Needless to say Rep. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) won't be getting any
invites to any Granholm going-away parties. He has been a pain in the
posterior to this governor for years and at one point, he claims, he
was even banned from attending any ceremonies with her.
And as she prepares to pack her bags, here comes Mr. Jones whacking
her one more time before she walks out the door.
He appeared on the Off the Record broadcast and the former sheriff
proudly announced he had caught the governor red-handed at trying to
shepard through some 11th hour pay raises for non-unionized state
workers.
"Shame on her," he lamented in front of the cameras.
The broadcast hit the Internet at noon and by sundown the 28 pay
raises went down with the sun as the gov's office dismissed it all as
just one grand "mistake" which the governor knew nothing about.
So who made the mistake?
How come the governor didn't know?
And if Jones had not blown the whistle would the gov's guys have
caught the "mistake?"
All darn good questions which lack sufficient explanation at this
point as the gov's office has buttoned its lip.
Jones, of course, is not buying the "governor-didn't-know" excuse
claiming the "buck stops with her."
The administration did reveal that the worker bees who got the
temporary raises, averaging about $4 thou apiece were, in some cases,
supervisors making less money that the folks they supervised.
It was a nice gesture to help them out, but Mr. Jones apparently
does not like nice gestures when the state is facing a crunching $1.6
billion deficit.
Score it Jones: 1. Gov. Granholm: Zippo.