Michigan’s Prevailing Wage Law; Who Is On The Side of The People of Michigan?
I just read a great editorial from the Detroit News concerning Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers and Michigan’s Prevailing Wage law.
In that editorial the Detroit News Editorial board asks and answers the question, what side are the two Democrats on the Board of State Canvassers are on; the Unions or the citizens of Michigan.
Their conclusion was that the Democrats on the Board of State Canvassers “value union interests over the will of the people”. They then state:
that’s something concerned citizens shouldn’t let slide…The only thing that the canvassers should consider is whether enough of the signatures are valid. That’s hardly a partisan question. It shouldn’t be, at any rate
Michigan’s prevailing wage law has been on our state books since the 1960s. That law mandates union-level wages for publicly funded construction projects, even if the workers aren’t union members.
What does that mean to the citizens of Michigan? It means that we taxpayers pay more for schools and other government buildings.
You may be in favor of the law or not, the problem is what the two Democrats on the Board of State Canvassers are doing and that is playing politics and not doing their job.
The problem with the two Democrats on the Board surfaced when the Michigan Bureau of Elections recommended certification of the prevailing wage initiative, which would then go on to the Legislature for a vote. The Democrats on the Board said they had a problem with the signatures when they claimed they were concerned about the validity of some of the circulators’ addresses.
Jeff Wiggins, president of Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, which spearheaded the petition drive was quoted in the editorial:
This is the first time in a long time that they have ignored the staff recommendation
Another problem these two Democrats on the Board of State Canvassers have is right before the prevailing wage ballot vote the canvassers on the Board voted 4-0 vote in favor of the petition to legalize recreational marijuana use. The problem for these two Democrats is many of the paid circulators of the legalization of recreational marijuana use petitions also gathered the prevailing wage signatures.
Why did they vote yes on one and no on the other, because of politics.
They are not supposed to be political hacks for one party or the other, they are supposed to be on the side of the citizens of Michigan and among other responsibilities make sure that the ballot language is legal and the signatures are real.
According to Michigan.gov the responsibilities of the Board of Canvassers is as follows:
The Board of State Canvassers is responsible for canvassing and certifying statewide elections, elections for legislative districts that cross county lines and all judicial offices except Judge of the Probate Court, conducting recounts for state-level offices, canvassing nominating petitions filed with the Secretary of State, canvassing state-level ballot proposal petitions, assigning ballot designations and adopting ballot language for statewide ballot proposals, and approving electronic voting systems for use in the state.
So do the job you were hired to do and do not let politics cloud your decisions, please.
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