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Sak offering phony contrition: Press reports he tells friends the State Trooper is a liar!

By Nick, Section News
Posted on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 08:55:32 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)

I didn't think it was possible but Mike Sak actually made himself look WORSE this weekend.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? According to former State Rep. Tom Matthiu, Sak called the trooper he tried to intimidate into personal favors a liar!

The Grand Rapids Press reports:

"He gave me his version, which was completely different," Mathieu, a fellow Democrat, said.

Something tells me Mike was hoping you wouldn't spill that one to the media, Tom.

Thanks to a Michigan State Police memo released last week (and available HERE) detailing a night of drunken hubris that included attempts to coerce a state trooper into becoming a personal chauffer by dangling the state's purse strings in front of him (oh, and a couple of head-first steps into the side of a bus) the lawmaker found himself on the wrong side of a blistering media storm.

In an effort to get on top of the story and preserve some measure of public respect the potential 2008 Congressional candidate issued the following statement over the weekend:

"Rather than let this incident become a distraction during budget negotiations, I have decided to take a leave of absence from my position on the appropriations committee."

According to Grand Rapids local WZZM13, Sak says he will address personal issues with regards to drinking during that time, and is determined this type of incident will never happen again.

Apparently it'll be up to Speaker Dillon to determine when and if Sak, a member guilty of a "breach of public trust" (fellow GR Dem Rep. Robert Dean's words) returns to the Appropriations Committee.

And while his fellow Democrats in the House talk a good game about bringing high moral and ethical standards to the chamber they've yet to prove it. Here's their chance. Sure, it's easy and largely necessary for some in the public eye to say all the right things but the silence from the majority of the left remains deafening. That is, of course, when they're not making excuses for the man. And, apparently, that includes the man himself.

The Grand Rapids Press reports Sak is telling friends that the trooper is lying:

"He told me that he introduced himself to the trooper, complimented him on the good job he was doing and that he was pleased they were able to take some action to help with keeping them all employed," Mathieu said.

It didn't happen at all the way the trooper told the story, according to Sak. Which begs the question... is he really contrite? Is he really seeking help? Or is he just caught up in a media whirlwind and employing Public Relations 201: The Mea Culpa?

Read on...

After all, "sometimes you get away from Grand Rapids and you let your hair down and you get careless. Apparently, that's what happened," said Local attorney Gary McInerney, a prominent Grand Rapids Democrat.

He was just letting his hair down. That's all. Is it any wonder the man's got a drinking problem? He's surrounded himself with classic "enablers."

There's a lot to Sak's private denials of guilt to be bothered about. Not only is he apparently telling friends that the State Police Trooper is a liar but their method of defending the man indicates they view this solely as a drinking problem.

Having a couple of pops is not the issue. Sure, it's easy to take a couple jabs at a Democrat who almost falls into the bushes or stumbles, inebriated into the side of a bus but, frankly, that's something that probably happens much more often than we'll ever know. A lot of guys down one too many at social functions.

But a lot of guys do NOT "breach the public trust" by holding their positions on appropriations over the heads of state police troopers to coerce personal favors.

There's an old saying that proves accurate time and time again... "in vino veritas."

The hubris, not the drinking, make Sak a member unfit for appropriations, drunk or sober.

As the Detroit Free Press put it:

Speaker Andy Dillon... has to give serious consideration to removing Sak from the powerful Appropriations Committee...
Sak owes the trooper a personal apology, especially considering that it was a donation from the troopers' union that saved state police jobs. All Sak did was vote to accept it. Can we list him as Sak, D-Jerk?

Of course a personal apology to the trooper would require the Representative to admit what he'd actually done. That'd be a nice first step in the process.

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Sak offering phony contrition: Press reports he tells friends the State Trooper is a liar! | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)

Isn't being a Democrat "an enabler"? (none / 0) (#1)
by John Galt on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 09:26:48 AM EST

I seem to remember a bumper sticker that read "friends don't let friends vote for tax increases"

Perhaps it's just "Democrats Unanonymous"... And the first step is telling everyone "Who are you to judge?".

