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Quite a bit of ink has been spilled on Governor-elect Rick Snyder’s picks to fill his cabinet (and his plan to rearrange said cabinet to resemble a boardroom.) When he’s not reuniting former Gov. John Engler‘s band of brothers, as with his pick to head the “Quality of Life” supergroup — the DEQ, DNR, and Agriculture and Rural Development — Dan Wyant, he’s violating his campaign promise to reject “Lansing insiders” by tapping a lobbyist for chief of staff.
Snyder made waves when he anointed current Speaker of the House Andy Dillon to be his treasurer — yes, Andy Dillon, who was one-half the dynamic duo that shut down state government twice in three years over the budget; yes, the same Andy Dillon who was so inept in his budget negotiations that House Dems passed a very bad, very devastating all-cuts budget that sent schools and cities to the brink of financial ruin.
His counterpart in the Senate, Majority Leader Mike Bishop, laughed all the way home, and refused to consider new revenues to ensure, you know, kids had teachers and school books.
Well, it appears that the Batman to Dillon’s Robin is sniffing around for a spot at the Snyder trough. MIRS reports that Snyder has given the go-ahead to his inner circle to find a place for the man-who-would-have-been-AG:
The idea is that they would rather have Bishop, who is flirting with
running for Michigan Republican Party (MRP) chair, inside the tent than
on the outside as potential opposition.As one source noted, a potential MRP chair election involving Bishop and Snyder-preferred Bobby SCHOSTAK would be a bloody one. Bishop would have Tea Party and conservative support and a win would embarrass Snyder.
There’s also the idea that Bishop could be a potent conservative
challenger to Snyder in 2014, especially as MRP Chair with access to a
big database of activists and donors.
Bishop, who seemed to pioneer the practice of holding important legislation hostage to get what he wanted, appears to have done it again. The famously anti-government, soon-to-be-former Senator is going to find a way to stay in government, to continue to lambaste public employees while himself drawing a taxpayer funded check.
One can only hope that if Bishop is offered a position in the Snyder, um, whatever he’s calling his cabinet, it’s some place where he can’t affect much damage. It would be a sick Christmas present for Michigan if he were offered the directorship of (what is now) the Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth, as some insiders are reporting.
Shudder.