A few days ago I received a letter from Mark Brewer (no relation), Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. A good many thousand others received the same letter, I expect. It began, Dear Richard, said 2010 is a crucial year, and asked for some money. Here is the answer I sent.
2 February 2010
Dear Mark,
I received your letter soliciting a donation for the Michigan Democratic Party. I’m unable to support the Michigan Democrats because of their performance in allowing passage of House Bill 5207. It was introduced in the House in July 2009 by Representative Robert Jones (D-Kalamazoo) at the behest of Western Michigan University. The bill, which stripped open space/public use restrictions from a parcel of land (the Colony Farm Orchard) conveyed to WMU in 1977 was anti-conservation, anti-environment, and anti-sustainabiity. It should never have been written.
Although it appears that every attempt was made to slip the bill into and through the legislature without public knowledge, some local conservationists got wind of it and managed to show up at the House Commerce Committee hearing (chaired by Representative Jones). At the hearing and throughout the whole process, WMU attempted to sell the bill on the basis of jobs creation. Its claim was that this land, this specific land, was needed to expand their “Business Research Technology” park. The claim was largely bogus since the park isn’t full and remediated brownfields that would make better sites are plentiful in Kalamazoo–to mention just two reasons why killing the open space/public use covenant was unrelated to any job creation. More about the subject is available in this post, and others before and after.
The bill sailed through the Commerce Committee and the full House, where it received only 2 nays, both Republicans.
By this time, local conservationists and neighborhood groups had gathered themselves. The Senate as well as Governor Granholm were besieged with messages asking that WMU’s effort to remove the restriction be voted down. The Republican leadership of the Senate held the bill up for about three months but in the end brought it up late at night just before the Christmas recess. It passed with only one nay vote, again by a Republican, Alan Cropsey, who made the point that he was voting against it because of its anti-conservation nature. All the Democratic Senators voted for the bill, except a few who took to the hills when the time to vote came. This does not make them poor politicians; after all, this was a job creation bill, wasn’t it?
But it does make them politicians that I do not care to support monetarily or otherwise. The same goes for Governor Granholm, who signed the bill in early January 2010. Governor Granholm made no comment on the bill, as far as could be determined. What could she say?
The outpouring of grass-roots opposition to the bill was remarkable and could not have been missed by anyone of either party in the legislature or by the governor. No politician of either party who did not vote against the bill deserves the support of anyone who sees land conservation, keeping promises, or paying careful attention to legislation as priorities.
Sincerely
Richard Brewer