Heads are being scratched all over this town as folks wonder why in the heck the Senate GOP leader did this?

   After all he is on the governor's team and the governor wants this one real bad but there was Sen. Randy Richardville setting up a self-imposed and artificial perquisite for building that second span between Detroit and Windsor.

    The Monroe Republican contends if he can not get 14 GOP votes for the bridge, he will not allow a vote on it which is just a polite way of saying, the thing is dead.

    Asked about all this, Richardville says the senate is a co-equal partner with the executive branch.  Yeah, so what?

    Well turns out Mr. R. is getting some push back from many of his caucus members who are not ready to jump through this Snyder hoop by the end of this month or the end of the year for that matter.

    "Hell no," lamented one West Michigan GOP senator when asked about backing his governor.

    Richardville may be the gov's senate lieutenant, but he is beholden to his members first.

    This issue has produced some angst for R.R.  He was given the "honor" of introducing the bill, but there was a some hemming and hawing behind the scenes about the honor of it all.  Eventually he did intro it but then headed to Mackinac Island to announce to the media his 14 vote requirement.

    The governor was asked about this move and, per usual, he put on his smiley face and noted that he had a "good working relationship with the Majority leader."

     So good that Richardville did some free-lancing without the governors's blessing and now the governor's uphill battle to scramble enough votes  to build the bridge..well let's just say Mr. Richardville has made the climb a little steeper.