That smoking hole you see in Lansing is all that’s left of the ballot petition peddled by Reform Michigan Government Now. In a 21-page ruling, the Michigan Court of Appeals shot down the petition as unconstitutional and barred it from the November ballot. According to the unanimous decision:

The RMGN initiative petition is overarching, of a reach and expanse never before seen of any constitutional initiative in Michigan’s long history…. Constitutional modification requires strict adherence to the methods and approaches included in the Constitution itself. Short cuts and end runs to revise the Constitution which ignore the pathways specifically set forth by the framers, cannot be tolerated.

Translation from legalese: The RMGN petition was a sleazy attempt to shred Michigan’s Constitution in order to give Democrats the opportunity to pack the courts and gerrymander Michigan’s legislative districts to ensure their own partisan, political control.

Although it posed as a “reform” initiative, the real purpose of the proposed amendment was revealed after the Mackinac Center unearthed a PowerPoint presentation exposing it as a plot “to help Democrats.” Once the slideshow hit the newspapers, embarrassed Democrats began fleeing from the plan and a group led by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce challenged it in court.

The Detroit Free Press hailed the ruling as a “welcome death” for the RMGN proposal, but backers of this scheme refused to give up the ghost. Former Michigan Democratic House Leader and current Democratic political operative Diane Byrum labeled the decision a “travesty” and pledged to appeal. Good luck.

Actually, the real travesty is that’s Michigan’s Democratic Party leadership is so intellectually bankrupt that they would stoop to a stealth campaign to seize power because they knew their ideas couldn’t win a majority of Michigan voters. Such a ploy might be expected from political hacks like Democratic state party chair Mark Brewer – who mid-wifed the scheme – but its disappointing that Governor Granholm – who helped finance the plan’s development – would show such little respect for Michigan’s Constitution or its voters.