About L.A.W.


  • MOTTO: Qui male agit odit lucem. ("He who does evil despises the light.")

  • PUBLISHER: Local Area Watch, Inc. ~ a Michigan non-profit corporation ~ Copyright 2002-2007

  • STAFF: William Tingley, Executive Director ~ Bridget Tingley, Editor ~ Mary Hines, Office Manager ~ Robert Harrison, Photographer

  • CONTACT INFO: Local Area Watch Inc. ~ 1009 Ottawa Avenue, N.W. ~ Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503 ~ ph 616-458-3125 ~ fx 616-454-9958

Highlights

  • Bio-Tech Blather
    Watch your wallets, boys and girls. The politicians and the corporate panhandlers are about to put a big bet on the bio-tech boom with your tax dollars and charitable donations.
  • Dumping Scandal FAQ's
    Answers to the main questions about the dumping of hazardous waste at the Monroe Avenue Water Filtration Plant and other dumpsites.
  • Gutless U-M Caves on Bronzes
    Art endures, if obscured, in that grotty little fiefdom of intellectual poseurs and petty inquisitions that has become the University of Michigan.
  • Kent County Medical Examiner Compromised
    In a glaring conflict of interest, Kent County Medical Examiner Stephen Cohle whitewashes autopsies that could have revealed misconduct by Spectrum Health and Laboratory Pathologists, a staffing firm Cohle owns and operates.
  • Living Wage Kills Jobs
    City pols support a Marxist policy that, like all Marxist policies, hurt the very people they say it will help.
  • Local Prof Sez We're Bible-Beating Bigots
    Outspoken GVSU professor Ben Rudolph gets it wrong when he concludes that River City's "conservative" values are wrecking the local economy.
  • Lost Cause
    A story of how River City lost its way to a secure economic future.
  • Mayor Heartwell: The Best Investment in Town
    The mayor takes a campaign contribution from a lobbying firm and then awards it a $70,000 city contract.
  • Poison
    The nasty nature of the 26,000 tons of poison that The Boardwalk's developers dug up and then dumped upon the rest of us.
  • The Fixer
    A four-part series about the local attorney behind the demise of Autodie, Butterworth Hospital, Amway, and Old Kent. Warning: Strong accusations of corruption, greed, and skullduggery. Not for the feint of heart.
  • The Flying Monkey Brigade
    Lysenkoists now rule and dictate what citizens will and will not discuss as science in the public square -- especially, the public school classroom.
  • The Pig in the Python
    The dirty little secret behind the success and failure of every school reform that the education establishment, the public school bureaucrats, and the teachers unions will never reveal.
  • The Problem With Teachers
    Why teachers are the professionals least suited to run a school district -- or even a school.
  • Thirty-Six Bucks
    Balancing the City budget: Maybe it's time for those making a living on the taxpayer's dime to give up a little instead of sticking it to the taxpayer one more time.
  • Urban League Takes a Wrong Turn
    The Grand Rapids chapter of this venerable civil rights organization took a step backward with its dubious report finding institutionalized racism in area police forces.
  • When Will It Stop?
    Enough of the repulsive tactic of accusing everyone of bigotry who doesn't kowtow to the racemongers.
  • Who Tickets the Cops?
    State highway patrolmen flout the law on our freeways.
  • Yeah, and Summer is Hotter Than Winter
    The Grand Rapids Press ignores science to promote feel-good politics on the environment and becomes the watchdog that doesn't bark.

Government Links

Media Links

Public Interest Links

« LONDONISTAN, ITS NOT JUST FOR ROYALS ANYMORE | Main | HEARTWELL THE HYPOCRITE »

Aug 20, 2007

SAD SAK

Sad_sakAs many of you now know, State Representative Michael Sak (D-Grand Rapids) made a fool out of himself a month ago at the National Governors Association conference up in Traverse City.  It appears that Rep. Sak got liquored up and stumbling drunk, even bumping into a bus once or twice, at the Grand Traverse Resort.  He then tried to bully a state trooper into giving him a ride to his hotel room by telling the cop that he serves on the appropriations committee and so owes his job to him.

Well, there's something to be said for in vino veritas, and so the obnoxious behavior Sak displayed in the absence of sober restraints doesn't speak well of him.  Moreover, whether a happy drunk or an angry drunk, a 47-year-old man who is the speaker pro-tem of the House has no excuse for being a public drunk.  Of course, many Republicans are calling for Sak's head.  Well, no surprise there.  But maybe this is a matter best left for the Democratic leadership and ultimately the voters.

After all, the state trooper was not intimidated by Sak and properly reported the matter to his superiors.  So, no harm, no foul.  Sak apologized and took full responsibility for his actions (even if he obfuscated that by spinning his demands to the trooper as a thumb's up to the state police and later made the trite promise to seek "help" for his drinking problem, as though the devil was in the drink and not himself).  And finally House speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford) did boot Sak from the appropriations committee for the time being.

Let it end there and leave it to the voters come November 2008 should Sak decided to run for office again.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451e55369e200e54ee26b438834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference SAD SAK:

Comments

Praise the lord for term limits.

I'll drink to that, Joe. ;)

Regards,
Bill Tingley
Executive Director, L.A.W.

Just not in public.

--Nick
www.RightMichigan.com

True enough, Nick, at least if all you're going to do is bump into busses and harangue cops after having one too many. Back in the day, pols really knew how to make scandalously drunken spectacles of themselves, like Wilbur Mills sloshing around in one of the pools on the Mall with a stripper. The good ol' days. ;)

Regards, Bill

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment