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Repeal Cheerleader Topper denies that Governor Celeste is the hidden issue. But in Michigan Blanchard is clearly a target of the antitax movement. It started when John Lauve, a GM engineer, sent "the shirt off his back" to the statehouse in Lansing last March to protest the 38% tax increase. His gesture inspired other Michigan voters, and soon a "Recall Blanchard" movement was launched. Within weeks, petitions were circulating across the state to gather the 760,000 signatures necessary to call a special election. Although Lauve and his followers missed the mark, they did get 522,000 names during the allotted 90-day period, a significant rebuff to the tax increase and enough to surprise the initially unconcerned Blanchard.
Petitions are also being circulated to remove state legislators who voted for Blanchard's tax package. There is a fledgling lobbying effort, similar to the one in Ohio, to put on the November 1984 ballot an amendment to the state constitution that would roll back the tax levels to those that existed on Dec. 31, 1981, and require a four-fifths approval of the legislature to pass any new taxes.
Strategists for both parties are speculating about the effect of these tax revolts on the 1984 elections. Republicans in both states may be helped in their local legislative races. And, with his antitax stance, Reagan may benefit in Ohio, where a close presidential vote is expected.