Michigan lawmakers demonstrate why our new state bird should be the chicken – By M.L. Elrick (Detroit Free Press) / Nov 5, 2023
Michigan voters told state lawmakers to disclose details about their personal finances. Politicians are poised to provide little more than the bare minimum.
It’s been a year since state lawmakers considered replacing the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) as our state bird. That effort, like more meaningful endeavors such as expanding right to know laws, went nowhere.
Now that the Michigan Legislature (Turdus on de populace) finally unveiled a bill requiring state lawmakers to tell us something about where they get their dough, it has become clear the avian mascot that best suits them is a chicken.
Don’t bother getting your feathers ruffled defending pols considering how much information about their income and assets to disclose. They had no choice. Michigan voters are so evenly divided that Democrats ended up with only a two-member majority in the state House (56-54) and state Senate (20-18) after the 2022 elections. But two-thirds of those same voters (66.5%) supported a measure requiring state lawmakers to disclose personal financial information, which can be very helpful when it comes to spotting conflicts of interests and potentially dirty deals.
