Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has a lot of political capital riding on Detroit, suggests Politico, the Washington-based publication on national politics.
In an article entitled: "The Nerd Who's Trying to Save Detroit," author Anna Clark, a Detroit writer, talks about Snyder's self-branding as "one tough nerd" and his accomplishments. (Of course, some folks don't see all his accomplishments as good things.). The subhead of the story reads: "Rick Snyder is betting his legacy on rescuing the Motor City. It's so crazy it just might work.
Nonetheless, Clark writes:
After taking office in January 2011, Snyder put his head down and got to work. He was decidedly unorthodox: signing a bill raising the minimum wage one day, cracking down on unions the next; slashing benefits for same-sex partners while welcoming President Obama’s health-care law. Instead of fulminating against immigrants like many others in his party, he called for special visas to lure them to Michigan. And he did all of this without an ounce of charisma or rhetorical flourish.
But she notes, most importantly:
"It’s Detroit that will be the governor’s greatest legacy."
She writes:
"It was after all Snyder who, in 2013, set in motion the chain events leading to the appointment of Detroit’s emergency manager and the filing of Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. This summer, while the city’s bankruptcy trial was still chugging toward the finish line, he signed two bills into law that approve spending $195 million as the state’s contribution to the 'grand bargain,' an $816 million package intended to protect the Detroit Institute of Arts from creditors and to minimize pension cuts for retirees. Philanthropists, automakers and unions are among the other institutions contributing to a deal that took an uncommon amount to cross-sector collaboration to develop."
-- Allan Lengel
