Update: MEC, MLCV weigh in on Michigan's gubernatorial debate

Update: Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan League of Conservation Voters  weigh in here on Michigan gubernatorial debate shortcomings.

DEBATE FAIL!: Great Lakes? Energy? Transportation? Rebuilding cities? IGNORED.

Michigan is smack in the middle of the world’s most astounding water system – 18 percent of the world’s fresh surface water surrounds us. It provides 40 million people with drinking water; fuels our water-intensive industrial economy and fertilizes our farmers’ bounty. It is threatened by sewage overflows, deposition of hazardous chemicals, and by Asian carp and other invasives.

We are on the cutting edge of advanced automotive batteries, have a burgeoning clean energy technology industrial sector and a vital tourism economy (all are growing – the only economic sectors in Michigan to do so recently).

We have world-class sand dunes, vast forests, fertile farmland and fantastic hunting, fishing, hiking, birdwatching, boating, mushroom picking, frog-spearing, cricket listening and Petoskey-stone hunting. Stone skipping, too. We also have a few cool cities where smart young college graduates want to live work and play. But not nearly enough.

So how did an hour-long gubernatorial debate take place tonight without any…ANY…mention of the role Michigan’s natural resources play in our economy and quality of life?

Not. a. single. one. Not in their opening or closing comments. Not in the questions from the moderators. The Center for Michigan says you can find the replay right here starting Monday, if you have trouble getting to sleep.

Thumbs down to moderators Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press and Nolan Finley of the Detroit News for ignoring energy, transportation, vibrant cities, and the future of the Great Lakes in favor of queries like “would you forego your salary as governor?” (as if that would make a difference) or “are you tough enough” to play political hardball? (seriously Nolan, how could that question elicit anything other than a minute-long infomercial?)

And thumbs down to Virg Bernero and Rick Snyder for utterly failing to incorporate our state’s important natural assets into any of your answers.

Oh, wait. I rewound the DVR and did find that Bernero did mention “…the green automotive future, the green technology, wind turbines…” during a frenetic monologue about manufacturing. So…there you have it.

Should either candidate want to feign interest in Michigan’s water, land or air,here’s a start. Until then, the hell with it. If this is all you got, I’m leaving the governor’s ballot blank in November.

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Rick Snyder's boilerplate agriculture plan virtually ignores pollution issues: Where is the insightful, original candidate we saw in the spring?

Michigan journalist/blogger Eric Baerren says in his recent column that Republican candidate for governor Rick Snyder’s plan for Michigan agriculture involves loosening regulatory reigns on corporate mega-farms.

Indeed, such farms bear no resemblance to the idyllic family farms that probably service your local farmer’s market. They unleash animal feces and urine in amounts equivalent to a medium sized city – with few of the environmental rules that govern the cities' waste. The result in Michigan too often has been horrific overflows of hormone-laced animal sewage that choke the life out of streams and ponds. Because these disasters often occur in sparsely populated rural areas, they don't get much attention.

The Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club has been at the forefront of tracking and detailing these disasters.

Sadly, Snyder’s recently released agriculture plan is filled with boilerplate Republican chatter about reducing red tape, streamlining regulation and how overly zealous inspectors have choked agricultural businesses in Michigan. Other than a couple vague throwaway lines about balancing environmental concerns with economic growth, it includes no acknowledgement of the tremendous challenges of containing and managing the vast amounts of dangerous waste produced by these animal factories.

Most disappointingly, the Snyder document contains none of the nuance and insight that Snyder demonstrated this spring during his excellent performance at an environmental forum for candidates.


I’m looking for reasons to vote for Rick Snyder in November …. I think he’s demonstrated a deeper understanding of the complex issues facing Michigan than has his opponent, Virg Bernero.

But if Snyder is going to abandon his keen insights in favor of letting his positions default into robotic and well-worn partisan grooves, then we’re back to business as usual.

And that would suck.

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Governor wannabes get sized up, called to account on nonprofit environmental group's web tracker

Snyder

Bernero

Electing public servants who will fight for policies to protect our natural resources is perhaps the most important way we can help make Michigan cleaner, safer and better positioned for the future.

But picking the diamonds from a rough Election Day ballot clogged with stooges, robotic party hacks and self-aggrandizing narcissists takes some work.

So it’s nice that the Michigan League of Conservation Voters has made it easier to size up the candidates for governor this year with its candidate tracker website.

The group is keeping score. Monitoring promises made and positions staked out by both Democrat Virg Bernero and Republican Rick Snyder.

Comparison charts, recent statement by the candidates and other helpful information is available. After the election, the organization will hold the winner accountable to practice what they preached during the campaign.

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Environmental savvy propels Bernero, Snyder to election victory in Michigan gubernatorial primaries! (or maybe not, but let's believe it tonight)

Rick Snyder

So businessman Rick Michigan (the artist formerly known as Rick Snyder) and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, (dubbed the “Angriest Mayor in America”) have won the Republican and Democratic primaries for Michigan governor tonight.

Since politics and elections and judging voters’ intentions is a complicated, tricky, unpredictably opaque business, it would be naïve and silly of me to suggest that the reason they won was because Bernero and Snyder were among only three of seven candidates with the courage to appear in an environmental debate in the spring sponsored by the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

Virg Bernero

Or that both men, especially Snyder, were way ahead of their primary foes in demonstrating an understanding of how natural resources are integral to public health and the economic vitality of Michigan.

