Editorial: No con-con
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Detroit News: Gov. Jennifer Granholm last week implied that the 46-year-old state Constitution is outdated and said she's in favor of holding a convention to draw up a new one. Michigan needs nimbler institutions, better able to respond to the seismic changes that have occurred, especially in our economy, since the current Constitution took effect in 1963, the governor told a Lansing radio interviewer. When two of our three automakers have declared bankruptcy, there's no question the state is going through a dramatic transition. We'd argue, however, that this is not a good time to tear up the state Constitution and attempt to compose a new one. When the partisanship is as intense and leadership as lacking as has been the case in recent years, a constitutional rewrite is liable to produce the same kind of disastrous result as did lawmakers' revision of the state's main business tax in 2007. The new tax is costlier and more labyrinthine than the old one for many Michigan businesses. Granholm was asked about a constitutional convention because citizens will get the chance, on Nov. 2, 2010, to decide whether they want one. Our Constitution requires such a vote every 16 years. If a convention is approved, we'll have to elect 148 delegates who can change the whole Constitution or adopt major amendments. Voters said no to that in 1994. They've consistently said no, probably because they realize that holding such a convention, besides costing millions, would provide the perfect stage for interest groups and demagogues. One estimate is that a new constitutional convention would cost $28 million to $31 million.
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