Opinions Op-Ed Column by Phil Power, The Center for Michigan: Snyder’s off to fast start, but it’s a long race
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By Phil Power, Founder and President
The Center for Michigan
Gov. Rick Snyder is taking a victory lap or two at the annual Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s policy conference on Mackinac Island this week.
Both of the governor’s main initiatives — a complete restructuring of Michigan’s business tax system and a radically reorganized state government budget — have been adopted by the overwhelmingly Republican Legislature. Things have been wrapped up far earlier than just about anyone thought possible.
The newly elected governor campaigned on a promise to repeal the much-disrespected Michigan Business Tax. He vowed to get a final budget adopted by May 31. Everybody scoffed.
No wonder, in recent years, the Legislature has often frantically scrambled to get the budget done by Sept. 30, to avoid a government shutdown.
But amazingly, he got it done. Getting the spending plan approved by his deadline marks the earliest budget approval in 30 years, since the relatively bipartisan and long-vanished Milliken era. Getting a major overhaul of the tax system accomplished at the same time may be seen as close to miraculous.
Having accomplished both, the governor may well be entitled to a happy jog or two around the island. However, he better enjoy it while it lasts. We are sailing into the political “silly season.” That is, the days when all the mandatory deadline stuff has been done.
Without much pressing hard on Lansing’s immediate agenda, the lawmakers are now free — to a degree — of the seriousness that constrained bizarre legislative behavior over the past five months.
Not that there aren’t still tough issues ahead. First on the agenda: Getting approval for the new bridge across the Detroit River to Canada. That’s a task that so far has eluded the governor and his main vote-counter, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.
Though virtually every business interest in the state wants a new bridge, it has one powerful opponent: Manuel Moroun, the monopoly billionaire owner of the Ambassador Bridge.
Moroun has been spreading campaign contributions thick and fast around Lansing. As a result, a bunch of legislators — primarily Republicans — oppose the public-private project the governor favors. They say they’ll only approve an all-private bridge — meaning one built by Moroun himself.
The governor’s troops have spent a fair amount of face time and engaged in considerable arm-twisting trying to round up the votes, but so far it’s been a hard sell. It’s pretty clear the only way the governor is going to do it is with an alliance with legislative Democrats.
That just might have been one of the things discussed at an unusual informal, (um … maybe even bridge-building?) meeting Snyder had with leaders of the House Democratic Caucus last week.
Yet beyond the bridge and other serious stuff like roads and bridges and other infrastructure, that funny noise you hear in the distance is the shuffling of feet from various folks. They, too, have an agenda: All are pushing for various projects that may, or may not, square with the mainstream of state policy.
And there are the angry nay-sayers. Recall petitions are being shopped around aimed at various Republican lawmakers who have supported Snyder’s plans. This movement is being pushed mainly by liberal allies of public sector unions who are unhappy at what the Legislature accomplished this spring. Getting the number of signatures required to get a recall on the ballot is a difficult process, however.
Recall attempts usually fall short. But venting loudly seems to be an important part of our political culture these days.
Now, the Snyder administration increasingly may find itself having to put out fires. Last week, a Tea Party group renewed a call to make Michigan a “right to work” state. To do that would require amending the Michigan Constitution to outlaw making union membership a requirement to holding a job.
Some Republicans, especially from the west side of the state, like that idea a lot. Others warn it could lead to “civil war” in Michigan, traditionally a pro-union state, and backfire against the Republicans. Those wanting to make that fight are getting no encouragement from the governor. He says “right-to-work” isn’t on his agenda.
But that’s not the only opposition the governor is facing. There also is increasing concern from educators, parents and even some business groups that the cuts imposed on schools, colleges and universities in the budget are just too much.
Michigan has now cut higher education by hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade. The state, which has a work force less educated than the average, now leads the nation in reducing public support for colleges and universities.
So far, the university community has been sad, but largely silent about the hacks — accomplished by both political parties, it must be said — at the sources of human capital in the state. But a lot of people are getting worried about the cuts, how long they are going to last and what their cumulative effect will be.
I hope Gov. Snyder doesn’t work up much of a sweat taking his laps on the Island. He has more than three and a half years to go in his current term, and is likely to need all the stamina he can muster.
Former newspaper publisher and University of Michigan Regent Phil Power is the founder and president of The Center for Michigan, a nonprofit, bipartisan centrist think-and-do tank, designed to cure Michigan’s dysfunctional political culture. The opinions expressed here are Power’s own and do not represent the official views of The Center. He welcomes your comments at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
