Bad blood persists in Michigan Senate

Karen Bouffard / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing -- Upset that the chamber killed two bills they championed, Senate Democrats acted out by slowing things down on the floor today and got a swift time-out from Majority Leader Mike Bishop.

Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman's bill banning insurance companies from charging urban customers more was abruptly brought for a vote Wednesday and quashed without debate. Then House Democrats' 3 percent physician tax, which would have staved off deep cuts to the Medicaid program, met the same fate.

To show his displeasure, Democratic Floor Leader Buzz Thomas of Detroit asked that bills on the agenda be read out loud in full by the Senate clerks, a procedure that's usually skipped to save time.

That prompted Bishop, R-Rochester Hills, to issue a Call of the Senate, meaning the doors to the Senate floor were barred by the Sergeant at Arms so members couldn't leave. Two Democrats and two Republicans who were absent were excused.

Bishop spokesman Matt Marsden said Republicans decided to keep them inside, because if that's the way Democrats wanted to play they weren't going to skip out on the game.

kbouffard@detnews.com (517) 371-3660