Snyder, R Gov

---four alec/koch midwest governors?  look at their record?  4? horsemen? ALecKoch-alypse?   CFG?walker bailed on 2016; kasich hanging in=<a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/01/13/flint-michigan-rick-snyder-legionnaires">https://theintercept.com/2021/01/13/flint-michigan-rick-snyder-legionnaires</a>fORMER MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder knew about a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Flint as early as October 2014, when there was still a significant amount of time to save lives. That was the accusation of investigators looking into the Flint water crisis, according to documents compiled as part of a three-year investigation and obtained by The Intercept.<div data-reactid="226" style="box-sizing: border-box;">On Tuesday, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/flint-lead-water-crisis-gov-rick-snyder-801ba227340f0ac2e10e37a06a82f08d" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that Snyder, as well as former Michigan health department director Nick Lyon, and Snyder’s top adviser Richard Baird, will be charged by the Michigan attorney general, Dana Nessel, over their roles in the Flint water crisis.On Thursday, Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud announced charges against nine state of Michigan and city of Flint officials. Snyder was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor. The Michigan penal code lists a maximum penalty for willful neglect as a year in prison or a fine of $1,000. In announcing Snyder’s charges, Hammoud said “for willfully neglecting his mandatory legal duties under the Michigan constitution and the emergency management act, thereby failing to protect the health and safety of Flint’s residents.”Lyon and Eden Wells, the former chief medical executive of Michigan, were also charged with felonies, including nine counts each of involuntary manslaughter. Baird also received a series of felony charges, including obstruction of justice, perjury, extortion, and misconduct in office. (The full charges are detailed at the bottom of this piece.) Hammoud concluded by announcing these charges don’t preclude prosecutors from filing additional charges against these defendants, or new defendants, as new evidence and witnesses present themselves.According to multiple sources familiar with the investigation and documents obtained by The Intercept, investigators working on the case prior to Nessel had evidence to charge Snyder with misconduct in office in addition to willful neglect. The former criminal team also considered an involuntary manslaughter case against Snyder, according to multiple sources, but had not yet concluded their investigation when the majority of the team was dismissed by new AG Nessel, who announced a revamped investigation in 2019.According to the findings of an investigation launched by Nessel’s predecessor, Bill Schuette, Snyder was involved in a mad dash of phone calls in October 2014 at the same time the deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Flint was raising alarm bells among state health and environmental officials — yet still unknown to the Flint residents drinking and bathing in Flint River water.the criminal investigation was originally launched in 2016 when Schuette named a special prosecutor, Todd Flood, to run the investigation. That avalanche of calls, uncovered by investigators, included multiple conversations between Snyder, his chief of staff, and the state’s health department director. Other evidence from the same period — including briefings addressed to the governor that mentioned Flint’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak — led prosecutors to conclude the calls were about the outbreak, which was unfolding in real time.</div><div data-reactid="237" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Snyder, the evidence suggests, learned of the outbreak just weeks before his reelection in 2014. In 2016, Snyder testified to Congress that he first learned of Flint’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that January and held a press conference the next day. Yet in October 2017, Harvey Hollins, director of the state’s Office of Urban Initiatives, <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2017/10/aide_to_gov_snyder_contradicts.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">testified </a>that he had informed Snyder of Flint’s Legionnaires’ issues in December 2015.Lead poisoning of children and adults, stemming from a switch of the city water source to the Flint River in 2014, dominated national headlines, but the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak was a more acute disaster that killed Flint residents. While the official death toll from the Legionnaires’ outbreak was 12, a PBS “Frontline” <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/flint-water-crisis-deaths-likely-surpass-official-toll/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">investigation</a> found a 43 percent increase in pneumonia deaths in Flint during the 18 months the city received drinking water from the Flint River. PBS reported that scientists believed some of those 115 pneumonia deaths could <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/interactive/how-we-found-dozens-of-uncounted-deaths-during-flint-water-crisis/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">be attributed</a> to Legionnaires’ disease, which has similar symptoms to pneumonia and often is misdiagnosed as such.The Attorney General’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on charges against Snyder and others. Multiple requests to Snyder and Lyon received no response. In response to The Intercept’s inquiries, Snyder’s chief of staff Dennis Muchmore said he was “not aware” of the calls.</div><div class="img-wrap align-bleed large-bleed width-auto" data-reactid="238" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; transition: opacity 300ms linear 200ms; opacity: 1; width: auto;"><div data-reactid="239" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[pix Witness Maryanne Tribble holds a photo of her father, John Snyder, who died of Legionnaires’ disease in 2015, during the preliminary examination of Dr. Eden Wells, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in Genesee County District Court in Flint, Mich., on Nov. 6, 2017. ]</div></div><div data-reactid="240" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BY OCTOBER 2014, six months after April’s Flint River switch, Flint residents had been publicly complaining for months about odorous, discolored water coming from their taps. Residents, including children, were showing city officials rashes spreading across their bodies. In August and September, Flint had issued a boil water advisory. As a result, Snyder requested a briefing on Flint’s water problems; on October 1, that <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/2016/02/snyders_top_staff_emailed_abou.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">briefing</a>, which listed a waterborne disease outbreak as a trigger that could cause a boil water alert, was delivered to the governor. By October 13, state health department epidemiologist Shannon Johnson authored an <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/03/10/mclaren-state-legionella-report/99039080/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">email </a>sharing her research and hypothesis that the “source of the outbreak may be the Flint municipal water.”A day later, on October 14, Valerie Brader, environmental adviser and legal counsel to Snyder, wrote an “urgent” <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/26/snyder-aides-urged-switching-flints-water-oct/80967048/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">email</a> to Muchmore, Snyder’s chief of staff, and other top officials pleading for Flint to discontinue use of the Flint River and return to Detroit’s water system. In a follow-up conference call between Brader, Richard Baird, who was known as Snyder’s right-hand man, and Darnell Earley, Flint’s emergency manager appointed by Snyder, Brader was told it would be <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2018/07/attorney_for_gov_snyder_says_s.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">too costly</a> to switch Flint back to Detroit’s water system and that Flint’s water woes would be remedied. As <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3bdp9/michigans-ex-gov-rick-snyder-knew-about-flints-toxic-waterand-lied-about-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> in Vice News, after the call, Baird threatened Brader to not send anymore emails expressing Flint water concerns.But it was October 16 and 17 that stood out to investigators, and seemed to indicate that Snyder knew about dangerous bacteria in Flint’s water in October 2014 — 16 months earlier than he testified to Congress.The Intercept obtained phone records from search warrants that showed an all-out blitz of calls between Snyder, Muchmore, and the soon-to-be Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon.According to phone records, on October 16 and 17, Muchmore and Lyon spoke nine times — far more frequently than they communicated before or since. After four of those calls, Muchmore immediately, or soon after, called Snyder. Before those calls, investigators found that Lyon and Muchmore had only spoken once via phone dating back to 2013: in August 2014, the same month McLaren Hospital, a member of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, <a href="https://www.wxyz.com/news/test-finds-legionnaires-disease-bacteria-in-water-at-mclaren-flint-steps-taken-to-safeguard-water" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">first detected</a> Legionella bacteria in their water supply.Calls on October 16:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">10:45 a.m.: Muchmore calls Lyon, the two speak for four minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">10:49 a.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two speak for three minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:03 a.m.: Snyder calls Muchmore, the two speak for two minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:10 a.m.: Muchmore calls Michigan Health and Hospital Association, or MHA; the call lasts for two minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:12 a.m.: Muchmore calls Lyon, the two speak for two minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:15 a.m.: Muchmore calls Lyon, the two speak for three minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:24 a.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the two speak for two minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:29 a.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two speak for four minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:51 a.m.: Muchmore calls <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2014/09/16/dhs-director-maura-corrigan-stepping/15726897/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">outgoing</a> Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan, the call lasts for two minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">12:14 p.m.: Penni McNamara, MHA’s executive office manager, calls Muchmore. Muchmore and McNamara speak for four minutes. In an subpoena document obtained by The Intercept, special prosecutor Todd Flood wrote that the call between Muchmore and McNamara was “presumably about the [Legionnaires’] outbreak.”</li></ul>At 12:32 p.m., Genesee County Health Department’s Stephanie Connolly emailed colleagues about a Legionnaires’ patient referral GCHD received from McLaren Hospital. “There was no connection with any previous admits to McLaren,” Connolly wrote, adding that the patient had “no travel hx, no recent dental work, no visits to the hospital per the client’s nurse.” Connolly’s email flew in the face of the Snyder administration’s eventual message that the source of the outbreak was McLaren Hospital — not Flint’s water system.<ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">2:24 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the two speak for five minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">3:07 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the call lasts for one minute.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">3:08 p.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two speak for three minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">5:24 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the call lasts for one minute.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">7:20 p.m.: Muchmore calls Corrigan, the call lasts for three minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">7:21 p.m.: Corrigan calls Muchmore, the two speak for five minutes. (The records indicate that this and the previous call may have overlapped.)</li></ul>On the morning of October 17, county health department supervisor Jim Henry and colleagues spoke with Flint water plant officials about the presence of Legionella in Flint. In response to the county’s concerns, Flint water officials acknowledged the city was not testing for Legionella specifically and that the “distribution system has areas of concern.”And the previous day’s calls between Snyder, Muchmore, and Lyon continued.<ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">11:16 a.m.: Snyder calls Muchmore, the two speak for five minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">12:21 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, call lasts for two minutes.</li></ul>At 4:31 p.m., Susan Bohm, an epidemiologist with the state health department, <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/06/19/flint-emails-legionnaires-water/103026954/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">emailed</a> epidemiologist Shannon Johnson, who four days earlier had shared her hypothesis that Flint’s municipal water was the source of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. Bohm wrote to Johnson that Liane Shekter-Smith, the chief of Michigan Department of Environmental Water Quality’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, had just called her, revealing that Genesee County Health Department called MDEQ about the Legionnaires’ outbreak and that “the Governor’s Office had been involved” in Flint’s water problems. Shekter-Smith warned that an imminent public announcement “about the quality of the water would certainly inflame the situation.”An hour and a half after Bohm’s email about Shekter Smith’s Legionella-related call, Lyon — Bohm’s ultimate boss at the health department — and Muchmore spoke for the ninth time in two days. Muchmore immediately called the governor after.<ul style="box-sizing: border-box;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">6:06 p.m.: Lyon calls Muchmore, the two speak for six minutes.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box;">6:12 p.m.: Muchmore calls Snyder, the two spoke for four minutes.</li></ul>Criminal investigators saw the entire sequence of calls, coupled with the resulting public silence and denials of any knowledge, as Snyder and his top officials working to stop news of the Legionnaires’ outbreak from emerging. Of the many calls that stood as red flags, Muchmore’s two calls with Michigan Health and Hospital Association, or MHA, stood out to investigators because of MHA’s links to McLaren, the hospital where Legionella bacteria was detected. McLaren Flint was part of MHA’s long list of member hospitals. The board of directors for MHA’s Health PAC was chaired by McLaren executive Thomas DeFauw; Gregory Lane, a McLaren Health Care senior vice president, also sat on the PAC’s board.Special prosecutor Flood subpoenaed MHA in late 2016 to produce relevant documents pertaining to its communications with the Snyder administration about Legionella. In his petition to subpoena MHA, which was obtained by The Intercept, Flood wrote that MHA joined Snyder and his top officials in keeping the information about the outbreak from the public.“This evidence shows the Governor, his administration, Director Lyon, and the MHA knew about this outbreak of Legionnaires’ in October 2014, and were interested in keeping the information from going public,” Flood wrote in reference to the avalanche of calls.Flood went on to note that MHA and local water officials at MDEQ held a call on Flint’s Legionnaires’ outbreak on March 19, 2015. At the bottom of the meeting update, Janice Jones, MHA’s office coordinator, shared details of a call she received from MDEQ official Carrie Monosmith.“Carrie has indicated that [the Legionnaires’ outbreak] is expected to hit the newspapers in Flint concerning the situation with McLaren and it is possible that MHA may be called,” Jones wrote.“The content of this message conveyed by Ms. Monosmith is very concerning, because not only had the outbreak still not been disclosed to the public at this time, but the DEQ was proactively contacting the MHA in the event the news, ‘hit the papers,’” Flood wrote. “Moreover, Ms. Monosmith was not contacting the MHA to give them a heads-up that they, the State agency would be alerting the public. Instead she was issuing this warning because the situation had been intentionally suppressed from the public’s knowledge, and the MDEQ was trying to prepare for it getting out.”In response to questions from The Intercept, Flood responded: “Ethically and legally the material you claim to have raises concerns. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the questions you are asking.”In response to The Intercept’s request for comment, MHA spokesperson Ruthanne Sudderth wrote: “Given the recent announcement of pending legal charges stemming from the Flint water matter, I can only advise you of our policy that the MHA does not comment on pending or ongoing legal matters.”IN ADDITION TO the onslaught of calls, criminal investigators uncovered meeting notes from an October 22, 2014, Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance managers meeting. On October 17, its chief, Liane Shekter-Smith, had warned MDHHS’s Bohm via email against the health department publicly announcing Flint’s Legionnaires’ outbreak while revealing the “Governor’s office had been involved” in Flint’s water problems.According to the managers’ meeting notes from October 22, ODWMA officials discussed “Governor’s Briefings” that presumably had been, or would be, sent to Snyder. Those briefings included the mention of “an increase in Legionella” in Genesee County.“Governor’s Briefings: Two boil water advisories in Flint, lead to all advisories to be sent to Director. Governor’s office to be informed of what’s happening. Coliform issue led to residual issue. GM now has issue with using Flint water and chloride. Genesee County seen an increase in Legionella, Maclaren has detected Legionella. Not detected in Maclaren incoming water.”When the criminal team asked Dan Wyant, MDEQ’s director, about a governor’s briefings that mentioned Legionella, he became emotional, according to multiple sources — potentially indicating he had seen the document before. Wyant did not respond to multiple requests for comment.A briefing memo like this would have been unlikely to get past Snyder. He <a href="https://www.mlive.com/politics/2012/01/gov_snyder_largely_paperless_i.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">received most materials directly to his iPad</a> and was, according to sources, an information sponge who read everything sent to him.Seven days later, on October 29, Wyant traveled to Flint to meet with Earley, the emergency manager, and other city officials. Daugherty Johnson, a Flint water plant official, told investigators that Legionella in Flint was discussed in the meeting, according to multiple sources. Johnson also shared that Stephen Busch, an MDEQ drinking water supervisor, went into full-on damage control mode, reportedly warning that the Legionella issue “may blow” and become a public PR nightmare for the Snyder administration.Two days after the meeting, Earley sent a thank-you email to Wyant for coming to Flint to discuss the city’s water issues. Earley then forwarded the email he sent to Wyant to Snyder’s right-hand man Richard Baird, offering to debrief him on the meeting. Baird responded boisterously, “Very good! Let’s get together after the election. Great work!”Baird, who <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3bdp9/michigans-ex-gov-rick-snyder-knew-about-flints-toxic-waterand-lied-about-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">allegedly attempted to pay off</a> sick Flint residents in order to silence them, is one of the officials set to be charged by the state attorney general, according to news reports. Baird did not respond to request for comment.IN APRIL, the Flint water crisis enters its seventh year. Despite news headlines declaring Flint’s water safe to drink, residents who The Intercept has spoken to challenge such proclamations.Melissa Mays, a Flint resident and leading water activist, challenged the state’s claims that Flint’s water is safe. “As of right now, the damaged City’s distribution mains still remain in the ground and our corroded interior plumbing, fixtures and appliances have not been replaced,” Mays said. “As long as our water flows through these pipes up into our taps, it will continue to be contaminated.”While charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder, former health director Nick Lyon, Richard Baird, and others appear imminent, the finalizing of a $641 million civil settlement negotiated between Nessel and attorneys representing Flint residents also appears imminent. On Monday, nearly two dozen Flint residents held a press conference to <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2021/01/flint-residents-protest-water-crisis-settlement-with-federal-judges-decision-expected-soon.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">oppose </a>the settlement, believing it is insufficient and won’t be allocated fairly.In response to news reports that Snyder will be charged with willful neglect of duty, Mays didn’t hold back. “The rumors that former Governor Rick Snyder is only going to be charged with a misdemeanor is BEYOND disgusting and insulting,” Mays wrote. “The Attorney General choosing to charge the man who made himself the unilateral dictator over my City, poison us, lie to us and watch us suffer with a small misdemeanor just proves to us in Flint that if you are a rich white man, it’s not considered an ACTUAL crime to poison poor, black and brown communities for profit, it’s only a minor fine and a slap on the wrist.”Update: January 14, 2021 This story has been updated with the charges filed by the Michigan attorney general’s office. The charges are as follows:Former Governor Snyder was charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty, each punishable by up to a year in prison and $1,000 fine.    Richard Baird, known as the governor’s right hand, received a series of felony charges: one count of misconduct in office, a five-year felony, for “improperly using state resources and state personnel”; one count of perjury, a 15-year felony, for lying under oath; one count of obstruction of justice, a five-year felony, for “attempting to interfere or influence ongoing legal proceedings relating to the Flint water crisis”; and one count of extortion, a 20-year felony, for “threatening a state-appointed research team during their investigation into the source of the Legionnaires’ outbreak in Genesee County.   Nick Lyon, the former director of MDHHS, was charged with nine counts of involuntary manslaughter, each a 15-year felony, and one count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor. Hammoud cited Lyon’s “failures and grossly negligent performance of his legal duties while director of MDHHS to protect the health of the citizens of Michigan in accordance with the public health code.”    Eden Wells, the former chief medical executive of Michigan, also received nine counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of willful neglect of duty. For Wells, two counts of misconduct in office were tacked on — each a five year felony — for attempting to prevent information on the Legionella outbreak from reaching the public.   Jarrod Agen, Snyder’s former chief of staff and communications director, was charged with one count of perjury, a 15-year felony, for giving false statements under oath. Agen had also served as Vice President Pence’s deputy chief of staff and communications director.   Two former Snyder-appointed Flint emergency managers, Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, were charged with misconduct in office, a five-year felony. Earley received three counts while Ambrose received four counts. Charges against both were connected to their actions related to the city’s finances.   Nancy Peeler, former MDHHS early-childhood health official, was charged with two counts of misconduct in office, each a five-year felony, and one count of misdemeanor willful neglect of duty, for “concealing and later misrepresenting data related to elevated to blood lead levels of children in the city of Flint.”   Howard Croft, former Flint Public Works Director, was charged with two counts of willful neglect duty, a misdemeanor of up to one year in prison, for failing to ensure the safety of the Flint water supply. </div>
=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/rick-snyder-flint/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/rick-snyder-flint/</a>no lnx twtRepublican Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, whose actions led to the Flint water crisis that flowed poisonous water in to 100,000 homes and businesses, will be charged after an investigation by that state's new Attorney General, Dana Nessel.
"Snyder, his health director and other ex-officials have been told they're being charged after a new investigation of the Flint water scandal, which devastated the majority Black city with lead-contaminated water and was blamed for a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in 2014-15," The Associated Press reports.
The AP's Michigan government/politics correspondent David Eggert:
The disaster was headline news for months. It started when Gov. Snyder decided to appoint his own manager to run the city, a tactic MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was among the first to decry as dangerous and possibly unconstitutional. In what was called a cost-saving measure Flint's water supply was switched to a different source, and contaminated water that subsequently also destroyed water pipes, leeching lead into drinking water, flowed.
"The outbreak was announced by Snyder and Lyon in January 2016, although Lyon conceded that he knew that cases were being reported many months earlier," the AP notes.
Flint youth activist Amariyanna Copeny, known as Little Miss Flint, points out years after the disaster began Flint's water system is still not fixed.
NBC's Geoff Bennett weighs in:
Physician who sounded the alarm over rise in lead levels in children's blood:

