Put Up or Shut Up

by Tim Skubick
January 1, 2010

’Tis the season to forget about politics….except, of course, in this town, where it’s politics 24-7-365. Hence, even though Lt. Gov. John Cherry is home for the holidays — he’s adamant about taking some time and a few pounds off — his political family is busy nonetheless.

For openers, the Cherry gang dodged the bullet recently when they got rid of the campaign manager. Doing it in the dead of winter, 11 months before an election, and getting rid of somebody nobody knew in the first place was a two-day story that did not reach beyond the political junkies in this town. Normal folks missed it.

Also likely to fall into the same category was the decision by the Energizer Bunny, a.k.a. Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, to form an exploratory committee as a prelude to a possible bid for governor in the new year.

Bernero has methodically moved from “very unlikely” to run to “seriously considering” a run to a committee that will determine once and for all if he can raise the dough to actually run against Cherry and others for the Democratic nomination.

Detroit and organized labor are key to winning that nomination, and Bernero believes he is making progress on both fronts.

He’s spent at least two full days in Motown meeting with the usual folks, from NAACP leaders to Baptist ministers to local power brokers and that ilk. Bernero comes away encouraged that they feel and like his “passion and energy,” and he continues to hear the “Cherry can’t win” theme, which only encourages the mayor even more.

Then there is the labor front. Popular wisdom has labor solidly in Cherry’s camp. State ALF-CIO President Mark Gaffney the other day described Bernero in a TV interview as a “bright young man with a great future” but “not as governor right now.” The labor leader advised, “keep up the good work as mayor.” Translated: keep your big nose out of this race, pal.

If that was the message sent, Bernero did not receive it. He senses that much of labor shares his “Cherry can’t win” notion and, with a little work, he can make some inroads.

That chuckling you hear is coming from the popular-wisdom pundits in this town. They’re not writing Bernero off, but very few are predicting he can pull this off.

The formation of an exploratory committee will now give Bernero backers a chance to put up or shut up, and how much they cough up will determine if Bernero actually runs.

At this early stage, money is the story. Those who have it are viable. Those who don’t, well, maybe next time.

Thus, Bernero will count the change as it flows in. He won’t and can’t raise a quick million, but if in 30 days or less he can demonstrate he can hustle upwards of $300,000 or so, the naysayers may put their naying on hold.

If he raises $50,000 or less, the mayor can go back to being mayor real quick — which is what a majority of Lansing voters thought they were getting when they re-elected him mayor last November.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s Senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972. He also covers the Capitol and politics for WLNS-TV6 in Lansing.

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Saul Nice to Cherry
What a shocker. Saul Anuzis is one of the last guys in this town you would expect to say anything even remotely complimentary about John Cherry. After all, Big Saul is the former state GOP chair and is about as partisan as it gets.

Yet, when asked about the Cherry for Governor effort, Saul had nice things to say about Democrat Cherry.

“Anybody who underestimates John Cherry is making a mistake,” Anuzis said, warming to the subject.

Calling him “clever, a smart and very personable guy,” Anuzis pays Cherry the ultimate compliment by using his name and John Engler’s in the same sentence. “Cherry is one of the shrewdest politicians I know…It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he is the Democrat’s John Engler.”

Recall that when John Engler first ran for governor, everyone said with conviction there was no way he could unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. Jim Blanchard. No how, no way.

Well, of course, the impossible happened and now Anuzis is concerned, if you read between the compliments, that to underestimate Cherry as the Ds did with Engler could end up in four more years of Democratic reign.

Unfortunately for Cherry, one positive review from Anuzis will not erase the “can’t win” mantra that is fully engrained in this town’s psyche. The challenge in the new year will be for Cherryites to find a way to prove he can win.

Maybe Saul could do a TV spot for his long time acquaintance J.C.?

Right, and Kwame will pay back all the money he owes, too.

Illogical Legislative Logic
Sometimes legislative logic leaves much to be desired. It can be lousy reasoning masquerading as logic.

Two such examples stick out like the proverbial sore thumb as we put a ribbon on the 2009 legislative year: the Hollywood film tax credit and the Pure Michigan tourism campaign.

Everybody has seen the Pure Michigan TV spots narrated by Tim Allen that actually bring a tear to your eye if you are a true Michiganian. The spots touch a spot in your heart and have brought in tons of out-of-state tourists to spend money here.

Needless to say, the state needs those tourist dollars. So when it came time for lawmakers to ratify another $40 million in spending to continue the very successful campaign, they…well…blew it!

Here is the logic they either missed, were too stupid to get, just ignored…or all three. For every one dollar the state spent on the ads, three dollars came into the state. Repeat, three for one.

There was a proposal to raise new revenue to pay for the campaign by taxing car rentals. That seemed logical, but wait, Republicans are against raising new revenue, even if it produces more revenue.

As a result, the commercials will not air nationwide during the critical winter tourist season.

Next was the Hollywood credit. Again, the Rs first stood up to kill it, but when the pushback came, they opted to scale it back.

Some argued that even though the credit was working and bringing 80-some movie projects to the state, why would we want to continue that when it might lose a little money in the process?

The tax credit was having a tremendous psychological impact on a state that was in a deep-dark funk. The audience stood up and cheered when a Clint Eastwood movie final credit appeared: Made in Detroit, Michigan.

Even if the state lost a few bucks, it had a halo effect that in the long run will benefit the state.

Maybe some Republicans have it in for all those liberal Democrats who run the movie industry?

It’s that kind of logic that leaves you shaking your head.