Columns

Tim Skubick

Governor’s Missed Opportunity

January 27, 2012

My oh my, the boo-birds were out in force taking pot shots at the governor for a rather lackluster performance last week during his second State of the State missive.

He was off his game, but he confirmed again that he is not a career politician and oratory is not his strong suit. Forever the CPA, even he confided before the address, “I’m going to be boring.” And now he is thinking about scrapping the speech altogether for next year.

Even though he had a bunch of flubs, like suggesting that Dan Musser was 125 years old, when in reality his Grand Hotel is that age, you did not hire Mr. Snyder to be a great speech maker.

“You hired me to be governor,” he is fond of saying, and most folks could give two hoots about his struggles to be an inspiring public speaker. Hey, he gives one major speech a year, so it’s not the end of the world.

What is more troubling was his lack of candor in the address on what he proposes for the new year.

Governors get one shot a year to talk directly to the citizenry, unfiltered by the media (at least during the speech), and Mr. Snyder failed to fulfill his duty to talk straight. For a moment there it seemed like he had retrogressed into his campaign mode, where he rarely talked about specific stances on issues.

Rather, he glossed over them with vague generalities such as, “I’m for education.” Who the heck isn’t?

And there he was on the issue of including insurance coverage for autistic children. It’s a contentious issue, as business doesn’t want to foot the cost, and parents with those special-needs kids are left holding the bag.

So what did the governor provide on that? “Let’s address that important topic.”

Ugh.

Or how about his $1.4 billion plan to fix Michigan’s sagging, World War II-era rotting road system? He timidly suggests lawmakers “hold hearings on bills that will give Michigan a transportation system for the 21st century.”

Don’t kid yourself. The governor knows where he wants to go on this, which includes increases in your car registration fees. But rather than level with motorists on that, he called for hearings.

In his defense, he explains he does not want to endorse this plan or that just yet because it would “galvanize” the opposition from the opening bell.

His buddies in the business community, after lapping up a nifty $1.8 billion tax cut last year, were back at the head of the line asking for more tax relief, via the personal property tax, and there’s the governor right with them. However, to grant that additional relief the governor would have to take $800 million away from local government. Rather than lay out a way to do it, he offered only this: “We need a long-term solution.”

Even though he is still somewhat of a rookie governor, it’s a time-honored tradition that governors propose (hopefully with specifics) and then lawmakers dispose. There was no meat on his proposals in that speech.

Now his defenders will rightfully suggest that he will provide the details in his budget next month — but there won’t be a statewide TV audience when he does it.

So in this respect, the consummate non-career politician is acting just like previous career-politician governors. They never delivered any tough medicine when everyone was looking; they did it when the public was not.

It’s a mighty stretch to describe that as bold leadership.

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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Schuette Shoots for Surplus
There must be something in the water they drink in the Attorney General’s Office, because it turns the occupant into a finely tuned headline-gathering machine. Current occupant Bill Schuette has picked up right where Attorneys General Jennifer Granholm and Frank Kelley left off.

Whether it’s promoting the notion that he alone is standing at the mouth of Lake Michigan to battle the Asian Carp from invading our waterways, or battling those medical marijuana shops that popped up all over the state, Bill Schuette is on duty — and this time it’s to fight…what else?…crime, of course.

Mr. Crime-Fighter wants to swipe $140 million of the state’s $500 million surplus to hire 1,000 new cops. And funny thing, the law enforcement community showed up in force the other day to provide the human backdrop for his big announcement. Why not? They would share most of the largess.

Mr. Schuette waxed on, as the phalanx of TV cameras recorded his every word, suggesting that if Michigan was ever going to enjoy an economic recovery, it would first need to make itself a state safe.

Hand it to the Billster, it was a great pitch and a great performance — but it did not open to rave reviews across the street, where lawmakers will decide the plan’s fate.

“I don’t want to give the money to anybody,” the crusty and stingy chair of the House budget committee said in rebuttal to the Schuette sound bites. “I’m willing to talk to him about it,” countered the equally unenthusiastic chair of the Senate budget panel. So put Rep. Chuck Moss and Sen. Roger Kahn down as “maybes” leaning toward a “no.”

Those two guys control the purse strings, and they note that Mr. Schuette is not the only one standing in line for a surplus hit.

“Do we want a thousand teachers? Or a thousand inspectors for nursing homes?…We can’t afford all the good things that everybody wants,” Mr. Moss concluded. Mr. Kahn would only describe his position as “not a complete rejection.”

So despite the masterful media manipulation of the issue, what are Mr. Schuette’s chances of landing the cash?

Don’t count on another glitzy news conference if the answer is a big fat N-O.

Lansing Casino a Big Gamble
If you are a betting person, don’t bet on this.

The angriest mayor in American is no longer angry. Instead, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero is geeked about building a new casino right in the heart of the capital city. After a lengthy, yet constructive, year of chats with the Native American tribe from the U.P., his honor is sitting on a whopping $250 million potential investment.

And sitting is where he could stay.

Bernero talks in terms of one to two years. Somebody who has actually negotiated these kinds of compacts says five years is more likely, and most of that time will not be spent on the construction site but in the courts.

Moments after the mayor boldly declared, “Lansing will have a casino. It’s only a question of where and when,” the press releases from all of the opponents flooded in.

Leading the charge were the owners of the tribal casinos in Gun Lake and Battle Creek. In fact, they had a barrister in the audience to gain quick access to the news media that were there to cover the Virg.

The good folks in Mt. Pleasant who run Soaring Eagle are not eager to have competition in Lansing, and they vowed to haul Mr. Bernero and company into the courts to duke it out. And the three casinos in Detroit will join in.

The federal government also has to sign off.

Lawmakers have a voice in all this…and none of them bothered to show up for the big announcement.

And then there is the governor, who has said he’s not a big fan of economic expansion that includes more slot machines and roulette wheels. Besides, the state stands to lose $22 million in cold hard cash if the Lansing casino is actually built.

“There will be some bumps in the road,” confided the tribal chair, in what clearly wins the understatement of the year award.

So all you grannies out there ready to drop your hard-earned nickles into a Lansing slot machine, don’t hold your breath.