By Ed Fitzgerald, Macomb Daily Columnist

If you're like me then you have plenty of questions about the county's new Charter Commission, which has accepted the task of writing Macomb's first constitution.

I must admit it all sounds pretty darn important. A constitution? Heck, we could do some serious damage. Throw out the old rules, make some new ones. Start from scratch. We could even butt heads with that other constitution, y'know — the federal one.

We could raise the county's legal drinking age. That would cut down on drunken driving. Then we could lower the driving age. That would boost car sales. Body shops wouldn't do too badly either.

We could mandate that eastbound I-696 drivers who want to head north on Gratiot must take the Gratiot exit off 696 instead of proceeding to I-94 where they must quickly merge across all three lanes in order to take the left-hand Gratiot exit.

What has really stuck in my craw is why, oh why, did so many people want to serve on the Charter Commission? Initially 151 people signed up to run. Sometimes it's hard to get 151 people to vote in an election let alone run in it.

The 151 number was whittled down to 54 names for the November ballot. We then elected our current 26 charter commissioners.

Such rampant desire for civic involvement makes me suspicious. Does the high number reflect the candidates' overwhelming desire to make this a better county in which to live? Was it because being a c'mish is a cush job? Possibly, but no one is going to get rich serving on the Charter Commission. Members only receive 50 bucks a meeting.

But there are other ways to get rich. Like by making up the rules.

Our new county charter will sail uncharted waters. It's a chance for would-be politicians to get in on the ground floor. That's why so many people wanted to serve on the commission. They all want a piece of the pie while it's still fresh.

The Charter Commission has 180 days to come up with the constitution. The leader — a sharp, young lawyer named Jacob Femminineo Jr. — is the right man for the job. But having a lawyer in charge and a few more serving alongside him did not eliminate the need for the commission to hire a legal consultant at an estimated $250 an hour.

That might seem like a lot.

Because it is a lot..

The preliminary commission budget said members also need to buy basic items such as office supplies. Paper, envelopes, paper clips. They also need to buy an overhead projector.

An overhead projector? Does that mean they also need to buy a high school student from the audio-visual club to push one of those carts with the wobbly wheels down the hall?

Admittedly, I'm a cynic. That's why I envision a Charter Commission headquarters with not much going on but a secretary slowly, one by one, sharpening a mugful of pencils. And maybe the sound of wobbly wheels out in the hall.

I hope I'm wrong.

It took a while to convince voters to approve a county charter. The main selling point was electing a county executive. The thinking was that if, say, Smithington's Widgets wants to build a factory in Macomb County then Mr. Smithington would prefer to talk with just one guy — a county executive. Or at least talk to the secretary for that one executive. Then the secretary would tell Mr. Smithington that the county executive is at lunch and ask if Mr. Smithington would like to leave a number.

But that's still better than trying to talk to 26 county commissioners and waiting for 26 commissioners to get back from lunch. Nowadays if any official is late returning from lunch we can assume they're stuck in line at Clinton Township's new Sonic burger joint.

A county charter also had appeal because it promised to thin our bloated Board of Commissioners. The general consensus is that our county board doesn't even wield that much power, what with city, township and even village (is New Haven a hamlet yet?) officials calling the shots for their respective towns.

Everyone likes the idea of a leaner government with fewer politicians. At least that's what I always thought.

Then I heard that 151 people wanted to be politicians.

Contact Ed Fitzgerald at fitz@macombdaily.com