Four years ago Rick Snyder talked a lot about how things would run if elected governor. Unfortunately for his re-election campaign in most cases the governor failed to keep his word.
For example during the gubernatorial debates when asked about taxing pensions and Rick Snyder's response was "That's not how you address tax reform" yet that is precisely what he did to pay for his 83% tax cut for Michigan businesses.
On the campaign trail when asked about government incentives for business the governor stated “As a practical matter, my view is government shouldn’t be picking winners and losers because those incentives aren’t free”. “Basically, they come on the backs of other people having to make up those tax differentials" yet in one of his many press releases touting his work he mentions 14 different companies he awarded taxpayer funded incentives to, also known as hand picked winners.
In a later portion of the debate the governor spoke about his opinion on increasing the tax on gas. His answer to the question was "I don't support an increase in the gas tax" yet that is exactly what he proposed to improve Michigan roads.
When discussing education Rick Snyder said "It's too much about spending money when you go to Lansing. All they talk about in Lansing is this funding level or that funding level" yet now that he is back on the campaign trail he stated "I'm proud to say, in the last three years we've increased educational spending at the state level for K-12 each and every year to the point where we've invested $660 more per student than there was previously before I took office." Of course even his gasconade turned out to be more political deception.
While trying to convince Michigan residents that his controversial flip flop on right to work legislation was good Rick Snyder said people should have the "freedom to choose" yet when voters repealed the Emergency Manger law he worked with the legislature to circumnavigate the peoples choice.
The governor has shown over and over again that his word is worth very little so it comes as no surprise that when it comes to job creation, the one thing Rick Snyder hung his hat on four years ago and is making a core aspect of his re-election campaign, the numbers show his results don't match his rhetoric.
Before the 2010 elections the Snyder campaign stated that "He's the only businessman running so he's the only one that even knows what he's doing." To temper any expectations Rick Snyder also made a point to say "Government doesn't create jobs. Government creates an environment where jobs can flourish." but the question is what is the result of the environment that the governor created.
There are more jobs now in Michigan then when Rick Snyder took office however there are more jobs everywhere. All Michigan has done is kept pace with the rest of the nation. After all of his work Forbes still ranks Michigan as the 47th best state to do business. One doubts that Rick Snyder's definition of success for Michigan was being below average.
Even though data shows a questionable impact the Governor stated that his tax cuts would create jobs. How many jobs? "Can we quantify all the numbers? No. But we know it's going to happen."
Well when you actually do quantify the numbers their faith in tax cuts seems to be misplaced. Before he was elected the Michigan was in the top 3 states for job growth. Nearly three years later and Michigan has slipped to 15th in job growth.
Of course most of the jobs that have been created in Michigan over the past few years are a result of increased automotive sales. These jobs have little to nothing to do with Rick Snyder's environment. As a matter of fact when Ford executive Bill Ford Jr. was asked about his companies resurgence he credited labor unions for saving the company but gave no mention of Rick Snyder.
And while the Republicans and Rick Snyder made unions out to be the reason for poor jobs numbers other reports show seven of the nine states with zero or negative growth rates are right-to-work states, while three of the top five highest growth states are pro-union states.
The governor also stated "Michigan cannot be a great state until Detroit is on the path to being a great city" yet of the 10 major cities that were worst hit by the recession the recovery of Detroit under Rick Snyder's watch has only outpaced that of two other cities. If Detroit is supposed to be the corner stone if Michigan's resurgence the fact that so few jobs have been created has to be considered a failure of the Snyder administration.
Data also shows former governor Jim Blanchard oversaw a quicker recovery from a worse recession than Rick Snyder yet that hasn't stopped the governor from boastfully calling himself the "comeback kid".
So far in this election cycle Rick Snyder and his team of experts have proven to be very good at creating catchy nicknames and misrepresenting data to make it appear the governor has had a positive impact. His own words also show that the governor is very accomplished at completely contradicting himself. Unfortunately for Michigan residents the real data shows that the position Rick Snyder eventually settles on has routinely been the wrong one.
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