If at first you don't succeed, move the bridge to another committee.

      The governor continues to be stymied in his efforts to pry loose from a senate committee his blueprint to build a second span between Motown and Windsor.  What makes it a tad frustrating is that members of his own party are stiffing him and refusing to move the bill to the floor.

      Enter the senate GOP leader Randy Richardville to the rescue.  Look for him next week to quietly remove the measure from the senate Economic Development committee and redirect it to the senate committee that he chairs.  And it appears he has enough yes votes on that panel to get this stalled bridge to the senate floor.

      All this is kosher and Richardville has the authority to do it, but this does not mean they will be hauling in the steal beams to build this thing anytime soon.

      That's because the governor and Mr. Richardville have the same problem on the floor i.e. not enough GOP votes to pass it.  Depending on who is counting, there could be as little as three yes votes or upwards of eight or so, but certainly not the required twenty. 

      It's hard to get your arms around the total because some squeamish GOP senators don't want to declare their support for fear that would trigger those nasty TV commercials from the Ambassador Bridge folks.  They are spending mucho to block the competiting second span.

      Mr. Richardville was reminded the other day that he doesn't have the votes despite his prediction two weeks ago that he did.

      He noted it's been nine months since Gov. Rick Snyder embraced the bridge.  It was last January when the snow was flying.

      It's not snowing yet, but there's a good chance it may be by the time they get around to passing this thing…if they can.