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We have already written that we don't think Republican state Rep. Cam Cavitt's procedural vote on a Democratic state House speaker is worth recalling him over.
Now, we have another reason to think the recall effort isn't worthwhile: It could cost each local municipality in the 106th state House District Cavitt represents as much as $15,000 to run the recall election.
Here's the background:
Earlier this year, Gary Wnuk, a former Republican Alcona County commissioner and member of the Fairview Area Schools Board of Education, filed the recall effort in Alcona County, citing Cavitt's yes vote on a procedural motion to advance the vote for state House speaker.
Because the Democrats took control of that chamber (and the state Senate) in the 2022 election, a Democrat was going to be speaker, anyway, and Cavitt's bipartisan action likely helped him earn assignments on several key committees, including the state House Appropriations Committee, which guides spending bills.
That's reason enough for us to say Cavitt doesn't deserve to be recalled.
Now, News staff Steve Schulwitz reports that several local clerks are concerned about the cost of running a special election for the recall.
"It will cost too much," Long Rapids Township Clerk Mary Thomson told Schulwitz. "Elections are expensive and, because it was unexpected, it certainly wasn't budgeted for. We can cover the cost, but it is an unplanned expense."
His recall petition approved in early August by the Board of State Canvassers, Wnuk's team now has to collect 11,903 signatures by the end of January to get the recall on the ballot. That timeline means that, if they collect enough signatures in time, the recall election would likely happen in May.
That's in the middle of some township's current budgets, and many haven't budgeted for the recall election.
We say Cavitt doesn't deserve to face recall over a procedural vote that got broad bipartisan support.
And we say the recall effort isn't worth the cost to local municipalities.