Short-term Memories in the Legislature?

Since the release of two new accountabilty websites focused on providing citizens with a more comprehnesive look at the environmental records of elected officials, we've received some interesting responses.

First, Michigan LCV unveiled www.eyeonbishop.com on March 8, which examines the environmental record of Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester). Before even reading the contents of the site, Bishop called the site an "attack ad", referring to Michigan LCV as "desperate". In addition, he claimed to have never heard of the organization and asserted that Michigan LCV has never participated in policy discussions with him, despite a rather lengthy meeting on energy and Great Lakes issues we had with his staff in July of 2008. (read the article in the Rochester Citizen, whom Bishop also claimed was not a legitimate news source)

Bishop's apparent amnesia and decision not to read the contents of the site before commenting on it might explain his unwillingness to move good policy through the Senate: maybe he just doesn't read the bills and decides his course of action based on their titles...

Either way, we expect someone in Bishop's position to pay more attention to detail.

Second, Michigan LCV unveiled our next site, www.eyeonmayes.com, today, highlighting Representative Jeff Mayes' (D-Bay City) environmental record. As chairman of the House Energy and Technology Committee, Mayes has a mixed record and a career environmental voting score of 69.5%.

In response to the website, Mayes called Michigan LCV an 'extremist' group. We suspect that he didn't read the website either, which gives him plenty of credit for positive efforts on certain energy policies.

This might explain his irresponsible support for a multi-billion dollar coal plant in his district that would be paid for by Michigan citizens: he must not have read the Michigan Public Service Commission Report that states that no new large scale power plants are necessary in Michigan for over 10 years. (read the article about Mayes' response in the Bay City Times)

If there's one positive element in these two angry responses from Senator Bishop and Representative Mayes, it's this: they work in a bi-partisan manner to avoid reading information about their environmental records.....