Snyder says no to red meat

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MACKINAC ISLAND — Every two years, thestate Republican poobahs indulge in unhealthy slabs of rhetorical redmeat up here for an event called the Republican Leadership Conference.

Those with the bank to pay $125 for theconference and at least two nights at the Grand Hotel in late Septemberdrink from a communal chalice of Kool-Aid, while gleefully sharingamong themselves how Democrats are destroying America. 

The predictable script of these thingsrun along the lines of: Why doesn’t everyone else get it? Everythingwould be hunky dory if at least one more voter than 50 percent believedthe way we did.

So it was a bit of a buzz kill when Gov.Rick Snyder took the stage inside the Grand Hotel’s ballroom for theFriday night dinner program and shared his common stump speech aboutnever speaking ill about anyone — Democrat or otherwise (which he’slived up to as far as I can tell).

"When we get the win-lose mentality,everyone loses," he said. "Blaming never solved a problem. It’s not asolution. It’s a distraction. We don’t care about credit. The onlything that matters is solving a problem."

Sounds refreshingly sensible, doesn’tit? We’ve all heard the nauseating rancor from Washington and Lansingthat routinely steers our government into paralysis. 

But back in the ballroom, the silentcongregation of true believers had their eyes firmly fixed on the tableas if Mom was scolding them for shooting at the neighbor’s cat.

I heard the same courtesy claps onlyhours earlier at a "welcome forum," where Snyder defended to a theaterfull of right-wingers why he favors taxing Internet purchases, creatinga body mass index for children and building second bridge to competewith a private bridge to Canada … oh, and why he’s not crazy about"Right To Work."

So it should come as no surprise thatthe former Gateway CEO said Saturday morning, before his scheduled bikeride around the island, that he wouldn’t seek re-election if he finished his agenda within his first term.

"My criteria are two things. Did I dowhat I said I was going to do? And if I did the things I said I wasgoing to do, that would be great," Snyder said. "The second thing is,it’s not about me. I really want to create a long-term legacy ofsuccess. The changes we’re making are for 10, 20, 30 years from now …  ."

Hold on to your chairs, everyone.Snyder’s foray into politics is about solving Michigan’swell-established problems and then handing the leadership torch tosomeone else. He didn’t blanket the island with banners or host freebiereceptions this weekend like Attorney General Bill Schuette orSecretary of State Ruth Johnson.

Setting the groundwork for a re-electcampaign three years out is not on his radar screen. He’s working in"dog years" because serving for seven "adult years" at age 53 when he’salready a multi-millionaire with other interests isn’t preferable.

He doesn’t have visions of beingpresident or U.S. senator or the most beloved Michigan governor inhistory. Shoot, he’s only making $1 this year doing this job. Why wouldhe?

Snyder wants "better, smarter people" to take over so he can see Michigan "be successful in the long term"  — so he can "go fishing, go teach or do something else."

He wants the hard work: Finding along-term funding mechanism to fix our roads. Bringing public employeesalaries in line with the private sector. Getting school districts andmunicipalities to combine salaries. Making the state’s tax structurefair for everybody. Constructing a second international bridge acrossthe Detroit River to improve commerce. Making Michigan an attractiveplace to do business for all executives, whether they’re American,Chinese or whatever. Encouraging us to eat better. Updating the way ourkids learn so they are setting the curve and not riding the curve whenthey grow up.

Snyder is not laying groundwork for a2014 re-election, because he’s hoping he doesn’t have to. He’s doingthe job we elected him to do right now by hoping his mature, unselfish,level-headed, positive attitude is contagious. This is what hiring aprivate-sector CEO to be a public-sector CEO is about.

If Rick Snyder leaves office with a 20percent approval rating, but has accomplished the aforementionedagenda, he’s earned a walk into the sunset. He’ll have actually solvedproblems as opposed to using them to extend his personal career. 

That’ll truncate the careers of thelegislators and staff who made it happen, but they can all hold theirheads high knowing they took the public’s work seriously through civil,political discourse … which is the way public service should be.



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