Party of one - Michigan Rep. Greg Kaza

Reason, Dec, 1994 by Jesse Walker

Michigan State Rep. Greg Kaza demonstrates the power of "marginality."

LAST FALL, MICHIGAN LEGislator Greg Kaza made headlines when, in a colorful protest against the corrupt culture of state politics, he held a free lottery to give away all the gifts he'd gotten from lobbyists since taking office. (The booty included tote bags, towels, and a foot-shaped mug from a podiatrists' lobby.) About the same time, he announced that constituents visiting Lansing may use his free parking place if they need to--just call and let him know in advance, OK?

At 33, Kaza is the youngest representative from the Metro-Detroit area and the second youngest in the House. Elected in 1992, the Rochester Hills Republican has acquired a reputation as a maverick, quick to buck the Republican leadership when it deviates from his libertarian principles or his district's interests. Youth, principle, political independence--in many states, this would be a recipe for marginality. In Michigan, it spells power.

Until January, the Michigan House was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans; the Democrats have since lost three seats, but legislative battles are still tightly contested. As a result, Kaza and a handful of other independent-minded Republicans have gained more influence than one might expect from such a heterodox crew.

This swing-vote power came to the fore early in 1993, when Lansing Republicans proposed a crime package that would have given police the power to enter private property without announcing themselves. Republican Gov. John Engler and the GOP leadership expected opposition from liberals, but not from Kaza, whose anti-tax, anti-spending record had led many to peg him one of the most conservative voices in the House.

But Kaza quickly teamed with Ann Arbor Democrat Lynn Rivers to pass an amendment requiring two judges to approve a no-knock warrant. For crossing party lines when they did, Kaza, along with Caro-area Rep. Dick Allen, are generally credited with sinking the bill. The middle-of-the-road Ann Arbor News praised their informal, bipartisan Bill of Rights Caucus, editorializing that their principled fight for "the just cause" was "refreshing."

Kaza believes his success represents the triumph of a new sort of politics. He says that, in a state such as Michigan, where voters have approved term limits for state and national officials, traditional political oligarchies are losing power. "There's no incentive anymore, with term limits, for legislators to sit there biding their time and wait 10, 20, 30 years to get the committee chairmanship that they want, to get the big legislation they want," says Kaza. "The incentive to be complacent and follow the party bosses is gone. The people who get their agenda enacted are the people like me, who are independent and make a lot of noise and fight."

While Kaza is far from enacting his agenda--The Oakland Press has noted that his "libertarian...Republican caucus adds up to, well, one"--he has engineered victories besides the crime package win. When the feds threatened to withdraw $500 million in transportation money if Michigan failed to adopt an EPA plan for centralized auto-emissions testing, Kaza helped lead a revolt against Washington--and won. And he was instrumental in creating the bipartisan coalition that repealed Michigan's inheritance tax in October 1993, three years earlier than the plan endorsed by Gov. Engler.

At other times, his strategically proposed amendments have undercut a seat-belt law and knocked down dubious education policies. Kaza also managed to eliminate a lavish retirement package for employees of the state's recently privatized Accident Fund, Michigan's answer to worker's compensation.

Even some of his losses have led to better things. In December 1993, Kaza proposed taxing legislative pensions at the state income tax rate. Not surprisingly, the bill went nowhere. But Kaza pressed the point, and this June, the legislature eliminated its tax on private pensions instead.

TO BE SURE, HE IS USUALLY A VOICE ALmost alone. In letters sent out to supporters, Kaza documents extensively just how often he's on the losing side, typically by votes of 94-3, 88-9, and 91-10. He was the only representative to vote against Michigan's 1994 military affairs appropriation. (No, the state isn't guarding against an invasion from Windsor, Ontario; its military monies go partly to the federal government and partly to veterans' groups.) And, when voters last March were given the choice of raising either the state income tax or state sales tax to fund school reform, Kaza was the only state legislator who refused to support either proposal. (See "Engler's Angle," August/September.) He explains his position with a quote from Shakespeare: "There's small choices in rotten apples."

Kaza's independence has not exactly endeared him to the GOP leadership. Gov. Engler avoids criticizing his party's mavericks publicly. When asked about them, he likes to remark, "We don't have a room where we stamp legislators' heads and tell them how to vote." Republican Speaker Paul Hillegonds also prefers to put on a happy face, commenting that he'd "rather have people who are representing their constituents and thinking creatively." In private, though, Engler's aides are reportedly less sanguine about the dissenters. William Ballenger, editor of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, says plainly that Kaza "has been spurned by the Englerphiles as a pariah."