So long, Leigh, and thanks for all the fish

by: Eric B.

Thu Jun 16, 2011 at 16:39:49 PM EDT

Update! ... For those of you who object to talking about this in the first place, Joe D. and Tony T. on First Shift with Tony Trupiano just had a conversation about the schism in the progressive community about the recall (I, obviously, am one of the "no"s on the question of whether to recall benevolent overlord Rick Michigan). You can listen to their conversation, before Joe D. got lost, via podcast.

I remember when Progress Michigan first came on the scene waaaaaaay back in the middle part of the last decade. Back then, they had three employees: Dan Farough, Julelyn Gibbons (Liberal Lucy to you and me), and Leigh Fifelski. Over the years, the employee pool over at Progress Michigan expanded and changed. Julielyn and Dan were replaced by Chad Cyrowski and David Holtz, and the staff grew to include some of the Capitol-area's most beloved progressives (you people know who you are, and have in the past bought me coffee). These days, they occupy an entire floor above the Biggby in downtown Lansing, a place where I've spent part of both afternoons that I've attended rallies on the Capitol lawn (one time, they gave me a dark corner where I enjoyed a nice sandwich and lent me a laptop).

If you don't know Leigh, you might have seen her at the Capitol rallies earlier this spring. She was there, and it appeared that she was helping to make the events come off smoothly. As I understand it, she'll be departing these fair lands for Texas sometime in the near future, which means that the complete turnover in Progress Michigan staff will have taken place. If you've ever followed the constant shifting of people about in Lansing, you'll know that this length of employment with one organization is fairly impressive in its length. Good luck to her and all her future endeavors.

Departures like this are always marked by some kind of event where people have drinks and swap kind words. Because you usually have to pay for those drinks and because I'm rarely filled with anything but malice and ill feelings, I make it a point to skip these things. Instead, as a going away gift, some kind words about her employer Progress Michigan and her boss David Holtz*.

Both of them were savaged in this blog post. Ironically, the person doing the savaging them did so because he or she felt that Holtz got something wrong about the recall of benevolent overlord Rick Michigan ... and then proceeded to make a series of factual errors in attacking him and Progress Michigan.

Everyone makes mistakes, and to question the motives of either David Holtz or Progress Michigan is, perhaps, precipitous. However, tiny non-profit Progress Michigan certainly does not speak for the state’s “liberals,” nor do its financial disclosures paint a picture of an entity whose mission is supported by the bulk of the group’s revenues. This is a pattern that is all-too-common in Michigan’s progressive community, and it’s disturbing. Holtz is certainly entitled to his opinion concerning the merits of the recall efforts. Conversely, it’s equally fair to bring into sharper relief the true nature and influence of Progress Michigan and its Executive Director. The “liberal group” David Holtz heads is his three-person staff.

Wow. Shorter that paragraph: "It might be premature to question Holtz's motives, but that won't stop me from impugning them." The entire thing is kind of like saying, "I've never heard of this so-called Audubon Society, I'm sure no one interested in bird-related issues listens to them anyway." Somewhere in there, an attack was launched on his paycheck, which is just about the awfulest thing you can do to someone over their online political activiities just because you disagree with them.

It would be one thing if Holtz had written something like that he thinks that benevolent overlord Rick Michigan is doing a fine, upstanding job working on behalf of the state's old and poor people, and making tireless efforts to bring the cost of a college education to affordable levels to persons hurt by the recession. Unfortunately, he committed the atrocity of suggesting that if the recall were successful that we'd be stuck with Gov. Brian Calley until 2014. What would prompt him to commit such an atrocity against mankind? The state constitution.

In case of the conviction of the governor on impeachment, (or) his removal from office, his resignation or his death, the lieutenant governor, the elected secretary of state, the elected attorney general and such other persons designated by law shall in that order be governor for the remainder of the governor’s term.

The bigger point, however, is under what circumstances it's appropriate to attack someone's paycheck for saying something disagreeable. The answer to that is, "it is never appropriate." As for the people whose work has been demeaned through guilt by association, those of us in the know can only offer a, "Yeah, wow, that's not right," especially when they're headed off after years of fine service.