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=920 wow 2nd aleckochalypse gov to flip, operative word former?
<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/former-gop-governor-calls-trump-a-bully-and-endorses-biden-for-president/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/former-gop-governor-calls-trump-a-bully-and-endorses-biden-for-president/</a>
<div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">f<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/former-gop-governor-calls-trump-a-bully-and-endorses-biden-for-president/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">ormer GOP governor calls Trump a ‘bully’ — and endorses Biden for president</a></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/matthew-chapman/" title="Posts by Matthew Chapman" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Matthew Chapman</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story/" title="Posts by Raw Story" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Raw Story</a> September 3, 2020</div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Thursday, The Detroit News reported that former Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) announced he would be voting for Joe Biden in November — blasting President Donald Trump as a “bully.” “As a proud…
 Thursday, The Detroit News <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/03/snyder-endorses-biden-calls-trump-bully/5700833002/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reported</a> that former Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) announced he would be voting for Joe Biden in November — blasting President Donald Trump as a “bully.”“As a proud nerd, I had to deal with bullies over many years,” wrote Snyder in an <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/09/03/rick-snyder-why-im-voting-joe-biden-even-republican-column/5696508002/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">op-ed</a> for the USA TODAY network. “It is tragedy watching our world suffer from one.”Snyder is best known for being the governor who presided over the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/flint" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Flint water crisis</a>, where thousands of people were exposed to lead after the city switched water supplies on the demand of state-appointed emergency managers.<div class="story_page_incontent_instagram_container story_page_incontent_ig" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Other Michigan Republicans endorsing Biden include former Congressman Joe Schwarz, former Congressman Dave Trott, former Michigan Chamber of Commerce legal counsel Bob LaBrant, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor and former state Reps. Doug Hart, Mikey Knight and David Maturen, according to Biden’s website,” said the report.</div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/federal-judge-says-flint-water-lawsuit-actually-can-target-the-former-governor-meaning-he-may-finally-be-held-accountable/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/federal-judge-says-flint-water-lawsuit-actually-can-target-the-former-governor-meaning-he-may-finally-be-held-accountable/</a>A federal judge on Monday—who agreed that allegations of “conscience shocking” conduct claimed by plaintiffs were “plausible”—reinstated Michigan’s former Governor Rick Snyder as a defendant in a class action lawsuit by the victims of the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/flint-water" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">water crisis in the city of Flint</a> that first captured national headlines in 2014.<div class="p1_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After earlier removing Snyder from the suit, brought by city residents harmed by the poisoning of the municipal water supply, U.S. District Court Judge Judith Levy <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2019/04/gov-snyder-back-in-as-defendant-in-class-action-flint-water-lawsuit-judge-decides.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reversed that decision</a> as she noted the plaintiffs had shown the allegations against Snyder and his fellow co-defendants “plausibly describe ‘conscience shocking’ conduct” as the people of Flint were stripped of 14th Amendment protections from bodily harm or injury.<div class="p2_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="fielditems" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="fielditem even" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The plaintiffs in the suit, Levy wrote in her ruling,<div class="p3_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;">plausibly state that the Governor acted indifferently to the risk of harm they faced, demonstrating a callous disregard for their right to bodily integrity. This indifference manifested itself in two ways. Initially, the Governor was indifferent because instead of mitigating the risk of harm caused by the contaminated water, he covered it up. In private, he worried about the need to return Flint to DWSD water and the political implications of the crisis. But in public, he denied all knowledge, despite being aware of the developing crisis.”<div class="p4_11" style="font-style: italic; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="p5_11" style="font-style: italic; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As a result, plaintiffs were lured into a false sense of security. They could have taken protective measures, if only they had known what the Governor knew. Instead, the Governor misled them into assuming that nothing was wrong. Governor Snyder’s administration even encouraged them to continue to drink and bathe in the water.<div class="p6_11" style="font-style: italic; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div></div></blockquote>The legal team representing the plaintiffs welcome the judge’s determination.<div class="p7_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“We are grateful that the Court agrees former Governor Snyder should be held accountable for his role in the Flint water crisis,” said attorney Theodore J. Leopold, co-lead for the plaintiffs.<div class="p8_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“The citizens of Flint were both forgotten and mistreated by those involved in the Flint water disaster,” Leopold added. “To this day, residents continue to suffer because of the reckless decisions of senior state and local officials, as well as private contractors, and we hope to provide a measure of justice and some much-needed relief to those still struggling to recover.”<div class="p9_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">According to a statement from the plaintiff’s legal team, the complaint submitted to the court alleged that Snyder and his staff were aware of the health risks associated with the city’s transition to Flint River water, including the risk of Legionnaires’ disease, for months before an official announcement was made and that they concealed this information from the public. Overall, the lawsuit charges that officials from the state of Michigan, the city of Flint, Genesee County, and two private engineering firms created the public health crisis and did so while making calculated decisions that “deliberately exposed” residents of Flint to the harmful health effects of lead and other toxins.<div class="p10_11" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Rather than moving swiftly to protect the children and families of Flint, the state engaged in a cover-up which tragically led to preventable injuries and deaths of innocent Flint residents,” added Michael L. Pitt, the other co-lead in the case. “Those responsible for creating and prolonging the Flint Water crisis will be held accountable.”</div></div></div></div>term limited out 2 termspension plan <a href="https://www.crainsdetroit.com/politics/former-gov-snyder-laying-groundwork-his-next-act">https://www.crainsdetroit.com/politics/former-gov-snyder-laying-groundwork-his-next-act</a>
Former Gov. Rick Snyder appears to be laying the groundwork for his next act.In mid-December, the businessman-turned-governor quietly incorporated a new entity called RPAction LLC at the downtown Ann Arbor office of his former business partner, state records show.After Snyder officially left office on New Year's Day, he changed his LinkedIn profile, listing himself as "Helper" at RPAction, a name that plays off his mantra of "relentless positive action" or RPA."Hope to still help people, just on a smaller scale," Snyder said in a LinkedIn message to Crain's.<div class="crain-advertisement tablet desktop adscount1 overrideads" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; text-align: center; float: none; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center; flex-wrap: wrap; display: flex; clear: none;">Snyder, 60, said he's considering opportunities to work on public policy issues, teach, serve on boards "both large and small" and unspecified consulting."Looking at a portfolio of activities vs. a full time position," Snyder wrote. "Beginning the dialogue with several parties since I told everyone that I wouldn't commit to anything until I was out of office."RPAction is registered at the Ann Arbor office of Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, which is run by Chris Rizik, who previously co-founded with Snyder two other venture capital firms, <a href="https://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110909/DM01/309099999/rick-snyder-an-unwilling-9-11-beneficiary" target="blank" class="omnitrack inline-paragraph-link" data-omnilocation="articlebody" data-omnilink="editorial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; text-decoration-line: none;">Ardesta LLC</a> and <a href="https://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20080921/SUB01/809220333/ardesta-venture-capital-fund-folds" target="blank" class="omnitrack inline-paragraph-link" data-omnilocation="articlebody" data-omnilink="editorial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; text-decoration-line: none;">Avalon Investments Inc.</a>The limited liability company will keep Snyder's longtime executive assistant Allison Scott employed, said Rich Baird, a <a href="https://www.crainsdetroit.com/politics/snyder-aide-rich-baird-comes-out-behind-curtain" target="blank" class="omnitrack inline-paragraph-link" data-omnilocation="articlebody" data-omnilink="editorial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; text-decoration-line: none;">top adviser and confidant</a> to Snyder in the governor's office.The LLC also could be used for consulting and working with Rizik on future projects, Baird said.Baird is staying in the Snyder orbit. He has rented an apartment in Ann Arbor and is serving on the boards of the American Center for Mobility and Eastern Michigan University, to which <a href="https://www.crainsdetroit.com/government/snyder-appoints-calley-top-aides-university-boards" target="blank" class="omnitrack inline-paragraph-link" data-omnilocation="articlebody" data-omnilink="editorial-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; text-decoration-line: none;">Snyder appointed him.</a>Snyder wants to find a way to inject his "relentless positive action" philosophy and civility into public discourse, Baird said."I think a portion of his next chapter is going to be devoted to trying to influence a behavioral revolution in the public arena," Baird told Crain's.raga AG beat by a girl<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder</a>Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American politician, business executive, venture capitalist, lawyer and accountant who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. He is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Republican Party</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-celebrates-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a>From 2005 to 2007, Snyder served as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairman" title="Chairman" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">chairman of the board</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway,Inc." title="Gateway, Inc." style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Gateway, Inc.</a> Prior to his election as governor, he co-founded Ardesta, LLC, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital" title="Venture capital" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">venture capital</a> firm and HealthMedia, Inc., a digital health coaching company, both based out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Arbor,Michigan" title="Ann Arbor, Michigan" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Ann Arbor, Michigan</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-scores-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a> He gained national attention during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis" title="Flint water crisis" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Flint water crisis</a>, in which he was accused of mishandling the situation that exposed 6,000 to 12,000 Flint children to lead; however, no legal charges were lodged against him.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a>Noteworthy was Snyder's appointment of a 15-member Commission for improving and reforming Michigan's public defense efforts for the poor in the criminal justice system in order to effectively meet and ensure the rights safe-guarded by the constitution.Snyder was considered a possible Republican Party candidate for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Vice President of the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Vice President of the United States</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,2012" class="mw-redirect" title="United States presidential election, 2012" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2012</a>, although ultimately <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan" title="Paul Ryan" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Paul Ryan</a> was selected.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-blogger_puts-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-WILX-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[5]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-CBS62-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[7]</a>On February 3, 2014, Snyder announced his candidacy for re-election as Governor of Michigan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_gubernatorial_election,2014" class="mw-redirect" title="Michigan gubernatorial election, 2014" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">in 2014</a>. He was elected to a second term in the November 2014 vote, defeating his major challenger, Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Schauer" title="Mark Schauer" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Schauer</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-2014votefreep-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[8]</a> Snyder was term limited and could not seek re-election in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_gubernatorial_election,2018" class="mw-redirect" title="Michigan gubernatorial election, 2018" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2018</a>. He was succeeded on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day" title="New Year's Day" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">New Year's Day</a> of 2019 by Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_Whitmer" title="Gretchen Whitmer" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Gretchen Whitmer</a>.<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="direction: ltr; position: absolute; opacity: 0; z-index: -1; display: none;" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Early_life,education,and_family" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1Early life, education, and family</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Business_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Business career</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Coopers&Lybrand" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1Coopers & Lybrand</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Gateway,Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2Gateway, Inc.</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Venture_Capital/Investments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3Venture Capital / Investments</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#HealthMedia,Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4HealthMedia, Inc.</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Non-Profit_Service" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.5Non-Profit Service</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Gubernatorial_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Gubernatorial elections</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#2010" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.12010</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#2014" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.22014</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Governor_of_Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4Governor of Michigan</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Tenure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1Tenure</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Cabinet" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.2Cabinet</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Flint_water_crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.3Flint water crisis</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Subsequent_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Subsequent career</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6Electoral history</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">9External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Early life, education, and family[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Early life, education, and family" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Snyder was born to Dale F. and Helen Louella Snyder in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Creek,Michigan" title="Battle Creek, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Battle Creek, Michigan</a>, where he was raised. His father owned a small, local <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_cleaning" class="mw-redirect" title="Window cleaning" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">window-cleaning</a> company in Battle Creek. He has an elder sister.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[9]</a> When he was 16, he took a business class at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_Community_College" title="Kellogg Community College" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kellogg Community College</a> on weekends. By his senior year at Lakeview High School in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calhoun_County,Michigan" title="Calhoun County, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Calhoun County</a>, Snyder had earned 23 college credits.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a>Snyder visited the admissions office of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan" title="University of Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Michigan</a> in November 1975 and spoke with the admissions director, who recommended that Snyder attend Michigan and create his own degree.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Commencement-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a> Snyder earned his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_General_Studies" title="Bachelor of General Studies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">B.G.S.</a> degree in 1977, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Business_Administration" title="Master of Business Administration" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">M.B.A.</a> degree in 1979, and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor" title="Juris Doctor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">J.D.</a> degree in 1982, all from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan" title="University of Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Michigan</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Bomey-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a> Snyder is also a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_Public_Accountant" title="Certified Public Accountant" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Certified Public Accountant</a> (CPA).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-joa-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a>He resides in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Arbor,Michigan" title="Ann Arbor, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ann Arbor, Michigan</a> with his wife Sue and their three children and has a vacation home near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Lake(Michigan)" title="Gun Lake (Michigan)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Gun Lake</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-offers_advice-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a> The couple were married in 1987 at Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dearborn,Michigan" title="Dearborn, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dearborn, Michigan</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-AnnArbor.com-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a>Snyder has indicated he is a practicing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyterianism" title="Presbyterianism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Presbyterian</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-AnnArbor.com-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">
<table class="box-Cleanup_reorganize plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px 135.797px; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 10px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(255, 204, 51); border-image: initial; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); box-sizing: border-box;"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image" style="border: none; padding: 2px 0px 2px 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div style="width: 52px;"><img alt="Ambox rewrite.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Ambox_rewrite.svg/40px-Ambox_rewrite.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Ambox_rewrite.svg/60px-Ambox_rewrite.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Ambox_rewrite.svg/80px-Ambox_rewrite.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div></td><td class="mbox-text" style="border: none; padding: 0.25em 0.5em; width: 882px;"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Layout" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">layout guidelines</a>. Please help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none !important; padding: 0px !important;">editing the article</a> to make improvements to the overall structure. (December 2018) (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Learn how and when to remove this template message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table>Business career[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Business career" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Coopers & Lybrand[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Coopers & Lybrand" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>Snyder was employed with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PricewaterhouseCoopers" title="PricewaterhouseCoopers" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Coopers & Lybrand</a>, from 1982 to 1991, beginning in the tax department of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit" title="Detroit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Detroit</a> office. Snyder was named partner in 1988. The next year, Snyder was named partner-in-charge of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mergers_and_acquisitions" title="Mergers and acquisitions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">mergers and acquisitions</a> practice in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago" title="Chicago" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chicago</a> office.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-venture_capitalist-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[17]</a> He served as an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjunct_professor" title="Adjunct professor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">adjunct</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistant_professor" title="Assistant professor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">assistant professor</a> of accounting at the University of Michigan from 1982–84.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Gateway, Inc.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Gateway, Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>Snyder joined the computer company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway,Inc." title="Gateway, Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Gateway</a> (based in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine,California" title="Irvine, California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Irvine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">California</a>) in 1991 as the executive vice president. He served as president and chief operating officer from 1996 to 1997. He remained on the board of directors until 2007.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-steps_down-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a> From 2005 to 2007, Snyder served as the chairman of the board. During 2006, Snyder served as interim chief executive officer while a search for a permanent replacement was made. His tenure on the Gateway board ran from 1991 to 2007 until Gateway was sold to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Inc." title="Acer Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Acer Inc.</a> Snyder stated that he did not vote for outsourcing while he was a Gateway board director and he worked to bring jobs to America as the interim CEO of Gateway.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-outsourcing-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a><h3 style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Venture Capital / Investments<span class="mw-editsection" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Venture Capital / Investments" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>In 1997, Snyder returned to Ann Arbor to found Avalon Investments Inc., a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital" title="Venture capital" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">venture capital</a> company with a $100 million fund, along with the co-founder of Gateway, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Waitt" title="Ted Waitt" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ted Waitt</a>. Snyder was president and chief executive officer of Avalon from 1997 to 2000. He then co-founded Ardesta <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company" title="Limited liability company" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">LLC</a>, an investment firm, in 2000 along with three co-founders, which invested in 20 start-up companies through 2011. He was chairman and chief executive officer of the company.