NFIB Members Not Fooled by Bogus "Nonpartisan" Commission Claims
LANSING, October 3, 2018 – The state’s leading small business organization, NFIB, released the results of its member survey on Proposal 2, a ballot initiative that seeks to change the way voting districts are determined in Michigan. The proposal referred to by its supporters as “Voters Not Politicians,” would amend the state Constitution to vest the power to draw up federal and state voting districts in an appointed commission and end the current method of redistricting by the state legislature. The proposal will appear on the on the November 2018 statewide ballot.
“Michigan small business owners are not fooled by the claims of Proposal 2 supporters that this is some objective, nonpartisan effort to create a better way to draw voting districts,” said Charlie Owens, State Director for NFIB in Michigan. “This is an idea hatched by a Washington DC-based group created by former Attorney General Eric Holder and backed by former President Obama called ‘the National Democratic Redistricting Committee’ that recently donated $250,000 to the Michigan effort”.
Owens said that when small business owners were asked: “Should the Michigan Constitution be amended to create a “redistricting commission” to determine voting districts?” 66 percent responding said No, 22 percent said Yes, and 12 percent were undecided.
“Supporters of this scam want voters to believe that taking power to determine voting districts away from 148 elected and accountable lawmakers in the legislature and handing it over to an unelected and unaccountable 13-member redistricting commission, will be better for our state,” said Owens. “The inconvenient truth is that the backers of this effort want to change the rules for drawing up voting districts because they cannot win elections based on their unpopular policies and platform.”
Owens added that the current system for approving new districts has built-in checks and balances because it takes all three branches of government, the legislature, the governor, and even the state Supreme Court if there is a legal challenge. “There is no such thing as an ‘independent-nonpartisan’ commission, and the one created by this ballot proposal is rigged so that its supporters can create their own gerrymandered voting districts,” said Owens. “We will be urging small business owners to vote ‘NO’ on Proposal 2.”
