Bettie Cook Scott, Detroit no-show
Democratic voters were disinclined to extend Detroit Rep. Bettie Cook Scott's political career, and said so in the August primary; running for a seat in the state Senate, a common move for term-limited representatives, Cook lost to Stephanie Chang. Scott seems to have interpreted the vote as, "you can't fire me, I quit." She hasn't shown up for work in Lansing since her primary defeat, as Fox 2's M.L. Elrick documented in grimly amusing fashion last month.
This week, as Scott's term in the House of Representatives came to a close, her colleagues had something to tell her, reports Jonathan Oosting in The Detroit News:
The Michigan House this week adopted a glowing resolution praising term-limited Rep. Bettie Cook Scott, a Detroit Democrat who hasn’t shown up for her taxpayer-funded job since losing a Senate primary election in August.
“Her service and leadership in this legislative body will be missed,” reads the resolution for Cook, who has missed every House session held in the past four months.
It's standard practice, of course, part of the orgy of gosh-I'm-gonna-miss-you-guys and thanks-for-your-service back-patting that goes on at this time of year. Scott's resolution was one of many, and went forward even though everyone knew it was a sham, a spokesman for Speaker Tom Leonard told Oosting:
Changing the resolution to “pour salt in her wounds would have taken more time from the House’s business than just doing it with the other resolutions and getting it over with,” (Gideon) D’Assandro said.
Scott didn't exactly cover herself with glory during the campaign, either, when she was overheard telling voters not to vote for Chang, using a racial slur in the process.
On Tuesday, when the resolution praising her was presented? Scott was absent.
