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 RightMichigan.com |
Meadows 'borrowing' student's proposal to change term limitsBy dennislennox, Section News
While politicos continue debating the Reform Michigan Government Now rewrite of the Constitution, State Representative Mark Meadows is moving forward with a proposal to extend legislative terms.
According to MIRS News, Meadows, an East Lansing Democrat, is pushing a measure that adds two years onto the terms of lawmakers. This means six-year terms for senators and four-year terms for representatives. His proposal is being sold as a constitutional amendment that would also cut the salary of legislators to $60,000. Meadows' idea may sound good, but there's one little problem: It's not his proposal. Read on ....
In fact, it's my proposal -- the same proposal I shared last week as an example for what should come out of a constitutional convention.
And Meadows knew about this because I shared it during a conversation with him at Capitol in April 2007. (I was visiting and meeting with legislators during a trip for a class I was taking at Central Michigan University.) As I have wrote about previously on RightMichigan.com, I was part of a semester-long project examining the Michigan Constitution of 1963. This project resulted in a whole host of proposals by students, including a package of clean-up amendments that was adopted by Senator Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau. McManus invited myself and a Democrat to speak before a Senate Campaign and Election Oversight Committee hearing in Saginaw. At the hearing, I shared the project's official recommendation -- the clean-up package -- as well as other ideas, including a reform of the state's term limitations. In the end, McManus introduced the clean-up amendments as Senate Joint Resolution I, which passed the upper chamber with two-thirds support only to meet roadblocks in in the Democratic-controlled House. And guess what? SJRI is stalled in the House Judiciary Committee, which counts Meadows as a member. Meadows' committee refuses to send it on for a floor vote -- preventing the people from voting on this bipartisan, non-controversial clean-up amendment. It's flattering to know Meadows is borrowing my proposal. Apparently, Democrats are out of ideas and are now looking to Republicans, including college students like myself, for solutions to fix state government. Some might hold a grudge against Meadows, but I won't. I'm ready and willing to work with him and anyone else -- Democrat, Republican or independent -- on solutions to fix what's wrong with Michigan. It's time for common-sense folks on both sides of the aisle to put the rhetoric aside and do what's best for everyone.
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Meadows 'borrowing' student's proposal to change term limits | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Meadows 'borrowing' student's proposal to change term limits | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
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