Tim_Skubick's Blog

You’re running for a statewide office and for the first time on the night before the election you see a TV ad that cost you reelection.

Say hello to Cliff Taylor the soon to be ex-Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and the so-called sleeping commercial.

Taylor thought, “no one would believe it” because it was “ludicrous” to think he would dose off during a hearing. Voters thought not. “It struck a chord with the public,” Taylor reflects during an exit interview on Michigan Public TV.

But he refuses to denigrate the intelligence of the voting public.
“I think they’re smart. I fell victim to an untrue ad.” While Taylor was generous with the public, he was not nearly so generous with one of his colleagues, Justice Betty Weaver.

She has been a frequent critic of the Taylor court calling it the “Gang of Four” which included Taylor and fellow conservative Justices Markman, Young and Corrigan.
Weaver’s whacked the quartet for being unprofessional, disorderly and imposing gag orders on the three remaining justices among a host of other charges.

“I think she really has some problems (and) made it such a difficult place to work,” he opined. Taylor traces the internal dissension to Weaver’s dethroning as Chief Justice years ago. Taylor and the other three informed her “she was not up to the job” of leading the court with Taylor concluding, “she was incompetent.” And when she lost the Chief Justice title, Taylor concludes she spent eight years “at war” in an attempt to “get even.”
“Even her voting pattern changed to get even,” he argues.

“There was no dealing with Betty,” he continues. “Betty had been injured. Her ego had been injured on the Chief Justice business and there was no working with her.”
She counters, “Such false accusations are nothing new. They are unworthy of Chief Justice Taylor and those who repeat them. I wish him well.” Warm letter to follow.
Taylor contends, “I have never done her a disservice” but he did manage to yank her Traverse City personal office out from under her.

Taylor and the other three recently voted to close the satellite offices that Justices Weaver, Corrigan, Kelly, and Young had used for years. Described as a cost saving move, Taylor says this was not an “in your face” slap at anyone as he was walking out the door.
Weaver objected to the decision.

As for his tenure, Taylor has no regrets. And while he concedes he was not perfect he concludes I “painted with bold colors.” Through it all he has maintained his sense of humor noting that now that he was looking for work, he might become “an endorser” of a pillow or mattress company.

Or maybe he could be Ms. Weaver’s campaign manager if and when she runs again in 2010?