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April 6, 2004EDITORIALS: MEA suit gets the boot; Dove hunting backers take aim at voters, tooDove hunting backers take aim at voters, tooHowever one stands on the issue of whether to allow Michigan hunters to blast mourning doves, there should be no problem with letting state residents decide what is essentially a social issue. The state Senate doesn't think so. And northwest Lower Michigan's three state senators - Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau, and Tony Stamas, R-Midland - obviously don't, either. Without comment, they voted to allow mourning dove hunting and offered no provision for placing the issue on the November ballot. The Senate's move wasn't as cynically anti-voter as the House version that passed last fall, when backers attempted to make it "referendum-proof" by adding a meaningless allocation of $350,000 for a phony "brochure" to explain the season. ("Find a dove, aim at it, fire.") Senate backers knew this hot-potato issue was sure to cause them trouble next fall - polls show the general public overwhelmingly opposes dove hunting - so they scrapped the appropriation. But their failure to tie the bill to a referendum takes the target off their backs and slaps it instead on that of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who indicated she'd veto the dove two-step if voters weren't invited to the dance. How can an elected official defend a vote to deny everybody else a vote? Why do they feel a greater obligation to the special interest groups backing the dove hunting measure than to the people who elected them? The Michigan United Conservation Clubs said hunters' opinion of Gov. Jennifer Granholm would "sour" if she vetoes the bill, as promised. One wonders what voters think of House, Senate and MUCC manipulations so far. "Sour" may not be strong enough. MEA suit gets the boot One can only hope that public school teachers in Michigan don't use the example set by their own union in talking about the First Amendment or freedom of speech issues. The president of the Michigan Education Association sued the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy for accurately quoting a statement he made to a roomful of reporters. Thankfully, a state Court of Appeals gave it the proper heave-ho. Luigi Battaglieri had said at a news conference that he admired the research the center had done on education issues. When the Center used the quote in a fund-raising letter, Battaglieri sued, saying the center was benefiting by using his remarks without his permission. There's no place for intimidation tactics like these in public policy issues.
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