The Curse of the Living Romneys
Michigan, a state which had a Romney for governor and then endured over a year’s worth of a man who hasn’t lived here in sixty years telling us he is a Michigander, doesn’t seem to be able wash the Romney kids out of its hair.
First, Slate’s Davie Weigel suggested Mitt Romney as the perfect candidate to be Detroit’s Emergency Financial Manager (EFM). And now Mitt’s older brother Scott Romney is considering a run for Carl Levin’s Senate seat.
Why won’t they leave us alone?
Although he claims he is serious, it’s hard to imagine that Weigel actually believes what he wrote in his piece “Give Detroit to Mitt Romney”:
Why not? Romney’s got a mixed record as a politician, but nobody’s ever questions his skill as a brutal operator and turnaround artist. He’s got a good relationship with Republicans in the state—they even scrapped an electoral vote split plan in 2012 because they wanted him to win! He’s got a larger Rolodex of possible investors than anyone else who might be reasonably expected to take this job.
How about this for a “why not”?: The person that becomes the EFM in Detroit is going to have to form a partnership with the city. He or she will need to work with the elected officials, hopefully get them to help save Detroit from the financial whirlpool that is sucking it down the drain and, eventually, return control over governing the city back over to them. If Weigel or anyone else thinks that Mitt Romney is the man to form that alliance, earn that trust, be that partner, he is completely out of his mind. Romney would be lucky to drive around Detroit without getting his car egged and stoned, much less lead the city back to economic prosperity.
I honestly can’t think of anyone outside of Rick Snyder himself who would be a more adversarial choice for the Detroit EFM.
Scott Romney‘s thoughts about running for Senator Levin’s seat are just another example of a Romney thinking they can buy themselves a government position. Seriously. The dude is 71 and, outside of a few political junkies who can remember the 1998 election where he ran for Attorney General in Michigan, and his clients at Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn where he is one of over 180 partners, nobody has even heard of the guy. Yet he’s talking about throwing his hat into the ring with sitting members of Congress and other actual positions of public service that require getting actually … you know … elected.
At least Scott Romney, unlike his brother Mitt, is actually a Michigander. That is at least a step in the right direction, I suppose.
