Conservatives should just say no to part-time Legislature

The part-time Legislature issue has again risen from the political dead, with a group of tea party activists hoping to put the issue on the 2014 ballot.

The last major effort to reduce the Michigan House and Senate from full time to part time was a 2008 petition drive that came up short. Former state representative Brian Palmer, a Macomb County lawmaker, took a stab at the elusive issue within the Capitol that same year and inadvertently received support from then-governor Jennifer Granholm.

But the Bruce Township Republican’s House bill was largely ignored by his colleagues.

A part-time Legislature is a cause long associated with Republicans and the new group that has emerged, the Committee to Restore Michigan’s Part-Time Legislature, is no exception.

But one outspoken GOP activist, Dennis Lennox, said that he believes the committee is misguided and destined to fail.

In his column this week for our sister paper, The Mount Pleasant Morning Sun, Lennox urges fellow conservatives to “just say no” to part-time lawmaking.

Lennox notes that the group is led by former lawmaker Dave Agema, who has become the Michele Bachmann of Michigan. A Michigan representative on the Republican National Committee, Agema has made controversial remarks about gays and disparaging claims that President Obama is a Muslim.

“Agema’s lunacy has become an embarrassment to sensible Republicans who don’t deny basic electoral realities,” Lennox wrote. “As a result, his association tarnishes the credibility of everyone in the group.”

More importantly, the columnist makes the case that true conservatives should not be fooled by the cost savings associated with a part-time Legislature (which are surprisingly small) when much more is at stake:

“As it stands now, the people’s voice is an equal branch of government.
“This would no longer be the case if this proposal somehow passed, as both the executive and judicial branches would remain full-time while those in the Legislature would be politically neutered. The prospect of this must surely excite the bureaucrats, who dream of having pesky legislators away from the capital for 10 months every year.”