The mayor of Troy, Michigan, Janice Daniels, a proud member of the tea party, updated her Facebook status in June with this:
“I think I’m going to throw away my I love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married.”
She refused to apologize for this insulting public statement until this morning.
Daniels apologized for the comment on the Charlie Langton show this morning.“I absolutely do regret it, I shouldn’t have used such language, and while I do believe marriage should be between one man and one woman, it was inappropriate to use that language…For me to have said it, it was a poke in the eye and it was inappropriate and I do apologize.“It was meant to be a joke, just a funny, just a poke, just a silly thing.”
Better late than never. No word on whether or not she’s changed her views on whether or not homophobic comments are still “a joke” or are “funny”.
In a related story, Daniels and several Troy City Council members are trying to scuttle a new mass transit development in their metro Detroit suburb.
After a decade of planning, a transit center tying together train, bus, taxi and future light rail service in Troy appeared to be near fruition this fall.The facility is supposed to open by October 2013, but a shakeup at City Hall has put construction in doubt. Mayor Janice Daniels, elected last month on a tea party platform, and several City Council members want Troy to halt the project, forfeiting $8.4 million in federal funds and ownership of the 3-acre site.
The City Council approved an agreement with the Michigan Department of Transportation in September that requires the city to award a contract for architectural and engineering services by mid-December. The council is to vote on the contract Dec. 19.
“If we don’t move forward, the project won’t move forward,” said Councilwoman Maureen McGinnis. “The process that we went through to be selected for the grant was arduous. To get this far and essentially drop the ball would be a definite black eye.”
Daniels said the federal government is already trillions of dollars in the hole and she doesn’t want to accept its “debt money” to fund the project.
There is no question about her tea party credentials, I’ll say that much. Fighting against an investment that could ultimately help revive the economy in her region simply because she doesn’t like President Obama’s attempt to jump start the economy is tea party purity at its finest.
