| What would you call someone who had a string of personal ethical lapses in the past, and didn't seem to learn because they appear to be continuing? You'd call him Brian Banks, state House candidate. The Freep reports on the story of how he was once convicted of a number of fraud-related crimes and after saying he turned over a new leaf it turns out that he didn't. You'd also call him Jase Bolger, who was sued and had liens placed on his business by the state and federal governments. He wasn't caught, however. He was just elected to office, and moved right up the ranks until he became -- ta-da -- Speaker of the House. There, he was caught up in an election rigging scheme involving the now-politically dead Roy Schmidt. What's the connection? Well, the one appears to have interested the state's political media, which is good. The other appears to have bored the state's political media, which is terrible. Past is prologue, folks, and this stuff does matter (we note that one of the people running the Jackson operation of the MLive media group published a column today or yesterday saying that you could tell a lot about a public official by how they handled being called out for their missteps). In fact, it ought to matter a lot more for Jase Bolger than it does for Brian Banks, because Bolger is currently serving as the House Speaker. By the way, benevolent overlord Rick Michigan cut a radio spot for Bolger. If you want to appear to stay above the fray and out of the political nonsense, governor, why would you endorse a guy currently under investigation for possibly enticing someone to commit perjury? Just asking. |
