The dust has settled. The lame ducks are back home for the
holidays where they belong and we are left to ponder why they came back
in the first place.
While the debate rages on regarding the sobriety of lawmakers
returning to work after the election when some of them are not coming
back next year, the senate Republicans blinked and decided to return
after proudly announcing two weeks ago they were done for the year.
Not quite.
When they scadaddled at 4:30 am, the house stayed to work and
when somebody finally figured it out, there were 13 bills that would
normally be on their way to the governor for her signature, but the
senate…well the senate messed up.
The GOP forgot to complete one final step in the process and
without that, those bills would have died on the vine.
"Our caucus decided to come back," Sen. Alan Cropsey explains
rather matter-a-factly.
They were "inept," the new senate Democratic leader Gretchen
Whitmer saw it from a different angle.
She argues the senate made a mistake and came back into town to
do a make good.
"We did not mess up," Senator One-Note Cropsey shot back.
And he then proceeded to blame House Democrats claiming the
lofty senators did not want to "stay around and wait while the House
diddled."
So they left.
Poor babies. They did not want to stay up so late.
So when the goof was discovered they came back and finished most
of those bill and worked almost half a day to wrap up other stuff….a
full four hours.
Wow-we-wow.
A frustrated governor Granholm was given a chance to take a
swipe at these guys for going home when the Congress in Washington was
working day in and day out during its Lame Duck.
"Don't get me started," she backed away from the chance.
What did she mean?
"I'm not going to be critical," she noted in keeping with the
time of the year.
What she should have said was, this is a full time legislature;
they should not have left in the first place and should work til the
end of the year like all the other working folks in this state.
But she didn't, but you knew she was itching to say it.