Budget Held Hostage, Part 1: Meet Mr. Perks the Pig’s handler

LANSING — The state capitol has a new lawn ornament — and one state lawmakers wish would go away. Meet Mr. Perks the Pig, a publicity stunt on a Montana trailer.

Perks is part of a strategy to force lawmakers to cut government spending, and the strategy is implemented by a one- time lawmaker and current Macomb County Commissioner.

Enter Leon Drolet, 40, the man with the leash on the perk pig and recall threats that have hampered state budget negotiations. Drolet has laid claim to causing the current budget stalemate, which as the state spiraling towards an imminent shut down. That claim has been boosted in recent days by the Michigan Education Association in an editorial in the Detroit Free Press.

But Drolet’s budget impasse is merely the visible impact of his involvement with young people linked to a controversial student organization, and Grover Norquist, a libertarian money man. This series seeks to explore those relationships in depth through interviews and investigative tools. It is the result of weeks of investigation.

(Photo: Perks the Pig as parked in front of the capital building in Lansing; photo courtesy of Michigan Liberal.)
Continued -Drolet is a Michigan born and bred politician who has labeled himself a libertarian. But he is an active member of the Republican Party. He is also the head of the Michigan Taxpayer Alliance.

Drolet sat down with Michigan Messenger for a wide ranging interview on Sunday night as the state House sat in a time loop of frozen voting boards.

Drolet said his interest in politics started in high school, when he saw Ronald Reagan speak at Macomb Community College.

“He didn’t talk like the politicians I was used to seeing,” Drolet said. “He talked about fixing your own life, not waiting for the politicians to do it for you.”

Following high school Drolet discovered political philosophy and came to two overwhelming conclusions. “First, truth is objective,” Drolet said, taking on the tone of religious man bestowing deep spiritual secrets to a religious novice. “Two, each person should have as much liberty as possible without infringing on others. That is the best way to lead people to leading productive lives.”

And while Drolet makes his political abode in the Republican camp, he is not necessarily a welcome neighbor. While in the state house, he championed lower taxes and smaller government, but he also did something the social conservatives in the party hated a great deal.

He voted in way that made Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan accuse Drolet of promoting the homosexual lifestyle (http://www.afamichig…).

Glenn said Drolet’s vote against a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman showed his penchant for the pushing the gay agenda. Drolet also authored and introduced legislation to remove the state’s felony sodomy law-before the US Supreme Court ruled all sodomy laws were unconstitutional. He was also a co-sponsor of legislation to allow second parent adoption in the state.

Glenn was so offended by Drolet’s support of the so-called gay agenda caused the religious leader to oppose Drolet’s appointment to the US Civil Rights Commission as chair for Michigan.

But Glenn is not Drolet’s only detractor. He was co-chair of the what many believed to be misnamed Michigan Civil Rights Initiative or Proposal 2 2006. That proposal banned affirmative action programs in all government hiring and school admissions. Under the Constitutional amendment, race and gender could no longer be considered as factors in admissions to universities.

His role in the passage of the controversial amendment lead the Michigan Department of Civil Rights to issue a press release that it was “disappointed” in the appointment of Drolet.

And while Drolet has a mixed bag hand in social issues, a pro-gay, anti-abortion, anti-affirmative action, small, government gun- loving libertarian in the Republican Party, he has gained more notoriety for his anti-tax campaign through the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance.

As the executive director of the organization, Drolet makes $39,000 a year. On top of this, as a County Commissioner in Macomb he makes $35,000 a year. The group is a non-profit entity under federal law, and its donation lists are not open to the public. Drolet refused to name his big donors (those donating over $10,000 each) unless the MichiganMessenger.com and its parent organization The Center for Independent Media named their top donors. “I will go donor for donor with you all,” he said in a phone interview.

But as executive director, Drolet built on a string of national connections to not only purchase Mr. Perks for a stunning $10 from the Sam Adams Alliance, but also to land Americans for Tax Reform executive director Grover Norquist as a board member for MTA.

Drolet said he met Norquist back in 2000 as he was considering a run for federal office.

“I sent an email or something down to Grover and his organization and when I was going down to DC when I was considering for a higher office,” Drolet said. “I went to DC and made  the rounds and one of them was Grover Norquist. I was surprised how some freshman rep would meet with him.”

Drolet called in Norquist to sit on his board so he would be “taken seriously,” and from all appearances lawmakers take his announcement last month that he would recall state representatives from vulnerable seats has worked. The group of 10 or 11, depending on which media outlet you talk to, were constantly yellow in their vote tallies throughout the weekend and week, as party leaders tried to find a budget resolution amenable to both Republicans and Democrats.

“People are right.There would be a tax increase already gone through if there was not opposition,” Drolet said, “organized, politically-relevant opposition to the specific interests who are in Lansing asking for bigger budgets.”

Drolet said the special interests in Lansing lobbying for bigger budgets represented the “government class,” but who is organizing the recall efforts and what special interests Drolet represents will be covered in the next posts in this series, Budget Held Hostage.