Fifty years ago, partisan stalemate on the budget by Lansing lawmakers resulted in payless paydays for state employees and a black eye for the state. The national press noted a mock "Michigan on the Rocks" cocktail.
Now -- with Michigan on the economic rocks, leading states in jobless rates, and again plagued by stalemate in Lansing -- a bipartisan group of lawmakers seeks to add a twist to that cocktail: payless paydays for lawmakers who fail to meet budget deadlines -- as they did in 2007 and again last week.
In 1959, Democratic Gov. G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams and the Republican Senate were deadlocked on a funding plan to meet a relatively small cash crisis by today's huge gaps. A business lobbyist wired GOP senators: "You have Soapy over the barrel. ... Keep him there till he screams 'Uncle.'" (The House then had 55 Democrats, 55 Republicans.)
This year, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm is dealing with a Republican Senate and a Democratic House that is not always chummy to her.
So far, the deal has been stall, not solution, on the budget.
On Oct. 1, two hours into the new fiscal year and only token shutdown of state government, Granholm signed a one-month continuation budget -- an improvement in the mere four-hour shutdown in 2007, but nonetheless a disgraceful showing by both parties for leaving Michigan rare among states without a full-year budget.
Granholm, while noting that serious shutdown was averted Thursday morning, said Saturday: "I will use my veto pen as a tool to shape this budget so that it protects the things that are most important to Michigan's families and Michigan's future.
-- ¦ While I do my job, the Legislature must finish its. The budget is flawed, and the Legislature needs to resume working on it with the urgency and the honesty it requires."
Legitimate differences on revenue and cuts are involved, but there must be a firm deadline on reaching inevitable compromises on the Legislature's constitutional duty to enact a budget. For a full-time body to do little for 50 weeks on their No. 1 job would be grounds for firing in any other endeavor.
So cheers to 30 House freshmen, who on the pivotal date of Oct. 1 introduced a constitutional amendment that will require the state's budget to be balanced by July 1 on any given year. Under the plan, Michigan's Senators and Representatives would lose pay for every day the budget remains unbalanced after the deadline.
"Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay legislators who don't get the job done," said Rep. Mike Huckleberry, D-Greenville. -- ¦ If legislators can't balance the budget in time to avoid a government shutdown, then they shouldn't get paid."
Rep. Dan Scripps, D-Leland, said: "In the real world if you don't do your work, you don't get paid. Legislators should be no different. This plan will help bring fresh air to Lansing and make sure elected officials are truly working on behalf of Michigan's residents."
The proposal, in the unlikely event that it gets on the ballot, likely would be popular with voters but does not address the immediate problem of balancing budgets of the current and next fiscal years.
The problem is compounded by the revolving-door impact of term limits, which all too often spins lawmakers out of the Capitol before they develop trust and good working relationships with lawmakers across the aisle.
Leading legislative players in the current debate are Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, aspirant to be the next attorney general, and House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, who is considering a gubernatorial run.
In the 1970s, 1969-82 Republican Gov. Bill Milliken and Democratic House Speakers Bill Ryan and Bobby Crim -- both seasoned legislators -- battled in the trenches but in the end compromised on the budget before the deadline.
John Engler, as Senate Majority Leader and then as 1991-2002 Governor, was second to none as a hardline Republican under the dome. But while leading the Senate he worked well with Democratic House Speaker Gary Owen, and avoided budget deadline brinkmanship during tenures of Democrat House Speaker Curtis Hertel.
Current Republican Senate Majority Leader Bishop contends agents for Granholm worked to scuttle the budget deal he had worked out with Democrat Dillon. Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming, contends Republicans want to blame Democrats after Republicans "slashed and burned and wrecked their way through state government."
So here we are, into a new fiscal year without a new budget.
Savvy Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Township, a long-shot candidate for governor, said: "We're too timid, too frightened to do what the people sent us here to do and that is to lead."
George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.
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