Driskell, Dems: 'Republican Leadership in Lansing Leading War on Women'

ANN ARBOR — Playing mostly to a small group of supporters, House Democrats continued to volley allegations of women's rights violations against Republican leadership in Lansing on Friday.

The roundtable discussion at Washtenaw Intermediate School District was led by state Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, along with Saline Mayor Gretchen Driskell, candidate for House District 52, Rep. Barbara Byrum, Rep. Vicki Barnett, and Rep. Kate Segal.

"People need to be up and arms about the Republican agenda, which for the last year and a half has been aggressively anti-family and anti-woman," Irwin said citing legislation in 2011 that implemented a strict four-year lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits for low-income residents.

"Changing public assistance rules to say that if you are too poor for too long, we're going to cut you off, meant that single mothers across the state struggling to keep their kids in school are now going to be pushed out of the home and will have a tougher time being successful," Irwin said.

Rep. Barbara Byrum of Onondaga, said she is fed up with the current leadership in Lansing, citing an incident on the House floor in June that made national headlines after Byrum and Rep. Lisa Brown of West Bloomfield were prohibited from speaking prior to a vote on abortion clinic regulations.

"That is just a small example of the extreme misogynistic policy tactics that the GOP has had," she said.

"It's not about this one day of silencing women, it is the policies and procedures that have been put in place by this Republican agenda that have silenced women across the state," Rep. Kate Segal said. "We need to talk about what's important to our communities instead of talking about horrible abortion legislation. Instead of allowing women to concentrate on what they need to do in the home or as a professional, we are refocused on an issue women won 30 years ago."

Irwin agreed, stating: "What the Republicans are doing in Lansing may not be motivated by some sort of anti-woman bias, but when you add up what they've done, it's demonstrative that the leadership is anti-woman and anti-family."

Driskell, who mostly stuck to her campaign platform of creating jobs and funding K-12 education, said she would like to see the Legislature concentrate more on restoring the state's economy and less on "unnecessary" bills regulating women's health.

"The main reason I'm running for office is due to the direction of Lansing's policies toward families and women in particular," she said.

Driskell said she doesn't think incumbent Rep. Mark Ouimet is doing a good job in office, citing Ouimet's votes to cut education funding and shifting the state's tax burden from corporations to individuals.

"We've been cutting education on all levels and I think the key to the future of our state is having a successful education system," she said. "I believe a more educated population will give us a greater competitive edge globally than the giant corporate tax cut that was implemented last year."

Driskell and Segal accused Ouimet of voting along party lines for the past two years on various initiatives, including reducing tax incentives for movie companies, rather than listening to constituents.

State Rep. Mark Ouimet, R-Scio Township, declined comment for this story but said the implication that House Republicans are "anti-woman" is "simply not true."

Calls to Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-District 17, were not returned.