By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: September 8, 2019 3:36 PM

The Legislature was determined to force the governor to bend to its will. Legislators were sure they had a strategy the governor could not beat.

Instead, the Legislature was beaten. And they knew it, and didn't try it again.

It happened, it really did, and we can wonder now if it will happen again. Oddsmakers would probably put money on Governor Gretchen Whitmer if the 100th Legislature tries tactics similar to what the 79th Legislature attempted and failed at.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) has said, in effect, the Legislature will not raise more money for road repairs and will send Ms. Whitmer a 2019-20 budget, presumably with fewer than two weeks left in the fiscal year, reflecting that decision.

If Ms. Whitmer signs the budget, she has basically given up any genuine hope of seeing a road construction plan with new revenue, at least revenue approaching $2.5 billion, for likely all her current term being enacted. But there will be a budget, which, of course, will also fall short of many of her other goals.

If she vetoes the budget, she puts herself in position to still get some kind of a deal for road funding, what she campaigned on and what she decisively won the governor's race on. But, of course, there will be no budget with the 2019-20 fiscal year days away from starting and the specter of a government shutdown looming.

Who then is in the better overall position? The governor.

In 1978, what roiled the Legislature was the question of the state paying Medicaid recipients for elective abortions. The Legislature was all Democratic, but as anti-abortion as the current all Republican Legislature. The then governor, Governor William Milliken, strongly supported Medicaid abortion funding as he believed all women in the state had to have the same access to full medical care.

Several times the Legislature sent measures to block Medicaid-funded abortions. Each time Mr. Milliken vetoed it, and the Legislature was unable to override the veto.

Then the Legislature hit on a new idea: write a ban on Medicaid abortion in virtually every relevant line of the state's social services budget. All the stuff in the bill dealing with Medicaid. Don't bother with the regular welfare and food aid sections, just make it so he has no options other than sign or veto the Medicaid section. In other words, if Mr. Milliken vetoed that part of the budget nobody on Medicaid would get any health care for anything, from treating a hangnail to treating brain cancer.

Think of the political trauma the governor would face, and while he's running for re-election!, legislators thought. The sight and idea of children and the elderly being turned away from needed health care because the governor is going to defend abortion rights for the poor will be devastating to him.

One legislator, Democratic Rep. Eddie Mahalak, was almost giddy with delight at the strategy.

The Legislature passed the bill. It was presented to the governor. Some legislators speculated on whether Mr. Milliken would sign it or let it become law without his signature (if the governor takes no action on a bill presented to their desk within 14 days while the Legislature is in session, it becomes law).

Mr. Milliken vetoed the Medicaid section, probably still the biggest line-item veto in terms of dollars. And in his veto message he said, "A major policy should not be slipped past the public in this matter. We should deal with it openly, based on the courage of our convictions." Abortion was legal, he said, the issue is whether only affluent women or all women could avail themselves of the procedure if needed.

Lawmakers were stunned. So many honestly thought Mr. Milliken wouldn't test them. Though he had already been in office almost 10 years they clearly didn't know him very well.

Now they were stuck. They knew they could not override the veto. And after trying to sort out some sort of a new plan, they were forced to send him a medical services budget clean of all reference to abortion except for a $1 line item, which Mr. Milliken vetoed.

Astonishingly, some six years later, under then-Governor James Blanchard, legislators held a press conference announcing they were going to attempt the same tactic. Mr. Blanchard wouldn't dare veto the entire budget, they assured reporters.

This reporter asked, "Why not? Milliken did.' Then-Rep. Fred Dillingham, who was leading the press conference said, "Well, there's a rumor that he did that, but he didn't really."

This reporter stood up, walked to a stack of public act books, picked up the 1978 edition, opened it to the veto message and – while the press conference was still underway – put it in front of Mr. Dillingham. Mr. Dillingham went silent, said finally something on the line of "well, we'll have to look at this," and ended the press conference.

The Legislature did not attempt that tactic.

Why then could we expect Ms. Whitmer to take the same tack if the Legislature sends her a budget without a road funding proposal? Because, she has the upper hand.

There is no way the Legislature could override her veto, to begin with. And why even attempt something that you can't win on in the first place?

Second, Ms. Whitmer ran on the issue of fixing the roads. She has pushed the issue virtually every day she has been in office. The voters knew fixing the roads meant coming up with more money. Maybe not 45-cents a gallon, as she initially proposed, but they knew they would have to pay more in some fashion to get roads fixed.

Third, not just the voters but the business community, the Republicans' major ally, is behind a road plan and recognizes it will need to raise revenue, and wants it done.

Fourth, even if you test a government shutdown it could only last a few days at best. Individuals, businesses, local governments, schools will howl so loudly that a continuation budget bill will appear quickly, sapping the Legislature of its last major weapon.

Fifth, pay attention to history. We ain't changed that much over the years, and what was true then is probably still true today.