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">HealthMedia, Inc.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: HealthMedia, Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>In 1998, Snyder angel funded and co-founded, with University of Michigan (U-M) School of Public Health professor Victor J. Strecher <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://sph.umich.edu/faculty-profiles/strecher-victor.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[1]</a>, HealthMedia Incorporated (HMI), a developer of digital health coaching applications for health promotion, disease prevention, behavioral health, and disease management. The U-M's Office of Technology Transfer <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://techtransfer.umich.edu/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[2]</a> played an integral role in helping HMI get started with Vic Strecher as the founding CEO and the U-M's publicly funded Health Media Research Laboratory (founded and directed by Strecher and now called the Center for Health Communications Research <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://chcr.umich.edu/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[3]</a>) providing the new company with exclusive research and development findings into health-related computerized tailored messaging and the exclusive licence to sell that content <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20001214/SUB/12140852/um-spawns-spinoffs-patents" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[4]</a>. Despite these university-based start-up and R&D advantages, HMI got off to a poor performance start and in 2001 Snyder replaced the founding CEO (Strecher remained on the HMI board) and personally rescued the company from insolvency with more of his own money. After multiple rounds of more additional financing through venture capital (Arboretum Ventures, Ardesta, Avalon Capital Group, AvTech Ventures, Chrysalis Ventures, Princeton Fund) and yet never achieving profitability, HMI was sold in 2008 for a reported $200 million to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson%26_Johnson" title="Johnson & Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Johnson & Johnson</a>. The sale of HMI transferred the ownership of all the personal health information accrued from their millions of users to Johnson & Johnson and played a key role in the negotiated price. At the time of the reported $200 million deal, U-M President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue_Coleman" title="Mary Sue Coleman" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mary Sue Coleman</a> was on Johnson & Johnson's board of directors and the U-M secured millions of dollars with its equity stake in the company.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a> When campaigning for Michigan governor in 2010, Snyder was quoted as saying, "That company (HMI) is one of the best success stories in the state."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://temp.techtransfer.umich.edu/news_events/success_stories/story_60.php" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[5]</a><a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://annarborchronicle.com/2008/10/27/live-at-pjs-its-healthmedia/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[6]</a> Following Snyder's election as Michigan governor, Johnson & Johnson then folded HMI into a subsidiary (Wellness & Prevention, Inc. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://www.jnj.com/jjhws" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">[7]</a>) and is no longer operating in the state of Michigan.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Non-Profit Service[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=7&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Non-Profit Service" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>Snyder serves on the boards of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Henry_Ford" title="The Henry Ford" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village</a> (a National Historic Landmark), the Michigan chapter of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Conservancy" class="mw-redirect" title="Nature Conservancy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Nature Conservancy</a>, and several boards associated with his alma mater the University of Michigan. He was also first chair of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in 1999 under Republican Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Engler" title="John Engler" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Engler</a> and was also the chair of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ann_Arbor_SPARK&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Ann Arbor SPARK (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ann Arbor SPARK</a>.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Gubernatorial elections[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=8&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Gubernatorial elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2010[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=9&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: 2010" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Michigan_gubernatorial_election" title="2010 Michigan gubernatorial election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2010 Michigan gubernatorial election</a></div>
In August 2010, Snyder won the primary to secure the Republican nomination with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality(voting)" title="Plurality (voting)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">plurality</a> of 36% of the vote. In the general election in November, Snyder faced Democratic nominee <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virg_Bernero" class="mw-redirect" title="Virg Bernero" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Virg Bernero</a>, the mayor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,Michigan" title="Lansing, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lansing</a>, and three <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_party" title="Minor party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">minor party</a> candidates. In October 2010, Snyder's campaign total exceeded $11.6 million, outpacing his opponent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[28]</a> Snyder released his tax returns for 2007 and 2008.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[29]</a> Snyder won with 58 percent of the vote.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[30]</a>Snyder competed with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_County" class="mw-redirect" title="Oakland County" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Oakland County</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheriff" title="Sheriff" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sheriff</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Bouchard" title="Mike Bouchard" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mike Bouchard</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Senate" title="Michigan Senate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">state Senator</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_George" title="Tom George" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tom George</a>, United States Congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hoekstra" class="mw-redirect" title="Peter Hoekstra" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Peter Hoekstra</a>, and Michigan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General" class="mw-redirect" title="Attorney General" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Attorney General</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Cox(U.S.politician)" title="Mike Cox (U.S. politician)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mike Cox</a> as candidates for the Republican <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gubernatorial" class="mw-redirect" title="Gubernatorial" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">gubernatorial</a> nomination. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ford_Jr." class="mw-redirect" title="Bill Ford Jr." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bill Ford Jr.</a>, Chairman of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company" title="Ford Motor Company" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ford Motor Company</a>, endorsed Snyder for the Republican nomination for governor.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[25]</a> He campaigned as "pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, [and] pro-family," with a focus on the economy.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Bomey-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a> His campaign emphasized his experience in growing business and creating jobs in the private sector, saying that his opponents were mainly career politicians. Snyder favors the standard exceptions on abortion for rape, incest, and saving the life of the mother (he signed legislation banning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intact_dilation_and_extraction" title="Intact dilation and extraction" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">partial birth</a> abortion in October 2011); he opposes federal funding of abortions; he would not ban embryonic stem cell research; he supports upholding traditional marriage, but would allow civil unions.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[26]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Christoff-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[27]</a>With Snyder's election in 2010, Republicans gained a majority in the Michigan House and increased the Republican majority held in the Michigan Senate. Snyder is the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_Public_Accountant" title="Certified Public Accountant" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Certified Public Accountant</a> (CPA) to be elected governor of the state and the only CPA serving as a governor in the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[31]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">2014[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=10&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: 2014" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Michigan_gubernatorial_election" title="2014 Michigan gubernatorial election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2014 Michigan gubernatorial election</a></div>In January 2014, Snyder launched his campaign for a second term as governor.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[32]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[33]</a> He was unopposed in the Republican primary and faced Democratic former United States Representative <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Schauer" title="Mark Schauer" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mark Schauer</a> for the general election.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-nictusa1-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[34]</a> Snyder was considered vulnerable in his bid for a second term, as reflected in his low approval ratings,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[35]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[36]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[37]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[38]</a> however, Schauer suffered from a lack of name recognition.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[40]</a> He garnered approximately 51% of the vote in the November 2014 election, defeating Schauer and earning a second term.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-2014votefreep-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Governor of Michigan[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=11&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Governor of Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Tenure[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=12&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Tenure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>
Snyder presented his first budget to the legislature on February 17, 2011,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-fy12budgetrelease-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[45]</a> calling it a plan for "Michigan's reinvention," and saying it would end Michigan's deficits. He described the budget as containing "shared sacrifice" but added that his budget plan would create jobs and spur economic growth. The $46 billion budget reduced $1.8 billion in spending, raised taxes by eliminating tax exemptions on pensions, while at the same time abolished the state's complex business tax, replacing it with a significantly reduced flat tax on the profits of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_corporation" title="C corporation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">C corporations</a>. This shift in tax burden led State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer to criticize the budget, saying that it did not involve "shared sacrifice," but instead was balanced "on the backs of our kids, working families, and our seniors" and "picks out who he's willing to leave behind."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-SnyderbudgetWhitmer-46" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[46]</a> Snyder supported the government backed rescue of the American auto industry. This reflected the view of a 56% of Americans in 2012 who supported the 2009 auto bailout according to a Pew Research Center poll (63% support in Michigan).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-autopoll-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[47]</a>
On January 7, 2011, Snyder announced he was appointing Michigan Supreme Court Justice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_D.Corrigan" title="Maura D. Corrigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Maura D. Corrigan</a> to head the Department of Human Services and appointed Michigan Appeals Court Judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_K.Zahra" title="Brian K. Zahra" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brian K. Zahra</a> to fill the resulting Supreme Court vacancy. Snyder delivered his first State of the State address on January 19, the earliest Michigan State of the State since Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Engler" title="John Engler" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Engler</a>'s 1996 address on January 17. He endorsed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_River_International_Crossing" class="mw-redirect" title="Detroit River International Crossing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Detroit River International Crossing</a> for the first time publicly in the address, which was received favorably by Republicans.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Job1-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[43]</a> Snyder appointed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Dillon" title="Andy Dillon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Andy Dillon</a>, a pro-life Democrat,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[44]</a> and formerly Speaker of the House, to serve as state treasurer in his administration.Snyder was inaugurated as governor on January 1, 2011, at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_Capitol" title="Michigan State Capitol" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Capitol</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,Michigan" title="Lansing, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lansing</a>. His first executive order as governor was to divide the Department of Natural Resources and Environment into two distinct departments as they were a few years ago: the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-ExOrder2011-1-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[41]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-DNRDEQFreePress-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[42]</a>On March 16, 2011, Snyder signed a controversial bill into law that gave increased powers to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_emergency" class="mw-redirect" title="Financial emergency" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">emergency managers</a> of local municipalities to resolve financial matters.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-legislativebill-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[48]</a> The bill was repealed by voter initiative in November 2012. However, weeks later in December 2012 Snyder signed a revised version of the bill back into law.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[49]</a>On December 22, 2011, Snyder signed into law The Public Employee Domestic Partner Benefit Restriction Act, which prevents the same-sex domestic partners of public employees at both the state and local level from receiving health benefits. In January 2012, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACLU" class="mw-redirect" title="ACLU" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">ACLU</a> filed a lawsuit against Snyder and the state of Michigan in federal court on behalf of five Michigan same-sex couples, each with one spouse working for local public schools or municipalities in Michigan. The suit alleges that the law violates the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_protection_clause" class="mw-redirect" title="Equal protection clause" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">equal protection clause</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fourteenth Amendment</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution" title="United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Constitution</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[50]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-51" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[51]</a> On June 28, 2013, a federal judge struck down the law.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[52]</a>In April 2012, Snyder made a surprise trip to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Afghanistan</a> to thank and pledge support for United States troops. He traveled to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwait" title="Kuwait" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kuwait</a> and then to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany" title="Germany" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Germany</a> where he visited injured United States soldiers at the United States Military hospital.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-53" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[53]</a> He has also engaged in trade missions to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" title="Europe" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Europe</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia" title="Asia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Asia</a>, and around the world in order to improve international business relations as well as research and development opportunities associated with Michigan universities.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-McMorris-54" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[54]</a> Snyder has focused efforts to attract companies such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler" title="Chrysler" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chrysler</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Buss-55" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[55]</a>Following approval from the legislature, Snyder signed the fiscal year 2012 budget in June, the earliest it has been completed in three decades.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Snydersignsbudget-56" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[56]</a> In May 2012, Snyder joined a bipartisan effort urging the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Congress" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Congress" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">U.S. Congress</a> to pass a measure to affirm that States can collect sales taxes on online purchases.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-57" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[57]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[58]</a>As governor, Snyder abolished the state's complex business tax in favor of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_tax" title="Flat tax" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">flat tax</a>, and signed a bill which raised taxes by eliminating tax exemptions for pensions. For years Snyder had said anti-union legislation was not on his agenda, when on the morning of December 6, 2012, during a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lame_duck(politics)" title="Lame duck (politics)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">lame duck</a> session of the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature, Snyder called a joint press conference with the legislative leadership to announce fast-track <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law" title="Right-to-work law" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">right-to-work legislation</a>. The legislation passed both houses of the Michigan legislature that day, without committee votes or public hearings. A $1 million appropriation added to the legislation made it ineligible for repeal via referendum.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-ap20121207-59" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[59]</a> On December 10, President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Barack Obama</a> visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_AG" title="Daimler AG" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Daimler AG</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Diesel" title="Detroit Diesel" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Detroit Diesel</a> factory in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redford,Michigan" title="Redford, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Redford, Michigan</a>, and told employees the legislation was about the "right to work for less money."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-60" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[60]</a> The law effectively provides that payment of union dues cannot be required as a condition of employment.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-MNafl-cio-61" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[61]</a> After a required four-day wait between the houses of the legislature passing each other's bills,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-62" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[62]</a> Snyder signed the legislation into law on December 11, 2012, making Michigan the 24th right-to-work state in the United States as part of a plan to attract business and jobs to the state.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-63" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[63]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-pressrelease-64" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[64]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-bbc-65" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[65]</a> The Employee Free Choice Act, as it was named, has received mixed results in polls.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Egan-66" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[66]</a>A Market Research Group poll conducted in March 2012 showed Snyder's approval rating rising to 50% among likely voters, which matched that of President Barack Obama, placing Snyder among the most popular Republican governors in a state carried by Obama in the 2008 election cycle.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-like_how-67" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[67]</a> Snyder was briefly mentioned as a possible pick to be the Republican Party candidate for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Vice President of the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Vice President of the United States</a> in 2012.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-blogger_puts-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-WILX-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Gazette-68" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[68]</a> His business executive background and 'positive' style have been cited as political assets, with his deeds seen as strengthening the case for electing a business executive candidate as President of the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Decker-69" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[69]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-WSJ-70" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[70]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Murray-71" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[71]</a> He was also mentioned as a potential Republican Party candidate for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">President of the United States</a> in 2016.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-republican-candidates1-72" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[72]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Crain-73" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[73]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-74" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[74]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-75" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[75]</a>In December 2012, Snyder signed legislation requiring facilities where at least 120 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion" title="Abortion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">abortions</a> are performed annually to obtain a state license as freestanding surgical facilities.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-76" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[76]</a> Planned Parenthood had urged Snyder to veto the bill claiming it unnecessarily increases costs.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-77" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[77]</a>In January 2013, Snyder traveled to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel" title="Israel" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Israel</a> to meet with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Israel" title="Prime Minister of Israel" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Prime Minister</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu" title="Benjamin Netanyahu" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Benjamin Netanyahu</a>. He was last in Israel in 1999 as a venture capitalist. "I had a chance to see the start of high-tech boom in Israel and that's great to see. This is really a startup nation. They've done a great job of being entrepreneurial, innovative, and that's a major part of their economy now and the good part is we can learn from that."