---------------------------
February 17, 2003
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
As life-and-death questions of an approaching war hang heavy, it might seem trifling to dwell on the parochial matter of who's really in charge of the Michigan Democratic Party.
If we don't ask, however, the terrorists win.
So note that the antiwar speeches at the state Democratic convention in Detroit on Saturday (especially one by former U.S. Rep. David Bonior) stirred more passion than did the double crowning of new party chairman Melvin (Butch) Hollowell and executive chairman Mark Brewer. The agreement to share duties between the two was a kiss-your-sister compromise to which the party elite seemed resigned. When asked, some at the convention typically shrugged and said, "We'll see," or, "It'll work out."
Hollowell, the losing candidate for secretary of state in November, had been pushed for the chairmanship since November by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a longtime personal friend. Brewer, who has been Democratic chairman, had the backing of the UAW to continue as the sole chairman. Twice, Granholm asked Brewer to step aside, and twice he respectfully declined.
The irresistible governor met the immovable union, and the two-seat chairmanship was born.
There's never been such an arrangement, and while Brewer is not disliked in the party, many felt it should have been Granholm's call to name a party head. This was, some privately said, another example of the UAW throwing its weight for the sake of being in charge. (Two unions that supported Hollowell were the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers, both Granholm supporters in last year's Democratic gubernatorial primary.)
"I want to work for her," Brewer said of Granholm, and he said he would do everything he can to make the shared power arrangement work. Brewer will be the party's nuts-and-bolts director of fund-raising and organizing, while Hollowell will serve as the party's public face and spokesman, and organize special fund-raisers that involve Granholm.
Hollowell, 43, the party's first African-American chairman, said nice things about fellow attorney Brewer, 47. But there's an air of affectation when Hollowell, a bookish-looking product of Detroit's upper crust, refers to "brother Brewer," a Macomb County guy who at least gives the impression that he's been closer to a union than strolling through a car dealer's showroom.
And there were still some eyes rolling from Hollowell's public challenge a day earlier that the new Republican Attorney General Mike Cox should resign. Hollowell said Cox's refusal to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Granholm in support of the University of Michigan's affirmative action admission policy amounts to an unforgivable breach of his constitutional duty.
Well, maybe. There are mixed legal opinions on the matter. But resign?
It was Hollowell's first partisan salvo as the Democrats' new chief. To some it came off like a teenager who gets the keys to the family Lexus for the first time and purposely drives it through the front window of a neighbor's house.
Was that really necessary?
Former Attorney General Frank Kelley called Hollowell's reaction excessive and the result of inexperience. Kelley said he believes an attorney general can do just about anything he wants, although it is customary to comply with a governor's request for legal aid, even when the two disagree on the issue.
Some called Hollowell's comment over-the-top. It surprised Granholm, and there were indications it surprised brother Brewer, too, although he wouldn't say.
Hollowell didn't backtrack on Cox. "He needs to do his job. I'm going to continue to call him on that," he said.
No doubt Cox, by refusing to write a pro-affirmative action legal brief, is inoculating himself against GOP conservatives who would pounce on any deviation from the party's anti-affirmative action, antiabortion line.
And Hollowell is using affirmative action to establish himself quickly as the Democrats' bulldog on a hot-button issue. It's a questionable strategy, given that most of the public (read: independent voters) side with Cox on the matter, not Hollowell.
But a cochair does what he has to do. In the end, it's Granholm, not Hollowell, who is the true public face of the Democrats. If he forgets that, they ought to take away his keys.
Contact CHRIS CHRISTOFF at 517-372-8660 or christoff@freepress.com.