Good find, Nick. Too bad Ipod Dillon thinks "Higher Standards" just refers to his standards of living.

we'll see... maybe I'm just naiive (none / 0) (#2)
by Nick on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 09:33:45 AM EST

but I actually expect Dillon to remove him permanently from Approps.

He's a tax-and-spender, he's a liberal, he's a big government guy but Dillon hasn't done anything yet to show he's COMPLETELY incompetent when it comes to public image and perception...

Hopefully he doesn't prove me wrong.

I just don't see how anyone can support him ever getting his post back what with him telling friends that the trooper is a liar. Sak obviously hasn't learned any lessons from this... except maybe that it really sucks to get busted in public.

So... (none / 0) (#3)
by DanaP on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 10:10:59 AM EST

Since he's on a "leave of absence" does this mean he still gets his appropriations committee supplement? Not to mention his regular pay?

I don't think (none / 0) (#4)
by Nick on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 10:19:05 AM EST

he's going to be docking his own pay, no. We taxpayers aren't that lucky.

Sak alleged memogate and troopergate does not pass (none / 0) (#5)
by Communications Guru on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 11:12:37 AM EST

I guess you don't get paid to work weekends. This is why we see this spin piece on Monday and not on the weekend, and that's why we never see any posts from you on the weekend. Too bad you ducked Tim Skubick's question.

Anyway, here's the link (http://liberalmedianot.blogspot.com/2007/08/sak-alleged-memogate-and-troopergate.html)

The rightwing blogosphere, all three of them, is buzzing - whining would be a better description - about an alleged incident where Rep. Michael Sak, D-Grand Rapids, was drunk at the National Governors Association event in Traverse City and allegedly "demanded" a ride form a Michigan State Trooper who was on duty there.

Minority "leader" Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, has even made the ridiculous request that the Speaker of the House relive Sak from his committee and leadership positions. This entire matter does not smell right, and it reminds me of the "Troopergate" issue of the early `90s when Rightwing sugar daddy Richard Mellon Scaife paid Arkansas State troopers to make up juicy and unflattering stories and lies about President Clinton.

This episode came to light from a memo the state trooper wrote and the Grand Rapids Press obtained from a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. As a former reporter covering cops and courts, I have read many police reports, including reports from the Michigan State Police at the Brighton Post, but I have never seen a memo from the state police. Ask Bill Nowling, the new Communications Director of the Michigan Republican Party, about how many state police memos he has read as the cops and courts reporter for the same newspaper where we worked the same beat.

This raises a few of questions for me. Why did the unnamed trooper even write the memo? How did the GR Press know to make a FOIA request for that particular memo?

The bottom line is Sak did not break any laws, and he had the good sense not to drink and drive. Sak denies he demanded a ride or even asked for a ride, but what if he did? Since when is that a crime to have to much to drink on occasion and have the foresight and maturity to ask for a ride instead of getting behind the wheel of a two-ton deadly weapon?

It's funny that the right-wingers are crowing about this, but they were silent as church mice when Rep. John Garfield, R- Rochester Hills, was arrested for his second drunk driving charge in March, and they even stayed quiet when the charge was dropped on a technicality. He was clearly driving drunk and endangering lives, but do you think we heard anything from the right? You guessed it, they were silent.

The Democratic Speaker declined to relieve Garfield of his committee assignments when he was arrested. Perhaps he believed that quaint and naïve notion of innocent until proven guilty. So why should he relieve Sak when he was not only not charged with a crime but did not commie a crime to be charged with.

Sak has apologized, but that is not good enough for Republicans. Now that the charges have been dropped against Garfield perhaps he can now issue an apology. Don't hold your breath.

It never ceases to amaze me by PMOTVRWC, 08/20/2007 11:53:28 AM EST (none / 0)
Quiet as church mice... by John Galt, 08/20/2007 12:02:17 PM EST (none / 0)
DeRoche asked Garfield to be removed from post by leondrolet, 08/20/2007 12:10:47 PM EST (none / 0)

you can call the trooper a liar, that's fine (none / 0) (#6)
by Nick on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 11:35:16 AM EST

After all, that's what Sak's doing.

Sak offering phony contrition: Press reports he tells friends the State Trooper is a liar! | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)

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