The term “coffee hour” hardly begins to describe what took place this morning. That’s the stuff of anywhere, not Saline. Other government officials when compared to our own Donna Lasinski. [1,2]
Event attendance numbers weren’t arresting, with less than a dozen at the outset, eventually doubling. Mostly older residents, with added headcount from the ranks of City Hall. At the same time, the character represented was of the sort on which we’ve reported previously. Informed and assertive. They’d come prepared to engage, posing specific questions from an impressive variety of angles. [3]
As always, Michigan House District 52 Representative Lasinski meshed with this as if by design. The last quarter century of casting politics as sport has risked masking places where government as designed is working where people who approach it as a profession serve. That was the tenor of this room — rather like so many of fine extended dialogues in The West Wing (before Sam left the series). [4,5]
Or, if you prefer, when Brian Lamb was in ascendency on air and at the helm of C-SPAN. [6,7]
Representative Lasinski opened with comments about current events that are clearly weighing heavily on her mind. Noting that “in the Session we just ended, 57% of the legislation passed came through in the last three weeks,” she stated her belief that lame duck initiatives are neither “productive” nor “ethical.” Going on to explain that its original intent had been to allow for elected officials’ travel in a bygone era and to deal with emergencies, it has “morphed into a political hot box.” [8-11]
She went on to anticipate that the “biggest change we’re going to see is how legislators work with a governor of a different party” here in Michigan. On a larger landscape, “we are in an uncertain revenue picture with the [partial federal] government shutdown.” [12-14]
After those customary opening remarks, along with those of Saline Mayor Brian Marl and Representative Lasinski, the floor was opened to questions and that drove the balance of this hour. [15]
Early inquiry focused on concern about pollutants in Michigan water. Representative Lasinski began her response by suggesting that the federal regulatory context be viewed in terms of having set minimum standards. These address issues of the states in aggregate. From there, Michigan legislators must consider unique characteristics of our state. “We carry more waste. We live in our houses longer. We enjoy outdoor life more,” she observed. “So we are in contact with our water more; there is more exposure. [16,17]
With all these factors, we need higher standards. Success in dealing with 1,4 dioxane is an example of addressing need. [18]
From there discussions meandered through passage of Proposal 2 last November, City of Saline interest in expanding its own historic district and the role of tax credits as impetus for buy-in, and electric vehicle incentives. Each was dispatched with similar depth and top-of-mind detail. [19-26]
Saline Police Chief Jerrod Hart then asked questions, following up more particularly in dialogue with Donna Lasinski on both implementation of Proposal 1 and asset forfeiture as a tool for law enforcement. [27-33]
Noting that “it took ten years to come up with legislation for medical marijuana,” she anticipated that “we’ll see recreational come around quicker.” The Representative went further to detail a five-tier structure of “checks and balances” that delineate the key aspects of growing, testing, processing, transporting and selling, noting, “you can’t do any two that are next to each other on this list.”
Although billed as a public forum featuring both State Representative Lasinski and our mayor, coming as it did so soon after his State of the City Message delivered a mere four days prior, Brian Marl deliberately took a seat shortly after introductions. This deference is worth highlighting for the constituent-focused act that it was. The word gracious comes to mind.
Revisiting attendance numbers, it’s easy to empathize with those who chose to pass on this with rationalizations of having heard it all before, pigeonholing it as politics, or having thought reading summary after just as good. Besides, I wouldn’t know what to ask! Consistently, we haven’t seen the latter as a problem for Saline exchanges of this type: All questions are taken, and those just along for the ride can rest assured that many others who’ll attend will not.
More particular to this appearance, there is a predictable depth and interplay among content points that simply can’t replace being there — present coverage by Saline Journal notwithstanding.
Besides— in addition to both delivering a full hour (and more, for those who were interested), as promised, and coffee, a delicious selection of fresh donuts was offered as well.
References
- “Donna Lasinski: District 52” Michigan House Democrats.
- “Exclusive Interview With Donna Lasinski, Democrat Party Candidate For 52nd State House District In Michigan” Dell Deaton (October 19, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Take Note: Programming Standards For Saline Area Senior Center Reflect High Expectations Of Their Community As A Whole” Dell Deaton (August 14, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “The West Wing” IMDb.
- “A Definitive Ranking of Every Character on The West Wing” Joe Reid, David Sims, and Kevin O’Keeffe (September 12, 2014) The Atlantic.
- “August 1999 Interview with Brian Lamb” Michael H Ebner (1999) Indiana University Bloomington.
- C-SPAN (home page).
- “Lame duck” Merriam-Webster.
- “Six bills that died in Michigan’s lame-duck Legislature” Beth LeBlanc and Jonathan Oosting (December 21, 2018) The Detroit News.
- “Michigan Legislature Races Clock to Finish Lame-Duck Session” (December 19, 2018) US News & World Report.
- “The most controversial bills in Michigan’s lame duck legislature” Paul Egan and Kathleen Gray (December 4, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
- “Final 2018 Season Washtenaw Economic Club Luncheon Sought To Explain Impact Of November 6 Mid-Term Election Results” Dell Deaton (November 9, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Government Shutdown 2019, 2018, and 2013 Explained” Kimberly Amadeo (January 11, 2019 The Balance.
- “What’s closed during the partial government shutdown?” Kathryn Watson, Kris Van Kleave, and Arden Farhi (January 9, 2019) CBS News.
- “The first Saline Council Meeting of 2019 told a tale of two cities (and quite likely a good number more than that)” Dell Deaton (January 8, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “House Bill 4205 (2017)” Michigan Legislature.
- “Republicans: Michigan shouldn’t regulate more strictly than Washington” Jim Malewitz (December 10, 2018) Bridge.
- “DEQ finalizes new rule to make safer dioxane standard more permanent” Ryan Stanton (October 31, 2017) mLive.
- “Proposal to end gerrymandering resonated in red and blue Michigan” Mike Wilkinson (November 9, 2018) Bridge.
- “Michigan’s anti-gerrymandering proposal is approved. Now what?” Paul Egan (November 8, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
- “What is Gerrymandering?” (March 19, 2018) Information Station.
- “Saline Local Historic Districts” Saline.
- “Historic Preservation Tax Credits” Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
- “Michigan lame ducks failed state on historic tax credit” John Gallagher (December 27, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
- “It’s Important to Understand What Being a ‘Smart City’ Means to Saline, Part 3” Dell Deaton (April 20, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Future of electric-car tax credit up in the air” Keith Laing (October 18, 2018) The Detroit News.
- “Police Department” Saline.
- “Jerrod Hart” Twitter.
- “Q&A: Everything you need to know about the marijuana legalization proposal in Michigan” Amy Biolchini (October 31, 2018) mLive.
- “Michiganders can still be arrested for marijuana after Proposal 1” Kathleen Gray (November 8, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
- “Michigan approves recreational marijuana. What you need to know” Chastity Pratt Dawsey and Alexandra Schmidt (November 6, 2018) Bridge.
- “2018 Asset Forfeiture Report (Covers Jan 1, 2017 through Dec 31, 2017)” Kriste Kibbey Etue (June 30, 2018) State of Michigan, Department of State Police.
- “Where Michigan Stands on Civil Asset Forfeiture” Jarret Skorup (July 17, 2018) Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
