ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article, it is an editorial by the editor.

I hereby urge all local officials, institutions and businesses to refuse to allow State Rep. Steve Johnson passage into their buildings for reasons of public health.

As I have said so many times before, I have never seen Johnson wear a mask during these perilous times of Covid-19, despite virtually all health officials exhorting everybody to mask up and stay six feet apart. The reason is simple — the public health.

The statistics are getting more grim every day and some of the blame rests with people like Johnson, who is a scofflaw at best and something akin to Typhoid Mary everywhere he may go.

He apparently doesn’t buy into the advice from health professionals and apparently doesn’t believe the rules apply to him. He is special. He is selfish and doesn’t care about risks to your health. And as a state legislator, he gets around a lot, spreading his cheer and the virus.

I will once again publish the picture of him maskless in Harding’s Market earlier this year and I urge the good people at Harding’s and all other public places resolutely to refuse him entry into the grocery unless he is wearing a mask.

Earlier this week, Jon Oosting, a reporter with Bridge Magazine asked Johnson why he doesn’t wear a mask. His answer speaks volumes about his indifference and cluelessness..

“I’m just fine. I have no symptoms, and if you were very worried, you wouldn’t be right next to me right now.”

Oosting said he was not next to him and was at least an arm’s length away outdoors while recording him, but Johnson replied, “You’re within six feet.”

Johnson was one of three Republican legislators who did not wear masks at a committee hearing at the State Capitol in Lansing. The other two were John Reilly of Oakland Township and Beau LaFave of Iron Mountain.

It’s bad enough when right-wing anti-maskers refuse to play by the rules, it’s even worse when a state legislator, a supposed paragon of virtue and a Christian man, won’t do something as simple as masking up to protect the health of those around him.

My biggest regret right now is remembering he was first elected in a GOP primary in 2016 with only 29.3% of the vote and is about to begin the last leg of a six-year gig in Lansing, making nearly a half million dollars at our expense.

Mr. Johnson has failed his public service mightily. But as comedian George Carlin once said, “Nobody seems to notice, nobody sees to care.”