Last summer, I asked a very simple question: “Why is Virgil Smith still in the state Senate? Is it because he’s the Republicans’ useful Democratic idiot?” Democratic state Senator Virgil Smith was convicted of shooting up his wife’s car in a domestic dispute and is now behind bars. Until he resigned this past week, he continued to receive his state salary.
The state Senate, as everyone knows, is controlled by Republicans who have a super-majority. They could have tossed him out of office at any time, just like their colleagues in the House did with philandering hypocrites Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat. However, they declined to do that because he’s been such a loyal lapdog of theirs for so long and because having a criminal Democrat in office was their disgusting way of attempting to give Michigan Democrats a black eye. But the black eye is solely theirs since they held a 27-11 majority over Democrats the entire time Smith was in jail.
Now Michigan Republican Party Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel (they actually refer to her as the “Chairman“) is bizarrely calling for the Michigan Democratic Party reimburse the state for Smith’s wages:
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel on Thursday called on Michigan Democratic Party and the Senate Democratic Fund to reimburse Michigan taxpayers for the money paid to state Senator Virgil Smith since he started serving a 10-month prison sentence.
“The fact that Michigan taxpayers are still on the hook for another paycheck for Senator Smith while he sits in prison is outrageous,” McDaniel said. “This whole episode has been a disgrace, and we need to put it behind us. No more taxpayer resources should be spent paying the salary of a Senator who isn’t doing his job.”
The chutzpah is strong with this one.
The best response came from Michigan Democratic Party Press Secretary Paul Kanan:
Democrats will gladly consider the Chairwoman’s proposal as soon as Republicans reimburse Michigan taxpayers for the $134 million Senate Republicans wasted on their corrupt deal with GOP mega-donor Ron Boji for new luxury offices. Or we’d even settle for the $1.2 million Governor Snyder is billing the taxpayers for his criminal defense
Oof.
And that is your Laugh of the Day for Tuesday, April 5, 2016.
