Will Michigan Justices Side With Taxpayers?
January 27, 2009
Last fall, Michigan’s Supreme Court voted to close several “convenience” offices used by justices who lived outside the Lansing area. It was a responsible step toward fiscal sanity and a welcome show of solidarity with Michigan’s long-suffering taxpayers.
After all, taxpayers had just recently sprung for the new $126 million Hall of Justice – an investment of taxpayer resources that ought to be enough to house seven justices in relative luxury. Plus, the state faces a combined budget deficit of $920 million, according to the most recent figures from Governor Granholm’s office, and closing second offices could save an estimated $500,000 per year.
But Michigan taxpayers shouldn’t count their savings just yet.
The vote was decided by only a 4-3 margin. But Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, who shepherded the measure through the Court, was defeated in his race for re-election, leaving Justice Robert Young to carry on the fight. Taylor’s replacement, Diane Hathaway, has been mum on how she would vote if the motion comes up for a re-vote. Her official stance when asked if she was willing to give up her Detroit “convenience” office: “No comment.”
Leading the charge against fiscal responsibility is Justice Betty Weaver, who is clinging to her $60,000+ per year digs in Traverse City just as ferociously as she tried to keep her taxpayer-funded car last year.
Message for Justice Weaver and Justice Hathaway: This is not a hard call.
Last year alone, 81,000 Michigan residents lost their jobs and the University of Michigan estimates another 132,000 workers will join the ranks of the unemployed over the next two years. Thousands of these and others in our state have lost their homes to foreclosure. Is it really asking so much of our high court judges to give up this perk of office at a time when so many in our state are suffering?
I knew justice was blind, but does it have to be dumb too?