Kevin Engler Calls Out 'Rightwingers' in Senate for Putting Ideological Agenda Before State Budget Crisis

Via David Drebes, KREI has an interview with Sen. Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) that should not be missed.  In it, Engler talks about his disappointment with the work of his "rightwinger" colleagues in the Senate to support Sen. Robert Mayer (R-Dexter) for Senate Pro Tem after , and their desire to "shove stuff down the Democrats’ throat."  Drebes has a long excerpts of Engler's comments as well, but this segment also stands out:

ENGLER: We'll get by.  We're going to still represent the people of the Third, and still in the Senate, and going to try to advocate for causes that I think are right. My job is to make sure that -- in the Senate, you do have some power -- so we'll make sure that they don't shove all this stuff through that they want to get through.  We'll make sure that it's tempered and it's good for everybody in the state, if possible. And we'll work hard to move forward. It's all we can do.

REPORTER:  What's your relationship now with Senator Mayer from Dexter?

ENGLER: Well, it's not good.  I mean, he was a friend of mine, one of my good friends. And he told me last spring that he would back me.  I asked him because before I spent 5 months, 7 days a week, running around raising money and helping candidates I'd asked all my colleagues and they were all, "Yeah, I'm with you." And Rob Mayer, "I'm with you." [...]

And then:

They [Senate Republicans] didn't talk about the budget one time in the caucus. It seemed that that's not the priority.  The priority is getting anti-union and pro-business stuff shoved through.  So I'm sure they'll get around to working on cutting $600 million, $700 million from the budget at some point as a priority.

Listen to the full interview:

Image credit: Ozark Trail Association