ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.
The salacious political debac
le involving State Reps. Cindy Gamrat and Todd Courser demonstrates depressingly how low our precious electoral system has fallen.
The game is rigged, most folks don’t care and these awful consequences teach us how exploiting weaknesses in the system can cause the election of someone with very little actual support. Gamrat’s is a textbook case.
The Plainwell Republican a year ago picked up 41 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, winning by a plurality in a four-candidate race. She did not achieve a majority, at least 50%.
There were just shy of 67,000 registered voters in the 80th District during the August primary, but only 19 percent bothered to cast votes. Gamrat polled 3,924 votes, or 41% of the total cast, but she actually only won 17.9% of the total number of people eligible.
Gamrat won the primary according to the current rules of the game. And because we in these parts live under a self-imposed one-party system, she was on track to serve six years in the Michigan House until term limited. Or scandal ridden.
As I have said seriously in the past, if A. Hitler Republican faced J. Christ Democrat in the general election in Ottawa or Allegan counties, A. Hitler would win. So because the Democratic candidate has virtually no chance of even getting as much as 40% of the vote in the general election, the GOP primary winner is the overall winner.
Every six years, when an incumbent must step down due to term limits, the only real race is that first GOP primary for eager beavers trying to succeed the incumbent. Once you win that one, you’re in for six years.
The last state legislator to serve more than six years was Paul Hillegonds, who was term limited in 1996. He was succeeded by Patty Birkholz (1997-2003), Fulton Sheen (2003-2009) and Bob Genetski (2009-2015). These were the survivors of one grueling primary each, in 1996, 2002, 2008 and Gamrat in 2014.
What is needed here is a law to mandate another election between the top two vote-getters if the magic 50% of votes cast figure is not met by anyone. There could be a special election in September of that election year.
The City of Grand Rapids this week elected its first female mayor, Rosalynn Bliss, who captured more than 50% in the August runoff Tuesday. Had she not hit that magic 50% mark, she would have had to face her top challenger in November.
We have picked up the nasty habit of electing our state representatives without insisting they get receive a majority of support before the general election. So it’s not that hard to rig the system.
Gamrat’s Tea Party following got her elected in the primary, but I would have liked to see her go head-to-head in another election against her nearest competitor, Mary Whiteford, to determine which one of them would win the privilege of trouncing the Democratic opponent in November.
We don’t know yet if Gamrat will resign in the wake of the scandal of her having an extra-marital affair with another legislator and using taxpayer-funded staffers to cover it up. But if she decides to face the electorate again next August, she very well could win, especially if there is more than one challenger. She could win again by plurality.
And if that happens, our system would sink even lower, as if that’s possible.
We do need to do something as the current primary process ensures we get the hard liners on the left and right. The run off system the editor advocates just may work, I say we give it a try.
lets not forget President Clinton used his Cabinet to cover up his affair also the entire White House staff. The left did not call for him to resign,
Please do not forget your history, A. Hitler was a confirmed Socialist (he believed in nationalism and religion but in everything else he was a 1930/40 socialist) he would have run in American as a Democrat. Comparing Democrats to Christ and Republicans to Hitler attests to the over the top far left wing stand of this publication.