STATE REPRESENTATIVE BARB BYRUM (D-ONONDAGA)

Back on September 28th State Representative Barb Byrum came clean with voters in her District when she told the press that she was at fault for the impending first-ever government shutdown.  

Byrum was pessimistic about averting a partial government shutdown.

"This is a shameful time, especially for elected officials because we have failed to do our job, and we are all to blame," she said.

Byrum said she is prepared to raise taxes but insists that the Legislature needs to look for ways to cut spending and make sure government is running efficiently.

See?  Byrum is one Democrat who's capable of being honest.  These days.  One wonders what might have happened, though, if she'd been honest with voters in the 67th from the very start.  Often times we have to go back to media accounts and candidate questionnaires to find out how a candidate felt or talked or acted before residents sent them to Lansing.  But through the miracle of the internets and the youtubes we can listen to Barb tell the story herself.  

Hear that?  She represents a VERY conservative District (which elected a Democrat in 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000...well... you get the idea) and for the Democrats to take back the House last year they had to look at those targeted districts and... pause... think better of what you're about to say... pause... pretend to be conservative.  At least until a "great bill" comes before your committee, right?

So Baby Byrum (her mother held her seat before she did) told voters that she wasn't really that liberal.  She's pro-gun.  She's pro-business.  Really, honest, she is.  Her taxpayer funded website contains proclamations like these:

"Rewarding companies that invest in Michigan and create good-paying jobs is key to moving our state forward," Byrum said.

She consoles folks who've lost their jobs by issuing press releases like this:

"Our economy is at a crossroads," Byrum said. "Our manufacturing sector is feeling global pressure like never before. If we want to be a leader in the global economy, it is absolutely vital that we invest in economic development programs like the 21st Century Jobs Fund and diversify our economy."

But does she mean those things?  Or is that just what a Democrat like Barb Byrum says when she's a part of an effort to win back or maintain a liberal majority in the House?  The true test of a legislator's standards, of course, is in her voting record.  

So lets start where Byrum started.  She's pro-business.  That's a good populist talking point.  Who isn't pro-business?  Barb Byrum, maybe?  What she forgot to tell everyone was that she's a law school grad and a J.D.  So it was no surprise that when push came to shove her pro-trial lawyer instinct somehow overcame her pro-business instinct and Byrum helped spearhead the Trial Lawyer Enhancement Act.

You remember that one.  That's the package of bills that would open up Michigan's life sciences companies to thousands of frivolous lawsuits.  The package of bills that's being pushed in the public eye by a woman claiming tearfully not to have any way to recover damages via a lawsuit when the whole time she was already suing the Michigan company via the courts in New Jersey... and winning.

That's the package of bills that puts over 50,000 hi-tech, high paying jobs of the future at risk.  Not particularly pro-business.  And this wasn't an isolated Byrum snafu.  Heavens no.  Baby B also sponsored the recent House legislation banning bars and restaurants from offering their customers smoking and nonsmoking sections.  

But that's all fun and games compared to the Representative's efforts amidst the government shutdown for which she so hontestly took credit.  Barb Byrum voted YES to raise the income tax on struggling moms and dads in Michigan by $800 million.  Then she voted YES to raise the sales tax on services by over $1.5 BILLION.  All to fund the largest budget in the history of the State of Michigan.  Hardly pro-business.

But hey, she's a conservative!  A conservative who was endorsed by the radical gay-special-rights publication Pride Source, endearing her to Democrat sugar daddy, gay activist, and Medicare defrauder Jon Stryker.  She paid Stryker back by sponsoring a bill that sought to codify homosexuality as a protected class on par with race and gender.

She's a conservative who's been a consistent and outspoken opponent of the right to life and a protector of the barbaric practice of partial birth abortion.  In fact, she's the only conservative endorsed by NOW, MIList and who's victory Emily's List proudly and publicly takes credit for.

Then again, it could be that she's not a conservative at all.  That she puts on the guise of a conservative to fool the good folks in the 67th.  I mean, how else can anyone win a targeted seat but by lying to the voters?