I’m sorry we paused in our union-crushing, women’s rights ending crusade…

Late in the afternoon on Friday when most people were thinking more about their summer weekend ahead and not about state politics, Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger gave the apology version of the Friday afternoon “news dump”. In a piece published in the Detroit Free Press and put online at 2:56 p.m., he “apologized”.

I recently made a mistake when state Rep. Roy Schmidt left the Democratic Party because of its lack of focus on results. My mistake was being drawn in to political gamesmanship. We lost focus on lowering the unemployment rate, eliminating chronic structural deficits and making sweeping reforms that were needed for state government. Politics is highly competitive. I sought to compete within the rules. An independent investigation has confirmed that no laws were broken and no rules were violated when Roy Schmidt switched parties. But, looking back now, I realize we should have held ourselves to a higher standard than just following the rules. {…} I’m disappointed in myself and I apologize to the voters for my temporary lack of focus. We have much work yet to do to address the issues facing Michiganders, including the economy, jobs and making government more efficient and effective when spending their hard-earned tax dollars. I remain committed to addressing those issues and to never forgetting that is where our attention should always be turned.

Here’s the shorter version of that so you don’t need to click through to read the entire non-apology apology:

I’m really sorry I got busted for acting in such a shockingly unethical and crassly political way. However, you can’t pin anything illegal on me (maybe Roy Schmidt or that kid, but not ME) so move along, there’s nothing to see here. It’ time for us to get back to the people’s business of crushing unions, denying women their rights to legal medical procedures and to make medical decisions for themselves and to privatizing every public service that isn’t nailed down to our buddies in the business sector.

Well, I for one, am not going to be brushed off QUITE so easily. Despite the fact that Bolger now has his Republican caucus circling the wagons around him and the fact that his buddy Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson seems totally uninterested in pursuing this issue despite the glaring evidence that Bolger and Schmidt engaging in egregiously unethical, if not illegal behavior, I am not content to let this pass.

I am asking everyone in Michigan to contact your state House Representative (there’s an easy website for doing that HERE) and ask them to DEMAND the resignation of House Speaker Bolger. The man is not fit to hold office much less a leadership position. If your Representative if a Republican and they protect Bolger, please send me a copy of their response to you (you can do that HERE.)

I want to expose those who are covering up for Bolger because they are abetting his unethical and what should be illegal actions.

The Republican prosecuting attorney who investigated this is clearly nauseated by this saying, “Although this scheme by Rep. Schmidt and Speaker Bolger was clearly designed to undermine the election and to perpetrate a “fraud” on the electorate, it was nonetheless legal…Incredibly, while it would be illegal to pay a boxer to take a “dive” or a basketball player to “point-shave’, it is not currently a crime in Michigan to recruit someone to run for public office, place them on the ballot at the “eleventh hour” and essentially pay them to make no effort to win…As a Republican elected official, I am embarrassed and offeded by what transpired” and “I’m offended by what they tried to do here. They tried to undermine the very fabric of our country, which is a free election.”

We should ALL be offended by this and I have every intention of making sure none of us DOES move because there IS something to see here.

And it’s very, very ugly.