State Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, has recently taken heat for a fundraising email in which he asked for donations by using the specter of President Biden “forcing 5-year-olds to learn about gender reassignment surgeries, gender identities, and other radical ideas” that Barrett finds “sick and twisted.”
Barrett, who is hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin in November, is likely hoping voters think about his email’s imaginary kiddie gender reassignment surgery crisis instead of his recent votes against bringing thousands of new, good-paying, high-tech jobs to the 7th District.
There has been a lot of outrage and media coverage of Barrett’s fund-raising email, and rightly so. It’s sprung from a QAnon-fueled lie begetting a GOP-contrived crisis, and it feeds right into the current Republican freakout du jour that the party hopes propels it to victory. What that crazy email doesn’t do, however, is talk about Barrett doubling down on voting against thousands of jobs.
Make that 5,000 jobs.
And that, dear reader, is quite possibly the point.
Barrett and his fellow Republicans want voters to look at the crazy, shiny object they’re waving about instead of realizing that he who wants to replace the hard-working Slotkin in D.C. has voted against their economic interests as well as that of the future of the environment FIVE TIMES.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is once again making sure mid-Michigan voters don’t forget that. They’ve run a second billboard near the state Capitol reminding residents how Barrett voted in April. The first run of billboards appeared in the district in February, and I am guessing the latest ones won’t be the last.
So, why would Barrett cast a vote against the interests of the people he wants to represent? I can understand philosophical differences on the value of economic incentives, but we live in a world in which everyone else is using them to lure high-value projects. So why shouldn’t Michigan? Why doesn’t Barrett believe Michiganders deserve these jobs?
And I can only respect philosophical votes if they’re consistent. While Barrett has said economic incentives are akin to “bribing corporations,” he voted in March for just such a “bribe” in the form of a $50 million state subsidy to help construct a facility near Evart to harvest food-grade salt and American potash — one of three key elements in fertilizer.
If I were a state legislator, I would have gladly voted for the legislation enabling incentives for BOTH projects because of the immense benefits each brings: the EV plant and FIVE THOUSAND jobs will help so many families in mid-Michigan, and potash harvesting will provide cheaper fertilizer to farmers and help free the U.S. from importing over 90% of the mineral from other countries — including Russia.
Both projects are win-wins in my book, so why Barrett thinks one is corporate “bribing” and the other a great idea has me scratching my head.
But, hey, don’t think about that stuff! Just look at the shiny ball in Barrett’s hand that says the Dems want to perform gender reassignment surgery on little kids!!
