LANSING – The Michigan legislature would have to give up something significant in order for Gov. Jennifer Granholm to sign the overtime exemption bill to the minimum wage increase, the governor said Friday after accepting an endorsement from the Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union at a South Lansing fire station.
Granholm’s statement confirmed a story in Thursday’s Gongwer Michigan Report, which said that Democrats were willing to deal with Senate Republicans on coveted legislation in exchange for supporting immediate effect for HB 6213 , which was recently called back to the Senate to try and gain support for immediate effect.
When asked if a deal on the so-called “Kreiner” package would get her to sign on the dotted line, Granholm smiled and replied, “That would be one way.” The five-bill package, which is near the top of the Democrats’ wish list, would reverse a 2004 state Supreme Court decision, which held that workers must have long-term ailments to file for disability claims.
“If you’re going to take something from the average citizen, you’ve got to give something back,” she said, adding that she was willing to discuss different options. “They should talk to me more often.”
But Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) flatly refused her offer, saying that he is “absolutely unwilling to let that happen.”
‘The governor has been saying jobs and the economy are her top agenda items,” Sikkema said in a statement. “Now she’s willing to set that aside and focus on the agenda of the trial lawyers. If she wants people to believe her, she needs to do more than just talk about jobs.’
“It’s off the table,” said Ari Adler, Sikkema’s spokesperson. “Jobs. Jobs are on the table,” he replied, when asked what was on the table, reiterating that Ms. Granholm could deliver on her promise to keep jobs in Michigan by signing the bill.
But Granholm said that Republicans jammed the bill through the Legislature, and in their haste – wanting to avoid a likely ballot question on the issue – they made a mistake.
When asked if she, too, was culpable for the same mistake because she signed the legislation into law, Granholm said, “What makes you think I thought it was a mistake?”
As she told the firefighters that she would fight for increased money for first responders, she did not miss a chance to distinguish herself from Republicans in general and gubernatorial opponent Dick DeVos in particular, who say the state needs to slash business taxes to be competitive.
“What you can do is invest in your citizens,” Granholm said, noting that Michigan is rated in the top half among states when comparing relative tax burdens. “We cannot slash our way to the bottom.”
The particular areas of focus for the state, she said, should be on creating and retaining jobs, improving infrastructure, education and diversifying the state’s economy.
Granholm said the reason Michigan is in what Republicans call a single-state recession is because of the state’s ties to the automobile industry, and because President George W. Bush is failing to enforce trade agreements between the United States and Michigan’s international competitors.
“Give us a fair playing field and we can compete,” said Granholm.
“I think she’s living in a state of denial,” said John Truscott, spokesperson for DeVos, citing a recent decision by Honda to open a Midwest plant in Indiana as evidence for a claim that Granholm isn’t able to effectively compete with neighboring states to bring jobs to Michigan.
“The state of Indiana is more reliant on manufacturing, per capita, than Michigan, yet they’re growing jobs,” Truscott said. “There’s a reason companies like Honda are going to Indiana, and it’s because their governor knows how to get the job done.”
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