Con-Con Coming?
Senator Tom George in George Weeks' column in the Traverse City Record Eagle
Senator Tom George in George Weeks' column in the Traverse City Record Eagle
Led by businessman George Romney, who later became governor, voters supported a constitutional convention that led to a 1961-62 rewrite, which produced the Constitution of the State of Michigan of 1963.
A proposal to call a constitutional convention automatically goes before voters every 16 years. They rejected it in 1978 and 1994.
I suspect they will reject it again when Proposal 1 is on the Nov. 2 ballot. Too much opportunity for mischief on social and other issues that divide us.
But the ever-thoughtful Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, a candidate for governor, made a good pitch in a phone chat last week that "the benefits outweigh the risks." He also said much of the deliberations could have a "Web-based format ... in the Age of the Internet." In a Senate speech, he said a con-con "offers the best single opportunity to re-craft Michigan and put it on a new path." Also last week, Granholm told The Detroit News: "The state of Michigan is dramatically different than it was in 1961, and we need a foundation document that reflects the 21st century." Conservative Cheboygan County Drain Commissioner and Republican state House candidate Dennis Lennox agrees, saying that the state's challenges "require a new constitution that overhauls and restructures government to reflect the realities of the 21st century.
"Quite simply, radical reform is needed because Lansing's tired, old partisan ideas are not working -- and have not worked for some years." I have yet to figure this out. But it is time for all of us to tune in to the debate and weigh the arguments.
Posted: 1/30/2010