Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

For some time now, your Wizard has been on a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey into the outer stratosphere to confer, converse, and otherwise hobknob with my brother wizards. Having returned now to the sanctuary of the Emerald City, I was pleased to see that my analyses of the Gretchen Whitmer candidacy for Attorney General have done the trick:

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, considered the favorite to win the Democratic nomination for attorney general, said today she will withdraw from the running to spend more time with her two young daughters.

You can read the Freep's article here.

As for your Wizard's role in this sudden about-face, see the articles here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I know what you're thinking -- you're thinking that the posts of a solitary blogger don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. To quote the noted philosopher Frank Drebin, however, "This is our hill, and these are our beans."

So long, Gretchen, we hardly knew ye.

Saving Her Energy

When Richard Nixon ran for President in 1968 after six years out of public life and living in California, a popular slogan described him as "The New Nixon: Tanned, Rested, and Ready."

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) announced recently that she was running for Michigan attorney general. I can't comment on her tan or her readiness, but after eight years of doing nothing in the legislature, she should certainly be well-rested.

Using the state's legislature website, I searched records going back to 2001, Whitmer's first year in the House. I examined every bill for which she was the primary sponsor. In the House and Senate to date, Whitmer has sponsored 128 bills. Of these, a grand total of 3 made it to a vote, and 2 were passed. The third was defeated 81-22 in the House. She has not had a single bill make it to a vote since June 29, 2005.

If you're keeping score at home, that's 2 passed bills out of 128 attempts, which is a .015 batting average, enough to make Hank Aguirre blush.

So, there's no substantial accomplishment as a legislator in terms of quantity. But is the quality there? Has her legislation been of such monumental importance that we can forgive its infrequency?

In the words of Ted Kennedy, "Ah, no."

Whitmer's first legislative triumph was in 2004, when she sponsored HB 4703. From the Floor Analysis of the bill:

The bill would amend the Public Health Code to increase construction permit and license fees for campgrounds and public swimming pools. It also would create the "Campground Fund" and the "Swimming Pool Fund". (Punctuation in original).

So, a tax increase. Oh, excuse me -- a fee increase.

The following year, still recovering from the heady success of soaking Michigan's campground and swimming pool operators, Whitmer sponsored HB 4405. From the Floor Analysis of this bill:

The bill would amend the Public Health Code to eliminate the authority of a disciplinary subcommittee to impose sanctions against a pharmacist for employing the mail to sell, distribute, or deliver a drug that requires a prescription when the prescription for the drug is received by mail.

In other words, the bill permitted a pharmacist to mail out prescribed drugs when the prescription was received by mail.

Wow. That bill ranks right up there with the Declaration of Independence and the Magna Charta.

Two bills in four years! Raising taxes, er, fees, and letting pharmacists mail out prescriptions in certain cases -- woo hoo! Such success would certainly motivate a person to continue the trend, right?

Wrong.

Since June of 2005, Whitmer hasn't gotten a single bill to a vote. 70 bills in a row, referred to committee, never to be heard from again. Oh-for-seventy. An average of .000. If the 2008 Detroit Lions were a legislator, they would be Gretchen Whitmer.

And now she wants to be attorney general. Announcing her candidacy, Whitmer said, "Michigan families work hard and play by the rules. We need an attorney general who puts people first."

How about an attorney general who works hard, has a record of leadership and good judgment, and has demonstrated the ability to get things done? How about an attorney general with some experience in law enforcement or the courtroom?

We don't need someone who simply occupies space waiting for the next electoral opportunity -- we need someone who gets things done. By that standard and almost every imaginable standard, Whitmer fails.

As my kids would say, epic fail.

Politics and Puffery

We have all experienced puffery, although some may not be familiar with the term itself. "Puffery" is an exaggeration or statement that no reasonable person would take as factual. Typically occurring in advertising and sales, the fact that a statement is not believable means that you cannot sue someone for saying it. For example, "This is greatest car ever made" is an example of puffery, and if you buy the car and discover it isn't the greatest car ever made, you cannot sue over it.

The most common example of puffery besides sales is in resumes and job applications. There was an attorney who left our firm and, applying for other jobs, billed himself as experienced in ERISA transactions. Technically true, but the experience consisted of getting COBRA notices after being canned.

Among resumes and job applications, the worst subset has to be political biographies. These magnify every kid with a lemonade stand into a "job-creating small business owner" and anyone who flips off a light switch into a "green energy activist."

