By John Seiler

When I was growing up in Michigan in the 1960s, the Democratic Party mostly dominated the state. Kennedy, Johnson and Humphrey won the presidential contests. Democrats controlled the Legislature. And labor unions dominated the Democratic Party. Much like in California today.

One difference was that Michigan’s governors were Republicans, but they were liberal Republicans in the Schwarzenegger mold. In particular, Gov. George Romney, Mitt’s father, imposed the first state income tax and more than doubled the state budget in just six years in office. He was a Democrat in all but name.

But in the 2010s, Michigan’s Republican Party is resurgent — and offers lessons to California’s down-and-out GOP. L.A. Times columnist George Skelton and many others have suggested that the CA GOP would do better if it just became a lot more like the California Democratic Party.

The Michigan experience suggests the opposite. Two years ago, the state was a mess after eight years of Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Canadian born but raised from childhood in California’s Bay Area. Like Schwarzenegger, she also had a career in Hollylwood acting, although hers was brief. She now is teaching at U.C. Berkeley, so California taxpayers are paying for her pay, perks and pension as she teaches impressionable young minds how to misgovern.

Instead of trying to imitate Granholm and other Michigan Democrats, Michigan Republicans did the opposite: They strongly backed major budget reforms and tax cuts. They were rewarded with victory. The party now has large majorities in both houses of the Michigan Legislature. And Rick Synder is the popular, and mostly conservative, governor.

This has occurred even though the state remains mainly Democratic and voted for Barack Obama for president. The last time Michigan backed a Republican for the Oval Office was way back in 1988, the same as California.

A big reason for Republican success is that voters trust them to deal with the state’s financial messes, including effectively bankrupt Detroit. It’s not exactly clear what will happen, but actually dissolving the Motor City is one option.

In a similar fashion, former Mayor Richard Riordan has warned that Los Angeles is headed for bankruptcy.

Taking on the unions

A key part of the Republican resurgence in Michigan is taking on the unions. The Great Lake State was the cradle of the union movement a century ago. But now it has become a liability, with unions impeding reforms — the same as in California.

In the November election, the unions placed on the ballot Proposal 2, called by the unions the “Save Our Jobs” initiative. It would have given unions almost total authority over the state. Critics charged that it even would have protected unionized public-school teachers that were drunk or dealing drugs in the classroom. (That’s close to how California’s unions succeeded in defeating in our Legislature SB 1530, by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles. It would have made it easier to get rid of teachers that use sex, drugs or violence against students.)

For Michigan’s union-backed Proposal 2, according to Ballotpedia, the unions massively outspent opponents by 22-to-1.

But Proposal 2 lost anyway, 57 percent to 43 percent.

Aggressive GOP

In the past, Republicans would have sighed in relief and gone back to their country clubs. (That’s certainly what Republicans did in California in the mid-1990s during their brief period of ascendance in the state Legislature.)

Not this time. As you may have heard, the Michigan Legislature just passed right-to-work laws, which Snyder signed into law. Payback time.

The reforms guarantee workers the right to join a union — or not join a union. The unions have boiled over with hatred. For them, “freedom” means forcing others to join their union. Here’s a typical response (note: bad language in the YouTube):

But here’s what it really means. An old journalistic comrade of mine, Patrick McGuigan of Oklahoma, described what happened when his state passed similar legislation:

“Congratulations, Michigan.

“In 2001, after decades of debate and a multi-million dollar campaign, voters in Oklahoma approved a ballot question enshrining the right to work in the state Constitution.

“Today, Oklahoma City has the lowest unemployment rate of any large American city. The state has outperformed much of the nation even during the depths of the Great Recession, and is projected to become one of the top states for job creation in the first quarter of 2013. Per capita personal income growth is outpacing the nation.

“Ultimately, the same results will come to Michigan.

“Monday, President Obama said the fight over Michigan’s right-to-work proposal is about politics and ideology, not economics.

“Politics is indeed part of the equation in any major policy shift in any American state — and that was certainly the case in Oklahoma in 2001, and in Indiana last year.

“But in the end, the proof is in the pudding: Oklahoma is evolving from its longstanding status as a poor, bottom-tier state into a steadily growing economy with a bright future — and that’s all about economics. Still, the strongest arguments for right to work are moral, rooted in rights of voluntary association and personal liberty.”

Audacity!

California desperately needs political competition. A one-party state never turns out well, whether in California or Cuba.

If Republicans want to get back in the ring and compete in California, the wrong strategy would be to mirror the Democrats.

Instead, they should look to the feisty Michigan GOP. They should take direct aim at the powerful unions. Make it a David vs. Goliath contest.

For starters, how about a right-to-work initiative on the ballot in 2014? Make sure it’s not a compromised initiative, like Proposition 32 was this year. The California unions ran ads attacking the loopholes for “special interests.”

Instead, get the ballot language from Oklahoma’s initiative, Question 695, which now is Section 23, Article 1A of the Oklahoma Constitution (text below). Make the new initiative about the unions themselves. Make it about union power. Because then the very exercise of that power — spending tens of millions of dollars in attack ads — itself is turned against the unions.

And every Republican in the state should make the right-to-work initiative the center of his campaign. No Democrat would dare buck the unions and back it. So it would be a clear contrast.

That also would help win Latino voters to the GOP. Because even many Democrats, such as former state Sen. Gloria Romero, are sick of how the the teachers’ unions care less about Latino students’ poor performance than about maintaining spiked pensions for teachers who aren’t even teaching any more.

When California state finances fall off a cliff, as they soon will, voters will look for the culprits. And as in Michigan, those culprits will be obvious: The Democratic Party and its union string-pullers.

