I realize we hit the Governor on policy pretty hard here at RightMichigan.com.
There is no shortage of material to do so with, and the concerns we address are open and frank. We agreed that the Michigan Business Tax was a job killer, and it was handled with the legislature and governor eliminating it with a restructuring. The restructuring, perhaps not utilizing sufficient cost savings that would have prevented a tax increase on seniors however has made for some interesting conversation.
Sometimes high strung, but still interesting.
At the very least, if anyone here was communicating (at least if it were me) directly with the governor on policy, and providing a communications forum for a little back and forth, we would at least be paying attention. Agree with him or not, when you have the governor's ear, you talk to it.
Unless perhaps, you are Wayne Schmidt?
A report from last night's broadcast town hall from an attendee demonstrates the level of enthusiasm the 104th district rep has for Mr Snyder's attention:
"An aide from the governor's office was there who welcomed us and gave us cards to fill out for questions to ask the governor.
...
The room was set up so you could see the governor on the screen above the podium, but there were other screens so you could see each of the audiences at the other sites around Michigan including us.
Wayne sat in the very last row at our meeting site, where he was called on by the governor, 3 times, to ask a question by one of our audience members. What Wayne forgot (or didn't think about) is that during the entire meeting he was on camera and his actions were being watched.
While he sat there he was either talking to someone next to him or he was on his cell phone, texting or reading messages and not paying attention to the governor. I noticed the representatives in the other districts were sitting in the front rows and paying complete attention!
The meeting lasted a little over an hour. I timed each of the 12 questions. At the end the governor said something like (I'll paraphrase)..... "We'll take the last question from Wayne Schmidt in Traverse City..... (dead silence) Wayne? (dead silence)... Wayne? (dead silence)...." People in our audience were turning around looking for Wayne and he was nowhere to be found. The guy who had been sitting next to Wayne grabbed a question off the stack to ask the governor. Then the governor said something like "Wayne, your voice has suddenly changed and gotten lower."
The governor answered the question and later I saw Wayne walk back in the room and the guy who was seated next to him told him he asked the question on his behalf. "
The reporter then suggests:
"Maybe the governor's office should be watching the video from this event to see how our Representative in TC can't sit still for one hour without getting up or playing with his toys. No wonder he doesn't know what is going on with his job."
And there are still (only a few) folks up here wonder why I am running?
Effectiveness in leadership comes from a multitude of talents.
Including a talent for listening. Additionally, its not a bad idea to have and understanding of your surroundings, and what might happen next.
But opportunity wasted, be it a simple question to demonstrate to your constituents that you actually care, or something more aggressive like Right-To-Work reform when you have all the cards, is a downright dirty shame.
