Republican Governor Rick Snyder Falling Out Of Favor In Michigan

Posted in Battleground States, Election 2012 on March 23, 2011

This is not a good sign.  If the eventual GOP presidential nominee is to unseat Obama in 2012 that road goes through the Midwest, and it could include Michigan.
Over the last few weeks we’ve found that voters in Ohio and Wisconsin have quickly soured on their new Republican Governors, John Kasich and Scott Walker respectively. But Michigan’s Rick Snyder wasn’t like Kasich and Walker. He campaigned as a moderate and won by 18 points in a state bluer than either Ohio or Wisconsin while his counterparts were just squeaking by in their races. You would think that even if Snyder’s popularity has fallen after two months in office it hasn’t fallen as far as Kasich and Walker’s.
Think again. Snyder actually now has the worst numbers of this new trio of GOP Governors, with only 33% of voters approving of him to 50% who disapprove. And despite his overwhelming victory last fall voters now say that if they could do it over they’d pick Virg Bernero over Snyder by a 47-45 margin. Snyder’s current status is definitely emblematic of the adage that the higher you climb the farther you fall.
What’s happened to Snyder? What made him such a formidable candidate last fall was incredibly strong support from independents and an unusual amount of crossover appeal to Democrats. Neither of those things has lasted. His approval with independents is now just 32% with more of them at 44% disapproving. That’s a remarkable drop given that our final poll of the race last fall found him leading by 40 points with those voters. He’s also down to just a 10% approval with Democratic voters. If there’s any silver lining in his numbers it’s that he does maintain strong support within his own party- 68% of Republicans approve of him to 13% disapproving. Click Here For Full Survey Results

16 March 2011

Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder Signs Draconian Bill Into Law

Gov. Rick Snyder signed the much despised emergency financial manager legislation in to law today, giving him far too much power over the people in his state. Even the power to ignore the will of the people and the votes they cast. The local ABC affiliate reports:

LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) - Governor Rick Snyder has signed a bill giving broad new powers to emergency financial managers appointed by the state of Michigan to run struggling cities and schools, including the ability to terminate union contracts.
The bill was signed as thousands of union protesters rallied inside and outside the Capitol to protest the bill.
Vulnerable cities like Ecorse, Highland Park and Pontiac could get Emergency Financial Managers. This problem is so serious across this state, more than 60 communities that are on a Michigan Department of Treasury special watch list.  Hamtramck is once again in danger.
In Hamtramck, City Manager Bill Cooper’s position was created out of the financial crisis. The city fell in to receivership but emerged five years ago. He says the city fell in to debt when the emergency manager was here. He says they are still digging out from under it. “The Emergency Manager does the short-term fixes and leaves, a lot of them don't look five or ten years down the road.”
65 people have been trained as Emergency Managers and Cooper says the state is preparing to train 150 more.

It is imperative that we recall this man and his supporters in the legislature.

19 March 2011

Correction

I was contacted by Terry Stanton, Public Information Officer for the Michigan Dept. of Treasury yesterday, regarding a report originating with WXYZ that I quoted here.

He advised me that WXYZ had gotten the facts wrong, that he had also advised them of this, and that he would like both of us to remove or correct the articles.

WXYZs original statement:  "Vulnerable cities like Ecorse, Highland Park and Pontiac could get Emergency Financial Managers. This problem is so serious across this state, more than 60 communities are on a Michigan Department of Treasury special watch list.  Hamtramck is once again in danger."
Mr. Stanton’s clarification: “The Cities of Ecorse & Pontiac are currently under authority of an Emergency Manager.  Highland Park, while no longer under an EM, is still under a financial emergency declaration.”

After doing some fact checking, I found that three cities and one school district are currently under EFM management:

Only Pontiac, Benton Harbor, Ecorse and the Detroit Public Schools have state-appointed emergency financial managers in place, and critics say the current law isn't strong enough to do much good.

The cities of Highland Park, and the village of Three Oaks no longer have EFMs, although they remain under the declaration of a financial emergency.
While I’m talking about these cities, allow me to digress a moment and go where several others already have, and point out that the cities which currently have EFMs are all places where minorities are the majority. So yes, I have very few doubts that the decision to install EFMs in these cities is in part, racial

Additionally, Mr. Stanton had this to say about the “special watch list”, emphasis mine:

In addition, the department (Treasury) does not have a "special watch list" as was reported.  We are aware that some local units of government are facing very trying financial circumstances.  Following the bill signing yesterday, State Treasurer Andy Dillon noted that we are currently aware of "less than ten" municipalities and school districts that may experience additional difficulties in the weeks and months ahead.  However, we do not have a "special watch list."

I have to say, without being at all surprised by it, it at least appears that WXYZ once again did not do their homework, and, as of yet, they have not made a correction or removed the article.

Finally, if you have any information to the contrary, such as knowledge of the existence of such a watch list, please contact me at nscATpoliticalruminationsDOTcom.