STATE REPRESENTATIVE PAM BYRNES (D-LYNDON TOWNSHIP)

Pam lives on a small farm in Lyndon Township with her husband, Kent Brown. On their farm, they raise miniature donkeys and pygmy goats.  

Aww.  Isn't that rural, homey and genuine.  Unfortunately when you put Pam Byrnes on that farm with her farmer husband, the honest setting and the livestock one of those things just doesn't belong.  Can you guess which?

Representative Byrnes is one of those special public figures who's not just dishonest, she's not grounded.  And without grounding, foundations or principles you're left with one motivation... self interest.  She's also a woman who lost her first go-round in the district and felt the need to apparently... adjust... her opinions.  Something she had no qualms about doing.  And that makes Byrnes a pretty scary lady.

Lets start with that finger she's got in the wind, shall we?  And a prime example at that.  

Michigan's Single Business Tax.  Hated.  Reviled.  Despised.  A job killer.  Unanimous bipartisan support for it's repeal, right?  Wrong.  Rewind the tape a few years to the start of the real debate on the issue.  Some folks were clamoring for it's termination while others were arguing over whether or not it should be phased out by reducing rates.  The issue was such a hot button it even surfaced during Pam Byrnes primary run against David Nacht (you remember him, he's the cat Mark Schauer's anti-semite Chief of Staff tried to intimidate out of next years Congressional race).

Nacht favored a reduced rate but Byrnes?  According to the Michigan Daily:

Byrnes staunchly opposes any repeal of the single business tax under the current economic climate.

With a budget in crisis and growing demands for special interest cash she just couldn't fathom any sort of tax cut, even if it was long scheduled and the law of the land.

I disagree with her firmly on that position but hey, darn it all if she wasn't standing on principle.  Except...

Suddenly last year the issue exploded into a full-on economic supernova.  The SBT became synonymous with Michigan's rotten economy and Democrats hoping to avoid efforts to lay the blame on their incumbent governor quickly seized on the issue as the root of all of Michigan's economic problems.  And just like that Byrnes found herself with an entirely new outlook on the budget crisis.  

According to her own state funded website:

State Representative Pam Byrnes (D-Lyndon Township) today voted to repeal the state's Single Business Tax (SBT)...

"Our top priority must be job creation. Repealing the state's Single Business Tax will make Michigan a great place to do business."

Talk about doing a 180.  She goes even further on her personal website:

Pam Byrnes promotes policies that will spur economic development and provide incentives for local businesses to stay in Washtenaw County. She voted to get rid of the Single Business Tax and supports using tobacco settlement funds to invest in technology-based industries and research in Michigan.

Suddenly it isn't about state government's budget but instead about spurring economic development.  Hmm.  She pulled the old switcheroo on us.  

But hey, maybe I'm just cynical.  Maybe she actually has a more nuanced take on job creation and economic development these days and has grown as a person and a state legislator.  I mean, she's talking about promoting policies that spur economic development.  I'm sure she even voted against the massive Democrat tax hikes as they made their way through the House.

Except she didn't.

Pam Byrnes brags about job creation efforts and working with businesses one minute then knifes them in the back the next when it becomes a matter of protecting her favorite pet programs.  Byrnes voted YES on the Democrats massive $700 million sales tax on services and YES on it's $900 million compliance cost to taxpayers.  She went a step further and voted YES on the Democrat's $800 million income tax hike, already taking a chunk out of the paychecks of working moms and dads this Christmas.

What happened to that whole economic development angle?  Is she working for the Indiana and Ohio Chambers of Commerce?

Clearly she's a woman without an anchor.  Or is she.  There's one area in which Byrnes has been consistent all term long.  She knows how to take care of her friends.  Take her recent efforts on behalf of the radical gay special rights lobby.

Byrnes sponsored the legislation that sought to prevent bullying but only certain types of bullying.  See, there was a list of things you couldn't bully kids over.  Because saying "don't bully" isn't good enough.  And because we need a state law to tell kids not to bully.

The fact of the matter is that her legislation had nothing to do with bullying whatsoever.  Zilch.  Zero.  Nada.  It was a sham bill used by Byrnes in an attempt to become the first to codify sexual orientation as a protected class on par with race and gender.  

Of course we all know what it really was... political payback to Jon Stryker.  When the man isn't ripping off tens of millions from senior citizens he's buying elections to advance his narrow lefty special interest agenda.

Not that Pam Byrnes would admit it.  Grand Rapids WZZM 13 reports:

Byrnes said she thinks it is important to list specific characteristics that can motivate bullying behavior.

"If you have a vague law, it can be ignored," she said.

Yeah, she's right.  Saying "don't hit other people" is tough.  I mean, kids could misunderstand that.  It's best to say "don't hit Jimmy because he told Timmy he wanted a piece."  "Don't hit" just didn't do it.

Byrnes also backed HB 4044, a repeal of Michigan's FDA defense law and the Trial Lawyer Enhancement Act.  Which makes sense, since Byrnes is a lawyer by trade.  But it wasn't enough for her to try to open the flood gates for the ambulance chasers.  She was also a part of the majority that scuttled various (more than) common sense reforms.

State Reps. Tonya Schuitmaker, Tom Casperson and Bruce Caswell introduced amendments allowing victims to receive more of any settlement money they might win in court, creating a victims' fund from attorney fees and allowing courts to impose sanctions on trial lawyers and law firms caught ambulance chasing and initiating frivolous lawsuits among other things.

Each amendment went down to defeat at the hands of Associate Speaker Pam Byrnes and her reckless Dem. majority.  

Not only is the legislation they approved crippling to Michigan's life-science industry, but by voting down the amendments Byrnes went on record contradicting all of her statements claiming this legislation was about patients.  Clearly it was not about principle.  That's a concept entirely foreign to self serving liberals like Pam Byrnes.