Despite the popular and prevalent misconception that the Detroit 3 long ago laid off every single employee on the payroll, existing for years only as an ethereal pseudo-industry composed of tangled bank accounts and falsified financial records intended to funnel federal cash give-aways into advertising contracts with NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long, it turns out they DO still have a few men and women working in factories across Michigan.

Or they DID until John Cherry's "leadership" in Lansing when, yesterday, General Motors announced plans to lay off 2,000 more workers, most here in Michigan.

But I can hear the naysayers now.  (See, I've even got their lingo down pat.)  You can't really give John Cherry credit for GM's decision to lay off tens of thousands on his watch, as much as he'd like to claim it.  Let me state, for the record, that I disagree wholeheartedly and that John Cherry is PROUD of his record leading this state while each and every one of the Detroit three have laid off thousands in the last year alone.  

Still, I won't belabor the point.  You don't want to discuss the autos?  Fine.  You'll be hard pressed to argue that the LG is wrong to claim credit for the news in today's Grand Rapids Press announcing that Holland, Michigan based Macatawa Bank just posted a $35.1 million fourth quarter loss.

Like other West Michigan banks, Macatawa's loan portfolio continues to suffer due to financing now-stalled housing and other commercial developments.

Lieutenant Governor Cherry has a strong and proven track record of producing the current housing and commercial development market.  He has worked hand-in-hand for six years with Jennifer Granholm crafting the tax and regulatory policy that have ground the wheels of industry to a halt across the state.  His $1.5 billion tax hike of 2007 stands as a living testament to his willingness and ability to go anywhere and do anything to make it tougher on businesses and job makers to expand their operations and hire more people, leading directly, according to bank officials, to massive losses at local lending institutions.

And that's just the private sector.  Take a look at the public sector, where Cherry's "strong" record has led to skyrocketing deficits in local school districts and in the case of the city of Pontiac, widespread school closures.  The Detroit News reports this morning:

The Pontiac School District will close nearly half its schools by September in a cost-cutting move to help shave a $10 million deficit in its $96 million budget and deal with declining enrollment.

Before a packed meeting at the district's administration building Monday night, the board voted to close Central High School, whose Web site says is the oldest high school in Oakland County, six elementary schools, a middle school and an alternative education school -- nine schools in a district of some 20 schools.

John Cherry is PROUD of this record.  Proud as a peacock.  It is a rare feat to so badly strangle the finances of a local district that they are forced in the course of a single year to shutter half of their buildings.  This is a record no one else in the state can claim, save Jennifer Granholm, and she's termed out of office in 2010.

Your choice, my friends, is an easy one.  If you like the way things have been happening in Michigan these last six years and you like the direction they seem headed in today's news then John Cherry is your man.  And, hopefully, this story will help me get a job as his press secretary.  Wish me luck.