Governor Of Michigan

Gov. Snyder signs $47.4B Michigan budget Tuesday

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law the $47.4 billion budget that lawmakers sent him last month, putting in place a plan that he said will require sacrifice but mark "a major milestone in the reinvention of Michigan."

The budget resolves a $1.5 billion shortfall and partially addresses long-term pension and health care liabilities in the spending plan that takes effect Oct. 1. The 2011-12 budget also had to make up for $1 billion in revenue lost through a tax cut that will essentially eliminate business taxes from all companies except large corporations with shareholders.

"This was a difficult budget to do ... and we had to make difficult decisions," Snyder said.

The Republican governor set a May 31 deadline to get the budget done and gave Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville and House Speaker Jase Bolger clocks that counted down to that date to make his point.

The GOP-led Legislature complied and passed the plan before Memorial Day for the first time in three decades. Early completion of the budget gives school districts and local governments with budget years that start July 1 some certainty about state assistance, even though many school and local officials don't like what's in the budget plan.

Critics said the budget makes overly painful cuts to public schools, universities, local governments and key services. School districts saw funding cut by 2.2 percent, which has led to widespread teacher layoffs. Universities saw their state funding cut 15 percent, and local governments will see about $100 million less.

House Democratic Leader Richard Hammel denounced the budget, saying "just because you turn your test in early doesn't mean you're going to get a good grade."

"When we have the money available to invest in education, giving an 82 percent tax cut to corporations instead is just not responsible," said Hammel, from Genesee County's Mount Morris Township said. "We've already seen some of the short-term effects on schools, but we haven't yet realized what the total damage of the governor's cuts will be."

Snyder vetoed portions of the bill, characterizing the changes as "minor," and said he would ignore some language in the bill that's not legally enforceable. That includes provisions added by Republican lawmakers that would have penalized universities that offered health care benefits to employees' domestic partners and required public universities doing embryonic stem cell research to report data to the state, including how many human embryos are used for research.

Mitt Romney | George Romney | Can Mitt Romney take a punch? | The ...

The parallels between Mitt Romney and his famous dad, George Romney, are many. The most obvious is that both men were successful businessmen who went on to become governors (Mitt was the governor of Massachusetts a few years ago and George was the governor of Michigan in the 1960s) before running for the GOP presidential nomination.

But there may be another parallel — Mitt Romney may have inherited his father’s political glass jaw.

I grew up in suburban Detroit in the 1960s, and I remember the elder Romney as a popular, charismatic governor of Michigan. His face could regularly be seen on TV channels 2, 4, and 7 — the big stations connected to the networks. Then there was Channel 50, a UHF station that you needed a special, oddly shaped antenna to receive. It was a cool station for cartoons, old re-runs of sitcoms, and vintage movie shows hosted by minor local celebrities. You would never see a politician there — except on the weekends.

On Saturday and Sunday evenings, Channel 50 featured a guy named Lou Gordon. In retrospect, he was probably the first television host to do the kind of “gotcha” and in-your-face, hardball interviewing that is very much the norm these days. He was a pit bull and in 1967 was ready to be syndicated across the country. The inaugural show would feature an eclectic line-up, including a couple from an organization called “The Swingers” (advocates of wife swapping), as well as an in-depth interview with Governor George Romney. The Mormon moralist governor was probably unaware of the other guests when he dropped in to tape his segment. Romney was a fan of the show and had even once filled in as a guest host when Gordon was on vacation.

This interview became famous because it demonstrated George Romney’s weakness: He couldn’t take a punch.

In fairness to the late former governor of Michigan, it is important to tell a part of the story that few these days have heard, one about a tired and overstretched candidate who over-trusted his ability to think on his feet, even while being knocked off of them.

Thursday, August 31, 1967 was a typically frenetic day for Romney and included a visit with his grandchildren to the Michigan State Fair. The plan was to only stay a bit and have the photo op, giving him plenty of time to drive over to the Channel 50 studios. Then, one of his grandkids inexplicably wandered off, creating understandable panic. For a time, state troopers searching the fair grounds wondered if a kidnapping might be in play. But they found the child riding the Ferris wheel, oblivious to what was happening. Governor Romney — now rattled and very late — made his way to the studios. His shoes were covered in dirt and whatever else from the fair grounds. He really should have rescheduled.

Inauguaral message of Woodbridge N. Ferris, governor of Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, January 1, 1913

Annual report to the Governor of Michigan ...

Second inaugural message of Woodbridge N. Ferris, governor of Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, January 7, 1915

Joint documents of the State of Michigan

The semi-centennial of the admission the state of Michigan into the Union, Addresses delivered at its celebration, June 15, 1886