STATE REPRESENTATIVE TERRY BROWN (D-PIGEON)

In the last week or so we've looked at State Representatives here in Michigan who've been caught red handed double-talking, deceiving voters and just plain lying (yes, Rep. Valentine, I'm looking at you).  And each and every one of those things is aggravating and far beneath the quality and character that should be exemplified by Michigan's elected leaders.

But none of those offenses is quite as disheartening as when you watch someone who, despite knowing what the right thing to do is, turns around and stabs you in the back.  And when he plunges that knife in deep and twists not once, not twice, but three times in the course of one night?

In November of 2006 Terry Brown rode the waves of a Democrat electoral tsunami right into the Michigan House of Representatives, knocking off his Republican challenger by a little more than one-thousand votes in a district that couldn't have voted much more conservatively in recent years.  The last man to hold Brown's seat was the late Tom Meyer, a Republican who won his third and final term by nearly thirteen-thousand votes.

The 84th District is in Michigan's thumb (Huron and Tuscola counties) and has deep roots in agriculture and a strong tradition of family values, traits not lost on Brown, an ordained minister.  He ran a campaign that highlighted these issues and to this day his personal website greets visitors with a passage from the third chapter of first John.  ". . . Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."

A passage from one of Paul's letters about "running the race" to completion may have been more what Brown himself needed to hear during the Democrat's recent tax-hike gambit in Lansing.

Terry Brown is a man who knows what's right and what's wrong.  In February he started issuing press releases encouraging a personal property tax cut and closing with this statement:

"This plan puts cash back in the pockets of our hard-working residents while helping the auto industry at the same time," Brown said. "Families will have more money to spend on necessities such as groceries, which in turn will help local businesses. Everybody wins."

In March he proposed suspending a pop-up tax on homes and later that month he proposed a tax break on automobile purchases to help "jumpstart" the industry, acknowledging that lower taxes lead to economic growth and development.

The month of May saw him introduce a tax break to encourage ethanol production, signaling again his understanding of the way the tax structure affects jobs and families in Michigan.

This isn't a man who's blind to the economic realities facing Michigan or the sound economic principles that have held true since the birth of the United States of America.  And that's precisely why his actions only a week ago sting the way they do.

When push came to shove and everyone laid their chips on the table Terry Brown had a choice; stick with the moms and dads of your district struggling to provide for their families or turn your back on them, effectively signing their pink slips by supporting the biggest tax hike in the history of the state of Michigan.  Working families in Huron and Tuscola County or greedy bureaucrats in Lansing.  The choice was Brown's and now we're all paying for it.

Terry Brown voted YES on the Democrats $800 million income tax hike.

Terry Brown voted YES on the Democrats $600 million service tax hike.

Terry Brown voted NO on MESSA reform, opting to send $400 million a year to union supervisors instead of kids and teachers.

What happened to putting more money in the pockets of local families so they can buy groceries?  What happened to helping ailing industries with an economic kick-start via tax cuts and incentives?  What happened to doing the right thing?

I can't help but wonder, how much did the governor offer him to sell his soul?  Was it thirty pieces of silver?  It's not that Brown should have known better.  He did... it just didn't matter.