Casino advocates sue to block ballot petitions

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, casino advocates say the anti-casino forces failed to comply with state election laws for placing an initiative on the ballot.

On July 2, the Coalition to Repeal Proposal E turned in petitions bearing 260,723 signatures. State law requires 247,127 valid signatures to place a legislative initiative on the statewide ballot.

The coalition later submitted more petitions to provide a safety margin for signatures that are checked and ruled invalid.

Secretary of State Candice Miller said July 2 that the petitions were presented too late to win a spot on the Nov. 3 state ballot. Earlier, she had announced that petitions needed to be in by May 27 to give her staff time to check them.

Bill McMaster, a spokesman for the coalition, said Wednesday evening that the coalition plans to submit its final list of signatures on July 22 and still expects to have the question on the November ballot.

The proposal would give Michigan voters a chance to decide whether to repeal Proposal E, the 1996 statewide initiative that authorized three casinos in Detroit.

McMaster said he had not seen the lawsuit filed by Citizens to Protect Michigan Jobs - representing the developers awarded the three Detroit casino licenses - but called it "utter nonsense."

"There is no authority of any court or any Las Vegas interest to intercede in the constitutional process that we as citizens are entitled to," McMaster said.

The lawsuit says the anti-casino group failed to adhere to a rule that all signatures be gathered within a 180-day period. It says state law does not allow for submitting supplemental signatures.

Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Miller, told The Detroit News in a report today that elections officials "are very comfortable with the position that state election law does not prohibit supplemental filing of petitions."

The lawsuit also says the petitions are invalid because they fail to contain the full text of the law they seek to repeal.

"The anti-Detroit coalition knew the rules and knew the laws," John Pirich, attorney for Citizens to Protect Michigan Jobs, said in a news release. "Now they're trying to ignore the rules and the laws in a shameful attempt to reverse their failure."

The appeals court has asked lawyers for both sides to file briefs by Friday, said Roger Martin, a spokesman for the Greektown-Sault Chippewa casino development group.

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