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-78" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[78]</a>In March 2013, Snyder announced a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_emergency" class="mw-redirect" title="Financial emergency" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">financial emergency</a> for the city of Detroit<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-79" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[79]</a> and appointed an emergency manager, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevyn_Orr" title="Kevyn Orr" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kevyn Orr</a>. As a result of emergency manager appointments under Snyder's watch, over half of the state's black population lives in cities where the local government was appointed rather than elected by the voters.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-80" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[80]</a>On December 27, 2013, Snyder signed a bill into law which nullifies Section 1021 of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2012" title="National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012</a>, which contains a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-81" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[81]</a>On January 23, 2014, Snyder announced plans to offer visas to 50,000 immigrant workers with advanced degrees to help jumpstart the Detroit economy. The program's advocates claim the program is expected to bring an influx of new jobs and a more stable tax base.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-82" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[82]</a>On September 10, Detroit reached a deal with three Michigan counties over regional water and sewer services that could eliminate one roadblock to federal court approval of the city's plan to adjust its debt and exit bankruptcy. The deal with Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties creates a regional water and sewer authority, but allows Detroit to maintain control of its local system. The deal was crucial to adjusting the city's $18 billion of debt and exit the biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-83" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[83]</a>On December 18, the Governor issued an executive order to establish the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Talent_and_Economic_Development" title="Michigan Department of Talent and Economic Development" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michigan Department of Talent and Economic Development</a> to house a new state agency, Talent Investment Agency, created from the merger of Michigan State Housing and Development Authority, the Workforce Development Agency, the Governor's Talent Investment Board and the Unemployment Insurance Agency. Over objections from the state legislature, the Department would come into effect 60 days after the start of the next legislative session.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-84" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[84]</a>In November 2015, Governor Rick Snyder declared his opposition to permitting Syrian refugee relocation to the state of Michigan.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-85" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[85]</a>A compilation of online surveys showed that Snyder's approval rating was below 40 percent in April 2018.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-86" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[86]</a>In December 2018, Snyder granted clemency to 61 Michigan prisoners.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-87" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[87]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Cabinet[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=13&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Cabinet" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><table class="wikitable" style="background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); margin: 1em 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; background-color: rgb(234, 236, 240); text-align: center;">Name</th><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; background-color: rgb(234, 236, 240); text-align: center;">Title(s)</th></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Nick Lyon</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services" title="Michigan Department of Health and Human Services" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michigan Department of Health and Human Services</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nick_Khouri&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Nick Khouri (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Nick Khouri</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Treasurer_of_Michigan" class="mw-redirect" title="State Treasurer of Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">State Treasurer</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Group Executive for Treasury (Treasury Department, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Lottery" title="Michigan Lottery" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lottery</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaming_control_board" title="Gaming control board" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Gaming control board</a>)</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Roger Curtis</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Talent_and_Economic_Development" title="Michigan Department of Talent and Economic Development" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Talent and Economic Development</a></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Jeff Mason</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">David De Vries</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Michigan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_information_officer" title="Chief information officer" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">CIO</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Technology,Management,and_Budget" class="mw-redirect" title="Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Technology, Management, and Budget</a> (DTMB)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Value for Money group executive (Budget Office, DTMB, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Technology,Management,and_Budget#Office_of_the_State_Employer" class="mw-redirect" title="Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Office of the State Employer</a>)</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Vadnais</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Group executive for public safety (State Police, Corrections, MVA)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Military_and_Veterans_Affairs" title="Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Military and Veterans Affairs</a> (MVA)</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjutant_General" class="mw-redirect" title="Adjutant General" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Adjutant General</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_National_Guard" title="Michigan National Guard" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michigan National Guard</a></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Heidi Grether</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Environmental_Quality" title="Michigan Department of Environmental Quality" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Environmental Quality</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Quality of Life group executive (DNR, DEQ, DARD)</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Jamie Clover Adams</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Agriculture" class="mw-redirect" title="Michigan Department of Agriculture" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Agriculture and Rural Development</a> (DARD)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Kriste Etue</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the Department of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_Police" title="Michigan State Police" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">State Police</a></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Brian J. Whiston</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Education" title="Michigan Department of Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Superintendent of Public Instruction</a></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Heidi E. Washington</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Corrections" title="Michigan Department of Corrections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Corrections</a></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Shelly Edgerton</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Licensing_and_Regulatory_Affairs" title="Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs</a> (LARA)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Agustin V. Arbulu</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Civil_Rights" title="Michigan Department of Civil Rights" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Civil Rights</a> (DCR)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Kirk T. Steudle</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Transportation" title="Michigan Department of Transportation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Transportation</a> (DOT)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Keith Creagh</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Natural_Resources" title="Michigan Department of Natural Resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Natural Resources</a> (DNR)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Patrick M. McPharlin</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Insurance_and_Financial_Services" title="Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Department of Insurance and Financial Services</a> (DIFS)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">James Robert Redford</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Department_of_Military_and_Veterans_Affairs#Michigan_Veterans_Affairs_Agency" title="Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Veterans Affairs Agency</a></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Wanda Stokes</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Director of the Michigan Talent Investment Agency</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Flint water crisis[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rick_Snyder&action=edit&section=14&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Flint water crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis" title="Flint water crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Flint water crisis</a></div>From 2011 to 2015, Snyder appointed several individuals as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_emergency_in_Michigan#Emergency_Manager" title="Financial emergency in Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Emergency Managers</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,Michigan" title="Flint, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Flint, Michigan</a>. In 2014, emergency manager <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darnell_Earley" title="Darnell Earley" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Darnell Earley</a> was responsible for changing the source of drinking water for the city to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_River(Michigan)" title="Flint River (Michigan)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Flint River</a>, which has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trihalomethanes" class="mw-redirect" title="Trihalomethanes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">trihalomethanes</a> (TTHM) in it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-88" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[88]</a> It was later discovered that the water was too corrosive, and leached lead out of the service lines that was then ingested by the people of the city.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-89" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[89]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-90" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[90]</a> In September 2015, a study by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurley_Medical_Center" title="Hurley Medical Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hurley Medical Center</a> found that the community's children were being <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning" title="Lead poisoning" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">poisoned by the lead</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-91" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[91]</a> While Flint transitioned back to its prior source of water in October 2015,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-92" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[92]</a> lead levels in the city's water remain above the federal action level.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-93" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[93]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-94" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[94]</a>Amid allegations that the Michigan Health Department was stalling water treatment expert <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Edwards(civil_engineering_professor)" title="Marc Edwards (civil engineering professor)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Marc Edwards</a>' effort to obtain public records, journalists have asked when the State of Michigan knew about the lead poisoning.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-95" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[95]</a> Details were released by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Free_Press" title="Detroit Free Press" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Detroit Free Press</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Detroit_News" title="The Detroit News" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Detroit News</a> on 26 February 2016 that Valerie Brader, Snyder's senior policy adviser and deputy legal counsel, and his chief legal counsel Mike Gadola had expressed concerns to him about Flint's water in October 2014, nearly six months after Flint had begun using the river water to save money, despite Governor Snyder claiming he was unaware of the issue until very recently.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-96" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[96]</a>A petition from Angelo Scott Brown, a Flint pastor and former Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate, to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recall_election" title="Recall election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">recall</a> Snyder was denied by the Board of State Canvassers.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-97" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[97]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-98" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[98]</a> Filmmaker and Flint native <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moore" title="Michael Moore" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michael Moore</a>has called for Snyder's arrest on charges of corruption and assault, and has started a petition on his website.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-99" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[99]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-100" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[100]</a>On November 13, 2015, four families filed a federal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_action" title="Class action" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">class action</a> lawsuit in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.District_Court_for_the_Eastern_District_of_Michigan" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan</a> in Detroit against Snyder and thirteen other city and state officials, including former Flint Mayor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayne_Walling" title="Dayne Walling" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dayne Walling</a> and ex-emergency financial manager Darnell Earley. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint(law)" class="mw-redirect" title="Complaint (law)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">complaint</a> alleges that the officials acted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recklessness(law)" title="Recklessness (law)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">recklessly</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligence" title="Negligence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">negligently</a>, leading to serious injuries from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning" title="Lead poisoning" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">lead poisoning</a>, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmune_disorder" class="mw-redirect" title="Autoimmune disorder" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">autoimmune disorders</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_lesion" class="mw-redirect" title="Skin lesion" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">skin lesions</a>, and "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fog" class="mw-redirect" title="Brain fog" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">brain fog</a>."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-101" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[101]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-102" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[102]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-Bethencourt-103" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[103]</a>On December 15, 2015, Mayor Weaver declared the water issue as a citywide public health state of emergency to prompt help from state and federal officials.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-waterwashpost-104" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[104]</a> Snyder apologized for the incident.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-105" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[105]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-106" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[106]</a> Snyder declared a State of Emergency on January 5, 2016 for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesee_County,Michigan" title="Genesee County, Michigan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Genesee County, Michigan</a>.On January 16, 2016, Snyder requested that the federal government declare a state of emergency in Flint.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-107" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[107]</a>In mid-April 2016, Snyder initiated his own 30-Day Flint Challenge. "The plan was to drink solely Flint tap water for an entire month to show residents that the water was safe and that he cared about the people."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-108" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[108]</a>However, the Detroit Metro Times reported that the governor left town on April 23 to spend the week touring Europe for trade discussions, breaking his promise.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Subsequent career</h2>Just before leaving the governor's office, Snyder formed a new Ann Arbor based company called RPAction LLC whose staff consists of former officials of the Snyder administration.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Snyder#cite_note-109" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[109]</a>
<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</h3><div style=""><a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel">https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel</a></div><div style=""><ul open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="tc-link" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px; padding-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(240, 117, 38); border-top-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-right-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 117, 38);"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/29032019/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan Gov. Whitmer Halts Action on Pipeline Tunnel Under Great Lakes</a> -Bridge Magazine</li><li class="tc-link" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px; padding-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(240, 117, 38); border-top-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-right-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 117, 38);">LANSING – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday ordered state agencies to halt action on a proposed tunnel to encase the controversial Line 5 pipeline in a tunnel.Whitmer’s<a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MIEOG/2019/03/28/file_attachments/1182712/ED%202019-13%20Public%20Act%20359%20of%202018%20.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);"> executive directive</a> came minutes after a fellow Democrat, Attorney General Dana Nessel, issued a legal opinion claiming that a law creating a state authority to oversee construction of the tunnel is unconstitutional.“I agree with the conclusion reached by Attorney General Nessel,” Whitmer said in a statement. “The Great Lakes are our most precious resource in Michigan, and because of their significance, I’ve instructed state departments and agencies to halt any actions in furtherance of this law.”Nessel’s opinion was her first since taking office Jan. 1, and it came in response to a request from Whitmer to review the law. Last year, both campaigned on shutting down the 66-year-old oil pipeline, and they opposed compromises including a tunnel.The move puts Whitmer and Nessel on a collision course with Republicans that could likely end up in court. "An AG opinion is exactly that, an opinion.  It’s not binding.  It's not final.  And it's certainly not without cause to challenge," said Senate Majority Leaker Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake."The Senate will pursue its options in order to advance the very important work and purpose of the energy tunnel. This is the fastest, safest, and most economical long-term solution for Michigan. It’s very important to our economy."House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, called the tunnel plan "the right thing to do for our state, our waterways, and for our future." "It is well past time to put aside political talking points and campaign rhetoric and just do the right thing. This administration needs to protect the people of our state, secure our critical Mackinac Straits and approve the tunnel project immediately," he said in a statement.Whitmer's move was cheered by environmental groups, who have repeatedly said a leak in the line could create havoc on the Great Lakes.“Governor Whitmer’s leadership today ... should be immediately followed by implementing a process to decommission Line 5,” Anne Woiwode, chair of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, said in a statement.“Every day these oil pipelines remain in the Mackinac Straits is a day when Michigan’s future can be drowned in a sea of oil,” she added.For its part, Enbridge said it was "surprised and disappointed" and wants Whitmer to clarify the path forward.“Enbridge worked in good faith with the Michigan government on the tunnel project,”  Chief Legal Officer Bob Rooney said in a statement Thursday night. “We disagree with the attorney general’s opinion and continue to believe in the benefits of the tunnel.”Nessel's opinion kickstarted a new chapter in the short, but complicated history of Enbridge’s plans to encase Line 5 in a $350 million to $500 million tunnel below 100 feet of bedrock.During his final weeks in office in December, Gov. Rick Snyder signed <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(mhppzpkzy1qqrtmjhnrflt4e))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=2018-SB-1197" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);">Public Act 359</a> to create the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority to oversee construction and operation of the tunnel. The Republican immediately made appointments to the authority’s three-member board, which approved a series of tunnel related agreements with Enbridge.Republicans, Enbridge and other supporters have called a tunnel the best way to protect the Straits while keeping energy flowing to the Upper Peninsula.The legislation’s passage, the board’s creation and its signed agreement with Enbridge came in a matter of days, leading to complaints from Democrats and environmentalists that language in the law and was poorly vetted, if lawmakers had any time to read it.Initially, Snyder’s plan hinged on the Mackinac Bridge Authority, an independent state agency that oversees the iconic bridge, owning the 4-mile, 12-foot in diameter tunnel and leasing space to Enbridge for 99 years.That prompted fierce opposition, including from <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/mackinac-bridge-authority-no-hurry-consider-line-5-tunnel-deal" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);">former bridge authority members</a>who worried it would distract from oversight of Mackinac Bridge.Rather than scrapping the original bill, Republicans — to save time during the fast-moving lame duck session — re-wrote it, keeping the Mackinac Bridge Authority in the bill's title as a body authorized to acquire the new “utility tunnel."The bill was written so that the Mackinac Bridge Authority would immediately transfer all of its initial powers over the tunnel — including acquisition construction and operation —to the newly created corridor authority board.In doing so, Nessel wrote in her opinion, the Legislature violated the “title-object” provision of the 1963 Michigan Constitution, which is meant to give lawmakers clear notice of what they’re voting on. The provision says “no bill shall be altered or amended” after passing either legislative chamber “so as to change its original purpose.”The far-reaching power transfer to the corridor authority board "comes without fair notice and is a surprise" to lawmakers, Nessel wrote, because it is not mentioned in the bill's title. “Michigan law is clear that where the body of an act exceeds the general scope of what is expressed in the title, the offending provisions violate” the Constitution, Nessel wrote.Her opinion came two weeks after Michigan Court of Claims Judge Stephen L. Borrello<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel&source=gmail&ust=1553895744558000&usg=AFQjCNGo1NduIkAuQzpe6L5RhCX2fhbK0g" href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);">found another part of the corridor authority law unconstitutional.</a> The law granted six-year terms to the board’s members, even though the constitution bars terms greater than four years.That ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit called A Felon's Crusade for Equality, Honesty and Truth. The term-limit issue was the only challenge in that lawsuit, and Borrello wrote that the corridor could continue to operate.In her review, Nessel wrote that courts would likely see the separate “title-object” violation as too large to keep the corridor authority intact.