State - Lansing Term limits cause high turnover at state Capitol 29 of state's 38 senators will be bumped from office

By Tim Martin Associated Press Writer LANSING (AP) -- More than half of the lawmakers now in the Michigan Legislature will be gone from their current seats in 2011, setting the stage for a major personnel shakeup at the state Capitol. The turnover is caused mainly by Michigan's term limits law, which restricts senators to two terms of four years and representatives to three terms of two years. All 148 seats in the Senate and House are up for grabs this year. Fewer than 70 are held by an incumbent seeking re-election to the same seat. The large number of open seats prompted more than 650 candidates to get on ballots for the Aug. 3 primary. That's a big number even by term-limit era standards. "I would suspect it has to do with seeing how contentious, how partisan everything is and people on the outside -- I would hope they believe they could come (to Lansing) to get people to cooperate and to get Michigan moving forward in same direction," says state Rep. Marc Corriveau, a Democrat from Northville who chose not to run for office this year. Term limits will bump 29 of the state's 38 senators from their current offices. Thirty-four members of the 110-seat House are term-limited, but several more are giving up fairly certain re-election to seek higher office. Most of those are running for the Senate. "Everybody talks about how in the era of term limits these guys always have their eyes cocked at the next available office, but this is really kind of getting out of control," says Bill Ballenger, publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. Several primary races pit current and former House members against each other for state Senate seats. Ten Democrats are seeking a Senate seat representing part of Wayne County, including current state representatives Bert Johnson of Highland Park and Bettie Cook Scott of Detroit. State Rep. Coleman Young II, son of former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, is one of five Democrats seeking a Senate seat for part of Detroit -- including former state Rep. Mary Waters, who at the filing deadline for the race was under indictment in a federal bribery case. She later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting the value of a gift, a Rolex watch, on a tax return. State Rep. Kim Meltzer and former state lawmakers Leon Drolet and Jack Brandenburg are among the Republicans in a Senate primary for a Macomb County seat. Eight different House districts have at least 10 candidates chasing the same seat. Republicans now hold a 22-16 edge in the Senate while Democrats have a 65-43 advantage in the House with two vacant seats. It's doubtful that the party power structure will change but there will be plenty of fresh faces in Lansing after this election cycle. Both the Senate and House will have new leaders next year because the incumbents are term-limited. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop wants to be the state's next attorney general while Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon is running for governor. Published: Fri, Jul 16, 2010

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