Yes It Is, It’s True: I choose Benac to challenge Upton

Not long ago, I watched a video of Congressman Fred Upton chairing a committee meeting in Washington D.C. Members were voting on a contentious issue, but Upton called for a voice vote in which it was obvious the numbers of yeas and nays were close.

Regardless, Upton banged his gavel and declared the ayes have it. It was bias at its best and when it matters most. If he really was interested in fairness, he would have called for a roll call vote.

Closer to home, it was about 15 years ago I recall virtually the same development in a meeting of the Barry County Board of Commissioners. The commissioners, who numbered eight, were grappling with a request for expenses to be paid for the annual trip to Mackinac Island for the Michigan Association of Counties conference.

I knew some board members were uncomfortable with voting themselves the perks of being in a posh hotel for a few days and golfing at public expense.

Board Chairwoman Clare Tripp, a 1974 Wayland High School graduate, argued in favor, insisting that commissioners were mixing business with pleasure and were taking part in educational classes that in the long run could have benefit for Barry County citizens.

When the question was called, Tripp asked for a voice vote and received a mixture of “ayes” and “nays.” As the reporter at the meeting, I couldn’t tell who voted how. Tripp, like Upton in the video, declared the motion carried, regardless.

After the board meeting, I asked a couple of commissioners why they voted affirmatively when they had told me earlier they didn’t like giving themselves such perks. The two I asked both said they actually had voice voted in the negative.

At that point, I asked the chairwoman if she had erred in declaring the motion had carried by a majority. A subsequent informal roll call vote revealed a 4-4 tie, which meant the motion actually had been defeated, by board statutes.

I then asked to have the board go back into open session, conduct a roll call vote and rectify the error of the official declaration of majority approval. So the board had to back peddle and correct its error. And the four who supported an expenses paid trip to Mackinac Island and the four who opposed now officially were on record. The motion was defeated, thereby saving Barry County taxpayers the admittedly minor expense of funding the commissioners’ perks.

I was told by a board member that many commissioners used that Mackinac Island excursion as vacation for their families or friends and their commitment to attending classes was minimal at best. As a result, several of the members of the Barry County Board of Commissioners took a disliking to me and subsequently marginalized me as a troublemaker and a gadfly.

Fast forward to today and I can say this is one reason I won’t support Fred Upton, a congressman who tells everybody he’s a moderate and has run ads thanking him for his support of health care, yet his voting record suggests he only does the bidding of his party bosses and his campaign donors. His latest example was his support of the reckless and fiscally irresponsible tax cut that benefits the rich and corporations and does very little for middle class working stiffs.

So when I watched and listened to all the Democratic candidates at the congressional forum last April at Wayland Middle School, I came to the conclusion that I could support any one of them rather than the slick and untruthful Upton.

My favorite among the seven back then, now whittled down to four, was and continues to be David Benac. I like his youthful exuberance, his being a history professor at Western Michigan University and his understanding of the real issues facing the people of Southwest Michigan. It is my firm belief that anyone who serves as a lawmaker should have a solid grasp of history in the hopes that we aren’t condemned to repeating the mistakes of the past.

Benac, just for starters, is an unapologetic supporter of a single payer, Medicare-for-All health care system. Medicare is the most popular government program in U.S. history, other than Social Security. And study after shows it would be cheaper than our current for-profit system that remains the most expensive in the world.

I also took a liking to George Franklin as a candidate. But I would back Rich Eicholz and Matt Longjohn as well.

However, my first choice would be Benac in the daunting, but heroic task of unseating a phony moderate Republican who has been our congressman for the last 32 years, but for the life of me I can’t see what he’s done for us.

No wonder Congress has such a low overall approval rating.