© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Looking ahead to tonight's GOP debate in Detroit

Fox Theatre
Bob Jagendorf/flickr
/
http://michrad.io/1LXrdJM

It was just about a year ago when Gov. Rick Snyder was flying around the country, meeting with influential and powerful people, telling the story of Michigan's "comeback."

Those trips came at a time when Snyder was being talked about in some quarters as a possible presidential candidate.

What a difference a year and the Flint water crisis have made. In the heat of an intense electoral season, Snyder is nowhere to be found.

According to Susan Demas, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, you'd normally expect to see the governor out and about, endorsing a candidate, hitting the campaign trail, and "telling Michigan's story."

"He'd be talking about Michigan's economic comeback, trying to put on a good face for the business community, why you should come here, how things have come here, look at Detroit. And due to the Flint water crisis, he is really hobbled and can't do that," Demas said.

Ken Sikkema is the senior policy fellow at Public Sector Consultants and a former member of the state House and state Senate, where he served as majority leader. 

"It's a wide gray line. I think it's hard to just say what's political exploitation of it and what is substantive concern," Sikkema said regarding the politicizing of the Flint water crisis.

Related Content