If I were David Gernant, Democratic Party candidate for former State Rep. Cindy Gamrat’s 80th District seat, and I’m not, I would scream from the mountaintops that, “If you care about the issues, you’ll throw these rascals out.”
Gernant has a mountain to climb in a special election March 8 against Republican Mary Whiteford in a contest to replace the disgraced Gamrat. This 80th District includes the townships of Martin, Watson, Hopkins, Monterey and Salem.
Gernant and his Democratic comrades every two years have had two chances, slim and none, of ever winning the right to be sent to Lansing to represent these parts. Republicans, for better or worse, have owned all legislative contests for the past century in Allegan, Ottawa and Van Buren counties, because of the very effective public relations ploy that, “We like the way things are around here. Let’s keep it that way.”
But the better lately has become the worse. We should be holding these legislators’ and Gov. Rick Snyder’s feet to the fire for public policy crimes they have committed over the past several years. Their record in ignoring the will of the people, endangering the health and safety of common everyday working folks and rigging the electoral game is astonishing.
Not long ago I listed the many ways I have come to despise the State Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder in their attempts to “re-invent Michigan” by turning it into a fiefdom of the Republican Party.
Joining that dishonorable list most recently and most importantly is the really awful and embarrassing story of the lead poisoning of water in Flint. The whole sordid saga was the result of an emergency manager appointed by Snyder switching water sources without paying attention to the health and safety of residents. This is not only grounds for impeachment, but also for criminal prosecution. But all we’ve seen since are a couple of Department of Environmental Quality employees falling on their swords as scapegoats.
Here’s my list of other extensive crimes committed by the legislators and the governor:
- Emergency Manager Law, which short-circuits democracy, ignores the will of voters and gets results like the Flint water disaster and has done nothing but worsened the woeful conditions of troubled school districts.
- An obnoxious fireworks law — disturbs the public peace, frightens dogs and veterans to promote sales and boorish, childish noisy behavior.
- The failure of a longtime GOP majority to come up with a viable roads funding package for years, meanwhile ramming through both chambers a Right to Work law in just 24 hours.
- Motorcycle helmet law — How can children take us seriously about use of seat belts when we let bikers avoid wearing helmets for safety?
- Medical marijuana implementation — The law was passed in 2008 by 63% of voters statewide, but the Leggie insisted each municipality pay for attorneys to craft their own ordinances.
- Eliminating straight party voting, though twice voters statewide rejected the proposals and it makes voting at polls more cumbersome and time consuming. It’s very simply an attempt to discourage the unwashed masses, the riff-raff, working people, from voting.
- The coverup of the scandal involving Tea Party lawmakers Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat while permitting the two unfairly to fire whistleblowing staff members.
- Finally passing a law supposedly to fund roads that will rob other departments in the general fund and won’t do anything for roads until past 2017.
Gov. Rick Snyder and the incompetent State Legislature have remade a once proud Michigan into a quasi-totalitarian state, rated the worst among the 50 states in transparency and open government.
I hear tell that city and township clerks all over the state, besides librarians, are upset with our legislators and senators over the straight party ban and the “gag order” on informing voters about ballot proposals.
I am entirely willing to accept the argument that Republican Mary Whiteford is a really nice lady who has done good work as a nurse, against sex trafficking and is a compassionate human being. But I’m willing to bet my next paycheck that if she is elected, she will march in lockstep with the herd of GOP mad cows. She has shown me no willingness to make any changes to the way things have been going in these last five years.
Michigan is regarded as the worst state for government transparency, one of the worst for roads, has been a national laughing stock because of the Gamrat-Courser affair and now is justly excoriated for the Flint water disaster.
What will it take for the people to decide they’ve had enough and exercise their only recourse by indeed throwing these rascals out?
