When Virg Bernero became mayor of Lansing, he took a step up from his prior position in the Senate. He became the mayor of Michigan's capital city.
But when he left his seat in the Senate, he left an opening that will be costly to fill.
With Bernero moving, his seat is open for another candidate. A primary election will be held on Feb. 21 and a special election will be held on March 14 to fill the empty position.
The problem is, important budget decisions happen in February, which leaves parts of Lansing without representation. If the fiscal budget is released during the time when there is nobody filling Bernero's seat in the Senate, grants and funding which could benefit the 23rd District might not be distributed.
MSU falls into this district as well as all of Ingham County, including the Lansing and Holt areas. Students will have no representative to push for higher education funding in the Senate when the budget is released.
And among the candidates is a state representative. If Gretchen Whitmer were to win the seat, that would mean another vacancy. However, if that were to happen, another special election wouldn't be held, leaving the position open until next November.
Hey, elections are costly. This upcoming special election will cost about $320-$400,000.
In a lot of ways, 23rd District residents might get a raw deal.
It seems like somebody should have noticed that there would be a hole in our seat in the Senate a lot sooner — such as when Bernero was campaigning in July.
It has already taken two months to decide to hold the election. If the election wasn't held at all, there would have been a total of 11 months with no representation.
March might not seem that far away, but waiting leaves residents with three more months of no representation in the Senate. And it looks like a lot of decisions will have to be made from now until then.
