Lawsuit Dismissal Deserves Explanation

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation yesterday filed a motion to reconsider with the Michigan Court of Appeals over that court's dismissal of the foundation's lawsuit against the Department of Human Services.

According to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus, the DHS claims people who own home-based day care businesses are "government employees because they care for children whose parents qualify for government assistance with day care."

The foundation argues that an agreement between the DHS and Mott Community college created a "shell corporation" against which unions were able to organize. "Dues" are now taken out of the subsidy checks day care owners receive on behalf of low-income parents, WEYI TV25 in Saginaw reports, with close to $4 million being funneled annually to a union created by the UAW and AFSCME.

MCLF Director Patrick J. Wright told WHMI radio in Livingston County that the court's one-sentence dismissal gave no explanation.

 "The legal process requires legal analysis, not just an unexplained ruling," Wright said, according to the Petoskey News-Review. "The court's failure to provide a rationale is a palpable error, given judicial precedent and the Michigan Constitution. That error needs to be rectified."

The issue has drawn the attention of state legislators, although it appears Michigan is not the only state involved in this type of scheme.

As Wright has previously noted, if day care owners can be shanghaied into a union because they receive subsidy checks on behalf of low-income parents, then there's nothing to stop a similar forced unionization of grocers whose customers use foot stamps or health care professionals whose patients use Medicaid or Medicare.

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