“It cannot be concluded” that lawmakers would have passed the law had they known of the constitutional violations, she wrote.  </li></ul></div><div style=""></div> <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13064/flint-casualty-right-wing-government-experiment">https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13064/flint-casualty-right-wing-government-experiment</a>arn p<h1 class="page__title title" id="page-title" style="line-height: 1.4em; margin: 10px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 0px;">Flint Is a Casualty in the Right Wing's War on Local Democracy</h1><article class="node-13064 node node-news-article view-mode-full clearfix" style="padding: 0px 17.5938px 17.5938px;"><header>Submitted by <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/users/35501/arn-pearson" title="View user profile." class="username" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Arn Pearson</a> on <time pubdate="" datetime="2016-03-31T06:04:56-05:00">March 31,</time></header></article>This month's hearing in Congress about the crisis in Flint, Michigan shed more heat than light on the decisions that poisoned the water more than 100,000 residents rely on to drink and bathe, including nearly 30,000 children and teens. Democrats focused their ire on Governor Rick Snyder, while Republicans predictably tried to deflect blame onto the Environmental Protection Agency as part of their long-standing campaign to eliminate the agency responsible for regulating polluters.But two Members of Congress honed in on the real culprit in the debacle: Governor Snyder's "emergency manager" law that stripped Flint of any local democratic control and put its fate in the hands of unaccountable executives hand-picked by Snyder."Did that emergency management system fail under your leadership in this matter?" asked Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), demanding a yes or no response from Snyder."That would be a fair conclusion," Snyder eventually conceded."This is a failure of a philosophy of governance you advocated," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). "A city in America... is on its knees because of your emergency manager's decision to save $4 million. And now it's going to cost a lot more to clean up."Is this really happening in the world's leading republic?<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Funding the War on Local Democracy</h2>Governor Snyder's controversial emergency manager law is a cornerstone of the Right Wing's war on labor and local democracy in Michigan, which has been orchestrated by a network of "think tanks" and committees backed by the billionaire DeVos family, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Kochs, and other politicos.Thanks to record spending by outside groups in 2010 and $6 million of Snyder's own fortune, the Republican Party in Michigan joined 11 other states in capturing the governor's mansion from the Democrats and flipped the Michigan House, giving the party a lock on political power for the first time since 2002.The Republican Governors Association Michigan 2010 PAC dominated the playing field to become the "largest political action committee in the history of Michigan politics," according to the <a href="http://mcfn.org/pdfs/reports/MCFN2010_CitGuide.pdf" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan Campaign Finance Network</a>.Through an elaborate shell game, 98 percent of the $8.4 million raised and spent by the RGA MI 2010 PAC came from outside Michigan, while Michigan donors gave the national Republican Governors Association (RGA) $8.6 million, including $5.4 million from the state Chamber of Commerce.The RGA MI 2010 PAC then contributed $5.3 million to the state Republican Party, and sent off $3 million to back Rick Perry's bid for a third term as governor of Texas, while the national RGA spent $3.6 million on sham issue ads attacking Snyder's Democratic opponent. Still with me?All in all, the RGA raised and redistributed $114 million to PACs in at least 15 states, helping to elect a <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/republican-governors-association-perry-michigan" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">slate of right-wing governors</a>, including Wisconsin's Scott Walker, who moved quickly to attack public sector unions.Right-wing billionaires and their corporations played a big role in raising all that money. Records on Open Secrets show that the DeVos family, Amway, and its parent company, Alticor, pumped $1.9 million into the RGA's 2010 political operation.David Koch personally gave $1 million, while his brother William chipped in $100,000 and Koch Industries another $50,000. The Kochs have since become RGA's #1 source of cash, bankrolling the RGA to the tune of $5.3 million during the 2014 election cycle.Paul Singer also ponied up $1.4 million. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson gave a million that year, and News America, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. that owns the pro-Republican outlet Fox News, sprung another $1.3 million.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">DeVos Dynasty Targets Michigan</h2>Although Snyder—a business executive and venture capitalist—campaigned as a moderate Republican who promised to run the state like a business and create jobs, the deep pockets driving the Republican surge had more ambitious ideas.Their goals: break the unions, scrap public sector labor contracts, and privatize government services.Dick DeVos, son of billionaire businessman and Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, took a first crack at this agenda when he spent $35 million of the family fortune to run for governor in 2006. He lost badly, but he didn't let up.In 2009, DeVos helped his close ally, Ron Weiser, get elected as chair of the Michigan Republican Party, where he was able to coordinate the party's 2010 landslide victory. By 2014, political observers were calling the DeVos family Michigan's "<a href="http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/10/report_devos_family_michigans.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">most potent interest group</a>," and their spending on in-state candidates and political committees had increased to $4.9 million.After Snyder's election, DeVos-backed groups like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy were poised to help move his legislative agenda forward.Launched in 1987, the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mackinac_Center_for_Public_Policy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mackinac Center</a> is one of the nation's largest state-based, right-wing pressure groups promoting "free market," pro-business policies. It is an active member of the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">State Policy Network</a> (SPN) and the <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC), two important cogs in the Koch machine.Mackinac has long been one of the key groups leading the Michigan charge for the big ticket items on DeVos' right-wing wish list, including breaking the back of organized labor.Ronald Reagan may have <a href="https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/reference/9.1.80.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">once said</a>, "[w]here free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost," but that's just crazy-liberal talk as far as the Mackinac Center is concerned.As a <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/michigan-emergency-manager-pontiac-detroit" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mackinac staffer</a> told a state legislator in 2011: "Our goal is [to] outlaw government collective bargaining in Michigan."Mackinac's activities have been fueled by DeVos as well as money from the Koch network of billionaires. Between 2010 and 2012, the Mackinac Center received $1.5 million from the DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund, preferred investment vehicles of the Koch donor network, and four DeVos foundations kicked in another $560,000 between 1998 and 2011.However, those totals public do not reveal how much billionaire cash Mackinac has received through checks from personal trust accounts or from corporations, which are not publicly reported.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mackinac at the Root of Sweeping Emergency Manager Powers</h2>Once sworn in, Snyder wasted no time in making one of the most audacious power grabs in the country.On March 16, 2011, while thousands protested outside, he signed Public Act 4 into law, giving him the ability to take near-total control over financially struggling municipalities through appointed "emergency managers."Few could have been more pleased than the DeVos family and their confederates at the Mackinac Center.The provision for emergency financial managers dates back to a 1988 Michigan law, but those managers wielded limited power.Mackinac's Louis Schimmel called for loosening limits and expanding managers' powers as early as 2005, and the group reprinted his article in January 2011. They argued that: "The state's policy prescription for fiscally floundering cities should be to appoint[] far more powerful emergency financial managers than they have in the past."Mackinac pressed for sweeping authority for emergency managers to assume the powers of elected city councils and mayors, break union contracts, and revise municipal charters, while getting legal immunity from any liability for the results of their actions.Snyder's emergency manager law included all four of those changes, and the Mackinac bunch patted themselves on the back while singing the law's praises.Concerned citizens and critics, however, denounced it as "financial martial law."Other cities around the country have had emergency managers, including New York City in the 1970s, but their powers were limited to financial matters.The Snyder-Mackinac approach to the law was dramatically, exponentially different. It gave unelected and unaccountable managers chosen by the governor near total control over all city decisions—including things like where a city gets its water.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Snyder's First Emergency "Tyrant"? A Mackinac Guy</h2>Snyder chose the architect of the expanded emergency powers—Mackinac's Louis Schimmel—to be the first person he appointed as an emergency manager, installing him as the potentate for Pontiac, Schimmel's home town.Within months, Schimmel had fired key city officials and privatized the entire public works department. The Pontiac City Council still held their weekly meetings, packed with angry citizens, but they had no authority to make any decisions.When asked by a local radio station if the emergency manager law made him a dictator, <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/michigan-emergency-manager-pontiac-detroit" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Schimmel replied</a>: "I guess I'm the tyrant in Pontiac then, if that's the way it is."Schimmel didn't get any argument from state court judge Rae Lee Chabot, who reversed the manager's action to cut Pontiac's pension board in half, a decision that ignored the legal requirements of Michigan's Open Meetings Act."[I]t looks like a dictatorship," <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/judge-rules-against-pontiac-emergency-manager-pensions#stream/0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Chabot said</a>.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">State-Controlled Pontiac Outsources Water to Indicted Corporation</h2>Shortly before Schimmel took control of Pontiac using the law he helped create, his predecessor as emergency manager of Pontiac, Michael Stampfler, flexed his muscles under Snyder's new law and outsourced the city's water treatment to United Water Services.Watchdog Chris Savage <a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2011/06/breaking-michigan-efm-outsources-water.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">broke the story</a> on Eclectablog."This is big news," he wrote, because the giant for-profit water company had just been indicted by a federal grand jury in 2010 on 26 felony counts of conspiracy and Clean Water Act violations for its mishandling of water services in Gary, Indiana. (The company's workers have since been acquitted of criminal charges in the Gary case, but United Water paid $645,000 in civil fines under a consent agreement in 2014.)Schimmel completed the outsourcing process in November 2011 by firing key public works employees and turning full control over to United Water.Before long, consumer complaints over water quality, outages, and sewer backups started piling up. It took nearly three years before Oakland County, where Pontiac is situated, announced that it was taking over operations.All the warning signs were there for Flint.Savage <a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2011/06/breaking-michigan-efm-outsources-water.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">summed up</a> the problem well:<blockquote sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" prw="prw" images="images" blue-quote-mark.png="blue-quote-mark.png" px="px" no-repeat="no-repeat" scroll="scroll" rgb="rgb" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" padding="padding" style="margin: 10px 0px; background-image: url(" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">Emergency Financial Managers are generally good at what they do. They are typically trained as accountants and business optimizers. They know how to trim and cut and lean out organizations to squeeze every last drop of profits out of them. Unfortunately for the residents of Michigan, things like parks, public safety and the protection of natural resources don't produce profits and generally are presented as 'costs'…When we begin to put a price tag on the very things that make our cities, society and state good, safe, livable and lovable, while putting CPA-like EFMs in charge, you can expect that these things will suffer in order to save money, even if it puts our citizens at risk."</blockquote><h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Democracy? What Democracy?</h2>Citizens and public employees in Michigan were not having it.Following extensive protests, opponents sprang into action and quickly gathered more than 200,000 signatures to qualify a voter initiative, Proposal 1, for the November 2012 ballot to repeal Snyder's expanded emergency manager law.Stand Up for Democracy, the ballot committee backing Proposal 1, received 91 percent of its funding from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Michigan Council 25, according to the <a href="http://mcfn.org/pdfs/reports/MCFN_2012_Cit_Guide_final_rev..pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan Campaign Finance Network</a>.Opposition to Proposal 1 was led by Bob LaBrant, Senior Counsel at the Sterling Corporation, a leading Republican PR firm, and the former director of political and legal campaigns at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce for 34 years. LaBrant's ballot committee, called Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, focused its strategy on a court fight to bump Proposal 1 off the ballot. That effort ultimately failed, and the group spent little on campaigning against the measure.On November 6, 2012, 53 percent of Michigan's voters cast ballots to repeal Snyder's emergency manager law. But that didn't stop Governor Snyder and his backers.Barely one month later, Snyder pushed a slightly revised bill through the lame duck legislature and restored the sweeping powers of his emergency managers.Only this time, he <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/12/13/1169517/-Michigan-House-passes-new-version-of-emergency-law-repealed-by-voters" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">added an appropriation</a> which, under Michigan law, prevents it from being subject to referendum. Check and mate.Kevyn Orr, who later became emergency manager for Detroit, <a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/07/kevyn-orr-michigans-em-law-is-a-clear-end-around-the-prior-initiative-that-was-rejected-by-the-voters-in-november.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sent an email</a> to the Detroit Free Press saying, "Michigan's EM law is a clear end-around the prior initiative that was rejected by the voters in November. ...[A]though the new law provides the thin veneer of a revision it is essentially a redo of the prior rejected law."The new law did contain what critics call a "<a href="http://www.eclectablog.com/2013/02/a-comprehensive-look-at-michigans-newest-emergency-manager-law-now-with-stability-choice.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">choose your poison</a>" provision, allowing municipalities to choose between an emergency manager, bankruptcy, arbitration, or a consent agreement.Not on the table for cash-strapped cities reeling from the collapse of the auto industry and the impact of free trade agreements: any state largesse like the <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/05/13/173952/michigan-tax-cuts/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">86 percent corporate income tax cut</a> that Snyder handed Michigan businesses in 2011, worth an estimated $1.7 billion per year.The resurrection of Snyder's emergency manager law wasn't even the most dramatic thing to happen in the 2012 lame duck session.According to Mother Jones, DeVos and his close allies—who led a $23.2 million campaign to defeat another voter initiative, Proposal 2, aimed at enshrining collective bargaining in the state constitution—had <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/devos-michigan-labor-politics-gop" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">devised a plan</a> to ram through "right-to-work" legislation before anyone knew what hit them.They pitched the plan to legislative leaders and a Snyder aide on November 20, and by early December unleashed an ad campaign using a new group, the Michigan Freedom Fund, closely tied to Dick DeVos.Snyder surprised the public by calling the measure to a vote on December 6, and five days later the birthplace of modern industrial unions became a "right-to-work" state.The following May, at the State Policy Network's <a href="http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/19187" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">annual meeting</a> in Oklahoma City, Dick DeVos and the Mackinac Center were recognized for their leadership in the legislative fight to win passage of the "right-to-work" law in Michigan. As reported by <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12325/state-policy-network-stealth-network-dramatically-influencing-state-law" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">PR Watch</a>, Dick's wife Betsy DeVos personally presented SPN's highest award to Mackinac's president, Joseph Lehman.Mackinac's blog noted that it had been pushing for "right-to-work" since 1990 and had posted more than 500 "articles, blog posts, special essays and news [clips] generated by Mackinac Center analysts" backing the legislation.The victory didn't come cheap.The big players of Michigan's right wing had <a href="http://mcfn.org/press.php?prId=172" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">spent millions</a> to defeat Proposal 2, an attempt to protect union rights in the state.That funding included $9.2 million from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, $5.5 million from the Michigan Alliance for Business Growth, $2 million from the DeVos family, and $2 million from Sheldon and Miriam Adelson.The Michigan Freedom Fund spent <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/9/michigans-governor-sides-with-right-to-work/?page=all" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">another $1 million</a> on the post-election ad campaign leading up to legislature's adoption of the "right-to-work" law.The Mackinac Center had an annual budget of <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mackinac_Center_for_Public_Policy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$4.4 million</a> as of 2012. Aside from checks to groups that do not disclose their major donors, the DeVos family spent more than <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/devos-michigan-labor-politics-gop" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$44 million</a> in publicly reported funding on the Republican Party, party committees, and candidates in Michigan between 1997 and 2013.<h2 style="line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Expanded Emergency Management Comes to Flint</h2>Plagued by the loss of 90 percent of its industrial workforce, disinvestment, and depopulation, Flint was facing a severe financial crisis by the time Governor Snyder took office.<div class="clearfix" style="">Since then, Snyder has appointed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_emergency_in_Michigan#List_of_emergency_managers" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">four emergency managers</a> to seize control of the city's assets and run Flint's local affairs.Flint voters elected a new mayor on November 8, 2011, but a state review panel declared a "local government financial emergency" the same day, and Snyder had installed his first emergency manager, Michael Brown, by December 1.The next day, Brown dismissed more than half a dozen key city administrators and Flint's elected officials had their pay and benefits removed.In January 2012, angry Flint residents joined a protest near Governor Snyder's home. AFSCME filed suit and managed to get a restraining order on Brown, but Brown was back by April in time to unveil his budget, which included cuts in nearly every department and a tax hike.Jack McHugh at Mackinac claimed in a March 2012 column that municipal budget problems were a "cancerous fiscal malpractice," and he argued that Snyder's emergency manager expansion provided the "rigorous 'chemotherapy'" needed "to sustain the necessary functions of tapped-out school districts and local governments."In Flint's case, the cure turned out to be worse than the disease.Frustrated with expensive water service from Detroit and frequent rate increases, Flint and surrounding Genesee County had joined nearby cities in 2010 to form the new Karegnondi Water Authority. The plan was to obtain water directly from Lake Huron once a new pipeline was complete. (That is now projected to be June 2016.)The Flint City Council voted for the new water source in March 2013, albeit symbolically as it had no power, and the emergency manager and state treasurer approved a plan to switch water supplies a few weeks later.That's when the trouble started.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">"Flint Residents Can Taste History"</h2></div> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/michigan-drinking-water-flint-2558239374.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/michigan-drinking-water-flint-2558239374.html</a>
<div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px;"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Michigan Gov. Declares Flint Water Safe, Stops Free Bottled Water, But Residents Aren’t So Sure</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2558239374" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Michigan Gov. Declares Flint Water Safe, Stops Free Bottled Water, But Residents Aren’t So Sure" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description">Declaring <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flint" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Flint</a>'s <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">drinking water</a> now safe, the Michigan government announced Friday that it would stop providing free <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bottled-water" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">bottled water</a> to the city's residents, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water/michigan-to-end-free-bottled-water-for-flint-saying-water-crisis-over-idUSKCN1HD2VI" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Reuters reported</a>.A statement from the office of Republican Governor Rick Snyder said that tests taken over the past two years had shown the water to be just as safe as or safer than the water of other Michigan cities."The scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended," Snyder said in a statement reported by Reuters, adding that the water now meets national safety standards.The Flint water crisis began in 2014 when the city switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in a money-saving move that ended up costing at least 12 lives by causing an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.The Flint River's more corrosive water also caused <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lead</a> to leach from the pipes into the drinking supply, which is especially harmful for the cognitive development of children.Flint switched back to Lake Huron water in 2015, but the crisis has led to a breakdown in trust between local residents and government officials.In January 2017, more than 1,700 Flint residents <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/flint-lawsuit-epa-2230655308.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sued</a> the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a>) for damages, accusing the EPA of failing to inform them of the crisis and failing to force city and state officials to act.Michigan Department of Health director Nick Lyon <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/flint-water-lyon-manslaughter-2441602962.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">was charged</a> in June 2017 with involuntary manslaughter for his role in at least one Legionnaires' death by failing to inform Flint residents of the danger.Community members and advocates now say it is too early for the state to stop supplying bottled water.<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/07/us/flint-michigan-water-bottle-program-ends/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">CNN reported</a> that Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, one of the first to sound the alarm about the crisis when she noticed the rising lead levels in the blood of children she treated, tweeted disapproval."This is wrong. Until all lead pipes are replaced, state should make available bottled water and filters to Flint residents," she wrote.Michigan State Representative Sheldon Neeley, a Democrat whose district includes Flint, agreed, calling the decision cruel according to Reuters."Governor Snyder has failed to address the psychological trauma that his administration put the people of Flint through. The fact is, the people of Flint don't trust the Snyder administration or the science they pay for—science that previously allowed our city to be poisoned," Neeley said in a statement ....</div></div><div style="">=</div> <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/01/19/flint-michigan-suffers-republicans-attack-clean-water-act">http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/01/19/flint-michigan-suffers-republicans-attack-clean-water-act</a> It isn’t often that a <a target="blank" href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/16/president-obama-declares-emergency-flint/78898604/">state of emergency is declared</a> over a disaster that is <a target="_blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/michiganers-demand-governors-arrest-for-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-to-balance-budget/">100% man-made and intentional</a>,