Or that both were endorsed by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters (and Bernero by the Michigan chapters of the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action).

Or that both were able to articulate how so-called “environmental” issues aren’t about saving frogs and wagging fingers at Hummers……they are about modernizing our energy choices to stay competitive in the global marketplace; making our cities places where young people want to live, party, work and sleep; and keeping shitty things like carp and chemicals and sewage out of the world’s greatest freshwater system that we are so blessed to have on all sides us (that’s north, west, east, and…well, we are a pleasant peninsula but we do have Ohio to the south).

So I won’t say any of that. And, plus, both candidates are kind of wild cards so it’s difficult to know whether their rhetoric will match their deeds once elected.

So, I will stick to something safer and more defensible: It will be a good feeling to wake up tomorrow knowing that the two candidates who best understand the value of natural resources to the Great Lakes State are still standing.

Goodnight.
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Here's where to hear a replay of the gubernatorial debate on the environment. To the no-shows: Click on the link and hear how candidates with courage sound!

Wednesday night’s environmental forum for gubernatorial candidates at Central Michigan University was a great dialogue, at least for the three candidates who cared enough about the Great Lakes and our other natural resources to show up: Virg Bernero, Tom George and Rick Snyder.
You can listen to it here: http://bit.ly/cqFxez

To the four candidates afraid to take the microphone and defend their records and/or ideas on protecting our natural resources: Bad form guys. You should have strapped on a pair and got in the ring last night.

I have serious reservations about supporting candidates who are only willing to appear before adoring audiences. Voters should want a governor who shares their views, yes. But we should also demand a governor with the courage and self-confidence to engage with people whose ideas and world views differ from theirs. It’s a big, sprawling state with a diversity of people and opinions. Our next chief executive needs to represent all of us….including the 45 percent or so who will vote for someone else in November.

State Sen. Tom George, as an example, stood his ground on several issues that were at odds with the majority of the audience. He clearly understands the issues. Kudos to Tom.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and businessman Rick Snyder were sharp on the issues, especially Snyder whose answers plainly showed that he has invested time in understanding – in far more depth than talking points --  how Michigan’s natural resources are integrally linked to the economy and the health of Michiganders.

Mike Cox – whose views differ fairly dramatically from the environmental community on many issues – spoke with my colleagues at the Michigan Environmental Council early in his campaign. He gets credit for engaging. But where was he Wednesday?

Mike Bouchard, Pete Hoekstra and Andy Dillon? AWOL. Pathetic.

The forum was sponsored by Michigan Radio, the Detroit Free Press, and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters among others.

A shout out to MichiganLiberal.com for good coverage of the forum, even if one of their posters declared me a “jobs killer” http://bit.ly/dnayQk MichLib’s counterpart, RightMichigan, carried no mention of the forum.
See you at the primary election in August.

Again, Mitten State’s views are my own, not those of my employer, the Michigan Environmental Council. As a 501c3 nonprofit, MEC does not endorse or promote individual candidates. MEC, as an aside, is willing and able to educate all candidates on issues affecting our natural resources. We will be doing so vigorously through November.

Michigan voters take note: Three candidates for governor step up to debate environmental issues; four others run for cover, or couldn't care less

Michigan's candidates for governor have one chance to debate environmental issues head-to-head, and that is at Wednesday night's forum at Central Michigan University, sponsored by the Detroit Free Press and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, among others: http://bit.ly/9QA5q9

Pathetically, four of the seven candidates said "no thanks, we've got better things to do than discuss how to protect the Great Lakes, reduce health-related heartache caused by toxic pollutants, or and preserve our state's majestic forests." Really. That's exactly what they said.

Kudos to the three who apparently see our state's natural resources as worthy of an hour or two of their commitment: Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, State Sen. Tom George and businessman Rick Snyder.

The message from the no-shows is either that they do not consider Michigan's environment a priority; do not understand the monumental importance of natural resources to our economy; or they are unwilling to defend the decisions and votes they've made in the past on environmental issues.

The no-shows are Attorney General Mike Cox; Congressman Pete Hoekstra; House Speaker Andy Dillon and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard. Hoekstra has miserable record of environmental voting -- scoring less than 10 percent according to the League of Conservation Voters. Dillon has exhibited little interest in, or understanding of, the importance of strong policies to protect our state's natural resources in his legislative tenure. Bouchard? Not certain where he stands, but if he's been banging the drum for environmental issues so far I haven't heard it. Cox....well, Cox has successfully positioned himself as a leader of the state's fight to prevent Asian Carp from decimating the Great Lakes. And while he has been tone deaf to other environmental imperatives, I'm a bit surprised he isn't coming.

Anyway, again, the candidates who care enough to show up:

Rick Snyder: http://www.rickformichigan.com/
Tom George: http://www.georgeforgovernor.com/
Virg Bernero: http://www.votevirg.com/

* My opinions do NOT REPRESENT those of my employer, the Michigan Environmental Council. As a 501c3 nonprofit, the Council is not permitted to campaign for or endorse candidates for office.