By Brandon Hall

(Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com)

Arlan Meekhof has not held a town hall meeting in over 18 months, but that will change Monday, April 27th. The Senate Majority Leader, joined by State Rep. Amanda Price, will kick off his week with a town hall meeting in Spring Lake on the immensely unpopular Prop 1 road tax package.

Fiercely conservative Ottawa County will not be a friendly venue.

In addition to trying to sell a huge tax increase, Meekhof's lack of attention to constituents (no open office "coffee hours" the last few years, no townhall in 18 months) has the people who go to these type of events fired up.

Meekhof hopes to sell Prop 1 in the face of polls showing it faces double digit opposition. Ottawa County residents are concerned about a number of issues, among them, Meekhof's support of a $70 million dollar Senate office building while Michigan roads suffer-just so Senators can have a better view of the Capitol.

Meekhof will be asked why he broke a key campaign promise in crafting and then touting Prop 1, a $2 billion tax increase.

In a mailer sent out to voters throughout Ottawa County in the fall of 2014, Meekhof, under "Controlling Spending," claimed he "knows government needs to do more with less."

He also said he would fight against tax increases.

Meekhof then flip-flopped just a few weeks later. Meekhof suddenly forgot about government doing more with less. Fight tax increases? Do more with Less? Psssh. Meekhof got knocked out of the ring, he threw the white flag, he capitulated to the deal making culture of Lansing and sold his district (and the state) out so he didn't have to deal with the road issue anymore.

Also, Meekhof did not just back the biggest tax increase in Michigan in 50 years, he was vital to it. He's the Leo DiCaprio in the "Inception" of Prop 1-arguably, no legislator did more to draft it and then twist arms to pass it through the legislature than Meekhof, helping craft key deals like the one with Sen. Kevin Green on CPL reform in exchange for his vote...

In addition to the issues with availability and flip-flopping, Meekhof's office, led by Chief of Staff Bob DeVries, has also been lying to constituents.

>>>>>Meekhof's staff cited the cost of venues as a reason for not being available, yet he gets access to local libraries for free. His office also cited lack of attendance, despite the fact his last two public events were well attended-and one was during a blizzard!

This exchange really speaks for itself: