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D's Not Powerless
Not so fast on the summarily dismissing the influence of legislative
democrats on the process in the new year with the GOP in control of
everything.
The easy and yet misguided thing to do is to conclude they have
"virtually no power" as one observer noted the other day. On the
surface it does make sense: House Democrats no longer control that
body and have 43 instead of 67 votes. Things are even gloomier over in
the senate where the Democrats are down to an even dozen, not even a
baker's dozen. They have 12 lousy votes and can do nothing to
influence what the Republicans want to do other than hope the R's will
at least talk to them before using their 26 votes to do whatever they
darn well please.
But and there is always a "but" when it comes to the political game.
The new governor has advised that he wants Democrats to vote for
some of his programs and if that's so, Rick Snyder will have to give
them some reason to do so which in turn means he will have to
compromise and change some of his suggestions to meet their wishes.
Let him try that and see what the Republicans begin to mutter
either under their breath or in front of the cameras: "Hey, we have the
votes. Why do we need the Democrats? Let them go to (pick a location.)"
Then what does the bi-partisan governor do if segments of his own
party leave him high and dry?
That's where the Democrats suddenly become relevant.
There are a whole host of folks in this town that predict, the more
moderate appearing governor-elect will actually "need" Democratic votes
to implement some of his policies including budget cuts.
Let's take the cities in general and the City of Detroit
specifically.
"I want to be a partner to Detroit," Mr. Snyder told audiences all
over
the state, including citizens who live beyond 8 Mile Road.
If being a partner includes shuffling some state tax dollars
inside of 8 Mile Road, how many out state GOPer's will sign up for
that? You can count them on no fingers.
Now all of a sudden those 43 House and 12 Senate Democrats are
relevant and anything but "virtually" powerless. And that could apply
to other issues as well..at least the D's hope so.
democrats on the process in the new year with the GOP in control of
everything.
The easy and yet misguided thing to do is to conclude they have
"virtually no power" as one observer noted the other day. On the
surface it does make sense: House Democrats no longer control that
body and have 43 instead of 67 votes. Things are even gloomier over in
the senate where the Democrats are down to an even dozen, not even a
baker's dozen. They have 12 lousy votes and can do nothing to
influence what the Republicans want to do other than hope the R's will
at least talk to them before using their 26 votes to do whatever they
darn well please.
But and there is always a "but" when it comes to the political game.
The new governor has advised that he wants Democrats to vote for
some of his programs and if that's so, Rick Snyder will have to give
them some reason to do so which in turn means he will have to
compromise and change some of his suggestions to meet their wishes.
Let him try that and see what the Republicans begin to mutter
either under their breath or in front of the cameras: "Hey, we have the
votes. Why do we need the Democrats? Let them go to (pick a location.)"
Then what does the bi-partisan governor do if segments of his own
party leave him high and dry?
That's where the Democrats suddenly become relevant.
There are a whole host of folks in this town that predict, the more
moderate appearing governor-elect will actually "need" Democratic votes
to implement some of his policies including budget cuts.
Let's take the cities in general and the City of Detroit
specifically.
"I want to be a partner to Detroit," Mr. Snyder told audiences all
over
the state, including citizens who live beyond 8 Mile Road.
If being a partner includes shuffling some state tax dollars
inside of 8 Mile Road, how many out state GOPer's will sign up for
that? You can count them on no fingers.
Now all of a sudden those 43 House and 12 Senate Democrats are
relevant and anything but "virtually" powerless. And that could apply
to other issues as well..at least the D's hope so.
posted by Tim Skubick at
3:20 AM
3 Comments:
Good luck to the new gov. If any of his policies include a tax hike, garnering enough votes from his own party, especially with a number of tea party-backed GOPers now in both chambers, will be near impossible.
And since the GOP has enough votes to do anything, a smart Dem minority leader would make the GOP own any tax hike or any unpopular vote. Why give them any political cover?
The GOP wanted all of the seats they got and more. They have the governor's office, SoS, AG, Supreme Court, the state house, and the senate and numerous other county commissions, now.
Thanks to Citizen's United, their chamber of commerce buddies bought up the whole map, this time around. If they want to get stuff done, let them. Let them own their own craziness, let them be responsible for themselves for once in their lives.
12 votes in the Senate, eh? Whitmer could just go on vacation for the next two years as far as I'm concerned. The Dems supposedly ran the state economy into the ground, right?
This GOP will eat itself alive. Snyder got a primary challenge the day he won the 2010 Republican primary. Enjoy the next two years, folks.
This is where the far-right rhetoric meets reality, folks. Be my guest! Do all those brave hack-and-whack cuts you talked about!
I dare you.
Your reign in Lansing will be very very short.
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