If the Granholm inner circle had an "enemies list" ala the Nixon White House years ago, one name would most certainly be near the top:  Rep. Rick Jones a former gun slinger/sheriff turned GOP lawmaker from Charlotte who continues to shoot from the lip and the Granholm crowd is not amused every time it gets winged.

   Jones has made a career out of lambasting the new state police headquarters in downtown Lansing, but now he is on the prowl to eliminate what's left of the First Gentleman's office.

   It's an office that started out with three employees but to save money it is down to one but Jones wants to make it none and he said so in a widely circulated press release the other day.  It immediately captured the  imagination of the media in that it was a simple-minded idea that even non-political reporters could comprehend.

    No one bothered to ask what impact shuttering the office would have on the state's ballooning $1.8 billion deficit?  Apparently that was irrelevant in the Jones vs. Dan Mulhern saga which Mulhern made even worse by acknowleding the attack.

    During a contentious exchange on the Frank Beekmann broadcast on WJR radio last week, Jones and Mulhern went back and forth.  An experated First Gentleman sounded more like the First Prosecutor as he challenged Jones, "Don't you start lying.  I never made a penny from the state and unless you want to see me in court, you watch what you are saying."

    Jones loved it.

    Not only did Jones, the consumate publicity seeker, get a pop from his original press release but now Mulhern was helping Jones to get another one.

    Mulhern is a good guy and is dedicated to turning the state around and has his heart in the right place.  But he should remove the number 760 from his radio dial or at least stuff something in his ears when the conservative radio bunch go after him.  He can never change any of those listner's mind and by taking the bait, he merely re enforces their anti-Granholm attitude which is exists in right wing radio land.