Mich. voters get say on emergency manager law

DETROIT (AP) ? An attempt to kill a Michigan law that gives emergency managers sweeping powers to fix poor communities' finances will appear on the November ballot, the state Supreme Court said Friday, handing unions a major victory in their clash with Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

The law passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Snyder allows the governor to appoint people to run cities and school districts that are broke. Managers have sweeping authority to cut spending, sell assets and tear up contracts without the approval of elected officials.

Unions representing workers who were laid off or had their pay cut by managers have repeatedly challenged the law in court but lost. They see a statewide vote as another chance to get rid of it.

Republicans control Michigan's highest court, 4-3, but GOP Justice Mary Beth Kelly broke from the majority in this case and provided the crucial vote to order the Board of State Canvassers to put the referendum on the ballot.

The Supreme Court was asked to decide a technical issue: Did the petitions used to gather signatures have the type size required by law? Kelly said they did, while three Democrats voted to uphold a decision by the appeals court. Combined, those four votes mean the manager issue will go to the voters.

"This case well demonstrates that tension between constitutional interests: the right to a republican form of government versus a constitutional process that allows a small minority to suspend the enactments of that government," Kelly wrote.

Emergency managers are in place in Benton Harbor, Flint, Pontiac and Ecorse, as well as in public schools in Detroit, Highland Park and Muskegon Heights.

But it's unclear how much longer they will serve. The law will be suspended once the Board of State Canvassers officially places the referendum on the ballot.

"It's time for emergency managers around the state to pack their bags and go home until the people have their say in November," said Greg Bowens, a spokesman for Stand Up for Democracy, the coalition that turned in more than 200,000 signatures.

"We believe that the law is a power grab by Lansing that usurps democratically elected officials on a local level," he said. "Democracy is messy but it works."

Although Detroit doesn't have a manager, the possibility of appointing one led Mayor Dave Bing and the city council to agree to a deal with the governor that put several strict requirements in place to repair the city's finances, especially pay cuts.

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Jeff Karoub contributed to this story.

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Follow Ed White on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/edwhiteAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mich-voters-emergency-manager-law-171125815.html

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