Local political party chairs watch Snyder's speech at TV6
LANSING -- Rick Snyder walked into a room of thunderous applause Wednesday evening, making it clear--both parties are ready for change, and the new governor is hastily jumping in to implement it.
Step one: the creation of a Website that sets goals and gauges the government's progress to achieve them--the Michigan Dashboard.
"We will measure and measure and measure, and that is how we will succeed," said Snyder.
One of the main goals set by Snyder in his address was the creation of jobs, which he hopes to achieve by setting a two-year budget; a budget that will eliminate the Michigan business tax, replacing it with a six percent corporate income tax.
"Having a two-year budget will force tough decisions," Snyder said. "We will not play kick the can down the road to the next year."
The Marquette County Republican Party chair, Dan Adamini, seemed impressed.
"Just the effort to really reform government, to make it more efficient and more accountable," said Adamini.
Democratic Party chair, Ben Bohnsack, was also impressed to see Snyder bridge party lines, but remains cautious.
"It was a lot of inspiration and motivation, and we have yet to see what that delivers," said Bohnsack.
Snyder showed his support for the U.P. by recommending $25 million be set aside to keep the "Pure Michigan" tourism campaign alive.
Still, the Democratic and Republican chairs I spoke with agreed; they say they wish he was more specific.
"I personally would have liked to have heard a little more detail," Adamini said.
"The more specific he gets, the more he's going to confront opposition, even from his own friends," Bohnsack said.
Both party chairs seemed to be inspired by Snyder's effort to bridge party lines. They hope to meet more with each other in the near future.