LANSING – Charging that supporters of the Reform Michigan Government Now effort cannot seriously claim their campaign efforts did not begin in 2007, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce filed a campaign finance complaint against the organization demanding that the state order it to no longer violate state law.

The complaint relies on the PowerPoint presentation on the controversial ballot initiative that was uncovered last week. While RMGN did not file as a ballot question committee until this past February, the properties on the PowerPoint presentation indicate it was created last November by an employee of Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications.

A spokesperson for RMGN said the group had not seen the complaint yet, but that it had no merit.

The wide-ranging constitutional proposal would, among other things, reduce the size of the Legislature, cut two members of the Supreme Court, reduce the Court of Appeals, add local judges, cut the pay of the Legislature, statewide-elected officials and the judiciary and limit their retirement benefits, and enact an elaborate system to redistrict the Legislature by a newly-constituted redistricting body. Analyses of the proposal have estimated it would enact at least 30 changes to the Constitution.

The complaint filed was promised earlier this week by the Chamber. In addition, the Chamber will be part of a larger effort to attempt to block the proposal from getting to the November ballot with a lawsuit charging the proposal does not meet the requirements of an amendment.

The specific complaint could not keep the RMGN off the ballot, but Dianne Byrum said it was just one more effort by the “political insiders and the elite” to try to block efforts to win support for the amendment.

In the complaint, the Chamber charges that the PowerPoint presentation demonstrates that a campaign to win support for the proposal was underway at least in November 2007. The PowerPoint also shows that at least four groups – Byrum & Fisk, pollsters Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner, “unknown consultants” for petition drafting, and “fundraising consultants” – had been paid to prepare the proposal.

Michigan’s campaign finance act stipulates that once an individual or group spends more than $500 it has to file as ballot question committee, the complaint said. “The respondents qualified as a ‘ballot question committee’ at some time in calendar year 2007,” the complaint said.

“Since respondents cannot seriously contest that such contributions or expenditures exceeded $500 in the 2007 calendar year, the respondents achieved ‘committee’ status in calendar year 2007, not in 2008 as claimed,” the complaint said.

RMGN did not file with the state as a ballot committee until February.

Byrum said she did not know at this point who would respond to the complaint for the committee.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

a>>