but that’s exactly what has happened in the city of Flint, Michigan. As

residents in the city struggle to find drinkable water, the National

Guard has been deployed to help distribute bottled water to residents.

The crisis actually <a target="_blank" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/bernie-sanders-rick-snyder-flint-water-lead-217876">began about 18 months ago</a>

when Republican governor Rick Snyder made the decision to balance the

city’s budget at the expense of the health and safety of residents

of Flint.

The governor and his appointed “budget experts” decided to save the

city some money by switching their water supply from the city of

Detroit’s supply to the Flint River, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/michiganers-demand-governors-arrest-for-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-to-balance-budget/">according to Occupy Democrats</a>, this river was known to be both highly polluted and carried an unusually high salt content.

The high salinity of this water caused the city’s pipes to begin eroding, which then leached lead into the city’s water.

Again, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/michiganers-demand-governors-arrest-for-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-to-balance-budget/">governor and state officials were aware of the lead problem the entire time</a> it was happening, according to internal emails between the governor and officials.

In spite of that knowledge, they <a target="blank" href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/266022-mich-gov-asks-obama-for-emergency-help-in-water-crisis">waited 18 months before declaring a state of emergency</a>. And the public would have remained in the dark had it not been for <a target="blank" href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan/">medical professionals coming forward</a> to explain what was happening to Flint residents and their children.

The entire problem could have been avoided at a cost to the city of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/michiganers-demand-governors-arrest-for-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-to-balance-budget/">less than $100 per day</a>.

In the midst of this crisis, and just days before the state of emergency was declared, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.omaha.com/opinion/paul-ryan-water-rules-show-epa-s-overreach/article_79487f96-cca1-5afa-a194-4d63a398c2aa.html">Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan wrote an op-ed</a> attacking the EPA’s Clean Water Rule. In the op-ed, Ryan declares that the stricter rules (finalized by the EPA

this past summer which gives the agency authority to regulate smaller

bodies of water to limit pollution) are a prime example of government

overreach and that the only goal of the agency is to micromanage how

citizens use water.

Ryan points out in his fact-free article that 32 governors have filed lawsuits against the EPA

and the Obama administration in order to block the rule from ever

taking effect, and a Circuit Court temporarily blocked implementation of

the rule back in October.

While <a target="_blank" href="http://www.omaha.com/opinion/paul-ryan-water-rules-show-epa-s-overreach/article_79487f96-cca1-5afa-a194-4d63a398c2aa.html">Speaker Ryan claims</a>

that he objects to the rule because it does damage to small farmers and

ranchers, his real goal is to protect the corporate powerhouses who

lobbied against the new rules. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/after-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-republicans-swiftly-vote-to-gut-obamas-clean-water-rule-2/">Those wealthy interests include</a> the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, mining

company owners, and several businesses owned by the Koch brothers.

These groups have little to no interest in farming activities, but

they are all either major polluters through their dirty energy

businesses, or they represent the interests of polluters from both the

energy and industrial manufacturing sectors. And according to a guy like

Paul Ryan, the desire of companies to pollute entire towns is more

important than the health and safety of American citizens.

Those health concerns are not hypothetical, either. Thanks to <a target="blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/michiganers-demand-governors-arrest-for-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-to-balance-budget/">medical professionals in the city of Flint</a>, we know exactly what kind of adverse health effects we’re looking at as a result of <a target="blank" href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/after-poisoning-entire-city-with-lead-republicans-swiftly-vote-to-gut-obamas-clean-water-rule-2/">Republican-sponsored pollution</a>: impaired cognitive development, behavioral problems, and nervous system damage.

These are not short-term effects either, these problems will plague

the residents of Flint — especially young children exposed to high

amounts of lead — for the rest of their lives. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pure-earth.com/lead.html">Lead exposure and consumption</a> at such a young age is also linked to increased crime among the exposed, and anti-social behavior.

The crisis in Flint, Michigan will likely repeat itself if

corporations continue to influence the behavior of our elected

officials. It could become the new normal.
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/8/gov_snyder_should_be_arrested_flint">http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/8/gov_snyder_should_be_arrested_flint</a>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/8/gov_snyder_should_be_arrested_flint">http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/8/poisoned_democracy_how_an_unelected_official
</a>=http://www.alternet.org/magical-mystery-tour-american-austerity-how-one-state-destroying-democracy-and-poisoning-its-peopleSomething is rotten in the state of Michigan.One city neglected to inform its residents that its water supply was laced with cancerous chemicals. Another dissolved its public school district and replaced it with a charter school system, only to witness the for-profit management company it hired flee the scene after determining it couldn’t turn a profit. Numerous cities and school districts in the state are now run by single, state-appointed technocrats, as permitted under an emergency financial manager law pushed through by Rick Snyder, Michigan’s austerity-promoting governor. This legislation not only strips residents of their local voting rights, but gives Snyder’s appointee the power to do just about anything, including dissolving the city itself -- all (no matter how disastrous) in the name of “fiscal responsibility.”If you’re thinking, "Who cares?" since what happens in Michigan stays in Michigan, think again. The state’s aggressive balance-the-books style of governance has already spread beyond its borders. In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed bankruptcy lawyer and former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr to be a “legal adviser” to Atlantic City. The Detroit Free Press <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/01/22/kevyn-orr-atlantic-city/22169071/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">described</a> the move as “a state takeover similar to Gov. Rick Snyder's state intervention in the Motor City.”And this spring, amid the hullabaloo of Republicans entering the 2016 presidential race, Governor Snyder launched his own national tour to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/rick-snyder-2016-elections-detroit-michigan-113487.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">sell</a> “the Michigan story to the rest of the country.” His trip was funded by a nonprofit (fed, naturally, by undisclosed donations) named “Making Government Accountable: The Michigan Story.” To many Michiganders, this sounded as ridiculous as Jeb Bush launching a super PAC dubbed "Making Iraq Free: The Bush Family Story.”  Except Snyder wasn’t planning to enter the presidential rat race. Instead, he was attempting to mainstream Michigan’s form of austerity politics and its signature emergency management legislation, which stripped <a href="http://www.clickondetroit.com/blob/view/-/29818864/data/2/-/wyero5/-/Emergency-Manager-filing-by-Judge-Caram-Steeh.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">more than half</a>of the state’s African American residents of their local voting rights in 2013 and 2014.As the governor jaunted around the country, Ann Arbor-based photographer Eduardo García and I decided to set out on what we thought of as our own two-week Magical Michigan Tour. And while we weren’t driving a specially outfitted psychedelic tour bus -- we spent most of the trip in my grandmother’s 2005 Prius -- our journey was nevertheless remarkably surreal. From the southwest banks of Lake Michigan to the eastern tips of the peninsula, we crisscrossed the state visiting more than half a dozen cities to see if there was another side to the governor’s story and whether Michigan really was, as one Detroit resident put it, “a massive experiment in unraveling U.S. democracy.”Stop One: Water Wars in FlintJust as we arrive, the march spills off the sidewalk in front of the city council building.“Stop poisoning our children!” chants a little girl as the crowd tumbles down South Saginaw Street, the city’s main drag.  We’re in Flint, Michigan, a place that hit the headlines last year for its brown, chemical-laced, possibly toxic water.  A wispy white-haired woman waves a gallon jug filled with pee-colored liquid from her home tap. “They don’t care that they’re killing us!” she cries.We catch up with Claire McClinton, the formidable if grandmotherly organizer of the Flint Democracy Defense League, as we approach the roiling Flint River.  It’s been a longtime dumping ground for the Ford Motor Company’s riverfront factories and, as of one year ago today, the only source of the city’s drinking water.  On April 25, 2014, on the instruction of the city’s emergency manager, Flint stopped buying its supplies from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and started drawing water directly from the river, which meant a budgetary savings of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/us/a-water-dilemma-in-michigan-cheaper-or-clearer.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">$12 million</a> a year. The downside: people started getting sick.180?
oct 2014 We’re all familiar with climate deniers — the politicians who proudly declare that 97 percent of climate scientists are wrong, and human carbon emissions aren’t driving up global temperatures to a potentially catastrophic degree. Opposing them are what Grist’s David Roberts termed “climate hawks” — people who think climate change is real, it’s extremely dangerous, and civilization’s use of fossil fuels is behind most of it.But in between, a strange twilight figure has risen for whom there is no term, but with whom climate activists will have to grapple if America is to do its part in keeping the world under 2°C of warming.Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) probably represented this odd creature best back in August: “[Climate change is] a concern in terms of both its impact and the volatility it’s having on our weather patterns,” he said. But when reporters dug into whether humans are causing it, Snyder dodged: “I don’t get into how we got there because that tends to go off into a discussion that I don’t think has real value.”“Is that relevant or not?” Snyder continued. “No. We have an issue. We need to address it.”Similar sentiments have been expressed by other politicians. “I’m not qualified to answer that question,” Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (R) told Real Clear Politics in June when asked if humans are the main drivers of global warming. “Let me tell you what we’ve done, without getting to whether it’s human-caused or whatever that may be.”http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/02/3571238/fighting-climate-change-without-blame/<a href="http://www.snyderfails.org/">http://www.snyderfails.org/</a>
BY THE NUMBERSGovernor Snyder’s failed policies have weakened Michigan’s economic recovery and taken money out of hard-working Michiganders pockets.Rick Snyder claims to be a man of numbers and metrics. But, the facts show Snyder’s failures. While he’s moved the goal posts on his own dashboard, we’re not going to cook the numbers in giving information about how Michigan has fallen behind with Snyder at the helm.Snyder’s failed jobs policies27th: When Snyder took office, Michigan was 2nd in job growth – today we are down to 27th under his watch (Arizona State University)7.7%: Michigan’s unemployment rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics)16th worst: Thanks to the Snyder administration, Michigan is the 16th worst run state in the country (247Wallstreet.com)115%: The amount the state’s furniture contract increased from 2011 to 2012, which benefitted the cousin of governor Snyder (Politico 3/25/14)Snyder’s failed administration3: The number of top-ranking officials from various departments that have resigned or jumped ship due to controversy and cronyism under Snyder’s watchOver $200,000: The amount of taxpayer dollars spent on fancy hotels, limo rides and fine dining by former head of MSHDA Scott Woosley before he resigned. Snyder thanked him for his service (MLive 8/8/14)$170,000: The amount spent by former head of the EAA John Covington before he resigned on a chauffeured car and travel expenses (WXYZ 5/12/14)Nearly $175,000: The salary that former state treasurer Andy Dillon continued to collect — even while on a luxury cruise vacation — courtesy of Gov. Snyder (Detroit Free Press 1/8/14)Snyder’s failed women’s rights policies0: Number of times Snyder has taken a stand for equal pay for equal work for women1: Amount of pre-abortion screening bills Snyder has signed — making it more difficult for women to access women’s health care services (Huffington Post 12/28/12)Snyder’s equality for LGBT Michiganders0: The amount of times Snyder has answered when directly asked about marriage equality$40,000: The amount spent on witnesses by Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette on anti-equalty witnesses in state’s gay marriage trial (Detroit News 3/24/14)Snyder’s emergency management1: Number of times voters overturned Snyder’s emergency financial manager law —but Snyder went against the will of the people and created a new law instead$270,000: The salary of Detroit emergency financial manager Kevin Orr — who has the power to break contracts and privatize city services to unaccountable corporations (Huffington Post Detroit 3/13/13)11: The number of emergency financial managers that Snyder has forced on municipalities — resulting in loss of the democratic process in communities (Department of Treasury)6: The number of schools that have an emergency manager thanks to Snyder — resulting in loss of local control of neighborhood schools and massive privatization efforts (Department of Treasury)Snyder’s funding cuts to education, state services and local government$145 million: Snyder’s 2011 budget included $145 million in cuts for state employees (Detroit News, 5/20/11)$470: Snyder cut funding to public schools by $470 per student — resulting in larger class sizes and less resources in the classroom (Grand Rapids Press 5/20/11)71%: The number of Michiganders who opposed Snyder’s funding cuts to public education (Kalamazoo Gazette 5/16/11)15%: Snyder slashed higher education funding by 15 percent — making it harder for young Michiganders to get ahead without accruing massive amounts of debt (Detroit News 6/21/11, Associated Press, 6/22/11)$100 million: Snyder cut $100 million to local governments — resulting in fewer resources for cash-strapped police and fire departments(Associated Press 6/22/11, Detroit News 6/21/11)$70 million: Snyder cut over $70 million in funding to the Michigan Department of Corrections – meaning less resources for officers in one of Michigan’s most dangerous professions (Detroit News 5/26/11)Snyder’s higher taxes for Michigan families$3,000: Seniors now pay over $3,000 more in taxes – causing vulnerable citizens to choose between paying for groceries and filling prescriptions (Grand Rapids Press 7/13/11)70%: Snyder shaved off 70 percent of the Earned Income Tax Credit – nearly eliminating it for those who need help the most (Grand Rapids Press 7/13/11)$363: Snyder hit single parents with a $363 tax increase — thanks to nearly eliminating the Earned Income Tax Credit (Grand Rapids Press 7/13/11)Snyder’s failed education agenda79%: The percentage of charter schools in Michigan being ran by for-profit corporations (Detroit News 11/26/13)24%: The enrollment decrease from Snyder’s unaccountable, unproven and experimental Education Achievement Authority schools in Detroit (Detroit News 11/22/13)50: The number of school districts in Michigan that ended the 2012-13 Fiscal Year in deficit — thanks to Snyder’s cuts to public school districts (MLive 12/12/13)$28,840: The average amount of debt accrued by Michigan’s college grads — Snyder’s cuts to higher education funding have forced the cost of college tuition to astronomical levels (MLive 12/04/13)48th: Where Michigan ranked in regard to overall well being of African American children (Detroit Free Press 4/6/14)<h1 style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Inmates Die in Droves After Governor Rick Scott Outsources Prison Healthcare</h1>Suffering from lung cancer? Here’s a Tylenol and some warm compresses. Are your intestines escaping? Not to worry; here’s some K-Y Jelly to shove them back in. An investigation reveals that Florida inmates have been dying in droves since the state privatized prison health care. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=IskEyt7b0Qem9qwswJ6s3Z%2B99yUMU%2FN8" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.2em;">Read more</a><h1 style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Governor Snyder Stands Behind Prison Privatization, Even After Maggots and Murder for Hire</h1>Ideological slogans often trump facts when it comes to the outsourcing of public services. When independent studies are commissioned, the conclusions are often disregarded. In some cases, however, there seems to be solid research supporting the cost-efficiency of privatization. Such was the case in Michigan – at least at first glance.<p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">

Should we be surprised that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/in-washington-snyder-declines-to-say-whether-right-to-work-creates-jobs/">testified</a> under oath that “right-to-work” wasn’t part of his agenda, is poised to sign just such a bill later today?

Snyder’s announcement last week that he’d support right-to-work has taken the sheen off his carefully cultivated image as a pragmatic alternative to hard-charging GOP counterparts in Ohio and Wisconsin. But it secures a dream of the anti-union Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, whose associates are well-represented among Snyder’s donors, and whose economic agenda has been ascendant within the modern GOP.

“I think he was being a puppet for larger interests outside of the state,” United Auto Workers vice president Cindy Estrada told Salon Monday afternoon.

<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/02/03/how_to_fight_indianas_right_to_work_law/">So-called right-to-work laws</a> ban union contracts from requiring workers in a bargaining unit to pay for the costs of representation. (Contrary to much rhetoric – and some reporting – U.S. law already prevents workers from being required to join a union or pay dues, per se. The issue is whether non-members, whom the union is still legally required to negotiate for and represent at work, can be required to pay representation fees.) Right-to-work defunds and discourages unions, and makes it easier for employers to <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12511/with_candidates_backing_new_hampshire_gop_pushes_right_to_work_again/">discriminate</a> against pro-union workers. Passing right-to-work in Michigan, arguably the birthplace of the modern U.S. labor movement, would be – by all signs, will be – a major coup for the right.

It didn’t come out of nowhere. In a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DChq01XfG5c">video</a> shot by a Michigan Democratic tracker, former Michigan GOP chairman Ron Weiser is seen describing right-to-work plans that date back to 2007. A Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson told Salon that the video was recorded at a gathering of several Tea Party groups on Aug. 9, 2012 (the Michigan GOP and the governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment). In the video, Weiser describes hiring a political consultant and “working on that full-time” from October 2007 through the following March. Weiser, a former real-estate developer and U.S. ambassador who’s now the national RNC finance chair, describes a plan to gather signatures to put right-to-work on the ballot in 2008.

But Weiser tells the crowd that the strategy changed after a meeting in Washington with former Michigan Gov. John Engler (now the president of the Business Roundtable), former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, billionaire donor Dick DeVos, and “some people from AFP,” the Koch-backed Tea Party group. At that meeting, Weiser says in the video, “what we determined was that to win that election, and to be sure we were gonna win it, we couldn’t have a governor that was against it. So we decided to wait. Wait until we had a governor. Now we have a legislature and we have a governor.” That governor is Rick Snyder.

Nowhere in the video clip does Weiser express concern about Snyder’s expressed antipathy toward right-to-work. But clearly, right-to-work supporters had no reason to worry.

