The Al Gore Sore Loser Award goes to...

This past Tuesday was Michigan's local elections. For some incomprehensible reason, Michigan chooses to waste money and reduce participation in local elections by holding elections every year - national and state elections in even years with local elections in odd years. This past Tuesday, nearly the entire city government of Ecorse was replaced. The mayor and five of the seven city council members were voted out of office. A sixth council member chose not to seek reelection. In retaliation, they have voted 5-2 (one outgoing council member, Angela Smith, and the member who chose not to seek reelection were the two against) in order to dramatically cut the pay of the winners.

The incoming council members will have their pay cut from $15,000 a year to $5,000 a year, while the new mayor will have his pay cut from $69,000 a year to $12,000 a year. Talk about vindictive...

Election's losers cut pay for the winners
Part-time intentions cited
Detroit Free Press

Only hours after Ecorse's mayor and five of the City Council members were voted out of office for the next term, they slashed their successors' salaries by much more than half.

The mayor-elect is considering going to court over the decision.

The 5-2 vote Wednesday night adopted the Local Officers Compensation Board's decision to cut council members' annual pay from $15,000 to $5,000 and the mayor's compensation from $69,000 to $12,000.

Losing re-election bids Tuesday were Mayor Larry Salisbury and council members Brenda Banks, Nathaniel Elem, Robert Hellar, Arnold Lackey and Angela Smith. Councilwoman Theresa Peguese didn't seek re-election; she and Smith were the two nay votes Wednesday. Salisbury defended his vote in favor of the pay cuts. He said Thursday that he treated the job like a full-time position, but "The incoming officers failed to commit to anything but a part service."