Governor Rick Snyder has been catching heat of late because he and his policies and his cronies and his pimps have literally poisoned an entire swatch of people in the state he is charged to govern. Before the nation learned about how terrible a person Snyder was, he and his fellow Republicans hijacked and passed Senate Bill 571:
What started out as a fairly innocuous campaign finance bill that initially got unanimous support in the Senate, was totally changed at the last minute in the House late Wednesday to include several more controversial provisions, including one that bans using public dollars or resources to educate the public about ballot proposals in the 60 days leading up to an election.
That provision was added without any public hearings or notice to the parties that will be most affected by the legislation.
How awesome is this bill?
“Local governments already are prevented by state law from using persuasive language to convince voters to approve a millage increase or special millage request. But voters have a right to know why the representatives they placed in office have placed an item on the ballot for their consideration,” said Dana Gill, director of governmental affairs for MAC.
“The new language does not allow any communication between local governments and their citizens within two months of an election,” she added. "There is no compelling public interest served by this restriction.”
Considering that there were already pre-existing laws in place to stop public monies being used to influence “yes” or “no” votes, this language seemed so strange. School officials and local government officials didn’t find it strange at all. They are in agreement—this bill is terrible and they have filed a federal lawsuit to block the law from taking affect this March.
The same afternoon the lawsuit was filed, Rep. Holly Hughes, R-Montague, and Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, each introduced legislation to amend the section of the law under scrutiny. Their bills would appear to negate this section and allow public officials to share "factual information on any legislation up for a public vote."
Republicans don’t want to totally give in and admit that they’re just straight-up, no-holds-barred shills, and right now, having literally poisoned people, they have to give ground—most people in Michigan are seeing the Republican Party for what they are:
“There’s some that want a total repeal. That’s not going to happen. And I think that this is a good compromise,” Hughes told 24 Hour News 8 on Tuesday. “I think it does make sense to have some kind of provisions on how you spend public dollars, for sure.”
Classic Republicans. Just cause you did something totally idiotic and actually un-American doesn’t mean you have to admit you’re wrong. Now’s a time to compromise? Republican compromises in Michigan mean children poisoned with lead in their drinking water.