Fremont resident Jeff Tillman brought his 18-foot “Pork Barrel” pig to Alpena this week.

Fremont uses the pig to rally support for keeping term limits of state legislators in place in Michigan.

Which, given events out of Lansing these days, should be a position most people would find hard to argue with. The way things are going, who would want any of the legislators sticking around, anyway? And, in the political climate of today, who would really want to stay?

The latest in the statehouse shenanigans occurred Thursday, when Senate Republicans failed to approve an appointment of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the Natural Resources Commission. It marked the first time since Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration, which ended in 2010, that an appointment had been blocked.

Apparently Republicans were upset with another recent appointment of Whitmer to that board — George Heartwell — who some perceived as being a gun rights opponent. News reports from Lansing reporters indicate that the Senate Republican leadership had asked Whitmer to consider withdrawing that appointment, which she didn’t, in exchange for a favorable vote for Anna Mitterling, the candidate whose nomination was blocked.

The vote was 20-16 Thursday against appointing Mitterling to the board.

It’s too bad that politics took precedent over past performance.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)