Snyder’s previously avowed lack of interest in right-to-work was one of the building blocks in a media narrative casting the governor (slogan: “One Tough Nerd”) as a moderate problem-solver. The Detroit Free Press, which endorsed Snyder in 2010, noted in a <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20121209/OPINION01/312090161/Editorial-A-failure-of-leadership-Snyder-s-about-face-on-right-to-work-betrays-voters">Sunday editorial</a> that it had frequently “trusted Snyder’s judgment” on economic policy, in part because “we believed him” when he promised to be “a pragmatist focused like a laser on initiatives that promised to raise standards of living for all Michiganders.” With a rushed-through right-to-work bill poised for Snyder’s signature, the editors wrote, “That trust has now been betrayed…”

It wasn’t just the Free Press. An August New York Times article offered a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/us/politics/rick-snyder-a-gop-governor-who-eludes-labels.html?pagewanted=1&hp&_r=0">sympathetic portrait</a> of the governor as a man trying to steer a middle course in a partisan era. But as some Democrats argued, that was an unjustifiably generous view of Snyder’s record, including on labor: While disclaiming interest in right-to-work, he signed a series of lower-profile anti-union bills into law. Those included <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12939/rick_snyder_union_busting_aft_michigan_graduate_student_research_assistants/">denying collective bargaining rights</a> to graduate student research assistants and domestic caregivers, and dramatically expanding the power of appointed emergency managers to shred the provisions of public workers’ union contracts.

But why did Snyder suddenly become the face of right-to-work? Republicans charge that unions forced the issue by backing a failed referendum effort to put collective bargaining rights into the Constitution, and a successful one reversing Snyder’s emergency manager move. Unions counter that the governor is doing the bidding of wealthy anti-union donors while subverting the will of voters, who just shrunk the Legislature’s GOP majority.

At a Monday press conference following a meeting with Snyder, congressional Democrats from Michigan criticized the governor for doing a sudden “180” on the issue. But in retrospect, said the UAW’s Estrada, “to have that big a change of heart so suddenly tells me that there must have been a piece of Gov. Snyder that was planning this all along.” She said she believes Snyder “was influenced by outsiders, like the Koch brothers and ALEC, and then other very powerful insiders like Dick Devos and the Mackinac Center.” In other words, the conservatives who helped get him elected.

While Snyder spent nearly $6 million of his own cash on his 2010 campaign, he had serious backup. As Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/republican-governors-association-perry-michigan">reported</a> last winter, the Republican Governors Association spun off a short-term PAC called RGA Michigan 2010, which spent over $8.3 million, “54 percent more than any other PAC had poured into any election in Michigan history” (some of that cash was allegedly funneled out of state, but over $5 million went to the state GOP). Among the group’s top donors: David Koch, Paul Singer and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. $1,485,000 came from the DeVos clan, who co-founded the direct-marketing company Amway.

Dick Devos, a former Amway CEO, was the GOP’s self-funded (failed) gubernatorial nominee in 2006. During that campaign, he said he had no interest in right-to-work. But like Snyder, he’s had an apparent change of heart. The business group West Michigan Policy Forum, which Devos chairs, recently <a href="http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/ballot_issue_likely_up_next_if.html#incart_river">announced</a> that it was prepared to get a right-to-work law on the ballot if legislators didn’t send one to the governor’s desk. A Mother Jones review of tax records <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/michigan-snyder-mackinac-center">revealed</a> that the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation is also a donor to the Mackinac Center, a conservative think tank also backed by the Walton Family Foundation and the Charles G. Koch Foundation. As Kroll reported, Snyder’s “emergency manager” law adopted four out of four recommendations from Mackinac.

Paul Singer chairs the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank that has received funding from a Koch-backed foundation. Singer also directs Elliott Management, which played a lead role in buying up the debt of Delphi, the auto parts company that supplies to GM and Chrysler, and made a major profit off of the auto bailout. As Greg Palast <a href="http://www.thenation.com/print/article/170644/mitt-romneys-bailout-bonanza">reported</a> in the Nation, “Of the 29 Delphi plants operating in the United States when the hedge funders began buying up control, only four remain, with not a single union production worker.”

David Koch was <a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/02/23/ian_murphy_scott_walker_prank/">famously</a> impersonated by blogger Ian Murphy in a prank phone call congratulating Scott Walker on his union-busting fortitude. The Kochs are major supporters of ALEC, and provided the funds to start AFP, a successor to the Koch-backed Citizens for a Sound Economy. As Lee Fang <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/171663/pro-right-work-groups-michigan-outspend-union-counterparts">reported</a> at the Nation, in 2008 through 2011, Mackinac and AFP-Michigan vastly outspent the union-backed group Progress Michigan.

Amway, Mackinac and the Manhattan Institute are all ALEC members. The right-to-work bills passed by the Michigan House and Senate have substantial overlap with the wording and content of ALEC’s model “Right to Work Act.”

In a Monday interview with Salon, AFP Michigan state director Scott Hagerstrom said he wasn’t familiar with who had donated to help Snyder, but touted AFP members’ phone calls and rallies on behalf of right-to-work. Hagerstrom called the bill “one of our top two policy priorities,” along with eliminating the state income tax. He said AFP’s Michigan chapter has pushed for right-to-work since its inception in 2007, and that passing the bill “will be a very big victory for personal freedom and for Michigan’s economy.”

In a 2011 speech <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/25/146555/afp-union-knees/">recorded</a> by ThinkProgress, Hagerstrom told the Conservative Political Action Conference, “We fight these battles on taxes and regulation, but really, what we would like to see is to take the unions out at the knees so they don’t have the resources to fight these battles.” Asked about those comments, Hagerstrom told Salon he “threw out a sports analogy” as part of explaining “the damage that the union culture, the union bosses, have done.” He added that he hopes the absence of mandatory contributions will force unions to put “their focus more on workers.”

On a Monday conference call with reporters, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow said that if Snyder signs right-to-work, “it’s going to be many, many years before we recover.” Estrada told Salon that the UAW retains “the hope that Governor Snyder will take real leadership” and back away from the bill. But she added, “I don’t think we’re going to change his mind.”

</div>

<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/12/11/koch_brothers_tea_party_cash_drives_michigan_right_to_work_bill/">http://www.salon.com/2012/12/11/koch_brothers_tea_party_cash_drives_michigan_right_to_work_bill/</a>

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<h2 class="article" style="">Guided by the Koch brothers, Republicans have installed czars to run Michigan's cities</h2>

support of snyder

<a href="http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3105">http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3105</a>

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lee fang:

This latest project in conservative infrastructure building comes at a time when power is drifting away from political parties and other long-established organizations. The Supreme Courts Citizens United decision has accelerated this trend, with new Super PACs and attack-ad nonprofits springing up almost as fast as donors can write checks. The upgraded state echo chambers, led by SPN think tanks, seem particularly well-suited for this environment: they are fast-paced, Internet-savvy and dedicated to eliminating their perceived opposition.

Months before Scott Walker took the oath of office as Wisconsin��s forty-fifth governor, the groundwork for his controversial “budget repair bill,” which severely curtailed public sector collective bargaining rights, had already been laid. The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, founded in 2009 as the second SPN think tank in the state, had—along with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, an older state affiliate—published several studies calling for government leaders to tackle public sector employee bargaining. Specifically, they targeted teacher pay and benefits as the driver of the state��s budget ills. Unlike the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, the MacIver Institute waged its advocacy through YouTube videos and social media, including its own blog.

Brett Healy, president of the MacIver Institute, explained later that it was “critically important” that the state think tanks used “digital media” advocacy and “not the traditional research and analysis…that we’re normally accustomed to doing.”

In January 2011, as Walker began his term, conservatives opened two new reporting outfits in the state. The Franklin Center helped sponsor one called Wisconsin Reporter, while American Majority, a group that helps train conservative activists, started another called MediaTrackers.org. The MacIver Institute bloggers, joined by these new reporting organizations, moved quickly to frame the debate, interviewing protesters who had gathered in Madison to try to stop the bill. The interviewers highlighted the radicals among the group, harshly criticized child participants and sought to rebut union arguments against the budget.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity began a “Stand With Walker” campaign in partnership with the MacIver Institute. The group aired over $342,000 worth of advertising to support the governor’s budget and also began a bus tour crisscrossing the state to drum up support. A turning point came when the MacIver Institute’s bloggers reported that a group of teachers on sick leave were being given fake doctors�� notes by volunteer physicians among the protesters. The story took off, garnering coverage by the local and national media; there was so much Internet traffic to the MacIver Institute’s website that the server crashed. ��Tracie [Sharp] probably remembers the panicked phone call that she received from me trying to figure out a patch to fix the situation,�� Healy recalled.

The Wisconsin groups went on to help re-elect a pro-Walker State Supreme Court judge and successfully fend off the attempt to unseat Walker himself in a recall election.

The strategy in Wisconsin—with several think tanks and nimble media outlets all coordinating to enact laws to weaken labor unions—also played out in Indiana, where Republicans enacted a right-to-work law, and in Ohio, where a bill to limit collective bargaining was passed (Ohio’s law was subsequently repealed by referendum in 2011). Then, in December 2012, Republicans in Michigan reversed a previous promise and enacted a right-to-work law during the post-election lame- duck session. Happening as it did in the cradle of private-sector union activism, this was perhaps the crowning achievement of the state-based conservative movement. (The Taft-Hartley Act allows states to enact right-to-work laws, which quickly erode unions by allowing workers to benefit from union contracts and negotiations without having to pay dues.)

While many legislators were caught off guard by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s announcement, space in the front of the capitol had been reserved weeks in advance by Americans for Prosperity’s state chapter to set up a booth in support of the effort. Likewise, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy—the SPN affiliate in Michigan, with two recently opened media outlets, Michigan Capitol Confidential and Watchdog Wire Michigan��produced an array of content, from a Pinterest page to short videos on why the state should change its law governing labor unions.

Labor unions, on the other hand, spend the majority of their limited resources on member services like bargaining; their political money is mostly spent on candidate donations rather than the kind of rapid-response permanent campaign now embraced by their opposition. The only labor-backed political group that could be compared to the SPN-affiliated Mackinac Center and its allies��an organization called Progress Michigan, which does political research and media outreach—has far fewer resources than its counterparts on the right. In 2010, according to the latest available disclosure for the three groups, the Mackinac Center and Americans for Prosperity’s state chapter outspent Progress Michigan by $4.6 million to a little over $700,000.

MediaTrackers.org sites and news outlets mirroring Wisconsin Reporter now exist in states across the country, augmenting the advocacy of the expanded Americans for Prosperity and SPN chapters. “There’s no counterweight,” says Lisa Graves, head of the Center for Media and Democracy, a watchdog group in Madison. Graves notes that Wisconsin Reporter, among the other Franklin Center news sites set up in more than two dozen states, has acted as a syndication service, providing right-leaning news coverage to local media. “There��s no progressive wire service,” she adds.

Though many of the conservative groups involved in this strategy have claimed that their interest in promoting right-to-work laws or ending collective bargaining is about creating jobs or cutting spending, there is evidence to suggest that they are really seeking to eliminate unions across the board.

“Freedom is the issue at the core of this debate, and we want to ensure the citizens of Michigan understand this,” said Scott Hagerstrom, Americans for Prosperity��s state leader, in a press release following the passage of the right-to-work law. In a meeting for activists, however, Hagerstrom described his goals differently. “We fight these battles on taxes and regulation,�� he said, “but really, what we would like to see is to take the unions out at the knees so they don’t have the resources to fight these battles.”

Speaking at a panel discussion in Dallas a year before the right-to-work law’s passage in Michigan, Mackinac Center president Joseph Lehman conceded that his group’s campaign to promote government transparency through hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests was really an effort to hurt the unions. “The strategic idea we had in mind was defunding unions,” he said. And while it’s too early to predict the result of the Michigan law, new figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Wisconsin and Indiana recorded the sharpest decline in union membership in recent history. Last year, Wisconsin’s union membership rolls dropped by 13 percent. The only state with a higher decrease was Indiana, which reportedly declined by 18 percent.

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3. Rick Snyder, Michigan

Rick Snyder may be facing his own recall election��or at least, a <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120606/POLITICS02/206060412/1361/Snyder-recall-proponents-regroup-after-Wisconsin-vote">group of determined voters</a> who'd like to challenge the Michigan governor. Perhaps that's why <a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120605/FREE/120609955">he's allowed a tiny increase</a> in the state's education budget this year. But there's a catch: those budget increases are <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10085358">tied to performance.</a>

Snyder is best known for his state's ��emergency manager” law, which grants him the power to appoint a manager over towns he deems in need of an overhaul. Revamped under Snyder, <a href="http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/151428/shock_doctrine:%27emergency_finance_managers%27_and_the_right-wing%27s_power_grab/?page=entire">the law </a>gives the managers unilateral authority to fire officials, close schools, void union contracts (an apparent violation of the Constitution's Contracts Clause), and hand schools over to private charter companies.

He's still <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/news/snyder-defends-emergency-manager-law-in-state-of-the-state-address/">defending the law</a>—and almost brought it to bear on Detroit. (The city's public school system has been under emergency management for a while, but not the city itself.)

He also signed a “partial-birth abortion” ban (<a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/snyder-signs-partial-birth-abortion-law">duplicating the federal ban already on the books</a>) just in case he wasn't keeping up his anti-choice creds as well as his neighbors.

��

Finally, while taking credit for the state's rise in personal incomes, Snyder's hacked the Earned Income Tax Credit for poor families, a move that will cost them an average of $700 a year. At the same time, corporate income taxes will drop by 83 percent. “Unless we restore the EITC, Michigan will soon tax the working poor deeper into poverty, instead of helping families climb into the middle-class,” Karen Holcomb-Merrill, policy director of the Michigan League for Human Services, told the <a href="http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2012/04/06/news/local_news/doc4f7ddd10aeec8304547440.txt">Oakland Press</a>.

<a href="http://motherjones.com/print/149261">http://motherjones.com/print/149261</a>

The Republicans' Dark-Money-Moving Machine

Inside the GOP group that skirts election rules by shuffling millions across state lines and then "wiping the fingerprints off the money."

By Andy Kroll | January/February 2012 Issue

Michigan's 2010 elections had just concluded, and Rich Robinson, the state's leading campaign finance reform advocate, was conducting his usual postmortem. As he tallied the big money behind the conservative groundswell that swept [1] Republican Rick Snyder into the governor's mansion and placed the state Legislature solidly under GOP control, one particular political action committee caught his eye.

The 20 Biggest Donors of the 2012 Election [2] [2]

Read more of our coverage of political dark money. [3]

Created in December 2009 and shut down shortly after the election, RGA Michigan 2010 had come out of nowhere to spend [4] nearly $8.4 million—54 percent more than any other PAC had poured into any election in Michigan history. Ninety-six percent of the group's donors lived outside the state, and its top three funders included Texas homebuilder Bob Perry, Koch Industries' David Koch, and New York City hedge fund CEO Paul Singer. On the other side of the ledger, RGA Michigan 2010 had given $5.2 million to the Michigan Republican Party—no surprise there—but, mysteriously, it had also funneled $3 million into the campaign coffers of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Robinson, the executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, began to connect the dots. He remembered the phone calls from reporters in Maine and Florida asking if Robinson knew why money from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce had ended up with PACs in their states. The state's Chamber, which usually spent more than $1 million on TV ads during Michigan elections, officially didn't spend a dime on ads in 2010, according to Robinson. But it had given an unprecedented [4] $5.37 million to a national organization that, Robinson now realized, was at the root of the anomalous spending he'd uncovered: the Washington, DC-based Republican Governors Association.

During the midterms, while many campaign finance observers were fixated on the proliferation of super-PACs and shadow-spending groups, the RGA spent [5] $132 million—more than the five biggest conservative super-PACs and 501(c) groups combined. It was instrumental in electing a slate of GOP governors��Wisconsin's Scott Walker, Ohio's John Kasich, Georgia's Nathan Deal, and Iowa's Terry Branstad, among others—who hastened to crack down on public-sector unions and roll back environmental regulations. These electoral successes were fueled in part by the creative campaign finance strategy that Robinson began to piece together.

Since 2008, he explains, the RGA has used a network of at least 15 state-level PACs to shuffle campaign cash around the country. Doing so serves a couple of purposes. First, it enables the RGA to scrub the identity of a donor to avoid image issues. For instance, Rick Perry taking $3 million from a Texas oil baron might be controversial, but if that baron gives $3 million to the national RGA, which then diverts the money to RGA Michigan PAC and then to Perry? Harmless.

The RGA's cash shuffle also allows it—and its corporate allies—to skirt campaign finance laws. For instance, in Michigan, corporations can't donate directly to candidates or political parties. But the state's Chamber of Commerce donated millions to the national RGA, which then directed some of the money to its PACs in Florida and Maine, where no such corporate-money bans exist. Why would a Michigan group want its money flowing to races in other states? Chamber CEO Rich Studley told [6] Maine Public Radio that its members supported funding "pro-business" candidates outside Michigan.

