Dearborn Voters Bucked Trends, Supported Proposals 1 and 2
Four out of six statewide proposals were overwhelmingly defeated in Dearborn on Election Day.
While Dearborn voters mostly mirrored statewide trends in turning down proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot, there were two major differences: Dearborn voters passed Proposals 1 and 2 with a 50.58 and 52.34 percent majority, respectively.
Statewide, voters turned down all six proposals.
One of the most controversial government issues of the past year, Proposal 1 centered on the future of the state's emergency manager law. Passed as Public Act 4 in 2011, the law allowed the state to appoint an official to oversee a community deemed to be in significant financial trouble. The law allowed that official to dissolve any elected officials and union agreements.
Proposal 1 was supported by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, and opposed by unions.
Proposal 2 would have written collective bargaining for unions into the Michigan constitution, effectively ending the back-and-forth battle between organized labor and the state's GOP legislators.
It was supported by many union groups, including the Dearborn Firefighters.
Here's a look at how Dearborn voted on the state's six proposals:
| Proposal | Yes | No |
| 1. Emergency manager | 18,588 | 18,160 |
|
2. Collective bargaining |
19,606 | 17,851 |
| 3. Renewable energy | 15,600 | 21,319 |
| 4. Home health care | 17,205 | 19,052 |
| 5. Tax supermajority | 10,036 | 26,450 |
| 6. State bridges | 11,650 | 24,902 |
Donna Hay
7:48 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
Nothing that happens in Dearborn surprises me anymore.
cheryl
7:48 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012
While I don't have a problem with the emergency manager itself, the way the proposal was written allowed for criteria to be set...and it didn't say by who, or how overreaching or if there was a way to reverse it if the situation got better, etc. I would have felt more comfortable if the criteria needed to override contracts, fire those elected, etc. was already set and part of the proposal.