A

year ago, the prospects for political reform in this state looked pretty

dismal.  Michigan was ranked dead last

when it came to ethics and transparency, and that was just fine with people

like State Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and Senate Elections Chair Dave

Robertson.

Governor Rick Snyder had failed repeatedly to make something happen that would really fix the roads, and he and his administration had clearly failed, politically and otherwise, in just about every aspect of the lead poisoning and Legionnaires’ disease disasters in Flint.

Gerrymandering seemed to ensure Republicans an iron grip on the legislature, especially the state senate, for, well, something like forever.  Michigan was stuck on stall, shifting into reverse, with the worst roads in the nation, a political culture both ineffective and poisonous, and a population and per capita income that weren’t keeping pace with the rest of the country.

And when it came to governing, bipartisanship was mostly

just a word in the dictionary.

Well, what a difference a year can make.  Michigan now has a nearly all-female leadership

team.  The governor, secretary of state

and attorney general took office New Year’s Day.

Yesterday, in a stunner, Bridget McCormack was elected

chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. That was mildly surprising only

because she is nominally a Democrat, and Republicans still have a 4 to 3

majority on the court.   But McCormack,

probably the most brilliant legal scholar among the justices, has helped lead

the court away from the bitter, and frankly disgraceful, partisanship that

prevailed on Michigan’s highest court a decade ago.

She, together with two Republican justices, David

Viviano and Beth Clement, have formed something of an influential swing group

that often surprises partisans on both sides with their rulings, as when they

voted to put the anti-gerrymandering amendment on the ballot.

 That decision,

which in itself transcended partisanship, will have far-reaching

consequences.  The amendment to end

gerrymandering not only got on the ballot, it won by a landslide.  An independent body of citizens will be

drawing the lines for new congressional and legislative districts two years

from now, and they are virtually certain to make more sense and be more

fair.  Last year, Democratic candidates

for both houses of the legislature got more total votes than Republicans, but

Republicans still ended up with majorities.

But when the new boundaries are in place and people

vote three years from now, we are likely to have a whole lot more competitive

districts.  Other things are happening

too. The legislature cynically passed bills giving workers more pay and sick time

last year, to prevent referenda on those issues from going before the people.

Then, after we voted, lawmakers did the special

interests’ bidding and stripped out the voter protections.  Well, that may not stand. If citizens collect

enough signatures before March 28, the minimum wage hike and sick leave will be

restored.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the courts may overturn

what the legislature did.  There are

other hopeful signs, too.  Former

Attorney General Bill Schuette strongly opposed anyone interpreting Michigan’s

Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act as something that protected gay and transgender

people as well as other minorities.

New Attorney General Dana Nessel has fought for the