Robinson has a different theory. During the 2010 election cycle, the Michigan Chamber donated more than $5 million to the RGA. In turn, the RGA's Michigan PAC directed $5.2 million—contributions that largely came from individuals outside the state—to the Michigan Republican Party. Robinson believes that, through this roundabout process, the Chamber's corporate money was swapped out with individual contributions, allowing it to be deployed in Michigan in a more potent form. (The Chamber acknowledges that the RGA called the shots on where its money was spent. Studley says his group's political spending "has been in full compliance with all Michigan and federal laws." The RGA did not respond to a request for comment on this practice.)

Robinson and other campaign finance watchdogs liken the RGA's methods to the corporate-contribution laundering scheme that got former GOP congressman Tom DeLay indicted. "The whole thing," Robinson says of the RGA's tactics, "was about wiping the fingerprints off the money."

An RGA spokesman, Mike Schrimpf, says the group and its network of PACs "aren't really unique," but he declined to respond to specific questions. "The RGA and the [Democratic Governors Association] both have to use state PACs in some states to comply with the state campaign finance laws," he says. The RGA, however, is by far the more powerful of the two, outspending the DGA [7] in the last four election cycles by anywhere from $10 million (2004) to $67 million (2010).

The RGA wasn't always a political juggernaut. Founded in 1963 [8], the group for decades was content to convene meetings and publish the occasional white paper. That began to change in the early 1980s, when Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh became chairman and the RGA started to raise serious money. With the RGA's backing, the GOP netted seven governor's seats in the 1986 election.

In 1994, while Newt Gingrich and Co. took control [9] of Congress and rang in the Republican Revolution, the RGA was instrumental in the election of 11 GOP governors and successfully defended every Republican incumbent. When the dust settled, Republicans controlled 30 governorships, their first majority since 1970. The last time Republicans had performed so well in gubernatorial races was 1867.

Beyond its electoral victories, the RGA established itself as a launching pad for Republicans with presidential aspirations. The group helped to foster alliances between GOP governors and gave them access to deep-pocketed donors and top fundraisers, helping to catapult politicians like Ronald Reagan (an RGA chairman), George W. Bush, Rick Perry (twice chairman), Mitt Romney (2006 chairman), and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie [10] (current vice chair) onto the national stage.

The RGA's rise has been fueled by a close alliance with corporate America��especially tobacco companies and Big Pharma. In the mid-'90s, the organization awarded seats on its board to executives from Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, which each donated $40,000 a year. In November 1995, tobacco lobbyists swarmed the RGA's annual meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, pressing governors to write letters opposing pending tobacco regulations from the Food and Drug Administration. In exchange for their support, the tobacco companies pledged financial backing when election time rolled around. They came through: In February 1996, Philip Morris held a Washington, DC, gala for the RGA that raised $2.6 million.

The increasing influence of corporate donors turned off some Republican governors, including Arne Carlson, Minnesota's governor from 1991 to 1999. Carlson recalls attending a few RGA meetings, but he stopped going due to the group's increasingly partisan tenor and insistence that donors be given access to the governors. "It was no longer Republican governors getting together," Carlson says. "It was the moneyed interests getting together with governors. I found it detestable."

In June 2002, the McCain-Feingold Act went into effect [11], banning federal party committees from raising "soft money"��donations from labor unions and corporations outside the scope of federal campaign finance law. So to keep the corporate cash flowing, the RGA officially broke away [12] from the Republican National Committee (of which it had been an affiliate) and established itself as a 527 tax-exempt group. That way it could continue raising soft money from banks, drug companies, and energy companies. (A few years earlier the DGA had parted ways with the Democratic National Committee for the same reasons.)

Today, RGA's donor list [5] reads like a who's who of corporate titans: Koch Industries, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, AT&T, and Pfizer. The organization's largest donor in both the 2008 and 2010 elections was Perry Homes, the homebuilding empire run by Bob Perry, which plunked down $1.15 million in 2008 and $8 million in 2010.

But as the corporate money gushed in, the RGA ran afoul of the law. In 2008, a top official with the North Carolina state elections board testified that the RGA had illegally funneled contributions to its North Carolina PAC. (The elections board ultimately declined to pursue the matter.) Last October, a Vermont judge ruled [13] that the RGA violated state elections law when it ran ads supporting the Republican gubernatorial candidate without registering as a state PAC. (The RGA argued the spots were merely issue ads.)

��

In 2012, the RGA promises to be a force to be reckoned with. Led by chief [14] fundraiser Fred Malek [15], the finance co-chairman of John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, the RGA had by last fall raised $22 million (twice as much as the DGA) for the 2012 election cycle. Don't be surprised if that money starts turning up in odd places again, says Mike McCabe, who tracks money in state politics at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign: "It's a deliberate strategy to keep the public in the dark about who is really buying our elections."

Prezi presentation produced by Jaeah Lee [16]

Source URL: http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/republican-governors-association-perry-michigan

Links:

[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592361252289530.html

[2] http://motherjones.com/motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/top-donors-2012-election-romney-obama-gingrich

[3] http://motherjones.com/motherjones.com/category/secondary-tags/dark-money

[4] http://www.mcfn.org/press.php?prId=130

[5] http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail.php?ein=113655877

[6] http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/14987/Default.aspx

[7] http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail.php?ein=521304889

[8] http://www.rga.org/homepage/about/

[9] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newt/newtchron.html

[10] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62807.html

[11] http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/us/soft-money-ban-goes-into-effect-but-the-effect-is-uncertain.html

[12] http://projects.publicintegrity.org/527/report.aspx?aid=8

[13] http://www.atg.state.vt.us/news/court-finds-violations-of-vermonts-campaign-finance-law1.php

[14] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/magazine/does-anyone-have-a-grip-on-the-gop.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

[15] http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/09/sarah-palin-too-late-fred-malek-presidential-race-/1

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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1600&bih=775&q=related:www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl+sourcewatch+rick+snyder&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=Ok1RVMX6BrSHsQSK6IGoCA&ved=0CEAQHzAF" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1600&bih=775&q=related:www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl+sourcewatch+rick+snyder&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=Ok1RVMX6BrSHsQSK6IGoCA&ved=0CEAQHzAF" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1600&bih=775&q=related:www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl+sourcewatch+rick+snyder&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=Ok1RVMX6BrSHsQSK6IGoCA&ved=0CEAQHzAF" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1600&bih=775&q=related:www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl+sourcewatch+rick+snyder&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=Ok1RVMX6BrSHsQSK6IGoCA&ved=0CEAQHzAF" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">TUE MAR 08, 2011 AT 01:14 PM PST</a><h2 style="margin: 0px auto 4px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.1; font-weight: normal; width: 460px;"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1600&bih=775&q=related:www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl+sourcewatch+rick+snyder&tbo=1&sa=X&ei=Ok1RVMX6BrSHsQSK6IGoCA&ved=0CEAQHzAF" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><a id="titleHref" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; text-decoration: none;">Gov Rick Snyder Sellout? Prefabricated Corporate Michigan (Government) Courtesy of Koch & ALEC Excl.</a></h2><span style="margin: 8px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: block; text-indent: -9999px; overflow: hidden; float: left; height: 15px; width: 15px; background-image: url(http://images.dailykos.com/i/main/by.gif); background-color: transparent; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">by<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/Hector%20Solon" style="margin: 4px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; float: left;">Hector Solon</a><a class="type-user do-hotlist do-updateContent size-tiny off altTooltip ajaxON" alt="Follow this author" href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/08/953811/-Gov-Rick-Snyder-Sellout-Prefabricated-Corporate-Michigan-Government-Courtesy-of-Koch-ALEC-Excl#?friend_id=42584&is_stream=1" style="margin: 4px 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; text-indent: -9999px; overflow: hidden; height: 10px; width: 9px; float: left; background-image: url(" http="http" images.dailykos.com="images.dailykos.com" i="i" main="main" icon-favorite-10.gif="icon-favorite-10.gif" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" background-position="background-position" px="px" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat">FolloMichigan Governor Rick Snyder and the Snyder Team/Policy are about to become the first totally irrelevant 'Republican' Administration in Michigan history.  Armed and on the march with prewritten policy and legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other think-tanks, the Michigan Republican Majorities in both the Michigan Senate and Michigan House of Representatives are steamrolling a right wing agenda -Michigan "Government in a Box".</a></div><div class="article-body" style="margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 18.2px; overflow: hidden;"><div id="intro" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">
Using imported 'model legislation' Michigan Legislators have already put up a long list of bills built by special interest led teams outside of Michigan.  The goal: complete rewrite of Michigan's government and policies designed over decades by conservative, right wing / corporate interests to suit their agenda and profits, not the needs of Michigan citizens.  ANALYSIS: Will CEO Rick Snyder just be another rubber stamp signature on scripted ALEC Laws?  How many Smoking Guns have been found in Michigan Legislation so far?Rick Snyder's path to Nerd nihil ad rem; ALEC's ghostwriting of State laws supplanting State Legislatures; What is ALEC doing in Michigan? Plenty...</div><div id="body" class="article-body" style="margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; overflow: hidden;">Cross-posted to Blogging for Michigan.Recommended: REPORT: <a href="http://www.alecwatch.org/cpabrochure.pdf.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">ALEC and the Extreme Right Wing (CPA 2001)</a> REPORT: <a href="http://alecwatch.org/MagALEC.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">ALEC A Big Business Agenda (Defenders 2002)</a> REPORT: <a href="http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/xbcr/justice/ALEC_Report.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Ghostwriting the Law for Corporate America  (Justice.org 2010)</a> REPORT: <a href="http://alecwatch.org/11223344.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States: Untold Story Behind the ALEC (NRDC 2002)</a>SITES: <a href="http://alecwatch.org/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">ALECWatch.org</a> - <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">SourceWatch</a> - <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1497709" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Common Cause</a> - <a href="http://www.progressivestates.org/content/57/governing-the-nation-from-the-statehouses" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Progressive States</a>ARTICLES: <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2002/09/ghostwriting-law" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Ghostwriting the Law (Mother Jones 2002)</a> - <a href="http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=outing_alec" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Outing Alec: The most powerful lobby you've never heard of. (American Prospect 2002)</a> - <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/alec-meets-his-match" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">ALEC Meets is Match: State Activists Are Learning How To Fight Back Against The Right's Powerhouse (Nation 2003)</a> - <a href="http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/What-Makes-Alec-Smart.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">What makes ALEC so Smart (Governing 2003)</a> - <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/28259/?page=entire" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Creating a Right-Wing Nation, State by State (Alternet 2005)</a> - <a href="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/10/the-big-political-player-youve-never-heard-of/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Big Political Player you’ve never heard of (Fortune 2011)</a> - <a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/100380/the-power-brokers-behind-health-care-repeal-legislation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">The Power Brokers Behind Health Care Repeal Legislation (Wash. Indep. 2010)</a>- <a href="http://campusprogress.org/articles/conservative_corporate_advocacy_group_alec_behind_voter_disenfranchise/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">ALEC Behind Voter Disenfranchisement Efforts (Campus Progress 2011)</a><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/30/961742/-UPDATE-Michigan-State-Representative-Tom-McMillin-Denies-ALEC-Membership-at-Townhall-" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">UPDATE: Michigan State Representative Tom McMillin Denies ALEC Membership at Townhall</a> <a href="http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/24/open-records-attack-on-academic-freedom/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">UPDATE: WI Prof asked to hand over email by GOP</a> immediately following <a href="http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/15/alec/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">blog on ALEC</a> - Story <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/159489/wisconsin-gop-seeks-silence-distinguished-dissenter-mccarthyism-back" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">going viral</a>. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/01/962412/-UPDATED:-American-Legislative-Exchange-Council-(ALEC)-Releases-FULL-Donor-and-Membership-Lists" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">UPDATE: ALEC Issues Press Release "Setting the Record Straight - Much ado about nothing" - FULL Line by Line ANALYSIS</a>Let's begin... While watching the events in anti-collective bargaining Wisconsin unfold, the story of the influence of the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/150106/how_koch_industries_makes_billions_corrupting_government/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Koch Brothers</a> (Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch) and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Family_Foundations" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Koch Foundations</a>via their front groups, e.g. conservative think tank "Americans for Prosperity" came to national attention in a laser-like exposé.What got our ATTENTION was THIS: A report called "<a href="http://www.todaystmj4.com/features/iteam/116633848.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;">Buried in the Bill</a>" from Milwaukee TV Station WTMJ 4 on February 21, 2011: <blockquote style="margin: 1.2em 0px; padding: 20px; line-height: 1.4; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: rgb(226, 226, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(226, 226, 225); border-top-style: solid; background: rgb(246, 243, 236);">"Here's something you might not know. Buried inside Walker's 144-page budget repair bill are 10 lines. They don't directly deal with state workers, unions, or contracts. Still, controversy is already heating up over what it could mean for a couple of out-of-state billionaires." (Break) "… to save money, the Governor's controversial budget bill would allow the state to "sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without the solicitation of bids."</blockquote>Corruption in its purest form, but the questions were: 1) How did that happened? and 2) "<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/23/948811/-Is-Wisconsin-Style-GOP-Corruption-in-Michigan-Budget-Related-Legislation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">Is Wisconsin Style GOP Corruption and ALEC manipulation in Michigan Budget Related Legislation too?</a>"You bet, BIG TIME.There is no easy way to put this, and it’s a long story, but Michigan isn’t Wisconsin; Michigan is Way Worse off than Wisconsin.What we have found so far in Michigan… and just getting started:FOUR Smoking Guns have been quickly identified where ALEC and Corporate special interest influence are being used to right Michigan laws, THREE are suspected and being confirmed, and countless others inferred, including bills in the 35+ pieces of legislation currently being passed or debated concerning Governor Rick Snyder’s Executive Budget Proposal for the 2011-12 Michigan State Budget Supporting Legislation.State Rep. Tom McMillin #1 and #3 – SMOKED OUT (Twice) ALEC anti-Invasive Species Act Language – INVESTIGATING State Senator Tom Casperson #2 – SMOKED OUT State Senator Wayne Kuipers #4 – SMOKED OUTLong List on Budget Legislation #5-8, maybe 9? – INVESTIGATINGThis is not Reinventing, It’s Renting Michigan. See Details in the ISSUES and AREA of INTEREST Section below.Table of Contents (All things ALEC A to Z)</div></div></div></li><li class="g" style="margin: 0px 0px 23px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="s" style="max-width: 42em; line-height: 18px;">=</div></li><li class="g" style="margin: 0px 0px 23px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="67" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.occupy.com/article/pay-prey-how-us-governors-are-helping-outsource-public-services" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Pay to Prey: How U.S. Governors Are Helping Outsource ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 42em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">www.occupy.com/.../pay-prey-how-us-governors-are-helping-outsource...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b6" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="ab.tdd;keydown:ab.hbke;keypress:ab.mskpe" data-ved="0CEUQ7B0wBg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 8.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:ab.hdke;mouseover:ab.hdhne;mouseout:ab.hdhue" data-ved="0CEYQqR8wBg" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GF5N3x6cTW0J:www.occupy.com/article/pay-prey-how-us-governors-are-helping-outsource-public-services+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GF5N3x6cTW0J:www.occupy.com/article/pay-prey-how-us-governors-are-helping-outsource-public-services+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="f slp" style=""><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GF5N3x6cTW0J:www.occupy.com/article/pay-prey-how-us-governors-are-helping-outsource-public-services+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Oct 22, 2014 - This article originally appeared on SourceWatch ... Michigan Governor Snyder continues to stand behind failed food contractor Aramrak, who  ...</a></div></div></div></li><li class="g" style="margin: 0px 0px 23px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="73" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.democracy-tree.com/gov-snyder-nations-poster-child-privatization-wrong/" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Gov. Snyder - The Nation's Poster Child for Privatization ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 42em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f kv _SWb" style="height: 17px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="Rm" style="font-style: normal;">www.democracy-tree.com/gov-snyder-nations-poster-child-privatization...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 0px 3px; vertical-align: middle; -webkit-user-select: none;"><a class="_Fmb ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b7" aria-label="Result details" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="ab.tdd;keydown:ab.hbke;keypress:ab.mskpe" data-ved="0CEsQ7B0wBw" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; background-image: none;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 8.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:ab.hdke;mouseover:ab.hdhne;mouseout:ab.hdhue" data-ved="0CEwQqR8wBw" style="border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: none; -webkit-user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FFYag2yWVLAJ:www.democracy-tree.com/gov-snyder-nations-poster-child-privatization-wrong/+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FFYag2yWVLAJ:www.democracy-tree.com/gov-snyder-nations-poster-child-privatization-wrong/+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="f slp" style=""><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FFYag2yWVLAJ:www.democracy-tree.com/gov-snyder-nations-poster-child-privatization-wrong/+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" style="text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">6 days ago - In a recent Source Watch report from the Center for Media and Democracy, titled Pay to ... Rick Snyder was singled-out of the group of seven  ...</a></div></div></div></li><li class="g" style="margin: 0px 0px 23px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="79" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=22483.0;wap2" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">[NEWS]Watch Governor Snyder Live sign new MDNR ...</a></h3></div></li>

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