When you have a segment of the population that had not traditionally paid taxes on something, only to turn around the next day and see them pay ($538-million isn't exactly chump change), what makes anyone think that there won't be any political blowback in November?

A warning made by Pastor Niemöller is coming to mind here.

The governor may not be too interested in getting re-elected, but I can guarantee you that those colleagues of yours who aren't termed out feel a hell of a lot differently on that subject.

Pooh-poohing the tie-bar aspect is also a little disconcerting.

The standard line that I've been hearing from a number of officials leading up to last week was that these bills were all part of a total package, and they had to all be approved for the package to go through (a fact reinforced by Rep. Knollenberg at the Troy Area Tea Party last week).

This was never the case.

You want to talk about "black helicopters"? If the Michigan Legislature's own website is now the equivalent of TinFoilHat.com, exactly who looks bad here; a resident relying on your own official record when looking up information on sessions and pending bills or the legislators who are purportedly in charge?

Finally, you want honesty regarding the end result? Okay, here it is.

You passed a series of bills to lower and simplify taxes on Michigan businesses.

Kudos. I never disagreed with that before, and I have no reason to start now.

In that same package, you also passed a totally unrelated and unnecessary pension tax.