Whoa, I thought I was hardcore when it came to holding our elected officials accountable for the messes they create.

Last week, letter writer Charles Sornig proposed a novel way to ensure that politicians show up to cast their votes in the Capitol rotunda instead of skipping out of town.
Sornig is angry (as are many, many people) that when a state is in as bad of mess as Michigan, state officials shouldn’t be closing the Capitol doors behind them as they jaunt up to Mackinac Island for “deliberations” on an $800 million (and rising, but we hear different numbers every week) deficit.

Perhaps our senators and representatives forgot that the founding fathers bolted all the doors in the sweltering Philadelphia heat (with only hand fans and powdered wigs) until they could come to consensus on a little document called the U.S. Constitution. They sure weren’t pulling a someplace and Somewhere in Time (you know, the 1980 movie that really made Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel famous?) with a Jane Seymour statue out on the lawn.

I suppose I, and maybe Mr. Sornig and others, could excuse the excursion if our officials had actually balanced the budget, completely funding our schools and programs to the levels they had originally promised, or solved all the problems of the universe.

But all that happened was that both sides said they were still too far apart with the other side and more discussion was needed.

To compel our leaders to actually sit in Lansing and conduct the state’s business, Sornig proposes that if anyone one of our elected leaders “misses more than five votes without a good reason should have the money deducted from their pay and put back in the general fund.”

Sornig also thinks that if they miss more than 15 votes, politicians “should be replaced by the opponent who ran against you when you were elected to office. Sounds fair to me, how about you?”

Sorry, it doesn’t.

That would necessitate handing the position to someone from an opposing political party, and the voters elected the official to be deposed in part (or wholly) due to party affiliation. I don’t think the voters, or a particular party, should be punished for the officials deficiencies. But I like were you’re going with this.

I say if we wanted to impose a real deterrent, we should give the position to their spouse — doesn’t the spouse always know more anyway? If that doesn’t work we can always try powdered wigs.

New to the VIEW
As most of you in the community are aware, former Managing Editor Patrick Hayes is on a sojourn of self-discovery.

Patrick, who had been with the Grand Blanc VIEW since its inception and helped establish the foundation of our community coverage, has moved on to explore other opportunities. Last we heard, he was trekking through Tibet with a Llama. We wish him well in his search.

Writer Kelly Skarritt is the newest member of the VIEW Editorial staff. Kelly comes to the VIEW from the Holly Community Voice, with experience in government and education reporting and a slew of other community journalism topics.

Kelly, like the rest of the VIEW writers, will be at the local school board and city council meetings, taking photos at school functions and social events, grilling politicians or writing features while doing her bright-eyed and enthusiastic best to bring to you, our readers, the latest community developments.

While staying out the Llamas path, of course.

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