Gov. Rick Snyder should be ashamed of himself.
For nearly two years, he steadfastly denied that attempting to kill unions in Michigan with "Right to Work" legislation was on his agenda.
Michigan Gov.-Elect Rick Snyder smiles during an interview in his transition office in the Michigan Historical Museum Tuesday Dec. 21, 2010 in Lansing, Mich.
In a single day last week, he did far more than flip-flop on RTW. Rick Snyder undid the entire premise of his governorship: government transparency, data-driven decisions and bipartisan cooperation.
No, governor, you don't get to have it both ways anymore after you unfurl these words at a Thursday press conference:
"I'm asking that we pass an act that gives workers freedom in the workplace. When it arrives on my desk, I will sign it."
You asked for it. You own it. It's yours. And all that comes with it.
This is legislation that puts Michigan in the company of the poorest states in the country -- Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas -- where workers undeniably make less than those in non-Right to Work states.
"Unions are about dignity ... about giving you a life worth living where you don't have to worry about where your next meal is coming," is how Democratic consultant Joe DiSano put it on the radio Friday morning.
What the GOP is calling "Freedom to Work" also flouts the basic tenet of conservatism: personal responsibility. It gives the green light to union members not to pay dues for services they receive, like help with grievances against their boss or collective bargaining to win them higher pay and benefits. Getting something for nothing isn't freedom. That sounds like the welfare queens Republicans are always going on about.
If business groups didn't pay dues, could they still get all the benefits of joining the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which helped careen RTW through the Legislature? Yeah, didn't think so.
But it's not just what our self-proclaimed "One Tough Nerd" and Republicans decided to do on RTW that's deeply troubling. It's how they did it.
The speed in which Republicans jammed through the most controversial issue in Michigan was stunning. Indeed, it caught most of the national and even state media off-guard.
Snyder's press conference was at 11 a.m. Thursday. Before 3:15 p.m., RTW bills had been taken up on the House and Senate floors -- which means the public never had a time to hear about the legislation and give testimony during the committee process, as they can on the budget, tax bills or virtually any other issue.
But the attempt to shut people out of the process took an even more literal turn. Around 12:30 p.m., the state police locked the Capitol down after eight people rushed the Senate chamber (tough nerds, apparently, need lots of police protection). Reporters, myself included, were even barred from being able to report on what your elected leaders were doing.
It took a court order to open the Capitol up by 4 p.m. so people could enjoy their freedom to assemble (it took me calling in favors to gain entry before then so I could practice my own rights under the First Amendment).
Before 5 p.m., RTW passed the House. Before 8 p.m., the bills passed the Senate. On Tuesday, all the House has to do is give its OK to the Senate bills and they'll shoot to Snyder's desk.
Allow me to state the obvious: This is not government transparency and accountability.
And please don't tell me that spouting some half-baked talking points during a press conference on Indiana's questionable prosperity after passing RTW this year constitutes Snyder's vaunted ideal of a data-driven discussion.
If that's what the Nerd on High really wanted, he would have insisted on public hearings, where the data could have flowed like fine wine, as could public discourse.
Why didn't Republicans do that? They would have lost the debate, and Snyder knows it. The more people learn about RTW, the more they hate it, internal GOP polling showed. And they could have run out of time during lame duck to ram the bills through. Given the close vote in the House (58-52), RTW would have struggled next term when Republicans will shed five seats.
Obviously, this wasn't done in a bipartisan fashion, either, with House Democrats walking out of the chamber in protest and Sen. Bert Johnson (D-Highland Park) launching a semi-filibuster.
Something should be said about that eloquent gesture, by the way. Johnson read a piece on the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black union in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). How fitting that he would draw attention to a big reason why there even is a black middle class in Michigan. How sad that probably none of those on the GOP side were even listening.
All this means that Snyder's raison d'etre for being governor is in shambles. His rapid descent into partisan hackery was nicely underscored by this February 2012 Associated Press story, "Snyder questions approach of other GOP governors":
"I think it's unfortunate that they've gotten to that, I don't want to see that happen," Snyder said of the high-profile fights and protests in neighboring states like Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. "If you want to draw it as a contrast, you look at now that they've had those things happen, do they have a productive environment to solve problems? Not necessarily. They're still overcoming the divisiveness, the hard feelings from all of that."
Now I'm sure Ricky and Republicans will be whining a lot in the months and years to come about how Democrats aren't playing fair, whether it's voting "no" on all bills, filing recalls against Republicans or going for a constitutional amendment.
Sorry, boys (and the very few girls on your side). You didn't just give up the moral high ground. You obliterated it on Thursday by choosing a government process one would expect in the Soviet Union of old, not the modern-day USA.
Expecting moderate responses to radical actions is usually unwise.
Susan J. Demas is a political analyst for Michigan Information & Research Service (MIRS). She can be reached at sjdemas@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter here.
