First recall petition approved

Republican Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet, the head of the Michigan Taxpayer Alliance, claimed victory in an email to supporters after the Kent County Board of Electors approved the recall petition language this afternoon for the attempted recall of Rep.  Robert Dean, D-Grand Rapids, at a clarity hearing.

“Several Kent Election Board members expressed their disapproval of the recall of Rep. Dean, but admitted the language submitted was the “clearest they had ever seen” for a recall petition,” Drolet said in a email.

The MTA is attempting recalls of Legislators who voted to raise the state income tax and sales tax on some services that helped balance the state budget and erase a $1.8 billon budget deficit.

Despite that claimed victory, two more attempted recalls were rejected because of unclear language that will go on the petition seeking the recall. The Muskegon County Board of Electors rejected the recall language for  Sen. Jerry Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores,  and Rep. Mary Valentine, D-Muskegon.

The Dean recall attempt is the only lawmaker recall the MTA has managed to get to the next step, and those recalls rejected because of unclear language include House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford;  Rep. Marc Corriveau, D-Northville; Rep. Ed Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe Farms; and Rep. Steve Bieda, D-Warren.

Registered voters in Dean’s district now have 180 days to begin collecting the signatures of registered voters that must be equal to 25 percent of all the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in the 75th District. Once the first signature is collected, the petitioners have 90 days to collect the proper amount of signatures to go to the next step in the process.

The MTA has the option of resubmitting the language of those rejected to the appropriate county board of electors, but it has indicated they plan to skip that step and go directly to the Michigan Court of Appeals.