The seed of change may have been planted Thursday, when 20-30 people met with Henry Woloson to discuss state government reforms.
Woloson set up the meeting at Independence Township Fire Station to help organize a grass-roots effort for a petition to tax political advertising and downsize state legislature.
‘Our goal is basically awareness for individuals that are supporters; get the information into their hands, so they can basically see what’s involved,? Woloson said. ‘In addition to increasing your understanding of the issues, to get some feedback as to what their inclination is as to what the ultimate structure the proposal should look like.?
According to his research, Michigan is one of four states with a full-time legislature, he said.
‘What constitutes part- time frequently is the number of days that you are in session,? he said. ‘Most states have a day they start and a day they adjourn. In addition, they are able to call special sessions if there is a need.?
Those states still finish their budget, something Michigan hasn’t been able to do even though it was supposed to by Oct. 1, he said.
‘You would think that the state legislature would constantly be worried about producing a budget by Oct 1. The sad reality was they weren’t,? he said.
This causes a problem for many school districts and other businesses trying to operate without knowing the final budget.
‘Part of the motivation of the part time legislator is not to necessarily to limit the amount of time you can work but, more importantly, to put an outer boundary on it to get the work done,? said Woloson. ‘Also, if you condense the amount of time, you condense the amount of bills that will be introduced and have better focus as well.?
With that in mind came discussion of limiting the state legislative sessions to 90 days to figure out a budget, and if extra sessions are needed after 90 days, the legislators would be on their own time with no pay.
When it comes saving money, Woloson said they had two choices, cutting the each legislators salary, or cutting staff. In his research, Woloson found Republican senators are allocated $218,000 for staff and Democrats are allocated $133,000.
‘If in fact you cut the salary by 50 percent of a 148 legislators, you will only save about $6 millions, but if you talk about cutting the total number of people in the legislature and bring it similar to a number that other states have, then savings are closer to $34 million,? he said. ‘So, do you want to cut salary or overhead??
Woloson said he understands, coming up with a petition and the work involved can often be an uphill battle, but he also knows he can’t fight it alone.
‘I have one vote and so consequently at the end of the day I can’t carry this thing. At the end of the day I have some say in the matter, but if you don’t have 2,000-3,000 volunteers ready to pass petitions, you don’t have a viable drive,? he said.
Many petitions are successful because people do it as a job and organizers have ‘deep pockets,? to pay for advertising and people to pass out petitions, said Woloson.
‘When you’re relying on volunteers, then you usually have to have individuals that are very, very philosophically in favor of a particular concept, they are passionate,? he said. ‘There are a couple issues that people are passionate about and if people are passionate about it, then they will stand outside the post office and they’ll collect signatures in the cold and the rain.?
Even if the petition does not go through this election, Woloson still sees it as a success.
‘We win even if we don’t get the petition done. If in fact we increase awareness for individuals, so that maybe the next petition that comes after us people understand the ratios, people understand where they can get the information, people understand the questions they can pose to their senators to ask ‘why are you doing this or why aren’t you?,?? he said.
For more information, call Woloson at 248-922-1354.