Candidate for governor proposes ‘Michigan 3.0’

By Josh Holderbaum
Western Herald

A candidate for governor wants to make government more customer friendly, reform regulations and help young people find work in the state.
Gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder held a town hall meeting Monday evening at  Western Michigan University’s Fetzer Center.
“We’re at a defining moment,” Snyder said.
“We’re 50 out of 50. We ran out of states is the only reason we stopped there. If we elect another career politician, who uses the usual fixes, we might move up to 45 or 48. We’ve lowered the bar on government. Let’s raise it back up.”
Snyder, a Battle Creek native, currently works as the CEO of the startup investment firm Ardesta and formerly headed the computer company Gateway. He has also campaigned focusing on using his business experience for improving the state.
According to a recent Grand Rapids Press poll, 18 percent of voters would cast their ballot for Snyder, following Rep. Pete Hoekstra with 28 percent.
“Having a vision means going from point A to point B and take tangible, accountable steps towards it,” Snyder said. “What does point B look like? I call it Michigan 3.0.”
The 3.0 comes from Michigan’s two past eras – in the 1800s with the fur trade and in the 1900s with the industrial age, what Snyder called a bipolar period toward the end.
“We got complacent, we went into maintenance mode,” Snyder said. “We’ve been in a period of decline for the past 50 years, and the last seven or eight we’ve been going off the cliff.”
To make it to Michigan 3.0, the state needs to focus on three main pillars, Snyder said.
“First is economic – we need to have a globally diverse economy in this state,” Snyder said.
“Second is quality of life. That includes natural resources, where I’ll work harder to protect and market things in Michigan, and restoring central cities. And finally it’s environment. I want Michigan to be a place where young people not only want to stay, but can stay.”
Snyder wants to replace the single business tax with a flat rate corporate income tax of 6 percent in addition to regulatory reform to create a customer service government, Snyder said.
“The role of government is not to create jobs but to create an environment where jobs flourish,” Snyder said.
Snyder also took questions from the crowd, including questions about how deep his tax cuts would be.
“We can’t cut to prosperity,” Snyder said. “I’m not for the slash-and-burn model. I’d rather be able to show that tax dollars were used for a good buying choice.”
Other questions dealt with Snyder’s view on making Michigan a right-to-work state.
Right-to-work laws make it illegal for businesses to offer contracts that only employ members of a union.
“Right-to-work is not on my agenda right now,” Snyder said.
“It’s a very divisive issue, and there are issues of public employee compensation on the table, but those have nothing to do with unions.”
Attendees also asked about how Snyder could get the legislature on board.
“Plan A is that I call all 158 [legislators] together and ask them, ‘Tell me about the successes of you or your predecessor in the last 10 years,’” Snyder said.
“That’ll be a short conversation. Then I’ll tell them, ‘You’ve been elected for two or four years. Why are you here? I’m not here for the credit. You can have the credit, so here’s what we’re going to do.’ And I only need 51 [percent] in each house.”
“Plan B is that I find the most egregious special interest deals, go to that legislator and say, ‘You name the town hall location, invite statewide press and we’ll stand together, face to face, and say what our plan is for the state. So I think they’ll go for plan A.”

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Posted by kleonard on Mar 10 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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