(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/04/2023) Only two persons are left serving on the six-member state capitol commission for the moment as the other four are losing their seats.
Outgoing House Clerk Gary Randall will retire from the chamber after calling the 102nd session of the House to order. Secretary of the Senate Margaret O’Brien will head to the assistant role with Republicans now in the minority there.
Public relations professional John Truscott, the former spokesperson for Gov. John Engler, and former Republican Rep. Kathy Crawford are also on their way out.
The reason is directly related to the Democrats taking control of the legislative process. Incoming House Clerk Rich Brown and incoming Secretary of Senate Dan Oberlin automatically will be on the commission by statute.
The law creating the commission gives Brown and Oberlin two joint appointments, which it is assumed, gives incoming Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) and presumed Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) a say in the matter.
The Governor makes the final two picks and she appointed former Rep. Joan Bauer and former lobbyist and Secretary of the Senate William Kandler back in 2019 for an unspecified term.
The change is significant considering the Commission has the authority, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel, to ban all firearms from the Capitol building. The prior lot of Capitol Commissioners, under public and political pressure, banned the open carrying of guns after protestors displayed their weapons in the Senate gallery on April 30, 2020.
