Center for Michigan Steering Committee members began working against the recall absolutists in September...

"Threatening to recall a lawmaker for a policy choice is pretty close to blackmail. It stymies the kind of balanced and thoughtful consideration of budget matters that have enormous consequence for our state. Worse, if this effort succeeds in intimidating our elected representatives this time around, we’ll see similar campaigns as standard operating practice in the future," the Steering Committee said in an open letter. "We simply can’t afford politics of that kind. And there’s no reason Michigan citizens should tolerate it. Lawmakers are not tone deaf. They balance their values and attitudes against broad public opinion as well as the noise of the passionate few."

Four months later, Leon Drolet and his pink pig appear pretty well stuck in mud of their own making, Lansing insider Tom Shields notes in the most recent issue of Dome Magazine. The problem is, lawmakers' recall fear and paranoia hampered sound public policy last fall..

"...(N)ot a single recall has made it to the ballot. Only one has had petition language approved. It’s doubtful that enough petitions have even been signed to paper the pink pig... While recall fever and paranoia have dominated the agenda at the Capitol for the last year, the question is whether it has really reached much further... Recall campaigns are rare, and rarely successful. As we have seen this year, politics often delay getting a recall effort started. And even when language is approved, the rules make it difficult to qualify for the ballot."