The Chief Executive Outsourcer will now have Dumb and Dumber in his cabinet

It appears newly elected Michigan Gov. Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder must love the Michigan film credits because his favorite movie star is one of the biggest proponents of the credits, Chelsea’s Jeff Daniels, starring in “Dumb and Dumber.”

You will recall that early in the campaign the Outsourcer told his hometown “newspaper,” that the creation of Michigan Business Tax (MBT) and the 22 percent surcharge in 2007 was “like Lansing went to the video store and rented ‘Dumb and Dumber.’” Then in August he appointed one of the Republican authors of the alleged “job killer,” State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland, as his running mate.

Today in Ann Arbor the Outsourcer is set to appoint the Democratic author of the MBT, current Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, D-Redford, to an unnamed job in his administration. The only question that remains is which one is dumb and who is dumber: Dillon or Calley?

I applaud the Outsourcer in seeking a little diversity in his cabinet by appointing a Democrat, but many people have told me they don’t believe Dillon is a real Democrat. He lost the Democratic Gubernatorial nomination to Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in the primary, but Dillon never endorsed Bernero after the primary, which is the norm.

Perhaps this is why. Or perhaps it could be a reward for helping turnover control of the House to Republicans on his watch.

Dillon has never been a favorite of Republicans, and they pulled out all the stops in an attempt to recall him in 2007, even using fraud to place it on the ballot. However, it was rejected by voters. Republicans launched a number of recall attempts back in 2007 against Democratic state Representatives who voted for revenue increases to keep the state government going and avoid a shutdown. Only the one for Dillon made it on the ballot, but they used fraud to accomplish it.

The Outsourcer is also continuing his practice of appointing former members of the Engler administration to his team, and he is expected to announce that former Republican Lt. Governor Dick Posthumus will advise him on legislative affairs. Posthumus was Engler’s second Lt. Gov., but he lost his own bid for Governor in 2002, losing to currant Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Dumb picks dumber as running mate

Michigan Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Snyder chose rightwing State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland, as his running mate on Wednesday, but its’ unclear which one of the two will be dumb and who will be dumber.

Calley, the former banker and two-term State Representative, helped write the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) and the 22 percent surcharge passed back in 2007 that replaced the hated Single Business Tax (SBT). Ironically, Snyder had harsh words for the work of his running mate, calling the MBT a job killer, just days before he made the choice.

He told his hometown “newspaper,” Ann Arbor.com, that the creation of the 2007 tax is “like Lansing went to the video store and rented ‘Dumb and Dumber.’”

“We’ve got an environment now where we’re killing job creation through the Michigan business tax. It is absolutely awful,” he said.

The teabaggers who appear to control the GOP and are pushing it off the cliff are not happy with the moderate and unknown Snyder, so the pick of a conservative is a move to shut them up and try and get them onboard.

We know very little about Snyder and his plans and policies because he refuses to debate with the Democratic nominee, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, and he appears to be just trying to run the clock out to November before voters really can get to know him.

We do know that he knows absolutely nothing about state government, he’s rich and he outsourced thousands of U.S. jobs while he was in charge at Gateway Computers.

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.

Now, we know he will do anything and say anything to win, even compromise his alleged principals.

That’s in sharp contrast to Mayor Bernero who has led by example. He's cut his own pay, doubled his health insurance premium, and gave up his city-funded car to share in the sacrifice of Michigan's workers.

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.

Calley’s selection also sets up an interesting development. He won the primary for the 33rd District Senate seat to replace term-limited Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, the most rightwing member of the Senate. It’s unclear how Calley’s name will come off the ballot and who will replace him.