 2008 election. 

A 2007 analysis by Mackinac Center labor policy director Paul Kersey examined the correlation between a state's economic success and its adoption of a right-to-work law. Looking at the five-year period from 2001-2006, Kersey reported that states with right-to-work laws increased their gross state product by 18.1 percent, while states without a right-to-work law saw GSP grow by just 13.6 percent. Michigan was one of the worst non right-to-work performers, growing by just 3.4 percent.

Even Louisiana and Mississippi — two right-to-work states that saw massive economic damage due to being hit by Hurricane Katrina during the period under examination — were still able to substantially exceed the GSP growth of Michigan. 

The MichiganVotes.org roll call for McMillin's right-to-work tie bar is below.

“Right to Work” - click to enlarge

Contact information for lawmakers is available here.

The original version of this story was posted online on April 19, 2010.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

News Story

November Is Not a Finish Line, It’s a Starting Line

News media love a horse-race so they tend to describe everything as one. They grossly oversimplify important, complex political issues, boiling them down to "who wins" and "who loses" with all eyes focused on how today's news affects the next big election. November may be the biggest election on the horizon, but November is not a finish line. It is a starting line.

The surge in political energy on the right, left and in the middle did not dissipate after the Great Recession fueled historic outcomes in national elections in the fall of 2008. This political energy is still growing into a movement of real power, especially among those most concerned about galloping government growth.

If one were to take cues from the news media and the people running for office, the whole game will be determined when voters go to the polls on Nov. 2. That's when we'll know "who wins" and who does not. But that won't tell us much about the kind of public policy we'll get. That's because all we'll know then is what the winning candidates promised they would do once elected. It will take a while longer to figure out if they intend to keep their promises.

Starting on Day One, every newly elected lawmaker will face enormous pressure to compromise the very principles on which they campaigned. Special interest groups and incumbent lawmakers with more seniority (especially those who are gerrymandered into so-called "safe seats") will see to that. Such pressure must be counterbalanced if voters are to have any hope that those they elected will keep their promises.

If voters treat Nov. 2 as a finish line, saying "mission accomplished" after their candidate or their party wins, they remove themselves from the game at the most important moment. The mission is never accomplished by merely electing the right person or party. The mission might be properly begun, but only just begun.

The mission is accomplished over time by holding elected officials accountable for their promises and for the actual results of the policies they enact.  It is no longer sufficient, if it ever was, to vote for the right party or the right "good guy" or gal. What matters is for voters to know how the individual lawmaker actually behaves through his or her votes.

Voters hold lawmakers accountable when voters know how they vote and know the effects of the policies they enact. The lawmakers themselves do not always volunteer complete information because they wish to be re-elected and excused for any bad votes they might have made.

That's why the Mackinac Center for Public Policy provides tools such as Michigan Capitol Confidential, the MichiganVotes.org database, and this newspaper's new, online, sister publication at www.MichCapCon.com.

Informed voters, especially those who vote in primary elections, have disproportionate influence when they contact lawmakers about their votes. Such voters can counterbalance even powerful interest groups and legislative leaders.

Here is a recent example. Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, called our office the other day to let us know he had heard from constituents who apparently read in Michigan Capitol Confidential that one of his bills would have opened the door to sweeping unionization of privately employed, in-home health workers. The senate journal now reports that he has offered a substitute bill.

This year in particular, the primary elections on Aug. 3 may be more important than the Nov. general elections. Those August primaries will determine who the voters send to the November starting line. The primary elections are where new voices have the best opportunities to be heard.

By committing to treat November as a starting line, you can get in on the ground floor of the movement to hold legislators accountable between elections, not just at elections. More is at stake for our nation's future than at any time in a generation or more.

When the British Army drove the German Afrika Korps from Egypt in 1942 it marked a turning point in the war. But Winston Churchill warned Britons against treating it as "mission accomplished." He told them, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

That war lasted another three years. The fight for liberty and limited government will go on longer than that, unless we stop fighting for it. 

Joseph G. Lehman is president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.