LANSING – The Michigan legislative lifeline on a bill authorizing the New International Trade Crossing was cut Thursday when a key committee fell two votes short of reporting SB 410 to the full Senate. Like all major legislative losses, it ended with both sides pointing fingers at who was to blame.
Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe), who sponsored the bill, said he is “done” with the issue. “Maybe there’s a phoenix bird we don’t know about and there could be a rising coming up in the future. At this point in time I would say it is dead,” he said.
The 2-3 vote left proponents scrambling for their next step on getting a new span between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, built, as $550 million the Canadian government offered to cover Michigan’s construction costs hangs in the balance. Governor Rick Snyder, who has championed the issue, said a cooling off period is needed to regroup and find common ground. He said he remains committed to authorizing the bridge through legislation, not through some other mechanism that would avoid the Legislature.
The Moroun family, which vigorously fought the NITC, didn’t gloat, but clinched a huge win. They?ve been running distorted millions of dollars in distorted television spots to pressure the legislature into letting them build their own span next to the crumbling Ambassador Bridge.
Richardville blamed the bill’s defeat on Senate Minority Floor Leader Tupac Hunter (D-Detroit) and Sen. Virgil Smith (D-Detroit), the two Democrats on the Economic Development Committee, for abstaining from the final vote and for presenting a substitute Republican members of the panel only had a day to review. Had they voted for the original bill, the process and discussion could have continued, Richardville said.
When pressed on how Richardville didn’t win over more of his Republican colleagues – Sen. Mike Kowall of White Lake Township, Sen. Mike Nofs of Battle Creek and Sen. Goeff Hansen of Hart all opposed the bill – the leader said: “I never said I was there to win over my own members. What I said was I would manage this process.”
But both Hunter and Smith charged Richardville backed away from the deal that had secured their votes. Richardville responded by saying he tried to help in the negotiations between the Snyder administration and Senate Democrats, but never even read Hunter’s S-5 substitute that included community benefits. He said the deal was ultimately one made between Lt. Governor Brian Calley and Senate Democrats.
“The one piece of advice I gave was not to sell the farm. Don’t over-negotiate for something in committee that can later be added on the floor,” Richardville said, referring to the community benefits for which Democrats pushed. “Everybody who’s been around this town and process for a while knows that the negotiation is over when the governor signs the bill. We should have today, in my opinion, moved this process along.”
But Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) said it was Richardville who backed off the deal, noting she can tell the difference between he and Calley. Whitmer said it’s Richardville’s “Modus opeRandy” to break a deal and then act surprised by the result.
“You gotta deliver when you make a promise,” she said. “It is clear the problem is not with the Democratic side. Our members are ready to vote provided the people of that community are protected.”
THE SCENE: Like the day before, the Senate Hearing Room in the Boji Tower was packed well before the committee meeting started.
Hunter presented his substitute, explaining the need for the residents of Delray to have a voice in the infrastructure project.
“I believe these protections are necessary. It’s anything we would ask for a community to host a project of this size,” he said.
But Hunter’s substitute was defeated 2-5, with all five Republicans opposing.
Kowall then called for a roll-call vote on the original legislation, but that only garnered the support of Sen. Dave Hildenbrand (R-Lowell) and Sen. Judy Emmons (R-Sheridan).
“I’m frankly more comfortable with the original bill. We vetted that bill; we had many, many hours (of testimony). That was the bill that ultimately made sense to me,” Emmons said.
Hildenbrand said he understood Hunter’s rationale, but couldn’t support the community benefits measure as it stood.
“If the bridge was going to land in my community, I would be making the same arguments,” Hildenbrand said. “I think there is still a lot of opportunity to deal with community benefits – if this process continues.”
Kowall said the facts and figures for NITC never added up, particularly the traffic studies and taking on such a large project in this economy, which is why he voted against the bill.
Hansen said he doesn’t support the “perceived existence of the monopoly” by the Ambassador Bridge, but voted against the bill because conditions of the existing bridge, such as whether customs holds up traffic, should be pursued first. He also voiced concern with Canada having a majority stake in NITC.
After the meeting concluded, a media circus ensued with camera lights pointing on various stakeholders, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), who has supported the NITC with community benefits.
Tlaib, alluding to the Moroun family, said the media should ask, “Who is bringing these individuals here? Who is paying for these TV ads? Are those advertisements correct? Are they true? Why is the Legislature influenced by one mega billion-dollar corporation that has a monopoly on our trade right now?”
Then she said, “Our Legislature was compromised today.”
Shortly thereafter, one of the members of the New Black Panther Party, which NITC proponents have argued is being paid by owners of the Ambassador Bridge, stepped into the camera shot to defend their presence at the meeting, saying it was the “sinators” who are “on the take.”
Members then began to shout, “No bridge! No bridge!”
REGROUPING: Matthew Moroun, vice chair of the Detroit International Bridge Company, which has spent millions of dollars on an ad campaign to defeat NITC, said the Department of Transportation “made a bad case.”
“Since 2006 when the initial effort to build this bridge began, the facts have proven it to be unjustified and unneeded. The Ambassador Bridge is the most efficient border crossing in North America and our mission remains to make it the absolute best border crossing. We look forward to working with the governor and transportation officials in the future.”
Richardville said Legislature’s focus would shift to the state’s overall infrastructure needs.
Doug Rothwell, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, said: “It is our hope that, with near unanimous agreement in the business community and backing from the labor unions, state leaders will continue to look for a way to move this important project forward.”
Brad Williams with the Detroit Regional Chamber said the group has fought for a new bridge for 10 years.
“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs. Certainly, it is a setback, but we’re going to keep pushing the case this is important infrastructure and the Senate should move forward,” he said.
Asked whether NITC supporters would shift their focus to an administrative, rather than legislative, approach, Williams said, “It’s not our place to tell them how to do it. We’d like to see it get done.”
Snyder has said there are other ways to authorize the bridge without legislative approval, but prefers to see the project given the Legislature’s blessing. And he stuck to that approach Thursday.
“We’re going to continue to pursue the legislative path,” he said.
SNYDER’S FIRST DEFEAT?: But Mr. Snyder said there would be a short-term “cooling-down period” of “a week, a couple weeks, it could be somewhat longer” to allow everyone to regroup on th
