Citizens Petition for Changes in Michigan Supreme Court Selection
It's time for Michigan to develop a better way to select justices to the state Supreme Court. The current system is seriously flawed and can be improved through legislative action.
Check out the information on Michigan Courts to review the existing system and what some of our concerns are.
Voters from northwest lower Michigan are just back from Lansing (February 19, 2008) to petition legislators to do something about the sad state of campaign oversight for Supreme Court races.
Senator Michelle McManus and Glen Arbor resident Celeste Crouch.
One major problem is that voters don't know who is behind "issue ads" that are designed to influence voters but that do not directly state support for a candidate. Michigan law doesn't require accounting for issue ads!
Anne Magoun (Traverse City) delivering petitions
to Senator Jason Allen in Lansing
Because there is no campaign finance accounting of Supreme Court issue advertisements, there is no way to detect and evaluate potential conflicts of interest involving contributors to those advertising campaigns. Contributors to issue advertising campaigns should be identified in the public record.