by
Pam Williams
Political commercials can often be a little misleading. Both Democrats and Republican are guilty of that this campaign season.
And omissions can often be as bad as lies or half-truths.
One of the latest ads for Gov. Rick Snyder is guilty of omissions.
The ad features a retired school teacher Pam Williams, "union member" and all, defending Snyder, saying he's added education money to the budget, not reduced it as opponent Mark Schauer claims. Frankly, it's a confusing issue because Snyder has added money, but there's less of it being spent in the classrooms.
Williams, in the commercial, comes off as just an educator who cares about kids. No one can take that away from her. She is a retired teacher and administrator from Romeo Community Schools in Macomb County.
She says in the ad: "Despite what the union bosses say, the Detroit Free Press says that Rick had increased education funds every year, investing a billion dollars more in our kids since taking office. I was a teacher because I care about Michigan's children. So does Rick Snyder."
The commercial fails to mention that Williams is the vice chair of the Oakland County Republican Party. And she worked as an educator before Snyder became governor, according to Jeff Salisbury on the website, Town Broadcast.
Would that have hurt her credibility with independents and Democrats if her leadership role in the local Republican party had been disclosed in the TV commercial?
For some, at least, most definitely. Clearly, the political operatives didn't want to include that. It would have changed the perception of her as a non-partisan teacher who only cares about what's good for the children. She obviously cares, too, what's good for the Republican party.
Unfortunately, we've bombarded with these commercials from both sides of the aisle and it's hard to tell what's truthful, and just as hard to figure out who the people are who are delivering the message.
P.S.
For those still trying to figure out who is telling the truth about cuts in the education, the Detroit Free Press did a good job of breaking it down after the debate on Sunday between Snyder and Schauer.
Claim: "It is true that Rick (Snyder) cut a billion from public schools," Mark Schauer.
Rebuttal: Did you cut $1 billion from schools? "Of course not," Gov. Rick Snyder.
Free Press analysis: State funding for K-12 schools has increased by $723 million under Snyder, from $10.7 billion in fiscal year 2011 — the last budget of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm — to $11.4 billion in fiscal year 2014.
Despite that, most school districts have less money for the classroom today than when Granholm left office because federal stimulus funds dried up, the state's per-pupil foundation grant has been cut, enrollment has dropped for many districts, and the $505 million extra that the state has pumped into school districts to help them pay their retirement costs still fell short of the spiraling retirement bills the districts had to pay.
