CITIZENS NIX BIG SISTER'S CALL TO OUTLAW THE MICHIGAN CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE

On the heels of the Grand Rapids City Commission's last "Committee of the Whole" session two weeks ago, we reported that Mayor George Heartwell (a.k.a. Big Sister) told his fellow commissioners that the city government needed to consider a lawsuit to overturn the voters' passage of the Michigan Civil Rights ballot initiative.

We, of course, had our say about the mayor's contempt of the democratic process.  Since then, the Grand Rapids Press, which opposed the ballot initiative, has strongly editorialized against Heartwell's call for a lawsuit.  More important are the letters to the editor printed in the Press that have been running five or six to one against Heartwell.  The people have spoken clearly (twice now).  So hope that Heartwell has gotten the message and gets back to doing his job as mayor -- you know, that job he wanted a big pay raise for doing.

Even if Heartwell hasn't got the political sense to give up his campaign against the will of the voters (I stress "political sense" because he plainly lacks the decency to respect the voters), the matter does not lie in his hands.  Second Ward Commissioner Rick Tormala informed our editor that the mayor cannot order the City Attorney to file a lawsuit without the support of the majority of the city commission.  Despite the liberal bent of the city commission, that support does not appear to be forthcoming.  For example, Tormala who, by his own words, "vigorously opposed" the Michigan Civil Rights ballot initiative, states:  "[I]t is no small thing to overturn the will of people.  It should only be done in cases of extreme necessity when there is a demonstrable clear and present threat to justice or the common good."

No doubt Tormala put it that way with the knowledge that the highest court in the land hasn't viewed the termination of "affirmative action" programs as such a threat.  Indeed, after a decade of legal challenges to a similar ballot initiative passed by California voters, the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that while public bodies can have "affirmative action" programs, they are not obligated to do so.  And that's what Michigan voters did in last month's election.  They declined to continue supporting state and local government "affirmative action" programs.

It is the collective judgment of Michiganders that after a generation of successful battles against racial and sexual bigotry, they can trust their government to treat people fairly on their individual merit without regard to race or sex.  In a democracy such judgments belong to the people, who are sovereign; not to unaccountable black-robed solons -- let alone a pol like Heartwell who is happy to harness the power of the courts to his leftist agenda whenever the voters reject it.  That is why the people are supreme and not the Supreme Court, even when the people get it wrong.

Unfortunately these days, the sovereignty of the people doesn't always get its due.  This month, maybe as soon as tomorrow's city commission meeting, we'll see if Tormala's respect for the voters or Heartwell's jihad against them will prevail.