There’s something going on that is truly amazing: Rick Snyder is slowly transforming into his Democratic opponent Mark Schauer on major issues voters are concerned about right now.
First it was raising the minimum wage. One day he’s saying it would harm the economy and wasn’t important to him. The next day he’s signing legislation into law that is almost identical to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer’s proposal.
Today, out of the blue and contrary to his previous statements on the topic, Republican Rick Snyder suddenly wants civil rights protections for the LGBT community added to Michigan’s civil rights law, the Elliott-Larsen Act. This comes literally less than a month since Snyder said, “It’s not really relevant”.
According to reporting by MIRS News Service, most of the push on this is coming from the business community. A group called the Michigan Competitive Workforce Coalition has been actively working to have the Elliott-Larsen Act amended. The co-chair of the group, AT&T Michigan President Jim Murray, is a member of the LGBT community himself and is someone with his hands on the purse strings of a lot of potential campaign money.
Isn’t it funny to watch Rick Snyder dance when his corporate benefactors play him a tune?
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson called Snyder out on this transparent-as-cellophane pandering:
It’s great that Snyder followed Mark Schauer’s lead on the minimum wage and amending Elliott-Larsen, but he’s still wasting taxpayer dollars on a flailing campaign against marriage equality, and Michigan families are still struggling because of his new taxes on seniors and families, and deep funding cuts to schools and local communities. Michigan doesn’t need a politician with no convictions – we need a leader who will invest in education and support our middle class.
I’ve seen a LOT of political pandering in my day. Every two years we watch as incumbents and candidates moderate their positions to try to appeal to undecided voters, moderates, and “independents”. But I have never in my entire life watched a Republican governor transform into his Democratic opponent by changing his positions to the exact same one held by the Democrat. It’s astonishing.
All that remains to be seen is if Michigan voters are gullible enough to fall for it. Something tells me they won’t be.
[Snyder caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]
