News

Granholm Must Honor Vow to VETO Dove Bill

Published June 11, 2004. Editorial Board. Traverse City Record Eagle.
Granholm must honor vow to veto dove bill

Moneyed special interest groups and a vocal minority of state residents this week helped ram a bill through the Legislature to legalize mourning dove hunting. Now it's time for Gov. Jennifer Granholm to stick to her guns and shoot down this turkey of a law.
     
The dove bill is the obsession of state Rep. Susan Tabor, a Delta Township Republican, as well as special interest guns and ammo groups. State voters didn't clamor for it; polls show most residents oppose the bill.

Tabor and her backers try to paint dove hunting opponents as radical PETA types who hate all forms of hunting. It's nonsense, of course. The truth is, the vast majority of Michigan residents simply see no need to add this delicate songbird to the state's list of huntable critters and fowl. That's why Tabor and her special interest cronies are loath to travel the democratic route and let voters decide. They know it doesn't stand a chance at the ballot box.
     
And that's why Granholm needs to step in. She's on record as saying she'd veto the legislation unless it contained language that offers voters the final say. Legislators ignored Granholm and now the governor appears to be waffling, backpedaling, flip-flopping, choose a term.
     
A spokeswoman said Granholm is "very intrigued" by an alleged "compromise" pushed by the pro-hunting Michigan United Conservation Clubs. The MUCC plan would limit hunting to several southern counties for a supposed trial period. But the MUCC doesn't want state voters to have a say, either. It's the same package, dressed in different feathers.

Granholm apparently worries that gun and hunting groups will gang up on her in 2006 if she nixes the dove legislation. Relax, Guv. Those folks didn't vote for you in '02 and likely won't next time either, dove hunting veto or not. There's a sense here that Granholm may be taking for granted her true constituency, believing they won't take wing if she gives in to the pro-dove hunt brayers.
     
For all her strengths, Granholm has shown a troubling propensity to fold when confronted by loud minority groups or legislators clearly pushing special interests.  Only recently, Granholm buckled under such pressure and retracted her order that the state Department of Natural Resources monitor private elk and deer herds for chronic wasting disease. That task will be returned to the ill-equipped ag department - just as the special interests desired - against the recommendation of a Granholm-appointed advisory panel.
     
Granholm shouldn't make the same mistake here. The dove bill shouldn't fly, and she's the person who needs to pull the trigger.

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