(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/15/2022) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed more veto letters in her first four years in office than any Michigan governor in at least 100 years, and that's before she takes action on any of the 55 remaining lame duck bills.
Whitmer has signed 143 veto letters (including line item vetoes) as of Thursday, and she insinuated on Wednesday that more may be on the way. MIRS has learned that her team told lawmakers that unless a presidential primary bill was among the lame duck bills sent to her, any non-negotiated bill sent to her would not survive.
"If you're not negotiating with the Governor, you're probably not going to get a signature," she said.
When line-item veto letters are combined with standard vetoes, Whitmer stands at 143 vetoes over four years, 20 more than former Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 123 after four years.
Former Gov. Jim Blanchard signed 85 veto letters in his eight years in office. He had a Republican Senate and Democratic House for most of his term.
Former Gov. John Engler signed 159 veto letters in his first eight years in office. He had a Republican House and Senate in only two of those years. Former Republican Gov. Bill Milliken vetoed 166 bills in the eight years he had a Democratic House and Senate.
Whitmer has more vetoes than Granholm despite having nearly half the bills sent her way and not having the multiple department-specific appropriations bills that Granholm had.
Research conducted by MIRS of House and Senate journals dating back to the former Gov. Woodbridge Ferris administration of 1913-1916 failed to find a governor who rejected at least a portion of more bills presented to them than Whitmer.
Whitmer's average of 12.6% of bills vetoed is more than double that of Granholm's 6% veto average in her first term. Both Whitmer and Granholm were Democratic governors with a Republican-led House and Senate.
On the flip side, Whitmer has signed roughly half the public acts as Granholm (989 to 1,940).
In the last 110 years, the other Democratic governors with Republican legislatures were G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams and Ferris. Williams vetoed 3.97% of the bills he was presented. Ferris vetoed 2% of the bills he was presented.
The only governor to come close to Whitmer was former Republican Gov. Fred Green (1927-30), who rejected 12.26% of the bills presented to him.
For this 2021-22 legislative cycle, Whitmer has already rejected 14.86% of the 477 bills she's disposed of at this point.
"Is this the same governor who campaigned on her self-proclaimed 'worked cooperatively with the legislature' mantra?" said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake). "Never mind, it's just another long list of obvious false claims."
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) said the biggest problem was the Republican legislature was used to doing whatever it wanted to do under former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and that all stopped with the Democratic governor.
When the Legislature and the Governor worked together, good legislation like equalized school funding, infrastructure spending and Michigan Reconnect was the result. When the Legislature “played petty politics,” bills were vetoed.
Told about the Shirkey's comments, Ananich quipped, “This, coming from the guy who washed his hands in a toilet?”
Whitmer's veto percentages didn't surprise Michigan political history pundit Bill Ballenger, who said Whitmer's adversarial approach with the Republican-led Legislature was a carryover from her prior role as Senate Minority Leader.
"She was a bomb thrower. She delighted in excoriating the Republican majority whenever it was possible," Ballenger said.
When she was elected governor, she almost considered it a revenge tour, he said. 'Now you're going to get some of your own medicine. I'm not only going to push back, I'm going to go out of my way to be confrontational and cause problems.'
A Democratic governor's clash with a Republican-majority legislature isn't a new dynamic, Ballenger said. The difference this time is the tension manifested its way through the vetoes.
"Soapy" Williams would call the Republican-led legislature into special session to handle specific issues. Budget showdowns were common.
Attorney Mark Burton of the Honigman firm, who worked in the Whitmer administration, said Whitmer came into office with a desire to work in a bipartisan way, but Republicans made it clear immediately they weren't interested.
The Legislature attempted to stop her reorganization of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, and things didn't get better from there.
"Republicans set out from day one to essentially copy the plan of Mitch McConnell during the Obama administration. They didn't have any interest in engaging," he said.
Whether it was the 2019 budget or COVID response, the first two or three years of her tenure were marked by Shirkey and then-Speaker Lee Chatfield showing "no interest in having any meaningful dialogue."
"As the election crept closer, the Republicans moved legislation to her desk knowing full well that it was not negotiated," Burton said. "It was to force a veto that a Republican governor candidate could use against her."
