Tag: NGO (page 2)

Mr. Snyder acknowledged that the new bridge remains a tough sell in Michigan, where relatively few people understand the vital role the bridge plays in getting U.S. exports to markets in Canada and beyond. The project was first proposed more than five years ago.

The perception in many parts of the state is that the project is a political payoff for the heavily Democratic Detroit area, offering jobs and construction contracts to an economically depressed part of the state.

"This is a very tough project," said Mr. Snyder, who is in Ottawa to speak at a cross-border innovation conference organized by the U.S. embassy and Canada 2020. "I wouldn't underestimate the challenges. But we will get this to happen."

He blamed "special interest politics" for poisoning the debate on the U.S. side.

Certainly that has nothing to do with the $500 million gesture that you begged the Canadians for or your PAC.

"I understand why they're spending the money," he said of the Morouns. "It's economic self-interest. The troubling part is the lack of accuracy in what they represent."

Well, that inaccuracy has always been on the governments behalf, GoverNerd.  It's well documented here.  Simply hit any of the 'Tags'.

Minutes earlier, a substitute bill supported by Democrats, which provided community benefits for the Delray area of southwest Detroit, where the bridge would be located, was voted down, 5-2, on a party-line vote.

On the main bill, Sens. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, and Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, were the only "yes" votes, with Sens. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake Township, Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, and Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek, voting "no."

The vote is also a blow to Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe (YES!), who backs the bridge and pledged to secure the votes to get the bridge bill out of committee.

Thank you to all the No votes that killed this unwanted boondoggle.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is meeting with business representatives in Shanghai today on the third day of his trade mission to China.

Snyder and a delegation of government, university and business officials, who are on an eight-day Asian trade trip with stops in Japan, China and South Korea, flew to Shanghai from Beijing, Snyder spokeswoman Geralyn Lasher said Wednesday in a telephone interview from China.

What?  No Jinhua City?!?!

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has ended months of neutrality and come out in favor of a new public bridge to Canada backed by Gov. Rick Snyder, chamber President and CEO Rich Studley said Wednesday.

Yessiree.  From the same fine folks at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce that brought you the endorsement of SEIU payola Jason Allen and Randy Richardville, and the same folks that endorsed the five entrenched incumbents on the Wall of Shame that just gave Obama another trillion dollars to campaign with on the left side of the page.

Michigan Democrats said Monday they want to continue specifically targeted tax incentives for advanced battery manufacturers, putting them at odds with Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and GOP lawmakers who control the Legislature.

The industry-specific tax credits are among those scheduled to be phased out under tax policy changes Snyder has signed into law. It's part of a strategy to lower overall business taxes and leave more flexibility for economic development incentives beginning with the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

Democrats say that's a mistake when it comes to the advanced vehicle battery business, which has begun growing in Michigan with the help of federal grants and state incentives. The Democratic plan also would include tax credits for buying electric vehicles and charging stations.

This is at odds with Governor Snyder?  I doubt it with him sitting at 10.9% unemployment and a dwindling labor force that his bassackward 'reinvention' scheme of 'too divisive' Willy Milquetoast leadership has yielded.  Besides, Snyder and his cronies from Ann Arbor SPARK are going on a junket to commie China for a reason.

Gov. Rick Snyder is forming a political action committee called "One Tough Nerd," stirring speculation he needs more financial muscle to win approval of his controversial bridge plan.

Paperwork to form the "One Tough Nerd" committee was recently filed with the Michigan Secretary of State. Snyder's press secretary, Sara Wurfel, confirmed Thursday the PAC is Snyder's.

...

Both of Snyder's predecessors, Democrat Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican Gov. John Engler, had similar committees they used for political fund-raising and expenditures not directly related to their election campaigns. Such entities are commonly known as "leadership PACs," and governors typically use them to give financial support to the campaigns of state lawmakers and other government officials or candidates.

But unlike Granholm or Engler, Snyder refused to accept PAC donations during his campaign for governor in 2010. Corporations and lobbying groups often form PACs, and Snyder said during the campaign he refused to accept PAC money to show that he would not be beholden to special interests.

Read the rest here

Gov. Rick Snyder pledged Tuesday that a new government-sponsored bridge to Canada would include multiple benefits for the residents of the hard-hit Delray district in southwest Detroit.

Marked by poverty, dumped trash, numerous vacant lots and boarded-up buildings, Delray is the district where the Snyder-backed New International Trade Crossing bridge would land on the Detroit side. Community leaders led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat who represents the district in Lansing, accompanied Snyder Tuesday afternoon on a bus tour of Delray and lobbied him for a community-benefits agreement as part of the NITC project.

Snyder promised that there would be such a benefits package, although there were no specifics about what it might include.