Third party spending big in supreme court race

Millions of dollars worth of incendiary state supreme court campaign ads are flooding the TV airwaves in the run up to Tuesday’s election and, for the most part, voters don’t have the benefit of knowing who is paying for them.

Only 13 percent of the money spent on ads in this race comes from candidate committees that must disclose all sources of funding, according to the non-profit Michigan Campaign Finance Network. The rest of the ads are financed by political parties and interest groups that don’t have to report where they get the money for the ads.

The lack of transparency in television ad spending by third parties has been a major facet of supreme court campaigns in recent years. In 2008 third parties spent $3.8 million on TV ads about candidates; this year the amount grew to $7.1 million.

Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network says that candidates have become “junior partners” in the campaign ad wars.

“The TV campaigns are going full bore in the hands of the 3rd parties now. Essentially the candidates are just straphangers,” he said. “I think we are rapidly moving toward a time when candidates will just be movable parts. Campaigns will bluster on and the candidates will not matter. That’s the trend line.”

The Republican candidates in this election are incumbent Justice Robert Young Jr. and Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Mary Beth Kelly. The Democrats are Justice Alton Thomas Davis — an incumbent who was appointed by Governor Granholm in August after the surprise retirement of Republican Justice Elizabeth Weaver — and Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Denise Langford Morris. Ann Arbor attorney Bob Roddis, a Libertarian, is also running.

Though probably little noticed by voters until the barrage of ads in recent weeks, the supreme court race may be one of the most consequential of this election.

Though the race is supposed to be non-partisan, candidates are nominated and backed by political parties, and if Alton Thomas Davis retains his seat the Republican tilt on the court will be solidly reversed. If this happens the court is expected to revisit many issues settled by the court’s so-called “Gang of Four” — Engler-appointed Republican justices Robert Young, Steven Markman, Maura Corrigan and Cliff Taylor, who formed a conservative block that dominated the court until Taylor was removed from office in 2008. Since then, with now retired moderate Republican Justice Elizabeth Weaver as a swing vote, the court has begun undoing some of the old court’s decisions including one that made it very difficult for an injured person to bring a personal injury lawsuit.

Among the key decisions that is expected to be revisited soon is Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v. Nestle. In its 2007 decision on this case the court overturned part of the Michigan Environmental Protection Act which gave any citizen standing to sue over environmental damage in the state. It ruled that in order to sue citizens must demonstrate that they are directly impacted by environmental damage.

This is an issue that is being closely followed by business and environmental groups.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, among states with supreme court elections this year Michigan and Ohio have the greatest disparities between non-candidate and candidate general election TV spending.

The Michigan Republican Party ranks at the top for spending on supreme court issue ads in Michigan. According to MCFN it spent $3,408,000. The Brennan Center ranks the Michigan GOP as the top supreme court spender in the nation.

The Michigan Democratic State Central Committee spent $2,444,000 on TV ads.

The Law Enforcement Alliance of America, a Virginia-based group that opposes gun control, spent $1,131,000 on ads, mostly targeting candidate Morris as being soft on crime, according to Robinson.

How much the candidates have raised and how much they spent on TV ads

Justice Young has raised $776,000. Top donors to his campaign include the Realtors Political Action Committee, the Michigan Farm Bureau PAC, the Political Action Committee of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association and the Michigan Bankers Association PAC. Young’s campaign spent $406,000 on TV ads.

Alton Thomas Davis raised $691,000. The Michigan Association for Justice, which represents lawyers, the Michigan Education Association PAC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Committee were Davis’ top donors. The Davis campaign spent $623,000 on TV ads.

Mary Beth Kelly raised $293,000. Her top contributors are the Frankenmuth PAC, Auto Club PAC, Michigan Farm Bureau PAC and MI Doctors PAC. Kelly’s campaign spend nothing on TV ads.

Denise Langford Morris raised $83,000. The Michigan Education Association PAC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Committee on Political Education are her top donors. Morris spent $69,000 on TV ads.

Also, for the first time this year corporations have been allowed to found their own political action committees and spend unlimited amounts of money. They are only prohibited from giving the money directly to candidates.

According to MCFN the Michigan Association of Realtors has created a new corporate political action committee and, together with the National Association of Realtors, spent $450,000 on media buys supporting Republican Supreme Court nominees Robert Young and Mary Beth Kelly.

It’s unclear what all the last minute advertising will mean for the supreme court election.

An EPIC/MRA poll commissioned by the Detroit Free Press last week showed Republican candidate Mary Beth Kelly with 24 percent, Justice Robert Young with 20 percent, Justice Alton Thomas Davis with 10 percent, and Judge Denise Langford Morris with 7 percent. Thirty-seven percent of likely voters remained undecided.