Governor Snyder to respond to screened questions with scripted answers online tonight at 6:00

Someone just forwarded this letter from Governor Snyder to me, and I thought that I should pass it along.

Join me for an online meeting Thursday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.

One of my resolutions for 2012 is to spend even more time meeting with Michigan residents to discuss the important issues facing our state. With that in mind, on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. I will hold an online town hall meeting to answer your questions about my plans for the year ahead.

The meeting will stream live at www.facebook.com/rickformichigan.

There are several ways you can participate. You can submit questions in advance at www.michigan.gov/townhall, post them to my Facebook wall or send a message on Twitter to @OneToughNerd using the hashtag #AskGovSnyder.

You can also submit questions using Facebook and Twitter once the meeting has started on Thursday.

Michigan is making good progress, but there is still a lot of work to do to reinvent our state and I want to hear from you. I hope you can join the online meeting Thursday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.,

Gov. Rick Snyder

I suppose it’s a step in the right direction, so I should probably withhold my criticism, but when someone says that their objective is to, “spend even more time meeting with Michigan residents to discuss the important issues facing our state,” doesn’t that imply that’s going to be something more than just a webcast of said person reading scripted answers to pre-selected questions? Are you really “meeting” with people when you’re addressing them via the internet, from a studio in some undisclosed location?

Maybe I just expect more when I hear the phrase “town hall.” I expect… you know… real people standing up and asking questions about things they find important. I know that’s a lot to ask in today’s world, but I’d at least like to have my politicians make the effort to appear as though they value dialogue, even if it just means sitting down with a group of campaign donors and corporate strategists dressed up in flannel and fake mustaches to look like regular folks. Maybe I’m just being overly sensitive, having recently seen thousands of Michiganders standing outside the security gates surrounding the Governor’s home in Ann Arbor, respectfully asking to be heard. I know it’s impractical for the Governor to respond personally to every constituent who has a question or a concern, and I realize there are security considerations, but I feel like we’re moving into a world where our officials only interact with regular Americans during election campaigns… But, I’ll be watching tonight at 6:00 PM, hoping that, at the very least, one or two real, tough, unexpected questions make it into the Governor’s hands by some miracle. In reality, I’m sure the whole thing was shot hours before the supposedly “live” broadcast, and that all of the questions were likely written by his staff in order to showcase specific policy objectives, but I’m going to try to keep an open mind.

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6 Comments

  1. Edward
    Posted January 19, 2012 at 7:53 am | Permalink

    I’m reminded of Ypsilanti Councilman Brian Robb, who ran on a platform of transparency, pledging to share everything with the voters on his blog, and then almost immediately stopped blogging. No one in power wants to communicate with those whom they represent. In the rare cases when it is done, it’s fake.

  2. Eel
    Posted January 19, 2012 at 12:38 pm | Permalink

    Where were you on Martin Luther King Day? Where you hiding in your house, or were you visiting an inner city school, explaining to the kids of color why it is that, from birth, they have to have the cards stacked against them, because that’s how the free market operates?

    Here’s something I’d never really considered before. You know how Republicans love to say that they don’t “pick winners and losers”? Well, isn’t that exactly what they’re doing when they choose to put one group of kids in public school classrooms of 60? Aren’t they essentially selecting those kinds for failure? I know there can be exceptions, and some of those kids will succeed regardless, but you know what I mean.

  3. Kolean
    Posted January 21, 2012 at 12:23 pm | Permalink

    One way to save tax payers money. Close prisons in Michigan, making corrections officers and staff be either laid off, quit, or be transfered to another prison. Have the government reinstate Good Time for the nonviolent prisoners, let them out, and put tethers on them to keep track of them. And charge a fee for the tether. This should be done rectoactive for prisoners. I’m sure this would really reduce the burden the taxpayer has to pay.

  4. Elf
    Posted January 23, 2012 at 3:59 pm | Permalink

    Good news. If you want to speak with our Governor, you can now enter a contest. Winners will even get a wardrobe allowance!

    Attention Michigan job seekers and job providers: Enter for a chance to win lunch with Governor Snyder and other cool prizes.

    Three job seekers and three employers will be chosen to have lunch with the governor. In addition, winning job seekers will receive complimentary career coaching, career transition training and $250 for new interview attire while the winning employers will get iPad 2s.

    Governor Snyder is looking forward to sharing a special meal and hearing your stories of job hunting and job hiring in Michigan along with your ideas on how we can reinvent Michigan together.

    Contest ends January 31, 2012.

    http://www.mitalent.org/Lunch-With-Governor-Snyder/

  5. Demetrius
    Posted January 23, 2012 at 4:24 pm | Permalink

    “Governor Snyder is looking forward to sharing a special meal and hearing your stories of job hunting and job hiring in Michigan along with your ideas on how we can reinvent Michigan together.”

    Lemme’ guess how sentence is actually supposed to end: “after which, the Governor plans to retire to his study, along with some of his closest corporate benefactors, to share brandy and cigars — while laughing their pasty white asses off at the misfortune of the the plight of the common man.”

    PLEASE tell me this is a joke! Better yet, please tell me my tax dollars (through Pure Michigan) are not being used to conduct or promote this event!

    I mean, what’s next? A “reality” show where unemployed Michigan residents get to “compete” for an opportunity to beg the Governor for a minimum wage – perhaps with Donald Trump as a special celebrity judge?

    Once again, I’m disgusted but not surprised …

  6. wetdolphinmissile
    Posted January 24, 2012 at 6:18 am | Permalink

    Ed…I disagree…every person in office as my representative in Ypsi has responded to my phone calls and emails. They have never avoided speaking to me in person or any other way, as my representative, that is true for the last 35 years I have lived here.

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