A couple of pieces arrived in our mail box today. One, a bright and positive, informative piece, came from Vicki Barnett’s local campaign. The other, which imposed Paul Welday’s photo at the bottom of a pile of trash (he has lobbied on behalf of trash haulers), came from the state Democratic party.
Barnett has made a point that Welday, up until recently, had a career as a lobbyist. Considering that he has made a great deal of her actions as a former mayor and council members, his career – former or not – is fair game. The piece makes the point that lobbyists are what’s wrong with Lansing, and lots of people would probably agree. But there are more reasonable ways to make the point.
The state Democratic Party also screwed up my primary vote, by stomping their feet over an election date, so I wasn’t happy with them from the start. Seeing that trashy mailer sealed the deal. This is the same kind of garbage being churned out by the state Republican party. And it’s time for these people to stop taking us down this “we’re the good guys, they’re the bad guys” road.
I hope Barnett stands up to the state party about this, especially since that fuzzy picture of Welday under the trash heap is no better than the piece he put out on her. But I do give her credit for this: She has thus far kept her local house in order. The Welday mailer, the one featuring an unflattering photo of Barnett (detailed here) came from his local campaign office.
–Joni Hubred-Golden
Publisher, The Enterprise
