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COLUMN: Back Bernero

By Brad O'Donnell on October 30, 2010 6:00 am in Columns, Election 2010 / 11 comments

 

Virg Bernero has the plan and the experience to make Michigan work again.

Bernero has a No. 1 priority, and that is jobs. Jobs for the currently unemployed, and a job for you and I after college. Bernero has come up with incredibly innovative ideas on how to get businesses up and running, and most importantly, hiring again.

One idea Bernero has is a Michigan-owned state bank. It is no secret that the giant Wall Street banks have redlined Michigan business, because they think Michigan is doomed to failure.

A Michigan-owned bank would partner with community banks and credit unions to offer lines of credit to businesses, so that they can expand and hire more workers. Only one other state in America does this, North Dakota.

North Dakota currently has an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent; America as a whole has an unemployment rate of almost 10%. The results speak for themselves.

Another fantastic idea is Bernero’s “Make it in Michigan for free” proposal. The idea is simple: in targeted areas throughout Michigan, if a business chooses to redevelop an abandoned factory into an advanced manufacturing plant, they can do so without paying any taxes whatsoever, for up to 12 years. No state or local taxes of any kind. This idea is particularly exciting because it is fighting fire with fire: China has been doing this for 10 years, and obviously they have had monumental results.

Bernero also has a commitment to college and university funding. Bernero knows Michigan has a responsibility to young people, so he supports a restoration of the Michigan Promise Scholarship and college funding in general.

As far as Bernero is concerned, education funding is in itself economic development. He has controversially proposed a university tuition freeze, proving that education funding is a Bernero and a Michigan value. If families have to tighten their belts, universities should as well.

A question that will arise in a rational mind is, even if the gubernatorial candidates have ideas, how will they get them passed?

To that I answer, experience counts.

Rick Snyder says that being a millionaire CEO qualifies him to run the state of Michigan. The gaping hole in this argument is that we had another governor who had never served in the Michigan legislature: Jennifer Granholm. Governor Granholm herself has even admitted she was not ready to tackle Michigan’s hyper-partisan state legislature, and this lack of experience haunted her administration. The Michigan legislature eats people like Snyder for breakfast.

Bernero does not suffer from this lack of experience. He has proudly served as a state legislator as well as the mayor of Lansing. He has jumped into the trenches, wrestled with hard-headed negotiators, and he got things done. As governor, not only will he hold his own against the state legislature, but he will be the victor.

The choice could not be more clear. If you want watered-down George W. Bush policies, vote for Rick Snyder. If you want to move Michigan forward, vote Bernero.

 

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  • Michmediaperson

    If Michigan isn't working after 8 years of a Democrat Governor, Jennifer Granholm, then why would you want another Democrat????

    Kind of like everytime CMU hires a Big Ten assistant to coach football here, we lose!!!

    Every major paper in this state has endorsed Snyder.

    When you factor in the number of jobs lost in the Lansing-East Lansing, Bernaro has had a net LOSS of jobs, not a 6000 job gain.

    The reason North Dakota is doing well is because of its conservative attitude and they don't have urban cities and unions that drain their resources.

    When the Lansing and MSU paper aren't endorsing their hometown boy Bernero, then you know he doesn't deserve the job.

    No more Granholm Democrat wannabes, vote Rick Snyder!!!

  • Gwb

    I'm voting for Rick Snyder.

  • CMICHGRAD78

    GO VIRG!

  • Really?

    For the longest time I thought Snyder was running unopposed.

    Seriously you guys picked Bernero? Dems, you had no one else?

  • Jesus :)

    Are you nuts this guy, is a thief he stole so much money from Lansing.

  • Jacque McFrenchman

    This article was doing an ok job of describing Bernero and his proposed policies…. right up to the point where it starts attacking Snyder. It's too bad that the only way some people can justify their candidate is through the attempted humiliation of the opponent through “stretched truths”. Snyder didn't say that “being a millionaire CEO qualifies him to run the state of Michigan” and accusing him of such is pretty low.

    Also the logic behind comparing Snyder to Granholm for not having political background, and then flipping around to compare his policies to that of Bush's (a career politician) just doesn't make sense.

    The article supporting Snyder does not make any such attacks on Bernero and doing so aids in its credibility.

  • Joe M.

    As opposed to all those non-urban cities, michmedia?

  • Joe M.

    And by the way:

    Federal funding, dollars per person: (North Dakota 2008)

    Rural $13,572

    Urban $8,050

    How can you explain a $5,000 difference between urban and rural if the cities “drain their resources?” Give up? Easy. Rural areas are subsidizes because we subsidize the production of food (corn and soybeans and wheat, mainly). Whenever anyone talks about government handouts, they fail to consider some pretty significant welfare going into our farms.

    Michigan's per capita rural and urban? Rural: $7,967 Urban $8,533

    So we might conclude, if we're being honest, that, at least in part, the huge government subsidies that we pour into North Dakota are one of the reasons employment is so high. I think it's a little presumptious to argue, as the columnist does, that a state bank is the reason for great employment numbers, but I also find it totally dishonest to argue that cities and unions “drain resources.”

    http://www.ers.usda.gov/statefacts/ND.HTM

    http://www.ers.usda.gov/statefacts/MI.HTM

  • anonymous

    You're picking the male Granholm. Have fun with 18 percent state unemployment and even less jobs.

  • Richa4dj

    Just to inform you, the State can say to a business that they don't have to pay the state tax, but that does not free the business from local taxes unless the local government allows that.

    Bernero has No Shot.

  • sick of handouts

    A Michigan owned bank??? What do you think the Federal Reserve is for? Sure it would create jobs, but these jobs wouldn't produce any real wealth because they are not producing any new goods or services. That would be like hiring a 3rd party to supervise the supervisors of a company and having taxpayers pay the 3rd party.

    We could all start by ending frivolousness government handouts…..like bridgecards used by college kids who would rather spend their cash on booze than on groceries and unemployment checks to people who would rather take free money than find a job……