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Tag: Basham

House Democrats pick vacation over economy, smoking ban

By Nick, Section News
Posted on Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 07:43:47 AM EST
Tags: Central Station, smoking ban, Monica Conyers, Andy Dillon, Basham, environmentalists, SVSU (all tags)

The good people organizing the big Earth Day celebration at Saginaw Valley State are going to be so disappointed.

Not only does a disproportionate amount of hot air continue to come pouring out of Lansing but now the Democrats in the House of Representatives are abandoning one of their cardinal issues, shelving plans to force small businesses to prohibit smoking on their own property. And SVSU's greenie crowd aren't the only ones up in arms.

According to the Detroit News:

Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, a leading proponent of the smoking ban, said lawmakers can work on more than a couple issues at a time.
"I'm OK with multi-tasking," Basham said. "When 3,000 people are dying in Michigan every year from secondhand smoke and smoking-related diseases are costing us billions a year for health care, we should find time to deal with this."

House Speaker Andy Dillon disagrees.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, said he has decided the House should zero in this spring on balancing the cash-strapped budget and creating jobs in the wounded economy.
"The smoking ban is an important issue, but jobs and the budget are more important right now," Dillon said. "I see us getting back to the smoking issue by summer."

Lansing has a weird complex where one minute they're not thinking things through enough and the next they're wearing grooves in the carpet with all of their back and forth. They've been discussing a complete workplace smoking ban for as long as I've been in the game and Dillon has made it a point of emphasis in the past.

Practically speaking, if they want to activity X in location Y, they've got the legislation ready to go. One reason they shelve it... even the Democrats, boasting an overwhelming partisan majority in the legislature, aren't on board with the concept. The votes just plain aren't there.

And Mr. Speaker? Lets stop blowing smoke at the press... you couldn't care less about jobs and the economy right now. The only thing on your caucus's mind this week is the legislative spring break on which you sent them. You're not focusing on one piece of legislation at the expense of the other. You're focusing on your tans.

Read on...

(13 comments, 555 words in story) Full Story