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The House of DillonBy leondrolet, Section News
The phone call came less than two hours before our scheduled press conference in the State Capitol Building, where Rose Bogaert and I were set to announce the results of the petition drive to force a recall election of House Speaker Andy Dillon. The call was from Capitol Facilities, who awkwardly and contritely informed me that the room in the Capitol Building reserved for our press conference was, ahh, well, umm... "no longer available". In fact, I was informed that no room in the Capitol Building was available for our press conference, despite the fact that the room had been reserved for weeks.
Rose, Chair of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association, and I had to move the press conference outside the Capitol and call reporters during the lunch hour to inform them of the last-minute change. Fortunately, word spreads quickly among the tight-knit Lansing press corps and the conference was well covered. Later, on the floor of the House of Representatives, a reporter asked Speaker Dillon why the campaign to recall him from office was not allowed to hold a press conference inside a Capitol room. Dillon's response says it all: "They want to have a press conference in one of my rooms? Yeah, right." His rooms. His Capitol. His government. His, and not yours.
Never mind that citizens' taxes built and restored the Capitol, and pay for its' utilities, staff and maintenance; it belongs to Andy Dillon. Dillon's arrogant sense of entitlement permeates Lansing, where lawmakers are wined and dined. These lawmakers receive tributes and awards from special interest lobbyists who laugh at their every joke and feign interest in their long-winded stories. They become seduced into believing that Lansing, and the Capitol Building, really is all about them.
Is it any wonder that these politicians, when faced with tough economic choices, choose to protect what they own? And what they own is the status-quo in Lansing. To protect their status quo, they decided to take more of what they think they are entitled to - your money. That is how the legislature and Governor Granholm ended up raising the tax on your income and on businesses by $1.4 billion, while also increasing the legislature's own budget by seven percent. The announcement at the press conference? Over 15,000 citizens in Andy Dillon's district signed the petition to recall him from office. It seems that they want their House back.
Leon Drolet
The House of Dillon | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
The House of Dillon | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden)
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