Points off for the new governor because he waited over two months
to meet privately with the four legislative leaders.
Points on for the new governor for continuing to cultivate trust by
inviting lawmakers to lunch.
Building trust in the political game is almost as important as
counting votes, because you can't do the later without the former and
this governor is wise enough to have figured that out.
But why he waited almost six weeks to hold his first face to face
with the four leaders is a mystery and totally out of character.
He finally had the senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer and
her House counterpart Rich Hammel in the same room with GOP Speaker
Bolger and Senate GOP Leader Richardville. (He has been meeting with
the two GOP guys on numerous occasions.)
The governor wanted the Democrats to give him a head count on
support for the second span between Detroit and Windsor. He will
apparently need D support on this one because the bridge is a tough
sell among some R's who think the private sector should do everything.
Maybe the gov should asked the private sector to find him some votes?
Selling the R's on his agenda was also on the menu the other day
when he crunched on potato chips and sandwiches with 11 GOP senators,
many of whom are not on board with the governor's pension tax.
The almost 90 minute session was described as a "getting to know
you" type affair where no head counts or arm-twisting occurred.
"A frank exchange," is the way of of the invitees put it which is
code for, we did not agree on everything from the bridge to the budget.
But the only way to forge an agreement is to build that trust and
that can only be done in real time…one meeting at a time.