There's politics, and then there is Macomb County politics. The latter is so much more fun.
Take, for example, this incident involving Sterling Heights Councilman Paul Smith. He's the only Sterling Heights' Councilperson opposed to a ballot proposal to increase local taxes to help fund the police and fire department because, Smith says, he's trying to protect taxpayers.
Nothing particularly remarkable about that. Or, there wasn't until Smith reportedly spotted some signs supporting the proposal at a local car dealership. So he went in to complain.
Macomb Daily: But Russell Maisano, general manager of Sterling Heights Dodge on Van Dyke Avenue, who filed a police report, said Smith barged into the dealership and “acted like an ass,” demanding to know who authorized the three signs on dealership property endorsing the 2.5-mill tax increase proposal by the city’s police officers and firefighters.
So. Freaking. Good.
You can just imagine how this went down...
(begin dramatic reenactment)
Smith: Hey, who put those signs there? The ones that say yer fer the tax increase. I'm agin it, and I don't like those signs.
Maisana: Are you here to buy a car?
Smith: No, I'm here to complain about your signs.
Maisana: So, you aren't a customer?
Smith: No, I'm a city councilman!
Maisana: Very good, well, stop acting like an ass and leave my showroom.
(end dramatic reenactment)
Here's how Smith explains it went down, according to the Macomb Daily.
Smith’s recollection of the incident differed from Maisano’s.
He said he told Maisano this is the first time he has ever seen a national business putting up campaign signs. Smith said he asked if the dealership had permission from the city to put up the pro-millage signs.
“He told me to get out of his store and I thought that was very unprofessional and improper,” Smith said. “When he told me to leave the store I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
Wow, that kind of makes it worse for Smith in so many ways. Let's count them.
1. Car dealerships are locally-owned franchises, not national businesses.
2. He's never seen a political sign in front of a business associated with a national brand? Where does he buy gas during election season?
3. This man, a duly-elected public official, actually demanded to know if a private business had city permission to put up a political sign on private property? Seriously? Where does Paul Smith think Sterling Heights is located? The Soviet Union?
