Why should we believe this guy?
[I apologize for the light blogging these past couple of days. We’ve had a death in my family and that, as you can probably imagine, has taken up much of my attention.]
Last night in his State of the State address, Governor Rick Snyder implored Republicans and Democrats alike to set aside their differences and work together. “I appreciate that people had different perspectives on issues,” he said. “And what I’m saying is, I’m hoping we can find common ground where we can work together and I hope all of you join me in doing the same thing.”
Multi-millionaire Dick DeVos said much the same thing in an op-ed after Republicans made Michigan a Right to Work state. “We can’t finish rebuilding this state unless we pull together,” said DeVos.
These are easy things to say when you have the ability to win all of your political battles. When the deck is stacked completely in your favor, you can say nice things about “working together” and “pulling together”. Because, at the end of the day, if your political opponents disagree with you, you can simply run them over just like Governor Snyder, the Michigan Republicans, and their financial backer Dick DeVos have done for the past two years.
Rick Snyder has talked a good game all along. On the campaign trail and in his State of the State addresses, he never talked about crushing the unions, raising taxes on the majority of Michiganders (particularly the most vulnerable), or eviscerating school funding to benefit his business pals. Yet this is exactly what he did in the time he’s had in office. So, you’ll pardon us on the left if we are skeptical about this newfound desire to be bipartisan. We’re not buying it.
David Hecker from the American Federation of Teachers put it this way:
Actions speak louder than words, and after the past two years, it’s clear we just can’t trust Gov. Snyder. Instead of investing in education, he cut $1 billion from K-12 schools. When he said Right to Work wasn’t on his agenda, he signed a bill without holding a single committee hearing. Talk about investing in early childhood education is cheap. It’s time to make public education a top priority to give our kids a better future.
Governor Snyder, who says we need to raise $1 billion dollars to pay for road, bridge and other infrastructure repair, is very likely going to need Democratic votes to get that done. I don’t see it happening but the fault for that will not be on the Democrats but for the Republicans who have literally kicked sand in the Dems’ faces like the neighborhood bully for the past two years, making cooperation nearly impossible and certainly not something they showed any interest in. If he can’t get Dems to vote for tax increases, he’ll have to take it from things that he knows Republicans will vote for so watch out if you’re poor or a group that Democrats support: you may very well see a tax increase in your future.
Here’s what Zack Pohl from Progress Michigan had to say:
Gov. Snyder has spent two years making a lot of promises to Michiganders, but his $2.5 billion in corporate tax cuts have failed to create more and better jobs. In fact, Michigan’s unemployment rate is still higher than it was during Jennifer Granholm’s first term. We need to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads and bridges, but middle class families shouldn’t be forced to pick up the tab while corporate special interests get another tax giveaway.
Governor Snyder could take a relentless positive action right now by pushing to expand Medicaid to more Michiganders as part of the Affordable Care Act. As LOLGOP wrote yesterday, this move would make sure that upwards of 670,000 additional citizens would be covered and the cost to the state would be nominal.
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION ASKING GOVERNOR SNYDER TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND EXPAND MEDICAID IN MICHIGAN. And share the petition with your friends and family.
