First day of legislature gets off on a tense note

LANSING» The new legislative session in Michigan began Wednesday with political tensions high over the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the certification of the presidential election and continued coronavirus restrictions.

Since the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C., by supporters of President Donald Trump, the FBI has warned of plans by radicals to attack statehouses nationwide, including in Michigan, which on Monday banned open carry of firearms inside the building.

New House Speaker Jason Wentworth said during a news conference that he denounces violence but supports the people’s First Amendment right to peaceful protest.

House Minority Leader Rep. Donna Lasinski recently wrote to Wentworth asking him to discipline and not seat 18 Republican legislators who rejected the legitimacy of the presidential election, saying they had stoked the fires of violence. Wentworth said that although he doesn’t agree with Lasinski, he would continue to have conversations across the aisle.

Democrats in the Senate also tore into their Republican colleagues over the lack of disciplinary action taken against legislators who tried to legitimize false claims of fraud in the election, as well as those who promoted violent rhetoric that led to the insurrection.