FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
January 13, 2014
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, Sam@progressmichigan.org
Progress Michigan Executive Director Statement on Republican Claims of 200,000 New Jobs Due to Right to Work
LANSING – Last month, the Michigan Republican Party mailed a fundraising letter urging supporters to donate and keep the conservative agenda moving forward in 2014, citing Right to Work as an example and claiming it has already “helped bring nearly 200,000 jobs back to Michigan.” But when asked point blank how many jobs Right to Work has created, Gov. Rick Snyder and MEDC CEO Mike Finney demurred, saying it’s impossible to know but they’ve heard positive “anecdotal feedback.”
“Gov. Snyder sold himself to voters as a data-driven, moderate accountant who could get Michigan on the right track. His inability to track the impact of a policy he ‘championed’– Right to Work – is as worrisome as it is questionable,” said Lonnie Scott, Executive Director of Progress Michigan. “If the Michigan Republican Party knows how many jobs have been created by Right to Work, Gov. Snyder and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation should make that data publicly available. And if Gov. Snyder’s party is making indefensible claims about his signature achievement as a tool for fundraising, he should correct the record immediately.”
Fundraising letter: http://www.scribd.com/doc/199335533/Republicans-Claims-200-000-New-Jobs-Due-to-Right-to-Work
Republicans Claims 200,000 New Jobs Due to Right to Work
BACKGROUND
In 2012, Gov. Snyder and Michigan Republicans rammed through Right to Work legislation with zero public input or debate, claiming it would help create “more and better jobs” while making Michigan more business friendly. It’s been over a year, but when asked how many jobs Right to Work has created both Gov. Snyder and MEDC CEO Mike Finney demurred, saying they’ve heard positive “anecdotal feedback.”
If ProgressMichigan professes to be data-based and fact-driven, I suggest you get the story exactly right on things like the so-called “Right to Work” legislation recently enacted in Michigan. Governor Snyder did NOT actively campaign on or for this legislation. The whole process of its becoming law, as you should be well aware, was a Republican reaction to the highly ill-advised and poorly composed and ultimately failed union-backed ballot initiative that failed in the 2012 elections. Snyder was of course extremely irritated by this ballot action and did nothing to alter the legislative juggernaut that it created, signing the bill into law while it was still warm from the printer’s, but to say he championed it is taking too much liberty with the facts. It’s the Republican legislature that promoted it and Snyder, good business executive that he is, put all employees in their place by signing it without a second thought.
Matter of fact, it’s second thoughts that seem to be lacking amongst our knee-jerkers in Lansing.