With the 2010 election season beginning to form like a high pressure system over the Rockies, we're going to hear a lot of biographical puffery from candidates.

Gretchen Whitmer? No exception.

Whitmer, the attorney general wannabe, describes her background in part as follows:

Prior to her election to the Michigan House of Representatives, Whitmer was a corporate litigator specializing in administrative and regulatory law with the firm Dickinson Wright in Lansing, Michigan. She practiced administrative law before the Ingham County Circuit Court and the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Sounds pretty good, right? When you look at the facts, not so much.

Whitmer was licensed in November of 1998. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000. So, she practiced law for about two years, although much of that time she was campaigning for the House seat.

Whitmer was employed as a lawyer by Dickinson Wright, a large, well-respected, politically heady firm with an office in Lansing. During her first two years out of law school, however, Whitmer was undoubtedly squirreled away in an office somewhere, drafting discovery responses or writing motions and briefs for the attorney who actually went to court and argued. Of course, to figure out how many cases Whitmer appeared on for her clients is a difficult task, since trial court dockets are not searchable by attorney. But we can search a surrogate database -- the Court of Appeals.

A busy attorney ends up in the Court of Appeals, either trying to get a ruling overturned, or trying to keep a judgment intact. The Court of Appeals' records are searchable by attorney, and a search for Whitmer's involvement results in zero -- as in ZEE-ROH -- cases. For contrast purposes, your humble Wizard has had 42 cases in the Court of Appeals, more than most, but far fewer than some. For someone running for attorney general, 42 is a respectable number, but zero is a joke.

Michigan law describes the duties of the attorney general. Primarily:

The attorney general shall prosecute and defend all actions in the supreme court, in which the state shall be interested, or a party; he may, in his discretion, designate one of the assistant attorneys general to be known as the solicitor general, who, under his direction, shall have charge of such causes in the supreme court and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him; and the attorney general shall also, when requested by the governor, or either branch of the legislature, and may, when in his own judgment the interests of the state require it, intervene in and appear for the people of this state in any other court or tribunal, in any cause or matter, civil or criminal, in which the people of this state may be a party or interested.

Clearly, these are significant and important responsibilities. Am I alone in thinking that maybe, just maybe, it's a good idea to have an attorney general who knows where the courthouse is and has actually tried a case or argued one in the Court of Appeals?

When you're selling a car or trying to impress that special someone, puffery is an old and time-honored strategy. Isn't it about time, though, that we demanded more from our elected officials?

And A Little Child Shall . . . Obtain An Injunction

In the continuing search for solutions without apparent problems, the lovely and talented Gretchen Whitmer has done it again. Our erstwhile attorney-general-wannabe has taken laptop in hand, not to play solitaire, but to craft legislation that will permit 12-year-olds to get personal protection orders without telling anyone!

Here's the background -- when children have legal rights to pursue in court (if injured in an accident, for example), they sue through a device known as a "next friend." A next friend is a person who acts on behalf of someone who lacks the legal capacity to act on his or her own behalf. When a child brings a lawsuit, typically a parent or close relative will act as next friend. In many courts, the term "guardian ad litem" (meaning guardian for the litigation) is used.

Personal protection orders are authorized by Michigan law when a court determines there is reasonable cause to believe that the person to be restrained (the "respondent") may commit or threaten to commit an act of violence against the person seeking the order (the "petitioner").

PPOs are available to restrain a spouse, a former spouse, an individual with whom the petitioner has a child in common, a person with whom the petitioner has had a dating relationship, or an individual residing in the same household as the petitioner.

If a child needs a PPO, then the child -- who lacks the legal capacity to sue -- needs an adult to serve as his or her "next friend." Makes sense, right?

Cue Gretchen Whitmer.

On August 18, in the midst of a recession and an impending budget crisis, Whitmer zeroed in on a problem apparently more pressing -- all those 12-year-olds who want personal protection orders -- and introduced SB 734, which would amend the law to say:

If the petitioner for a personal protection order . . . is a minor 12 years of age or older, the petitioner may proceed under this section without a next friend.

So, your 12-year-old can go to court for a personal protection order without you -- or any other adult -- knowing anything about it. Is there any reason for this?

You might say, " Hey, Wiz -- what about a case where a 12-year-old is being abused by a parent? Shouldn't the child be able to go to court without the abusive parent being notified?"

