March 3, 2011 - 4:32pm
Blogging Blue: Budgeting for Dillon
BY WILL BUTLER
Andy Dillon had led in polls almost the entire summer leading up into the Aug. 3 Democratic gubernatorial primary. But a slew of Planned Parenthood mailings and pro-choice advertisements in the last few weeks of the primary put Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero ahead and made him the winner on that election night. Bernero played Dillon to the left and won, but Michigan Democrats ended up paying the price. Sure, Bernero was more progressive, more supportive of labor, but not nearly as electable. Dillon, suffering from a tough loss, refused to endorse Bernero and sat the rest of the election out.
While the move to not endorse Bernero angered a lot of Democrats at the time, including me, it seems to have paid off for Dillon. On Nov. 9, governor-elect Rick Snyder named Dillon as his new treasurer. While Snyder and some others have seen this as confirmation of Snyder’s bipartisanship and willingness to work across the aisle during his tenure as governor, many across party lines have been angered by the choice. Democrats feel betrayed by Dillon, and Republicans feel that Snyder overlooked qualified members of his own party.
While I am certainly a person who honors party loyalty, I have to say that I am ecstatic about Dillon’s appointment. Democrats who feel that they have stabbed in the back don’t understand what an incredible benefit this can be. With Democratic influence diminished in the state legislature, the ability for a Democrat to have the ear of the governor is something we shouldn’t take for granted — especially on the budget.
Dillon has had courageous, innovative and admittedly divisive proposals to balancing the budget. While Dillon is certainly a moderate Democrat, he has been a longstanding defender of education funding and the revitalization of our central cities, like Detroit. I have faith that Dillon can keep these Democratic principles in a legislatively inexperienced Republican Administration that may have the urge to cut too easily, even when it hurts the state. Despite what more naive Democrats say, having Dillon as treasurer is best way to defend our Democratic ideals in a now Republican Michigan.
