One of the more curious developments as primary day
arrives is the relatively low-key effort to pass the SMART bus millage, even as
officials proclaim that the new tax is a do or die effort.

The suburban bus levy on Tuesday’s tri-county ballot is a
renewal plus an increase and SMART officials say that if it doesn’t pass the
entire transit system will have to shut down sometime next year.

Yet, it appears that the public effort to get the ballot
proposal approved is a fraction of what was waged in past election cycles just
to get a millage renewal.

I am suspicious that SMART general manager John Hertel, a
veteran, savvy politician has made a rather cynical calculation:  it’s better to stay quiet in the lead-up to
the election and let the voters assume this is just another renewal rather than
go forward with a big push that makes the case for a tax increase.

After all, the last two SMART millage renewals in 2006
and 2010 passed by big margins in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. In
traditionally anti-tax Macomb, SMART managed to win approval for their 2010
renewal by about a 3-1 margin.

So, why not stay mum and let the voters assume this is
just another one of those routine renewals?

I have yet to see a single campaign sign advocating for
the SMART millage. Other than a full page ad in the Sunday Macomb Daily, I’m
not sure newspaper advertisements have played any significant role in this
campaign. More importantly, I have seen no pro-millage advertisements on SMART
buses.

When I recently interviewed transit advocates from
Transportation Riders United (TRU), the nonprofit group leading the low-budget
campaign to promote the millage, I asked if they might gain more traction if
they just kept quiet about the tax hike, which would boost SMART’s financial
base from 0.59 of a mill to 1 mill.

Their response was a chorus of giggles.

They are the true believers but Hertel, after making a
major push with the three county boards to get the millage on the ballot, has
been mostly under the radar.

But before he went underground, Hertel, the former Macomb
County Board of Commissioners chair, admitted earlier this year in a moment of
real politick that he chose the August ballot because the low-turnout primary
provides a better chance for the bloc of pro-SMART voters to have influence
over the outcome.

It seems that Hertel is essentially following the rule
that less is more.

 

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