I absolutely voted an enthusiastic YES on the ConCon.
We must replace, not reform. No legislator will willfully propose an amendment for a part-time legislature - never have, never will. You got a million bucks for a citizen initiated amendment? Good luck with that. If the 'amendment process' is so easy, why, according to the Michigan Constitution, do you have to be 21 to vote when the Federal Law says you only need to be 18 (since 1971!)? An 'easy' fix? Then why haven't we fixed it? Which legislator will put forth an amendment for a unicameral legislature? It was the apportionment between the House and Senate that was the major debate in the '61-63 ConCon. The Senate was apportioned 80/20 between population and land area (thus to provide representation to the West side of the State) and the House was 100% population. Great idea, except SCOTUS shot it down. Look to our Federal Consititution - the Senate provides representation for the States in that each State, large or small, got equal representation (that is until the 17th amendment) - the House, strictly 'the people'. What is the difference in representation in the MI House and Senate? Does the Senate represent the Counties? The Cities, Villages or Townships? No, both the House and Senate represent 'the people'. So why two Houses? Cut costs by consolidating with a unicameral, part-time legislature. The cost recovery would be a net gain over the cost of any ConCon. This is just one of a host of real changes that could be made at a ConCon that our current legislature just doesn't have the spine to confront.
This comes down to raw fear - fear of the 'bad guys' doing something to the MICon, then convincing a majority of citizens to vote for it - what might be overlooked is that we get the last say. Are the people so smart as to reject an unpleasant amendment, an amendment that institutes a policy you fear -say, repeal MI's constitutional recognition of our RKBA, yet are so stupid that they would accept some half-baked Constitution? You see, there is no difference between the final say of the people in accepting an amendment through the 'just use the amendment process folks', and the final say of the people in accepting changes to the MI Constitution. Oh yeah, the Drain Commissioner - a MICon requirement.
And, BTW, the 'bad guys' hold the same fear that those that expressed it here do - to them, we are the 'bad guys'. It's just that we're more afraid of them than they are of us. The public employee unions are scared to death that we'll push for a revocation of the Public Employee Relations Act, or make them pay for their own HC, or do something stupid like Right to Work. Which legislator will take on the public sector unions? There's too much money there. They need us to back them up with reassurances that we'll elect them regardless but there is such a disconnect between Lansing and 'the people' that they're easily swayed by the folks they see every day - the unions.
The legislators are afraid we'll take away their Senate or their full-time gig. THERE IS NOTHING in the MICon that calls for a full-time legislature - they just turned it into one when they voted themselves enough salary so they didn't have to keep a 'real' job. They work part-time now - it's just that we have to watch 24/7, 365 because they're never really out of session. The general session is 3 days/week - Tues-Thus. Then comes the 'vacations' and 'holidays'. At least with a 'part-time' legislature we'd know when we're safe from any legislation.
I'm jus' sayin'