Free Republic

Former Gov. Rick Snyder in an op-ed published by USA Today on Thursday endorsed Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, making waves as a Republican who isn’t backing incumbent President Donald Trump. He’s one of a number of Republicans who are speaking out against Trump’s reelection, according to Jeff Timmer, a senior advisor with The Lincoln Project, a group of disillusioned Republicans working to defeat Trump and his supporters in Congress. “There’s never been a time like this when so many members of an incumbent president’s party have said ’vote for the other guy,’” Timmer said on a taping of WKAR’s...

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday signed a law making it harder for groups to put proposals on the Michigan ballot, imposing a geographical-based requirement that may prevent them from gathering signatures for petitions mainly from the most populated areas. The move followed voters’ passage of three Democratic-backed proposals last month and Republicans’ unprecedented tactic — enacted by the term-limited governor two weeks ago — to weaken minimum wage and paid sick time laws that began as ballot initiatives. Legal challenges are expected in Michigan and neighboring Wisconsin, where the GOP recently passed more sweeping laws to curtail incoming Democrats....

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is a Republican. Mayor Bill de Blasio is a Democrat. Both men find themselves at the center of crises, which collectively involve thousands of children likely brain-damaged from exposure to lead. **SNIP** On Nov. 7, 2017, de Blasio was re-elected to a second term. Two weeks later, he admitted he knew one year earlier that NYCHA was falsifying documents regarding lead-based paint inspections. Sanders could have called for de Blasio’s resignation, as he did with Snyder. Instead, he personally swore in de Blasio for his second term on Jan. 1, 2018.

DETROIT (AP) — Michigan’s Republican governor announced Friday that Democrat John Conyers’ congressional seat will not be filled until the regularly scheduled November election, leaving it vacant for nearly a year. Gov. Rick Snyder decided the post will be listed twice on the August primary and November general election ballots. While unlikely, it is possible voters could choose one candidate to fill the vacancy until January 2019 and elect another to a full two-year term after that. **SNIP** Michael Gilmore, a Detroit attorney who is running for the seat, said not having representation in the House for nearly a year...

LANSING, MI -- Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday vetoed a bill that would have created a "choose life" fundraising license plate option for Michigan motorists. Senate Bill 163 would have the state develop and issue a fund-raising license plate with the message "choose life." The funds raised by the purchase of these plates would have gone to the Choose Life Michigan Fund, controlled by anti-abortion group Right to Life Michigan, to fund things like pregnancy centers. It passed 25-11 in the Senate and 65-43 in the House. But it failed to get a signature from Gov. Rick Snyder.

A lobbyist organization funded by local governments held a press conference in the state Capitol this week to urge lawmakers to send its members more in state taxpayer dollars. The event took place as legislators are preparing to pass a state budget for next year, and was cast as an invitation to discuss how local government funding is “broken.” Given that message, it may seem ironic that the host city of Lansing collected more tax dollars than it expected for a third straight year and had a surplus. The group is called the Michigan Municipal League, and its members want...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will drink Flint water at home and at work for at least a month to show to residents it is safe with the use of a faucet filter, he said Monday. The Republican governor, who has apologized for his administration's role in the city's lead-tainted water crisis, visited a house that had been confirmed to have high levels of lead and left with five gallons of filtered water. He said he understands people feel that if officials say the water is OK, then he should drink it, too. "What better way to...

The state of Michigan is “fundamentally accountable” for Flint’s lead-contaminated water crisis because of decisions made by its environmental regulators and state-appointed emergency managers who controlled the city, an investigatory task force concluded Wednesday. The panel, appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to review the disaster, said in a withering report that what happened in Flint is “a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction, and environmental injustice.” …

Hillary Clinton has made every effort to make Flint her own. The water crisis afflicting this predominantly black Michigan city - ignored by Washington politicians for years - has become another battlefield in a progressive war between Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Race, class and the environment matter again in an issues-based, neck-and-neck race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Looking past Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire, where Sanders is tipped to win, and toward the March primary states where she will be counting on African American support, Clinton made a symbolic campaign stop here on Sunday. "I feel blessed to be...

LANSING, Mich. (WEYI) - The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) is calling for Gov. Rick Snyder to resign after new information was released saying his administration knew of the connection between Flint water and Legionnaires' disease. The MDP released the following statement: "There is a limit to how many times you can play dumb when it comes to events and actions that take place on your watch," said Brandon Dillon, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. "Governor Snyder is attempting to employ this tactic again, claiming he wasn't told of the connection, made almost a year before he informed the public,...

