Trying to be nationally relevant, Governor?
[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]
In what may be one of the nauseating media efforts I’ve seen in a while, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has embarked on an internet tour to lecture Washington, D.C. lawmakers and President Obama on how to “end the gridlock”.
He sent out this email to his mailing list (click for a larger version):
He’s got a government website that has the same meme at the top:
He’s got a Youtube video from a press conference that he gave where he delivers his lecture, also on a government website:
He’s even advertising it on Facebook:
So, a few things here. First of all, there is one party and one party only in Washington, D.C. that has created the gridlock that has brought our federal government to this shut down and that is Gov. Snyder’s party, the Republicans. They are so hellbent on repealing the Affordable Care Act that, despite it being passed by Congress and the Senate and signed into law over three years ago, despite it being upheld by the Supreme Court, despite the referendum that was held on it in the national election a year ago when the president was reelected, and despite poll after poll showing America does not want the ACA repealed or the government shut down over it, Republicans have voted to dismantle it over 40 times and are now holding the country hostage because the president and the Senate (correctly) won’t negotiate over paying the nation’s bills or passing a budget that doesn’t add this absurd obsession to it.
So, Governor Snyder, take your self-righteous lecture right up the chain of command to your party leadership and quit making this sound like it’s ‘everybody’s fault’. It is decidedly not and America knows it, no matter how loudly Republicans try to foist the blame for this onto Democrats.
Second, let’s not pretend that it’s not soo-ooo much easier to pass budgets when your party is running the entire show. When you don’t have to listen to your political opponents and can simply steamroll your policies right through the legislature, of course you have budgets in on time. And when you’re willing to raise taxes on over half the residents of the state, cut critical services, and slash funding for schools, that surely makes balancing the budget a lot easier. With regard to your claims about cutting the deficit, Michigan has never had a budget deficit. It’s not allowed by our state constitution so no Michigan governor in recent history has signed a state budget that was in deficit. Period.
Finally, and most importantly, what the hell does this lecturing of federal lawmakers have to do with your job as governor? Why is there a entire state government webpage devoted to your “stoop the gridlock” lecture? Why were funds spent for a graphic artist to create a visual meme for you to use online? Why are tax payer-funded government resources being used to send this out in an email? Why are you spending money advertising this on Facebook?
These are not uses of tax payer money that are in any way useful or even related to the running of our state government or to you doing your job. In fact, it looks for all the world like a governor using his office, government resources, and tax payer money to raise his national stature and to promote himself within the state right before an election. This is nothing more than campaigning, governor, even if you laughably claim you aren’t running for reelection (yet.) It serves no other useful purpose. And you are using government resources and tax revenues to do so.
It’s shameful, it’s nauseating, and it’s really got me asking, “Is it even legal?”