There are a couple of problems with that argument. First, PPOs are ordinarily forbidden where the putative respondent is the petitioner's parent. Second, if the parent cannot be the next friend, there are other adults -- relatives, neighbors, teachers, social workers -- who can be. Third, there are other, more effective alternatives for children in that situation, and fourth, the parent will be notified in the event the PPO is issued, effectively mooting any advantage to a lack of notice.

Ah, but you come back with, "Look, Wiz, isn't the child better off if he or she at least has the option of a PPO?" Maybe, but maybe not. What happens when the child, upset that he can't go to a party, swings by the courthouse to falsely accuse his mother of abuse and to ask for a PPO? Do you think his parents might be just a tad upset when they find out what he tried to do?

"Tsk, tsk," you say. "Most children don't know where the courthouse is, let alone have the wherewithal to get there or to ask for a PPO." Exactly. So why propose to let them do it?

Parents are responsible for their children's protection. If the parents cause harm, they are liable. But these problems are few and far between, and they cannot be remedied by PPOs.

Permitting children to act without their parents' knowledge and participation erodes the family. We would never think of letting children have surgery without parental consent (unless, of course, it's abortion, which the left reveres above all). Why would we consider letting children start lawsuits without their parents' knowledge or approval, or at least the knowledge and participation of an adult?

There is an ongoing legislative effort in this country to circumvent parents and the family, to empower children to a degree for which they are unprepared, and in the process to further degrade the institution of the family. The Great Society programs have destroyed the poor family in America, a development directly related to poverty, crime, and unemployment.

Perhaps this PPO legislation will have no effect at all on the family. Given Whitmer's track record, it will never even see a Senate vote. But we need to stand firm wherever the family is challenged, starting right here at home.

Gretchen Whitmer and the Assault on Free Speech

Conspiracy theorists imagine wide, well-coordinated, concerted efforts to pursue particularized agendas. To some extent, these efforts exist, though I would not necessarily call them conspiracies, since that implies something sinister. For example, when the White House changes its message or adopts new terminology (think about the change from "health care reform" to "health insurance reform" to make insurance companies the target), memoranda go out, talking points are distributed, and the organization -- the MSM included -- delivers a coordinated message.

Beyond that sort of rudimentary message distribution, widespread conspiracies are hard to implement, and one should take such accusations very skeptically. It is far more likely that persons pursue similar agendas, not because they are engaged in a conspiracy, but because they share a particular ideology or worldview.

This is the alarming condition -- the number and variety of initiatives spawned, not by conspiracy, but by a common disregard for constitutional liberties and an infatuation with government power.

Cue Gretchen Whitmer.

Last week, I wrote about Whitmer's SB 668, in which she seeks to force crisis pregnancy organizations to distribute abortion information in violation of their rights to free speech and freedom of religion.

SB 668 could be an isolated meandering into the wilderness, but there are numerous other examples of assaults on free speech that suggest Whitmer is part of a greater problem. For example:

-- Sen Jay Rockefeller's staff has been working for months on a bill giving The One the power to seize private sector computer networks during a "cybersecurity emergency" that would be declared by, of course, The One Himself. (Remember that scene in Episode III where Emperor Palpatine "reluctantly" accepts the
emergency powers bestowed on him by his puppet senators and pledges to relingquish them once the emergency is over? Life imitates art.)

-- The Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons have sued the White House, alleging violations of their First Amendment and privacy rights. Remember the website set up by The One to allow people to report if they believed their fellow citizens were spreading misinformation about the health care bill? Well, what do you think happened with the complaints the White House received? Apparently, right back to The One's friends, who began their campaign of intimidation. As Kathryn Serkes, AAPS' Director of Policy and Public Affairs, put it, "My hate mail started shortly after the White House issued the 'fishy' request. We were quite visible and vocal before then, so it doesn't seem like a coincidence. Who did they share their data with? With whom might they share it?"

-- Democrats and the SEIU pack "town hall meetings" to keep dissenting voices from being heard, school officials in Florida are prosecuted because they had the nerve to say grace before a luncheon meeting, and on and on.

These events are not themselves connected, but the people behind them are -- connected by a philosophy that treats constitutional rights as obstacles to be overcome or ignored, rather than sacred endowments to be treasured and protected.

Gretchen Whitmer, who wants to be attorney general, is part of this anti-constitution mob. She, like the rest, will pay lip service to the constitution, but ultimately she will side with political expedience and opportunism.