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder responded Monday to criticism from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the Democratic debates for his handling of Flint's water emergency, saying Clinton is making it a political issue. During Sunday's debate, Clinton said "every single American should be outraged" by the water crisis, adding that "if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would have been action." Following a speaking engagement at a Martin Luther King Day event in Flint, the Republican governor said her tactic doesn't help solve the problem. "We're going to...

FLINT - Filmmaker and Davison native Michael Moore spoke before a fired-up crowd in downtown Flint today about the water crisis. In his speech he asked that President Barack Obama visit Flint, when the president is at the North American International Auto Show next week. Moore said that Obama needs to come to Flint before it becomes the president's version of Katrina, conjuring images of when President Bush flew over, but initially did not go to, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina stuck the city.

"I myself am going to defy your ban and will offer MY home in Traverse City, Michigan, to those very Syrian refugees you've decided to keep out." Filmmaker Michael Moore is speaking out about the Syrian refugee crisis. Moore, a Michigan resident, penned a letter that he posted on Facebook to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, opposing his announcement in regards to a ban on Syrian refugees in the state. In the letter Moore writes, "I myself am going to defy your ban and will offer MY home in Traverse City, Michigan, to those very Syrian refugees you've decided to keep...

DETROIT (AP) — Michigan’s Republican governor, who has bucked many party leaders by welcoming Syrian refugees, is putting the efforts on hold following the deadly attacks in Paris. Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement Sunday that the state is postponing efforts to accept refugees until federal officials fully review security clearances and procedures. He added that Michigan is “proud of our rich history of immigration” but that Michigan’s “first priority is protecting the safety of our residents.” “There will be difficult days ahead for the people of France and they remain in our thoughts and prayers,” he said. “It’s...

Something is actually growing in Detroit, a city that mostly has been in the news for the its losses—charter schools, 66 of them. Their growth tracks with a statewide trend, and has the Detroit public schools worried. “With more than 260,000 Michigan students relying on educational choice, critics have likely realized that they must act now to limit it, before its growing popularity makes the task impossible,” Audrey Spalding writes in Impact, a magazine published by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Specifically, “This year, more than 150,000 Michigan schoolchildren attend public charter schools. Another 110,000 students use ‘Schools...

Bucking the trend of states that have caved on religious liberty due to fear of reprisals from gay activists, Michigan passed a law Thursday offering protections to religious adoption agencies from being forced to place children in the homes of same-sex couples. The law had broad support in the Republican controlled legislature and was signed on Thursday by Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican. Snyder has voiced opposition to a broader religious liberty bill statewide that mirrors the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by former President Bill Clinton. RFRA protections, once non-controversial and bipartisan now face the ire of gay...

And I do mean “noted.” With the possible exception of Steve Schmidt, no Republican advisor is better known to the right for sneering at the right than John Weaver. Re-read this old post, written when Weaver was helping to steer Huntsman 2012 to a third-place flameout in New Hampshire, for some of his greatest hits. He advised McCain in 2000, when Maverick was at his media-friendly right-baiting zenith, then caught on with Huntsman during the last cycle to try the ol’ what-our-party-really-needs-is-a-better-base approach again. He’s known for being a difficult boss, losing lots of races (with some notable successes, like...

WINDSOR, Ont. - A new bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit will be named after hockey legend Gordie Howe. Howe, who is now 87, was born in Floral, Sask., and came to be known as "Mr. Hockey." The still-to-be built Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to be operational in 2020. The Windsor-Detroit corridor is the busiest commercial land crossing between the two countries and the border has long been a bottleneck. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement today along with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder at the river separating Canada and the U.S. Harper praised Howe as a proud...

Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to revitalize schools within the city of Detroit has school-choice advocates concerned about potential threats to school choice in the city. Charter school advocates fear that Snyder’s plan creates a bureaucracy with the authority to stop the growth of charter schools or even shut them down if different political leadership put anti-charter board members in charge. The governor’s plan calls for the old Detroit Public Schools to be kept in existence for the administrative purpose of paying off the district’s debt. DPS has $483 million in operating debt and a combined capital and bond debt of...

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will not run for president in 2016, according to two sources familiar with his planning. Snyder, a Republican who was first elected in 2010, has been traveling across the country in recent weeks but has decided against a White House bid. One source close Snyder said he’d expressed concern about the time commitment needed for a national campaign. “He is concerned about solving the problems in Michigan and the time commitment needed for out-of-state travel,” one source said. A Snyder spokesman declined to comment. The decision comes one day after a Snyder-backed ballot initiative, which would...