Up North Progressive

Nolan Finley’s editorial in today’s Detroit News had the distinct tone of someone who thinks he understands a problem but hasn’t considered all of the facts before firing off an editorial about why this is all wrong and it shouldn’t be this way. What Finley doesn’t seem to realize, and perhaps this is the case for many Republicans, but only one candidate is campaigning for the Governor’s job. The other one for now has the job, but doesn’t seem all that interested in doing anything to keep it.

Take a look at Rick Snyder’s campaign website. It’s literally nothing but a donate button and that awful video with the creepy jazz background music and comedic scenes that launched a thousand MDP campaign memes. The only minor change is at some point they edited out the MSU campus and Spartan Stadium scenes. Someone must have complained. Probably The Nerd.

So why does Nolan Finley suddenly feel the need to polish the brown on his nose and create fake controversy where there is none? Maybe Republicans who don’t know what’s going on are getting worried. He tries to sound informed with “facts” like Snyder is popular, people are satisfied with the job he’s doing, even sourcing a conservative respected polling firm. Here’s the problem with Steve Mitchell, in 2012 he insisted in a memo that Obama was tied with Romney in Michigan because:

“African-American participation in this poll is 8%, not 12%, which is the percentage of the population but not likely voters. I do not believe blacks represented 12% of the vote in 2008 and I don’t believe they will in 2012. Having polled this state for 26 years, blacks have represented about 7%-8% of all votes cast in every statewide race. At best, it went to 9% four years ago. It will not reach that level this year.”

Mitchell of course was dead wrong about everything.

Like Steve Mitchell, Nolan Finley clearly isn’t looking at all possible data before expressing his opinion about the Michigan governor’s race. When Snyder took office in 2011 we were 47th in the nation for unemployment. We’re currently at 48th. Union members have not forgotten how Snyder pocketed the check from Dick DeVos and made Michigan a right to work state in the shame duck session of 2012. Retired people have not forgotten that Snyder raised their taxes. Poor people have not forgotten that Snyder raised their taxes. Teachers and parents are pretty fed up with the condition of our public schools. Every person who’s had to fix a flat tire this election cycle hasn’t forgotten that Snyder and the Republicans of the state legislature voted to go on vacation rather than fix Michigan’s roads. Nolan Finley also missed that the prison food provider Amorak is in hot water for serving food with maggots and staff fraternizing with the population in the prison. The failed EAA, the mismanagement of Muskegon Heights Public Schools after being converted to a charter school system; none of this is of use to an incumbent running for re election.

And let’s not forget what’s happening in Detroit. Water shut offs are only the latest travesty against the people of that city. Snyder’s Detroit emergency manager, who says he has no problem slitting throats, has done just that to all the people who can’t afford what he’s doing to the city while handing corporations, banks and the rich all the breaks. The only people who think The Nerd is doing a good job are people who are just like The Nerd – rich, privileged, and keeping it that way. The poll numbers don’t match what’s really going on because Nolan Finley’s reality about Snyder’s chances of being easily re-elected only exist in his head. Anyone who thinks the majority of the state likes Rick Snyder doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on in Michigan.

And what about the emergency managers? Has even one had any success turning around a school system or city where they’re in control? Where are those stories The Nerd is telling while he’s busy on the campaign trail talking about all the great success he’s had in Michigan as governor.

Is The Nerd busy on the campaign trail?

Is he even on a campaign trail? Snyder spent more time on the road in 2012 with his proposal bus. Remember the bus, “Yes on 1 … No on the rest”?

That’s the strangest part about the 2014 governor’s election. It appears that only one candidate is campaigning to win it. The other guy’s campaign staff are busy sporting secret spy headgear.

Nice try, Nolan Finley, but for those of us looking forward to voting for Mark Schauer and Lisa Brown this November there is no disconnect between what the poll numbers tell us and what we know to be the truth. Rick Snyder is not campaigning because he has nothing to campaign about as the incumbent. The emergency managers are a flop. The Nerd did Dick DeVos’s bidding and made Michigan a right to work state. Our public schools are still struggling with funding levels lower than they were in 2006. Poor people and old people are paying more taxes while a proposal on the August 5 primary ballot wants to give another tax break to businesses in the state. Michigan families are struggling to stay above water while the rich are doing better than fine. It’s plainly obvious why Mark Schauer is within the margin of error against Rick Snyder in the polls, and more people than you think are going to vote for Mark Schauer this November. There’s nothing odd about this race at all, when you look at all of the facts.