Brinks says Senate won’t vote on Money Out of Politics measure, leaving voters to decide

The Michiganders for Money Out of Politics ballot proposal seeking to bar political contributions from major utility companies and government contractors is headed for the November ballot, after Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said the chamber will not take up a version of the proposal in the Legislature. 

Under Michigan law, after a referendum is approved for the ballot by the Board of State Canvassers, the Legislature has 40 days to take up and pass the measure or the proposal goes to the voters in the general election. 

“MMOP has successfully gathered more than half a million signatures and the message from Michiganders is clear: They want this on the ballot in November. Senate Democrats already agree that there is too much dark money in politics, and we are eager to hear what voters have to say on this issue,” Brinks told the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday. “In that spirit, we will not be subverting the will of the voters, taking it up legislatively.”

Brinks, who was recently named the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson, made her statement shortly after a version of the proposal passed through the Republican-controlled Michigan House of Representatives with bipartisan support in the chamber. Votes in favor from the Democratic side included House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton), while the only Republican to vote against the proposal was Rep. Jim DeSana (R-Carleton). 

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) celebrated his chamber’s passage of the legislation, saying that they were trying to stop large corporations from “screwing the people” in campaign finance contributions. 

Hall said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the proposal for which the group gathered signatures was intended to put it before the Legislature.

“I’ve heard the argument that there’s an attempt to put this on the ballot. I would just say this: if that was the purpose, they could go and do a constitutional amendment,” Hall said. “And a constitutional amendment would go on the ballot. That’s not what we have here. What we have here is one of the processes that the purpose of this is to put it before the Legislature.” 

He was critical of Brinks’ intention not to vote on the legislation throughout the press conference, calling it a “mistake” not to bring the Senate into session to vote on the proposal. 

“I think we took a big step today, so my hope is that Winnie Brinks now will bring the Senate back and do their job and take a vote,” he said. “We can make it a guarantee, we can do it right now. This thing might not pass.”

However, throughout the process of gathering signatures, organizers for the proposal have focused their efforts on getting the proposal on the ballot for general election voters as opposed to passing it through the legislature. 

Michiganders for Money Out of Politics leaders celebrated Brinks’ decision not to take up the proposal, saying that Hall “should be ashamed of himself.”

“Leader Brinks gets it. Michiganders are fed up with out-of-control corporate political spending and are ready to change our political system this November. We thank her for respecting the will of over half of million voters who made it clear they want to vote on this measure in November, said Maura Cowley, campaign manager for Michiganders for Money Out of Politics. “Don’t be fooled – what we saw from Hall today was nothing more than political gamesmanship. He never had any intention of getting money out of politics. If he did, he wouldn’t have let common-sense, bipartisan policies to root out corruption in politics sit in committee time and time again.”  

Attempts by Republican lawmakers to adopt the legislation to keep it off the November ballot could have made it easier to amend or overturn later, Michigan Reps. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) and Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) told Planet Detroit prior to the vote in the House.

“The thousands of Michiganders who organized, collected signatures, and successfully qualified this initiative for the ballot deserve the opportunity to vote on it this November,” Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) posted on Facebook to explain why they voted against the proposal in the House. “The question before us today was not whether every legislator agrees with every provision. It was whether we trust Michigan voters to have their say.”

A vote in the Legislature was one of two final hurdles that the proposal faced before going to the voters in November, along with a lawsuit filed by Protect MI Free Speech, a group in opposition to the proposal. As of Aug. 20, no oral arguments had been scheduled on that lawsuit, according to Planet Detroit.