By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Legislators and stakeholders in the agricultural community seem optimistic they can persuade the governor to rescind her order minimizing the role of the agriculture commission.

On Oct. 8 Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued an executive order (EO) combining the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR). At the same time she took away much of the power of the Natural Resources Commission and Agriculture Commission.

These commissions employ the directors of their respective departments and are designed to be bipartisan.

Liz Boyd, press secretary for the governor, stated last month that Granholm changed the commissions’ roles because she wanted the directors of the departments in question to be accountable to the governor, since the public holds the governor accountable for what the directors do and assumes that the governor hires them. Mitch Irwin, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) from 2005-07, believes Granholm made a mistake including those provisions in the EO, combining the DNR and DEQ. “It looks like some agreement is going to be reached,” Irwin said.

Since leaving the MDA Irwin has been working as a consultant as well as a lobbyist for the Michigan Agri-business Assoc. “If the governor decides to pull it back and make some changes, then there wouldn’t need to be a vote to override it.”

He said he didn’t want to “hit her over the head” with this issue, but “sometimes friends can disagree.”

He also said he doesn’t understand why she included the changes to the commissions.

“It’s a time-honored system. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’“ Irwin said.

He said “the farm groups are very supportive of the governor’s efforts to consolidate and streamline” and that Granholm campaigned in 2002 on the idea of putting the DNR and DEQ together. Rep. Jeff Mayes (D-Bay City), whom Irwin described as a loyal fellow Democrat, threw his support behind a resolution to overturn the part of the EO affecting agriculture.

“It’s my hope that the administration would reconsider the EO,” Mayes said. “The (MDA) and the Agriculture Commission have done an excellent job” regarding their oversight and other responsibilities, including food safety.”

Mayes said he and his colleagues would like to resolve the situation in a friendly way, but if the administration refuses to rescind it there would be a vote to override it.

“There are conversations currently going on,” he said. “This is one of many things going on in the state right now. Things are a bit chaotic, but I can assure you that there’s bipartisan support for returning the authority to the Agriculture Commission.”

Unless the order is rescinded by the governor or overridden by the legislature, it will take effect Jan. 17, 2010. Although it’s not certain what will happen, Mayes said the legislature can’t amend an EO. Thus, if it’s overridden or rescinded, the rest of the EO would also become null.

That not only includes the combining of the DNR and DEQ; the EO would also transfer the regulation of horse racing from the Office of Racing Commissioner (ORC), which is a part of the MDA, to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. The ORC and the position of racing commissioner would be abolished.

The legislature is given 60 days from the date the executive order is issued to override it. Otherwise, it will take effect.