LSJ Blogs: Capitol Journal by Scott Davis

Recall fever showing signs of 'rash' petitions?

With recall fever spreading across Michigan, its haphazard, disorganized approach is becoming more evident.

Already, proposed recall petitions for House Speaker Jase Bolger, a Marshall Republican, state Sen. John Moolenaar, a Midland Republican, and Rep. Joel Johnson, a Clare Republican, have been rejected by election officials for having unclear language.

Wednesday, a proposed recall petition targeted state Sen. Judy Emmons, a Sheridan Republican, was received by Montcalm County officials, but it’s unclear whether that petition will fare much better.

Deanna Porter, the petition filer, says she not working with an official group, including the group that has launched a recall campaign for Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

If recall campaigns can’t even get the language right, then it raises doubt whether they can accomplish the much harder feat of getting many thousands of signatures to get a recall measure on the ballot.

We’ll see if further fissures occur in these efforts.

Land: Republicans not committed to toppling Stabenow

Not long ago, it appeared U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow would have a very tough road to re-election in an election climate hostile to Democrats. Now, it’s increasingly looking like a walk in the park.

Thursday, former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, a Republican, backed away from the race to challenge Stabenow next year. She said state and national Republicans are not willing to put up the resources to topple Stabenow, who last month reported she had $3 million on hand for her re-election bid.

“It’s not about words, it’s about actions. And the actions just aren’t there,” Land said.

That’s pretty strong language from a prominent Republican at a time when the party leadership is trying to build up confidence that they can take the seat.

Officials for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, of course, insist that Land’s assessment is wrong, and contend they are willing to put up the money to win the seat in 2012.

Does low turnout mean Lansing millage will pass?

About 1 p.m., I showed up at Elmhurst Elementary School in Lansing to vote on today’s millage increase proposal, figuring there would be at least a small line because it was at the lunch hour.

I was the only voter in the school’s gymnasium. Four elections workers seemed delighted to have an actual “customer” in the room. One mentioned that turnout in the Colonial Village neighborhood, which has high numbers of retired, active voters, was about 10 percent so far today, or 100 voters.

This would seem to bode well for passage of the proposed millage increase. Typically, in such elections, one can always count on a committed core of supporters to vote “yes” on increasing taxes; large turnouts mean greater numbers of “no” voters – and a greater chance of defeating the measure.

Convention wisdom, though, can be wrong. Within a few hours, city residents will find out how bare the city coffers will be.