For California Republicans, the key to victory is the same as when Danton exclaimed to the French Assembly in 1792: “Audacity! Audacity! Always audacity!”

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Here’s the language of Article 23, Section 1A of the Oklahoma Constitution:

SECTION XXIII-1A.

Right to work.

A.  As used in this section, “labor organization” means any organization of any kind, or agency or employee representation committee or union, that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning wages, rates of pay, hours of work, other conditions of employment, or other forms of compensation.

B.  No person shall be required, as a condition of employment or continuation of employment, to:

1.  Resign or refrain from voluntary membership in, voluntary affiliation with, or voluntary financial support of a labor organization;

2.  Become or remain a member of a labor organization;

3.  Pay any dues, fees, assessments, or other charges of any kind or amount to a labor organization;

4.  Pay to any charity or other third party, in lieu of such payments, any amount equivalent to or pro rata portion of dues, fees, assessments, or other charges regularly required of members of a labor organization; or

5.  Be recommended, approved, referred, or cleared by or through a labor organization.

C.  It shall be unlawful to deduct from the wages, earnings, or compensation of an employee any union dues, fees, assessments, or other charges to be held for, transferred to, or paid over to a labor organization unless the employee has first authorized such deduction.

D.  The provisions of this section shall apply to all employment contracts entered into after the effective date of this section and shall apply to any renewal or extension of any existing contract.

E.  Any person who directly or indirectly violates any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Added by State Question No. 695, Legislative Referendum No. 322, adopted at Special Election held on Sept. 25, 2001.

By John Seiler

On Sept. 25, I pointed out the similarities between Meg Whitman and her 2010 campaign for California governor and Mitt Romney and his 2012 campaign for president. I wrote:

“Remember Meg Whitman’s campaign for governor in 2010? You probably want to forget it. She certainly does. Its campaign theme was similar to Romney’s: “I’m rich. I’ll create jobs. Vote for me.”

“So far, it seems like Romney in 2012 is channeling Whitman in 2010.”

The meme seems to be catching on. On Sept. 30, Josh Whitman wrote in the Mercury-News:

“Super-rich, sucker-punched by a “September surprise” and still stuck courting a hard-to-please conservative base while trying to connect with everyone else.

“That’s been the story of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in recent weeks, but it also was the story of the 2010 California gubernatorial campaign of Meg Whitman, whom Romney hired three decades ago at the Boston-based Bain & Co. consulting firm.

I think a lot of it is that Republicans don’t care much about winning anymore. Getting the nomination is enough.

They also just don’t have good candidates. They had Reagan, of course, whom they constantly cite while ignoring his actual policies as president (not as governor, where he boosted taxing and spending). But Reagan was a former Democrat who always admired FDR. Eisenhower was pretty good, but he had beaten Hitler, then didn’t even decide to run as a Republican until a few weeks for declaring his candidacy.

Nixon resigned from office. Ford never was elected in the first place. The Bushes have been unmitigated disasters.

Of the losing candidates, Dole was “the tax collector for the welfare state” and McCain was unstable.  Goldwater was great, but 16 years early; he helped spawn the conservative movement that elected Reagan in 1980. Goldwater also faced a hyper-booming economy in 1964, and was stabbed in the back by liberal Republicans Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney, Michigan governor and Mitt’s pa.

Right now, Republicans just aren’t a good fit for the current electorate. That could change next year when the economy collapses.

The California primary’s late date, in June, usually makes it irrelevant. By then, one candidate usually has come to the fore of the Democratic or Republican parties.

Yet California commentators still salivate over actually having something worthy to report. Writes Josh Richman: “For months, nobody figured California Republicans would have a say in picking their party’s 2012 presidential contender — the state’s June 5 primary was just too late to matter.”

“But suddenly, as a volatile and vicious GOP battle barrels toward Tuesday’s Florida primary, uncertainty is setting in as some pundits start to wonder: Could the Golden State’s mother lode of delegates actually make a difference?”

Not gonna happen. It’s over. Romney’s the nominee.

He’ll trounce Gingrich in Florida Tuesday. Willard (Mitt) organized and campaigned better. The Establishment coalesced around him, especially its “conservative” wing, and smashed Newt, who came off as an amateur.

And did Newt really think that messy stuff with his wives wouldn’t catch up with him? His South Carolina victory was a fluke, like the Yankees briefly retreating after Fort Sumter was shelled back in 1861.

Then Mitt will win the Western caucus states because a lot of his fellow Mormons will back him.

Then it’s on to Michigan, where he grew up; hence he has a Michigander accent like mine. His father, George Romney, was a terrible governor there in the 1960s, imposing the state’s first income tax and doubling spending in just six years.

Yet George is remembered fondly, perhaps because Baby Boomers are nostalgic for the days of the Monkees and the Detroit Tigers’ 1968 World Series champions, a team so great they make the 1927 Yankees look like a Little League team. (Where have you gone, Denny McLain? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo. Woo. Woo.)

Then Willard will beat Obama. The economy still is pathetic, the recovery a weak joke. Obama is unpopular. He’s Bush III. Nothing changed. He dashed  the “hope we can believe in.”

I’m not a Romney fan, to say the least (if not less). I’m still knocking back the bourbon over Ron Paul’s demise. Maybe if the Establishment media hadn’t deep-sixed their reporting on Ron. Maybe if… Never mind.

And growing up in Michigan in the 1960s, the politican I most loathed after the ogre LBJ was Mitt’s pa.

President Mitt will do what Republican presidents always do: Consolidate and better manage the socialist advances imposed by Democratic presidents.

It’s the American way.

Jan. 29, 2012