Guest Editorial

[William Gavette]

Why recall Pavlov?

There is a recall effort for State Senator Phil Pavlov. Why?

I’m pleased with his service for his part in replacing the job killing MBT, passing a reform budget in record time, capping welfare benefits and emergency manager reforms among other matters. This is what we elected him to do and voters in our district are smart and should be respected. What the heck are we supposed to do with cities like Detroit when they are failing miserably, are broke and have run in the red for the past several years — (I think it has been eight years)… just let them be?

An emergency manager is not the most desirable option. In a perfect world the city would have made better fiscal decisions beginning years ago, but they didn’t and cities like Detroit cannot be allowed to drag the rest of the state down. Detroit has a lot to offer, but it needs to get back to operating in the black. Aside from bankruptcy, an emergency manager is the only option. In bankruptcy, the city loses its rights to make decisions altogether. We don’t want Detroit (or any other insolvent city) to fail. Emergency managers keep them from bankruptcy.

These are tough jobs and decisions. Lapeer and St. Clair counties are being represented by a senator who understands his constituents and provides the leadership he was elected for. This silly recall effort undermines the will of the voters who elected him. Also, the recall efforts will be very expensive to tax payers in the event it reaches a ballot. Why doesn’t Theresa Blundell just wait? We have another election occurring in 2014. You haven’t even given our legislators a chance. With that said, I would like to point out the fact that with Senator Pavlov’s help, the legislator passed and balanced a budget — passed and balanced a budget four months early.

Voters in the 25th district are smart and I encourage them to research the Senator and the bills he has sponsored and voted for. I am just pleased to be represented by someone who understands the challenges we face in Michigan and keeps the concerns of his constituents in mind.

I do hope the voters in Lapeer and St. Clair will research this matter as well as our 25th district senator before believing the negative rhetoric, lies and spin that are often submitted to the local paper.

Michelle O’Neal

Lapeer