Eric O’Keefe

It is “open season on Michigan’s public officials,” writes the Detroit Free Press in an editorial titled “Recall Madness.”

The editorial denounces a federal court decision upholding the First Amendment rights of petitioners. The Free Press agrees with the court “that circulating recall petitions constitutes core political speech.”

But it calls on the state to appeal the decision, and calls for constitutional reform to restrict the recall process “that is already too easy.”

Let’s see — there has not been a recall vote on a Michigan legislator since 1983, the last time the legislature passed a tax hike, according o a comprehensive survey in Ballotpedia.

So what is the panic about? Could it be that the Free Press fears a voter revolt over the massive tax hikes Speaker Dillon and Governor Granholm pushed through, which triggered this recall?

The Free Press performance throughout the recall campaign has been disgraceful. Dillon and local political boss Miles Handy — who was defeated for re-election earlier this month — used paid street blockers to harass petitioners; the local police participated in the harassment; the Dillon agents made slanderous attacks on taxpayers and hired lawyers to make spurious arguments in court. The Free Press did nothing to come to the defense of citizens being abused by powerful government officials and their hired agents.

And now they panic because federal judge Robert Holmes Bell has ruled that the First Amendment applies to more than just the hired hands at the Free Press. It also applies to citizens who question the actions of politicians.

The Free Press is good at covering the Tigers and Red Wings. It should stick to covering sports, the weather, and the continuing decline of Michigan’s over-taxed economy.

Federal Judge Robert Holmes Bell of Michigan has just issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Secretary of State to review all of the signatures in the petition to recall house speaker Andy Dillon.

This will likely lead to a recall vote on Dillon on the November 4 general election ballot.

The decision is based on the “’strong’ liklihood” that restrictions on petition circulators “violate Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights…”

More from the preliminary injunction:

“…Defendant Terri Lynn Land, as Michigan’s Secretary of State, SHALL re-examine the petitions filed seeking a recall election against Representative Dillon of Michigan’s 17th House District WITHOUT consideration of M.C.L. 168.957 requirements that (1) recall petition circulators be registered to vote, and that (2) recall petition circulators be residents of the legislative district of the official to be recalled. If upon such re-examination Defendant determines that the required 8,724 valid signatures were gathered, then Defendant SHALL place the recall against Representative Dillon on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot.”
(emphasis in original.)

Taxpayers in Michigan today filed 15,498 signatures to meet the 8,724 signature requirement to place the recall of House Speaker Andy Dillon before the voters in his district. Dillon pushed a $1.4 billion tax hike through the Michigan legislature last year, as the state’s taxpayers were already suffering from the worst economic performance of any state in the union.

Dillon’s big government allies say that his constituents love him and don’t want a recall. But they fought on the street to deter circulators and signers with paid blockers; they have fought in the courtroom, and claim they will keep fighting to prevent a vote. And speaker Dillon today said that there is no support for a recall in his district; but when a reporter asked why he was going to court to prevent a vote, he said “Recall elections are unfair. You have to run against yourself” because you don’t have an opponent.

Actually recalls are rare — and fair. They generally happen only when politicians act with extreme disdain for taxpayers. Though sometimes - as in the current Jeff Denham recall in California — they happen when Big Labor wants to punish someone for opposing their pursuit of taxpayer money.