Michigan’s gubernatorial election offers some very clear choices: a candidate that actually created jobs and had to balance a budget and between a man who destroyed jobs and knows so little about the government he wants to run that he can’t even name the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.
Republican nominee Rick Snyder makes former GOP nominee Dick DeVos look like a job creator, and Snyder has shipped far more jobs overseas than DeVos ever did. He could earn the nickname “Dick DeVos, Jr., but it would be more appropriate for DeVos to be called “Rick Snyder, Jr.”
Snyder has a history of outsourcing jobs overseas. At a time when job creation is our main priority, how can we elect someone like Snyder who will be a jobs killer? The simple facts are that Snyder’s job creation record is much worse than DeVos’s. While Snyder was an official at Gateway Computers, the company outsourced nearly 20,000 American jobs to China and other parts of Asia. But Snyder took good care of himself at the same time - cashing-out tens of millions of dollars in stock options while the lives of thousands were ruined.
While he served on the board of directors Snyder was sued in 2000 along with two other Gateway executives. The issue was that Snyder cashed in on 355,000 stock options worth $23.7 million at a time that executives admitted they misrepresented the company’s financial outlook. The case, Scheinhartz v. Waitt, was consolidated into a class action suit for alleged financial misreporting and Snyder was not named in that lawsuit. The case was settled without any admission of wrongdoing.
Someone should also tell Snyder that the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court is Marilyn Kelly.
In contrast, Democratic nominee Virg Bernero knows about state government after serving as a State Representative and Senator. He also knows how local municipalities work, and he has managed to balance the Lansing City budget, despite constant cuts in state revenue sharing.
His job creation record is outstanding. The Lansing Economic Development Corp. reports that Lansing has created 5,311 jobs and saved 1,722 for a total of 7,033 jobs since Bernero became mayor in 2006. Bernero has leveraged over $500 million dollars in new job-creating investments in Lansing, and he helped launch the area's first regional public-private economic development initiative.
If you want to see what Bernero can do for Michigan, just take a drive to Lansing and see all of the job-creating economic development projects going on; from the Accident Fund's New World Headquarters to XYZ Machine business expansion.
“Michigan needs a governor who will bring jobs from China instead of profiting from shipping jobs to China,” said Michigan Democratic Chair Mark Brewer. “Snyder's Wall Street ways helped create the economic mess in this country and he is the last person Michigan voters should hire as governor.”
The choice is clear in November; Bernero for jobs and Snyder for Wall Street.
6 comments:
Bernero's performance as mayor in Lansing has been far from flawless. Many of his efforts to balance the budget, much like the governor's have been similar sorts of accounting tricks and fee increases combined with service elimination.
At no point has he focused on value for the residents of Lansing. He just hasn't. He can get away with that in Lansing, a city with very low standards for governance, but not in Michigan.
He doesn't understand how to change the game. 4 years of Bernero would be like having another 4 yrs of Granholm. We've seen enough.
On the Gateway - jobs in the private sector aren't forever. Most have a 7-10 yr lifespan before disappearing due to creative destruction. Snyder at least has the experience of (a) building a company from 900 to 14000 people, and (b) when the natural lifespan of those jobs ended managed to salvage value for the shareholders so he didn't destroy all their wealth. He says he was in the minority on the board with some of those decisions anyway. And he salvaged about 4000 jobs in Gateway in the US.
Contrast that with GM which wiped out all of it's shareholder's value.
We need someone who thinks differently, not someone who will be a slave to the public unions. Haven't they done enough damage already ?
First, the Governor doesn’t balance the budget, the Legislature does. Second, do you really believe Lansing is the only municipality to have problems balancing a budget and has to cut services? By the way, any specifics?
I disagree with your point that, “At no point has he focused on value for the residents of Lansing.” Again, any specifics. How do you reach the ridiculous conclusion that Lansing is a “city with very low standards for governance?”
Explain to me how Gov. Granholm created the worst recession since the Great Depression and caused an economic meltdown.
Good for Snyder; he made himself very rich. Running a business is not like running the government. A CEO can just implant a plan and everyone in the company executes it or is fired. In government, the Legislature is an equal partner, and you have to work and compromise with them. Something Virg Bernero is familiar with. The fact is we don’t even know a lot about Rick Snyder. He declined to participate in all but one debate, and he declined to fill out any questionnaires from various groups.
Bernero is not a “slave to the public unions.” To answer your question, “Haven't they done enough damage already,” the answer is the exact opposite, and they have helped make Michigan a better place.
Carraig proving once again why Republican voters aren't the brightest group of Americans.
Much like the Amway Dick, Snyder is trying to base his entire campaign on "I created jobs so vote for me" and like the Amway Dick he's going to defend his record of sending jobs overseas for cheap labor.
And how in the world can he talk about making Michigan a better place when he sent thousands of jobs away?
If anything Rick Snyder was part of the problem instead of investing in Michigan when he had a chance he decided to the best way to improve his bottom line was to ship American jobs overseas for cheap labor.
As for the unions, again I never understood those who like to pound their chest and called themselves blue collar support the corporate conservative world view..
If the conservative elite had their way Carraig you would have no work protection if you get sick your choices would be either show up or don't ever come back, you can get fired for whatever reason, if you're close to retirement age you can get fired so the company could avoid paying pension and you could lose your job if the high ups decide they found a cheaper option.
Again I side with the unions and not with the corporate elite like you and many other average Republican voters chose to do.
I agree. How can you claim you’re going to create jobs when your history is you outsourced 20,000 American jobs? As I understand it, Snyder is a venture capitalist who just invests in companies. How is that different from a corporate raider? Not only that. Exactly who is Rick Snyder, and what are his positions. He ducked all the debates but one, and he declined to fill out questionnaires from all the associations and groups that endorse.
I will never understand the hatred of unions, especially over Wall Street. These are working, middle class people. In fact, they created the middle class. Perhaps that’s why the right hates then so much. They have a hard time convincing them to vote against their own economic self interest by voting Republican. Unions are the most democratic thing in the workplace. Everything is voted on; from the leaders to the contract.
So- first off - I'm an independent. I don't like the Wall St. types any more than the union bosses.
Take a look at Upstate New York to see how your vision of increased union control and higher taxes to pay those bills destroys value and lowers living standards for the general population. It's a losing proposition.
If you truly believe that a union-owned state is really better for the people, I suggest you take a run through the area from Jameston through Buffalo and Rochester and Binghamton to Syracuse, Watertown, Malone and Albany. My father-in-law is from that area, and every time we go back there the scene reminds me of Ireland in the 1980s. The young folk are leaving for places in the South or on the Boston/DC corridor. The older folk are getting older, and the only growth industries are those tied to healthcare for the elderly.
I have young kids. I don't want that world for them.
A union-owned government for another 8 years will give them that world.
Based on your past comments, please excuse me if I’m skeptical of your claim to be an independent. But, if you want to stick to that claim, that’s fine. I have no problem with “union bosses” because they are elected, unlike Wall Street types.
I have been to upstate New York, although it has been some six years, it was a very pleasant place. I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but union members are working people and not all are public employees. I would love to see my “vision of increased union control.” There is no way paying people a decent wage with benefits and giving them a voice kills jobs.
Public employees in Michigan have made millions of dollars of concessions to balance the budget. What would be nice is if for once they looked somewhere else for cuts. I’m also confused as to how driving wages down increases living standards. There is a reason the middle class is disappearing and the gap between the rich and poor has increased.
There is no such thing as a “union-owned government,” and there never has been. Killing unions will give your kids a world with robber barons that we had before unions. Once again, there is nothing more democratic in the workplace than unions.
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