Joshua Pugh/Progress Michigan
Last Thursday, the MIRS Capitol newsletter reported that Rep. Pete Lund would be on Off the Record over the weekend defending the plan to gut Michigan’s model auto no-fault system. This would be out of character for Lund, who declined to write an op-ed in the Detroit News defending his bill that would rig Michigan’s electoral votes so Republicans always win. Of course, Rep. Lund didn’t come up with these ideas on his own – the electoral vote-rigging scheme was cooked up by the RNC, and Michigan’s model auto no-fault system has long been a target of the insurance industry.
But when it was time to record Off the Record, it was an insurance industry lobbyist who showed up, not Rep. Lund – and not Rep. Lisa Lyons, the show’s first choice.
Another lobbyist, who was arranging the interview, claimed it wouldn’t work with their schedules. Presumably Rep. Lund would have said the same thing about his refusal to defend electoral college rigging in the pages of the Detroit News. But what does it say that of the dozens of other Republican politicians who support the plan to end auto no-fault in the state, not one was willing to face a panel of journalists and answer questions about the scheme.
The fact is, cutting people off from lifetime care would only affect a tiny percentage of people in the state – but they’re the people who most desperately need care, and would face bankruptcy from millions in medical bills if this privately-funded safety net was destroyed. People with disabilities, their caretakers and families deserve better than games from insurance industry lobbyists.
Whether or not Lansing politicians realize it now, they’ll face accountability from voters in just a few months, over this and the other corporate handouts they’ve forced through the legislature. Hopefully they keep that in mind as they consider whether to support this latest attacking on Michigan’s working men and women.
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