Politics

Finley: Why Gov. Rick Snyder is Bothering to Campaign in Detroit

August 24, 2014, 9:32 AM

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Gov. Rick Snyder

It's never been a secret that the city of Detroit is a stronghold for Democrats.

But Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley writes about Gov. Rick Snyder's push to get votes in the city at a time when the governor has devoted a fair amount of time to Detroit and pushed through the emergency manager.

He writes:

A Republican governor hunting for votes in Detroit might as well wear a blindfold. The city is so loyally Democratic that 60 percent of voters just walk into the booth, yank the donkey’s tail and walk out.

But there was Rick Snyder Thursday, on Jefferson Ave., opening a campaign office in a city that gave him less than 6 percent of its ballots in 2010. Why bother?

“Because they’re citizens of Michigan,” the governor says. “I campaigned in Detroit in the Republican primary in 2009, even though a lot of people told me I was crazy.”

He goes on to write:

If all politics are local, Snyder can make a good case for Detroit votes. No governor in modern history, Republican or Democrat, has devoted more time to Detroit. Snyder estimates Detroit occupies 20 percent of his working hours. He’s in the city every week.

His fingerprints are everywhere in Detroit.

Finely talks about improvements in the city like more burning streetlights and an improved police department and gives Snyder the credit. 

Is Finley being a little too charitable to give Snyder blanket credit?  Voters may decide that.

Finley writes how Snyder personally made sure Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr succeeded and helped push through a bailout package through the Republican controlled state legislature,  which " was a major feat."

Finley also notes that Snyder has gotten more credit for his work in Detroit in the burbs than in the city itself.

He writes that in polling last spring, suburbanites voters overwhelmingly approved of the job Snyder was doing in Detroit. In Detroit, he writes, only 20 percent of city voters felt the same way.


Read more:  The Detroit News


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