Politics

Snyder's Next Job Goal May Be Beyond Reach, Lansing Editor Susan J. Demas Believes

December 17, 2018, 2:07 PM

Harsh reality can block the best-laid plans of self-made men. 

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Rick Snyder, job-hunter.
[Photo from North American International Auto Show]

Rick Snyder now may confront that late in his career, a longtime Michigan politics writer suggests.

"Snyder’s plan [after two terms as governor] was always academia," Susan J. Demas writes at Michigan Advance, a two-week-old news site where she's editor-in-chief and the main columnist.

He was a teaching assistant at U of M and he told me in 2010 that returning to the classroom would be an ideal post-politics career. During his first year as governor, Snyder was tapped to give his alma mater’s commencement speech, which clearly tickled him (despite some student protests).

But given Snyder’s tarnished tenure over Flint and his status as the eighth-least-popular governor in the nation, he may find his college employment options far more limited than he once anticipated.  

Demas, based in Lansing, sees current legislative dramas there as pivotal not only for Michigan overall, but also for the Republican governor's future employment. Her Monday headline: Snyder’s next act hinges on his Lame Duck legacy.

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Susan J. Demas: "Will [he] sign off on the Republicans’ reactionary agenda?"

The GOP-controlled Legislature is weighing myriad legislative gifts to corporate lobbyists and power-grab bills before Democrats assume all top statewide office on Jan. 1.

The million-dollar question is if Snyder will sign off on the Republicans’ reactionary agenda. The national media have certainly been mesmerized by this mystery. . . .

So far in Lame Duck, Snyder has stuck to his pattern of breaking progressives’ hearts by signing measures shoring up Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and gutting minimum wage and paid sick leave ballot initiatives.

The biggest test of Snyder’s legacy is if he acquiesces on legislation that seizes power from incoming Democrats, presuming it makes it to his desk. Republicans have bills allowing the Legislature to do an end-run around Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General-elect Dana Nessel by intervening in lawsuits. There’s also legislation stripping campaign finance oversight from Secretary of State-elect Jocelyn Benson.

Stay tuned for holiday season developoments. "In the next few weeks, people in Michigan — and across the country — will eagerly watch if [Snyder] is capable of making the right" decisions, Demas concludes.

-- Alan Stamm


Read more:  Michigan Advance


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