State Rep. Steven Johnson, who has served in the State Legislature for four months, already has made his mark in Lansing.
Johnson, whose 72nd District includes the City of Wayland and Wayland Township and the townships of Dorr and Leighton, cast the only vote against sending $100 million in federal funds to the City of Flint to deal with its water troubles.
Dan Savage, writing in his Electablog on-line news service, took Johnson to task for his lonely vote against passing along the federal funds to a city plagued by lead in its water supply.
Savage claimed that, “Johnson, who hates the government, co-sponsored an ‘anti-Sharia law’ bill, and believes that constitutional lawyer, President (Barack) Obama, ‘does not believe in the U.S. Constitution,’ was the lone vote against the legislation. This move is in stark contrast to Johnson’s statement about his personal (Christian) beliefs…”
In a prepared statement issued over the weekend, Johnson, who lives in Wayland and attends the Wayland Christian Reformed Church, said, “I voted NO on HB 4329 (Yaroch) Provides $100 million in Federal funding for Flint and $1 million in General Fund for the Michigan State Capitol Commission for continued mechanical and engineering upgrades. EXPLANATION: Approving funding to bail out poor decisions made by local municipalities is an irresponsible practice, especially considering the amount of debt there is at the Federal level. I also was disappointed that these two totally unrelated funding issues were all included in the same bill.”
Savage asserted in his blog, “The effort to bring federal dollars into Flint to help them deal with the Republican-made catastrophe that poisoned their drinking water with the powerful neurotoxin lead has been long and arduous, primarily because Republicans themselves did everything they could to make the path long and arduous. First, it took nearly a year for Republican members of Congress to even pass the legislation, despite the dire need and national attention being focused on the shameful situation. Finally, the last bill President Obama signed sent $100 million in funding to the beleaguered city.
The Flint water crisis funding finally was granted federal funding this past week by votes in the Michigan House and Senate, but Johnson cast the only vote against it.
Savage wrote, “This is just the sort of Christian hypocrisy that has soured so many people on openly religious lawmakers. They wrap themselves in the U.S. flag and hold the Bible in their hands as they work to harm the most vulnerable people in our society. But to vote against helping Flint after they have waited this long for some relief is unconscionable.”
Johnson, who was unemployed and living with his parents at the time of his primary election victory with 30 percent of the vote last August, was elected in November to succeed term-limited former State Rep. Kenneth Yonker, who now is Kent County Drain Commissioner.
PHOTO: State Rep. Steven Johnson
Good for Steve Johnson. Republican caused? Talk about Hypocrisy!
He’s an embarrassment to the community. Johnson should have be ashamed of himself. He apparently has the counsel of his parents on a regular basis – and they should have taught him better. And, since he’s a religious kind of guy, what about Jesus’ example?
If I were criticized by someone like Dan Savage – I would consider it a badge of honor. A more deplorable amongst us doesn’t exist.
Mr. Johnson, you voted your conscience and I agree, Flint, like Detroit, is one of the most poorly run cities in the country and full of graft and corruption. The physical infrastructure of the city hasn’t been upgraded for years. But I bet all the politicians and city workers have well paid jobs and probably a trip or two to nice sunny places for “training”. Flint, like Detroit is broke and depends on the rest of us to support them, which has always been the case. Flint and Detroit had better start to stand on their own. The citizens of Flint should take it upon themselves to blame the correct people that created this debacle. I feel for the folks just trying to get by and live their lives – I know many cannot move from their circumstances because of monetary limitations. These are the people that deserve our support.